Test

"Do not bring us to the test."

Familiar? Heard it somewhere?

Yes? No? Maybe?

Let me tell you about a short story about a father who took his child to a school for an entrance exam. I heard this story said during a homily by one of my favorite Jesuit priests, Fr. DJ.

A father accompanied his son to a known primary school to take an entrance exam. Along the way, the child kept on looking at his father, then back at the road, and then back to the father, and so on, with the look of uneasiness. The father thought that it his child was anxious in taking the examination. As they arrived at the venue, the father led his child inside his room and waited for him to finish his exam. On the way back, the child did the same thing that he did along the way, he kept on looking at his father every now and then. The father, began to be worried and curious. He then asked his child of what's bothering him. Then the kid replied: "Isn't that that you what you taught me, 'Do not bring us to the test', Pa? Then why did you let me take the test"?

Sometimes we ask ourselves why God gives us challenges and tests along the way, if he even taught us to pray that we may not be subjected to them. We do sometimes question, does God wants us to be miserable? That even if we ask to be away from tests and temptations, we still have them? Maybe there's something wrong with the concept?

In the original Greek translation, the longer version of the verse some what states, according to Fr. DJ, "As much as possible do not subject us to the test". There's no exact verbatim translation of the original Greek words in the English context, thus, making the verse vague and ambiguous.

Let us thank God for the trials that shape us, the protection that save us, and the guidance that lead us.