Today we start the first week in ordinary time, as we ended the season of Christmas yesterday with the feast of the Baptism of our Lord. This week we will hear from the first book of Samuel in the Old Testament. In the beginning of the first book of Samuel, we meet Elkanah, a man with two wives, which was common according to the custom of the day. While the one wife, Penninah has borne several children, his other wife Hannah is barren. In ancient society, where the continuation of the family line was of utmost importance, not being able to bear children was a painful experience for a wife. Hannah grieves that she is without children and that she is mocked by Penninah. Had God abandoned her?
It is easy for us to regret that God has not given us a gift that we truly would like to have. We do not get the job we yearn for. Marriages can end in divorce. We want to be talented in sports or music, but we are just ok. We study for a test, but then we fail. We try to do well at work, but then we get fired, or we don’t get the promotion we want. In such situations, all we can see sometimes is mockery or criticism or failure. Why, God, why? - is our cry. God is at work in our lives. Sometimes it is hard to see God in our anger, our frustration, our pain, our failure, and our deficiencies. Sometimes we don’t realize how God was at work in our lives until years later. Sometime the darkness and the pain can bring forth new birth and new life.
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