On Friday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time our Church invites us to read and reflect on a passage from the book of Job (12:1-25) entitled "Job explains that divine omnipotence is beyond human understanding". Our treasure, which follows, is from the Moral Reflection on Job by Saint Gregory the Great, pope.
Doctor of the Church; born at Rome about 540; died 12 March 604. Saint Gregory is certainly one of the most notable figures in Ecclesiastical History. He has exercised in many respects a momentous influence on the doctrine, the organization, and the discipline of the Catholic Church. To him we must look for an explanation of the religious situation of the Middle Ages; indeed, if no account were taken of his work, the evolution of the form of medieval Christianity would be almost inexplicable. And further, in so far as the modern Catholic system is a legitimate development of medieval Catholicism, of this too Gregory may not unreasonably be termed the Father. Almost all the leading principles of the later Catholicism are found at any rate in germ, in Gregory the Great.
The Moral Reflections on Job is a commentary on the Book of Job by Saint Gregory the Great, written between 578 and 595. It began when Saint Gregory was at the court of Emperor Tiberius II in Constantinople but finished only several years after he had returned to Rome. It is Saint Gregory's major work, filling some 35 books or 6 volumes.
Our "treasure" today from Saint Gregory teaches that a person's deepest peace and confidence come not from human praise, success, or outward appearances, but from the testimony of a good conscience before God. Even when misunderstood, criticized, or suffering—as Job was—the faithful person can remain steady if inwardly aware of striving to live according to God's will. Gregory reminds Christians that God sees the hidden truth of the heart, and that true righteousness depends on interior integrity, humility, and fidelity to God rather than on the changing judgments of other people.
Our first reading from Job (12:1-25), "Job explains that divine omnipotence is beyond human understanding," teaches that God's wisdom, power, and authority far exceed human knowledge and cannot be fully explained by human reasoning or simple religious formulas. Job challenges his friends' belief that suffering always has an obvious cause or meaning, reminding them that God governs all creation, nations, rulers, and human life in ways people often cannot comprehend. The passage teaches humility before God's mystery and encourages trust in His sovereign power even when His actions or our suffering remain difficult to understand.
