A few months ago, my 3-year-old nephew was learning the words to “Rain, Rain, Go Away,” but those four words were all he could get. My sister-in-law would sing the second half (“come again another day”) but he would just look at her blankly and start over: “Rain, rain, go away… rain, rain, go away… rain, rain, go away…” as if it were his fervent prayer for the rain to go away… and not come another day.
Quentin doesn’t know it, but he’s stumbled upon a pretty basic human struggle. We want all our afflictions to just go away, and not come another day. But Paul said Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation, who consoles us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to console those who are in any affliction with the consolation with which we ourselves are consoled by God. May we remember that God is here to console us, and may our presence be consolation to those around us, whatever afflictions come our way.
