Praising God, Seeking God, Looking to God

Today’s responsorial psalm, Ps. 34,  is filled with wisdom, giving us direction on how to, truly, be filled with the Lord.  “Bless the Lord at all times,” the psalmist says to us.  May God’s “praise…be ever in my mouth. Let my soul glory in the Lord.”  We are then asked to invite others to “extol [God’s] name.” The psalmist then gives personal witness: “I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.” The author of the psalms is King David, who had to flee from his son Absalom, who was seeking to kill him.  David says to us: “Look to [God] that you may be radiant with joy, and your faces may not blush with shame.”  When, in our own poverty, we call out to the Lord, the Lord hears our cry, and “from all [our] distress [God] saves [us].” Not, necessarily, removing that which is disturbing to us  but calming our spirits, strengthening our  innermost beings, filling us with a divine power the world cannot give. It is the same power, for instance, that gave martyrs of old, and those of today,  the courage they needed in the face of martyrdom.

When I encounter disturbing events, do I focus on the Lord or on the disturbance?  Whichever I choose determines my disposition or my attitude. If I choose to focus on the disturbance, my anxiety, my confusion, my anger mushrooms. If go to the Lord and share my concerns, my frustration—especially if I do so in writing and ask for the Lord’s feedback, also in writing, I will be comforted, strengthened, made whole, uplifted.  What is your choice?