Job 19:21-27 / Luke 10:1-12
In 1969, psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross introduced what became known as the “five stages of grief.” These stages of grief were based on her studies of the feelings of patients facing terminal illness, but many people have generalized them to other types of negative life changes and losses.
The five stages of grief can be summarized as such "
Denial: “This can’t be happening to me.”
Anger: “Why is this happening? Who is to blame?”
Bargaining: “Make this not happen, and in return I will ____.”
Depression: “I’m too sad to do anything.”
Acceptance: “I’m at peace with what happened.”
As we read about what was happening to Job in the 1st reading, it is difficult to say which stage he was at; maybe between anger and acceptance or a mixture of all.
Job's most profound statement in the 1st reading was this - This I know : that my Avenger lives.
That might sound like he had reached the stage of acceptance. But there is one more stage that he will need to come to.
And that is the stage of enlightenment. In that stage, a person will not just accept and be at peace with what has happened but will also be able to see why it happened and see God's hand moving and guiding him in the course of events.
May we pray for the grace of enlightenment so that we may gain wisdom of heart to know that we can fully trust and depend on God in whatever happens in our lives.