Reflections
“Turn toward me, and have pity on me,
give your strength to your servant.”
We pray, as does our psalmist David,
for the Lord to attend to the 'sound of
our pleading.' We take refuge in the same
heavenly Father that Christ did. Even
when we are far away, the Lord has pity
on us. Even though we forget Him, He
does not forget us. He searches our hearts;
He gathers us into His mansion
at the end of the age.
He empowers us to fight a good fight.
God saves us from our enemies, and also
from ourselves. All we have to do is
open our hearts to Him and do His will
by striving to be saved. For God gives
His children good ground for hope, and
He permits repentance for their sins.
(Wisdom 12:19, 1st reading)
Our Psalmist never stops asking,
and He is rightly sure,
that God could never stop giving.
God could scarcely resist our prayers.
Even though we do not know how to pray
as we ought, as St Paul says, the Holy Spirit
Himself intercedes with inexpressible
groanings. (Romans 8:26, 2nd reading)
The Lord is present to us;
He listens; He pardons; He saves.
God's goodness overwhelms us.
Even nonbelievers will come to worship
God and glorify His name.
Amen
Discussion Questions for Reflection
1. Our psalmist is overwhelmed with the goodness of our merciful Lord.
Give an example of how God has attended to the sound of your pleading
and done a wondrous deed in your life.
2. The Psalm is a prayer that God will strengthen and empower His servant.
2. The Psalm is a prayer that God will strengthen and empower His servant.
Speak of how the Lord has empowered you to do His will.
These questions for reflection remind me that I really should keep a prayer journal to track my petitions, my heart's growth, and best of all, the Lord's answers for my life.
ReplyDeleteI know that God's wondrous hands on my life are evident at every turn. I have had seasons of pleading with Him, sobbing on my knees while trying to pray the rosary. Usually, it involves one of my children. For example, I remember when my daughter was a senior in high school, applying to colleges. Simultaneously, she was auditioning for professional ballet programs. Up to that point in our lives, the Lord had blessed her body with physical stamina and grace on stage. His light could be seen as she delighted audiences. However, He did not open the right doors for her to pursue it further. He opened some windows, but not grand doors.
Her academic scene was somewhat similar -- Ivy-League doors remained closed while some smaller doors to a conventional education were opened. I felt the same loss and dashing of dreams that she did. We pleaded with the Lord to set us on the right path.
Part of the Lord's mercy was allowing her to take a semester off, before diving into college full-time; it was a time of physical, mental, and emotional healing. Another part of the Lord's mercy has been guiding her academics towards law.
I, along with my child, cannot wait to witness the unveiling of the rest of the Lord's plans. How will her dance background come back into play? Will it help her stand out from the crowd of law school hopefuls? Will she someday work in entertainment law? Would we be sad if it never figured prominently again... despite all those years of sacrifice?
In the age of COVID-19, we often discuss what would have happened if the Lord hadn't guided her away from the dance world when He did. Today, she might have been stuck without a job, and without an education either. (Our hearts ache as one beautiful ballet company or dance troupe after another, announces layoffs and even bankruptcies.)
Surely, Jesus has interceded for us and there is no misstep when we follow His illumined path... no matter how lonely or wrong it might seem at first.
One foot in front of the other with Him by our side is the safest place to be.