This morning there was a wonderful reading from Saint Zeno of Verona on how the Old Testament Job prefigured Christ in His Passion. It is absolutely beautiful. I hope that you are edified by it, as I was:

My beloved brethren, the story of Job prefigures that of Christ. Thus we understand it, and we can see the truth of this by detailed comparison.

Job was called a righteous man by God; and God is righteousness itself, the fountain of righteousness from which the blessed drink. Of him it was said: The sun of righteousness shall rise for you.
Job was called truthful; and the Lord is truly Truth itself, for as he says in the Gospel: I am the way and the truth.
Job was rich; and what could be richer than the Lord? For all the rich are his slaves, his is the whole world and all that exists, as David said in the Psalms: The Lord’s is the earth and its fulness, the world and all who live in it.
The devil tempted Job three times; and three times, according to the Gospel, he tried to tempt the Lord.
Everything that Job had, he lost; and for love of us the Lord forgot all his heavenly blessings and made himself poor, that we might be rich.
The devil, raging, destroyed Job’s sons; and the Lord’s sons, the prophets, were killed by the people of the Pharisees in their madness.
Job was disfigured with boils; and the Lord, taking on human flesh, was fouled with the sins of all mankind.
Job’s own wife urged him to sin; and the synagogue, the bride of God, tried to compel the Lord to follow the corrupt behaviour of the elders.
Job’s friends, it is said, insulted him; and the Lord was insulted by his own priests, his own worshippers.
Job sits on a dunghill full of worms; and the Lord lived in a real dunghill, that is, this world, surrounded by men seething with every vice and every crime: true worms.
Job received back his health and his riches; and the Lord, rising, did not only regain health but granted immortality to those who believed in him and took back dominion over the whole of nature. For as he himself bears witness: All things have been given to me by my Father.
Job begot new sons to replace the ones who had died; the Lord, to replace the prophets, begot his holy sons, the Apostles.
Job went to his rest in blessedness and peace; but the Lord remains blessed in all eternity: before time, and from the beginning of time, and to the end of all ages.

This is great, isn’t it? May God bless you today.

ad Jesum per Mariam,
Taylor

PS: As you meditate on the humility of Christ, I recommend praying this “Litany of Humility” – something difficult for me to utter at times. It goes like this:

O Jesus! meek and humble of heart, Hear me.

From the desire of being esteemed…

Deliver me, Jesus (and for each below).

From the desire of being loved…
From the desire of being extolled …
From the desire of being honored …
From the desire of being praised …
From the desire of being preferred to others…
From the desire of being consulted …
From the desire of being approved …
From the fear of being humiliated …
From the fear of being despised…
From the fear of suffering rebukes …
From the fear of being calumniated …
From the fear of being forgotten …
From the fear of being ridiculed …
From the fear of being wronged …
From the fear of being suspected …

That others may be loved more than I…

Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it (for each below).

That others may be esteemed more than I …
That, in the opinion of the world,
others may increase and I may decrease …
That others may be chosen and I set aside …
That others may be praised and I unnoticed …
That others may be preferred to me in everything…
That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should…