Fr. Don's Daily Reflection - April 16, 2024
Psalm 62: “In you alone is my soul at rest. My help comes from you.”
During this time of virus, etc., we search for hope and we always find that in Francis. But, before we get to hope we might agree on what a puzzle, a nightmare, an unprecedented disruption we have faced recently. John Adams (in David McCullough's book) is quoted: "Admire and adore the author of the universe, love and esteem the work, do all in your power to lessen ill, and increase good, but never assume to comprehend." In other words, we can add incomprehensible to whatever else we say about the present.
Adams goes on: "The incomprehensible universe . . . I feel an irresistible impulse to fall on my knees, in adoration of the power that moves, the wisdom that directs, and the benevolence that sanctifies this wonderful whole." I suspect that many of us find it hard at this time to speak about the "wisdom" and "benevolence" of our God. We pray and hope, even while we try to trust in science and the goodwill of the world's leaders. We pray and hope, no matter how much we know better, that God will mitigate the latest virus, end it, have it just peter out, etc., etc.!!! Wouldn't that show God's wisdom and benevolence? And so we vent our feelings.
Though Francis knows the human temptation to rage and roar, he keeps pointing us to hope. For example: Back to the episode of Jesus sleeping in the disciples’ boat while the storm rages, Francis reminds us that “all of us called to row together, each of us in need of comforting the other.” This disruption of normal life is "a time to choose what matters and what passes away, a time to separate what is necessary from what is not." Francis continues: “How many fathers, mothers, grandparents and teachers are showing our children, in small everyday gestures, how to . . . navigate a crisis by adjusting their routines.”
“How many are praying . . . interceding for the good of all. Prayer and quiet service: these are our victorious weapons. . . . Embracing the Lord in order to embrace hope: that is the strength of faith, which frees us from fear and gives us hope.”
Psalm 27: “I believe I shall see the Lord’s goodness / in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord; be strong; / be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord!”
