Questions without Answers

There’s an old Peanuts comic strip where Linus says, “So, I had to tell the teacher that I just didn’t know….” Charley Brown responds, “Maybe some questions don’t have an answer.” “Like what?,” Lucy asks. Snoopy replies, “Like, did Jesus ever own a dog?”

It’s true. Charley Brown is right. Some questions don’t have answers – at least not that we can grasp.

I am continually reminded of the need for humility in the face of questions about suffering and loss, and the future itself.

The Apostle Paul reminds us, “For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; (one day) we shall see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”

In the meantime, we are reminded, “And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13)

Our prayer today is attributed to St. Augustine sometime around the late 4th Century. Let us pray: God of life, there are days when the burdens we carry are heavy on our shoulders and weigh us down, when the road seems dreary and endless, the skies gray and threatening, when our lives have no music in them, and our hearts are lonely, and our souls have lost their courage. Flood the path with light, turn our eyes to where the skies are full of promise; tune our hearts to brave music; give us the sense of friendship with heroes and saints of every age; and so quicken our spirits that we may be able to encourage the souls of all who journey with us on the road of life, to your honor and glory. Amen.