Blessings and Encouragement

In today's first reading, 2 Corinthians 1: 1-7, Paul greets the people of Corinth by saying: "[G]race and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."   That same greeting is given to us today wherever we are and whoever we are.  Also in  this passage, Paul proclaims that our God is a God "of all encouragement," a "Father of compassion," one  who "encourages us  in our every affliction, so that we may be able to encourage those who are in any affliction with the encouragement with which we ourselves are encouraged by God."

Here in this life you and I are an extension of God. We are blessed by God in order to be a blessing to others. We are encouraged by God in our suffering,  pain, and challenges of life in order that we, in turn, will encourage others as they encounter realities of this life that leave them baffled, confused, hurting or traumatized, not because God wills life's calamities but that, in them, we may seek the Lord, discover God's presence and rely on God's power to bring about our salvation.  

The psalmist, in today's responsorial psalm, invites us to "taste and see the goodness of the Lord."  With the psalmist, may we be able to say at the end of the day: "I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears."  May I also accept the invitation of the psalmist to "[l]ook to him [God] that...[I] may be radiant with joy, and ...[my face] may not blush with shame."    May I "glorify the Lord,...extol his name", and take "refuge" in the Lord" in every circumstance of life and especially in the difficult times.

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?