In the antiphon of today’s
responsorial psalm, Psalm 34, we are told that “From all their distress God rescues the just.” Our journey here on earth is one of learning that
fact by seeking the Lord above all else:
to seek the Lord in our joys and sorrows, in our triumphs and failures, in our
anxieties and our moments of confidence, in sickness and in health. We need to discover that to which the
psalmist gives witness, namely, that when we seek the Lord, the Lord answers us
and delivers us from all our fears. The
psalmist reminds us that “[w]hen the poor one called out the Lord heard and
from all his distress he saved him.”
Do I approach the Lord as “a poor one”? Do I even recognize my poverty (my spiritual
poverty, that is)? Do I come to the Lord
in my distress or do I medicate my distress with addictive use of drugs and
alcohol, food and sweets, gambling and shopping, Internet surfing or watching
TV, running from one relationship to another and another and another, or
whatever addictive behavior I use to numb out?
It is easier to run from our discomfort than to examine it in
prayer. The choice is ours: to call upon
the Lord of hosts, a warrior, a comforter, a redeemer or to seek comfort in ways that simply
repress the pain, a pain that resurfaces with a vengeance the next time we are
hurt.
What is your choice?
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