Fr. Don's Daily Reflection
Psalm 62: “In you alone is my soul at rest. My help comes from you.”
The writer’s dialogue with Psalm 26. Words of the Psalm in bold type.
The Lord is my light and my help; whom shall I fear?
I fear any longer extension of this terrible quarantine which has so disrupted -- we hope not destroyed -- human relations.
Though an army encamp against me my heart would not fear. Even then would I trust.
I can’t claim such fearlessness. I try to trust, but I hope and pray for an end to the strictures of virus quarantine.
Now my head shall be raised above my foes who surround me, and I shall offer within God’s tent a sacrifice of joy. I will sing and make music for you the Lord.
If we were to see an end today to the peril of the virus and its domination of our life and relationships, any sacrifice of joy that I offer would be of dizzying proportions. It would be an Independence Day for the soul, for life! An end to captivity.
Do not abandon or forsake me, O God my help! Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me.
Father and mother, those rocks of our youth, must necessarily “forsake us” in their deaths. By illness or death dear friends may do the same, leaving an old person bereft of longtime friends. Such are fortunate indeed to have good lay friends who will visit and so enhance their life!
I am sure I shall see the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living.
Would that I were so certain of an early end to our enslavement to the virus! We are still in a time of hope, and still in a time of trust. Lord, please deepen our trust in you, our trust in an end to this terrible four-month disruption of human relations, of human life.
Hope in him, hold firm and take heart. Hope in the Lord!
Lord, give us firm hope and trust. Let us not wallow in self-pity and depression but let us live in a lively hope and trust that you will end our bondage soon!
All my aspirations and hopes as delineated above are small. Maybe “small” is a serious deficiency. By hoping for them, freedom to walk side by side with a dear friend, to spend time in a coffee shop with a good friend, such “little” things seem like the heavenly city to me currently.
I hope that the end of my quarantine, to be specific and seemingly “small”, that this will also have lasting benefits as a result of what we have learned. E.g., make for an end to racism and police brutality, produce a more equal distribution of the nation’s/world’s wealth, provide employment that assures a truly living wage for all, and, summing it all up, a sense of responsibility among all for the common good.
Finally, and urgently persuade all of us to serve that common good and safety of all by such practices: masks, social distancing, washing our hands. Such “little” things.
I am sure I shall see the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living
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!”
