Food for Thought---III

The Psalms certainly contain food for thought as we navigate through the threat of the corona virus. Here are some possible helps:

Come back, Yahweh, rescue [our] soul[s] (Ps 6:4).
Our strength,come quickly to [our] help (Ps 22:19).
Rise, Yahweh, save [us, our] God (Ps 13: 7).
Our soul awaits Yahweh; he is our help and shield       (Ps 33:20).
Now, break your silence, Yahweh....Do not let them     say, 'Now we have got him down' (Ps 35:22).
Assign your Love and Faithfulness to guard [us] 
  (Ps 81:7.
Verily,God is our shelter, our strength, ever ready         to help in time of trouble (Ps 46: 1).
I rely on you, do  not let me be shamed (Ps 25:2).
Relieve the distress of [our] heart[s], free [us] from     [our] suffering. See [our] misery and pain 
   (Ps 25:17).
Up,wake up, come to [our] defense, Lord, [our]          God, side with [us] (Ps 35: 23).
See, Yahweh is a stronghold when times are hard.       Those who acknowledge your name can rely on         you. You never desert those who seek you,               Yahweh (Ps 9-10: 9-10

God Has No Favorites

In today's responsorial psalm, Psalm 62,we praise God, saying: "Lord, you give back to everyone according to his works."   In the first reading, Romans 2: 1-11, St. Paul reminds us that God has no favorites. Anyone who does evil will reap accordingly and those who do good, as well. Whether Greek (Gentiles) or Jews, whether rich or poor, whether persons who hold high offices or "low", whether this race or another, this nationality or another, whether black or white or any other color,  whether Native American, African American, Chinese or Japanese, Russian or European, Scottish or Danish, and so on:  God "will repay everyone according to his [her] works, eternal life to those who seek glory, honor and immortality through perseverance in good works, but wrath and fury to those who selfishly disobey the truth and obey wickedness."  No exceptions for anyone in any state of life or any nationality or any culture or any status!  To emphasize, St. Paul states: "Yes, affliction and distress will come upon everyone who does evil, Jew first and then Greek. But there will be glory , honor, and peace for everyone who does good. Jew first and then Greek. There is no partiality with God."

Oh, the mercy of our God so admirably revealed to us on the cross when Jesus said to the good thief, who rebuked the thief beside him who was mocking Jesus and asked Jesus to remember him when he got to His kingdom. "This day, Jesus said to him, you will be with me in paradise."  Because of God's mercy toward us, Jesus says the same thing to you and me when we acknowledge him as Savior and God and repent of our sinfulness: "This day you will be with me in paradise," not that we earned it but because Jesus secured it for us when he triumphed over sin and death through His resurrection from the dead.

Thank  you, my Lord and my God, "my rock and my salvation, my stronghold" (Psalm 62)!

Wake Up; Call upon God

In today's first reading, Jonah 1: 1-2: 2, 11, the Lord said to Jonah:  "Set out for the great city of Nineveh, and preach against it; their wickedness has come up before me."   The wickedness in today's world also comes up before God.  Is it possible, as in the case of Jonah who fled to Tarshish "away from the Lord,"  that many people today are also fleeing from God, doing whatever possible to escape following God's will to address the corruption, the deception, the wickedness of sin-laden humankind?  Is it possible that the turbulence in any part of the world--natural or man-made "storms" --are the result of our having abandoned God?   Do we need someone, as did Jonah, to confront us with the question: "What are you doing asleep? Rise up, call upon your God. Perhaps God will be mindful of us so that we may not perish"  in our wickedness!

With the psalmist, in today's responsorial psalm, we pray:

Out of [our] distress [we call] to the Lord, 
and he [answers us]; 
From the midst of the nether world [of corruption, deception, and violation of law and of people's rights  [we cry] out for help,
and you [hear our voices].for you cast [us] into the deep [of sin-infested behaviors], into the heart of the sea [of an abundance of lies and abuses of power],
and the flood [envelops us];
All your breakers and your billows
[pass over us].
Then I said, 'I am banished from your sight!
...When my soul fainted within me,
I remembered the Lord; 
[Our] prayer reached you...'"

Lord, God, have mercy upon us who have strayed from the path of righteousness, truth and justice in the search for wealth or an abundance of material things and pleasures of all kinds, especially pleasure at the expense of the innocent.  Forgive us, Lord, for wanting things our way instead of Your way and the way Jesus modeled for us!

God, Our Refuge in the Day of Distress

Today's first reading, Jeremiah 15: 10, 16-21, the prophet expresses his despair.  He is deeply depressed and expresses anger at his mother for giving him birth. He describes himself as "a man of strife and contention to all the land! I neither borrow nor lend, yet all curse me."  He can't figure out how this can be! "When I found your words," Jeremiah reminds God, "I devoured them; they became my joy and the happiness of my heart, because I bore your name, O Lord, God of hosts. I did not sit  celebrating in the circle of merrymakers; under the weight of your hand I sat alone because you filled me with indignation." God does not let Jeremiah off the hook.  "If you repent, so that I restore you, in my presence you shall stand. If you bring forth the precious without the vile, you shall be my mouthpiece. Then it shall be they who turn to you and you shall no turn to them.  And I shall make you toward this people a solid wall of  brass. Though they fight against you, they shall not prevail, for I am with you, to deliver and rescue you...I will free you from the hand of the wicked, and rescue you from the grasp of the violent."

What is true for Jeremiah is also true for us.  As God's mouthpiece, we need to stand up to evil. Doing so will not win us brownie points among others. In fact, as with Jeremiah, we may be cursed by others.  Devouring God's words, however, is not enough. We need to live a pure, holy life as well as stand up to evil, knowing that God is with us "to deliver and rescue" us!  God will free us, as He did Jeremiah, "from the hand of the wicked, and rescue [us] from the grasp of the violent," including the violence of Satan prowling the world, seeking someone to devour.

Remember, as we pray in today's responsorial psalm, Psalm 59, that "God is [our] refuge on the day of distress."