Justin Appel

Dear Friends,

Today’s lectionary readings include a passage from the book of Job, part of which is found as a reading in Catholic Church’s Office of the Dead, or Officium Defunctorum.

This reading, along with other texts from the Office of the Dead, was memorably set music by the Iberian composer, Cristóbal de Morales in the first half of the 16th century. Morales set the associated readings using a falsobordone technique: essentially, a method of chordal accompaniment that could enrich and harmonize plainchant melodies.

This beautiful, radiant setting communicates the pathos of Job’s words, and by extension, the pain of human mortality. The text reminds us that in our suffering, we may ask “Why, God, do you allow this to happen?” Jesus asked this kind of question on the cross, so we may be sure that he understands our human pain, rejection, and even hopelessness.

Let me alone; for my days are vanity.
What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him?
And that thou shouldest visit him every morning, and try him every moment?
How long wilt thou not depart from me, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle?
I have sinned; what shall I do unto thee, O thou preserver of men? why hast thou set me as a mark against thee, so that I am a burden to myself?
And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away my iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be.

Jesus took on our suffering and mortality by assuming our flesh and suffering unto death, but he transformed it by rising from the grave. By dying he destroyed death.

St. Gregory the Theologian put it this way in his Easter Orations:

Yesterday I was crucified with Him; today I am glorified with Him…
Let us give all, offer all, to Him who gave Himself a Ransom and Reconciliation for us.
We needed an incarnate God, a God put to death, that we might live. We were put to death together with Him that we might be cleansed. We rose again with Him because we were put to death with Him. We were glorified with Him because we rose again with Him.
A few drops of Blood recreate the whole of creation!

Yours in Christ,

—Justin