Psalm 62: “In you alone is my soul at rest. My help comes from You.”

We'd be surprised, to say the least, if we heard an announcement on TV that sunrise had been cancelled for the following day. We'd be even more surprised if on putting our feet down from the bed we found the floor to be spongy. We take many things in nature and life for granted. In regard to human relations, things get worse when we take all the people around us and their services for granted. We presume there's someone to pick up our dirty laundry; we assume that someone will do the dishes piled up in the kitchen. We assume that there will be milk in the fridge, gas in the car. Children and others in a household may assume that mother or dad or big sister will always take care of certain responsibilities, never questioning whether his or her health permits it or causes difficulty.

Repeatedly we hear people say after the death of the person so taken for granted: if only I had known she was sick or that this was a great pain for him. Making all these assumptions can be a way of avoiding reality and responsibility, of not seeing all that is being done for us. We forgive it, maybe too readily, in young people, but we continue to do it ourselves. What an enlightenment it would be if we would decide to take nothing for granted in our lives! The genuine believer comes to see that everything is a gift, nothing is to be taken as owed to me.

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!”

Reply to Fr. Don at: DTalafous@csbsju.edu

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