"Forget Not God's Benefits" (Ps. 103)

In today’s responsorial psalm, Ps. 103, we bless the Lord and are asked not to “forget…all his benefits.” God “pardons all  [our] iniquities,…heals all [our]  ills. [God] redeems [our lives] from destruction,…crowns [us] with kindness and compassion….For as the heavens are high above the earth, so surpassing is [God’s] kindness toward those who fear [reverence] him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has [God] put our transgressions from us.”

Wow! There is no God as great as our God! None! As we pray in Psalm 97: “…all gods bow down before [the true God].”  The author of Psalm 97 also prays:

“O God, you reign! Let the earth rejoice;

 let the many coastlands be glad!

Clouds and thick darkness

are round about you;

Righteousness and justice

are the foundation of your throne.

Fire goes before you

consuming your foes.

Your lightning illumines the world;

the earth sees and trembles.

The mountains melt like wax before you,

before the God of all the earth.

The heavens proclaim your justice

 and all the nations behold your glory.

All idol worshipers are put to shame,

who boast in worthless idols….”

What consolation Psalm 97 and today’s responsorial psalm (103) give us.  All who worship “worthless idols” will be put to shame!  Idolaters will not triumph. Evil will not survive. God does—God’s will cannot be thwarted, that is, His will to bring about our redemption as we learn obedience from what we suffer, as did Jesus, our Savior.  Those who worship God, serve God, and become one with God’s way of thinking, loving, being in this world will not be put to shame!   We have died and rose with Christ in our baptism and continue living the Paschal  Mystery every day through the power of the Spirit at work within us who believe and live by faith!