Reflections
“Praise
the Lord all you nations;
extol
Him all you peoples!”
This
Sunday we sing this briefest
of Psalms that
inspires us to rise up
and praise the
God of Israel, and
having done so, to
go out to all the
world and tell the Good News.
Just
as Isaiah prophesies in Sunday's
first reading, God
reaches out to us
no
matter what our language, no
matter we
live in the distant coastlands,
no matter we
have never heard of God
or seen His glory. Isaiah
says it this way,
“I shall send survivors to
distant coastlands
and they shall proclaim my
glory among
the nations.” (Isaiah 66:18-19)
And
St Paul cites this psalm in Romans
Chapter 15 when he
exhorts the faithful
to minister to the Gentiles. (Romans 15:11)
We
too are called to reach out to those
who are distant
from us spiritually, even
though they may not be
distant physically,
some of whom may even be
within
our midst.
And
what inspires us to proclaim the
Good News? It
is as our psalmist says,
“God's love for us is strong;
His
faithfulness is forever.”
Amen
Discussion Questions for Reflection
1. Our Psalmist is inspired by the power of God's love. Speak of how God's love
1. Our Psalmist is inspired by the power of God's love. Speak of how God's love
and mercy have done a work in your life.
2. The Psalm prompts us to witness to those who may be distant from us spiritually.
Give an example of how you proclaim the Good News to those who may not know God.
2. The Psalm prompts us to witness to those who may be distant from us spiritually.
Give an example of how you proclaim the Good News to those who may not know God.
This psalm celebrates the attributes of God: his mercy and his truth.
ReplyDeleteIn the gospel, those celebrated attributes of God shine most brightly; therefore each one of us should glorify God (Rom. 15:8, Rom. 15:9 ), for the truth of God and for his mercy.
For the power of his mercy: His merciful kindness is great towards us and for the working out of a mighty salvation.
For the perpetuity of his truth: The truth of the Lord endures for ever.
God’s mercy is the fountain of all our comforts and his truth the foundation of all our hopes, and therefore for both we must praise the Lord.
In psalm 117 the psalmist tells us we should praise God for His great love and faithfulness toward us. We have a reason to praise God's glorious name because God's salvation is for all people, not only just for Jews.
ReplyDeleteHow can I praise Him? With a grateful, sincere heart I
lift up my hand. He pours clean water on me. He washes away my sins. He gives me a new heart and puts His spirit within me. That's why I am praising God always.
Sometimes, those who are spiritually distant from us are those with whom we live or those on our "close friends and family" list. I am not always sure of the best way to preach His message to such people who are physically close to me.
ReplyDeleteIn the secular sense, it's so easy to spread the good news of a wonderful sale at a favorite department store (i.e. Saks Fifth Ave "Friends and Family Day.") But a topic as important as eternal salvation easily gets shoved to the back burner for another day or a more appropriate moment. How tragically ridiculous!
I can throw in Biblical references in my speech or weave in spiritual comments to my daily texts. However, I find that people can become numb to such actions.
Perhaps the best way to preach the message of Jesus is to live it. I try to model it in my reactions to negative circumstances and I pray... thanking God, in advance, for His favor and mercy on me everyday.
If I am living and loving differently, I hope it speaks volumes to those who don't quite know God the way that I do. (Even if they go to Mass and say they're Christian.)
And finally, as the image shows, a person in prayer or worship with uplifted hands is a powerful sight. We can't help but move our bodies into a posture that literally indicates that we are below and the Lord is above. We are little and He is bigger than we can imagine. We surrender to His overwhelming goodness.