Psalm for Sunday, October 13, 2024

Reflections

Psalm 90: 12-13, 14-15, 16-17   (Read)

“Teach us to number our days aright, that we 
  may gain wisdom of heart."

The Psalm reminds us that man’s days are numbered, and that we should use our time wisely, making our days and our life count for something.  And how do we do that?  We do it by being open to the wisdom of God.  Just as Solomon preferred the gift of wisdom over material wealth (Wisdom 7:7-9), so too do we see the advantage of using our time wisely by doing the Lord's will.

Although we may never receive the wisdom 
of Solomon that this Sunday's first reading 
talks about, we can hope for some  ability to be 
detached from worldly things, which can separate 
us from God.

How do we do this?  Where does the ability come from, 
to cut through all our present day concerns?
It comes from the Word – “The Word of God is sharper
than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between 
soul and spirit, joints and marrow." (Hebrews 4:12)

Scripture teaches us that the Word will give us a 
correct view of life, and this will allow us to have
a right relationship with the Lord.  Having got that right, 
we may receive the favor of the Lord and be counted 
among his sheep.  As the Psalm says, “May the favor
of the Lord our God be ours.”

How much better will our lives be if we may sing for joy, 
as the psalmist says, and be filled at daybreak
with the love of the Lord.   And having received God’s 
favor, we will want to be His servants and do His work.  
We will become laborers in the field where the
harvest is plentiful.  And as the Psalm says, 
“The work of our hands will prosper.”

Amen

Discussion Questions for Reflection

1.  The Psalm speaks about using our time wisely.   Tell of how you set 
your priorities so that you are serving God and doing His will.

2.  Our psalmist talks of how we may gain 'wisdom of heart.'  Give an example of how you are receiving wisdom to discern a correct view of life so that you will not offend the Lord.

Psalm for Sunday, October 6, 2024

Reflections

Psalm 128: 1-2, 3, 4-5, 6  (Read)

“Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine
in the recesses of your home.”

Our psalmist tells us that a man who has
a right relationship with the Lord will also
obtain a right relationship with his wife and
his family.

And walking in the ways of the Lord will be
reflected in the way a man treats his wife.  
A man’s wife is after all, “bone of my bones,
flesh of my flesh.”  (Genesis 2:23)

As Christ nourishes the Church, so a man
cherishes his wife, and nourishes his relationship
with her.  And the man’s reward is that his wife
will be like a ‘fruitful vine’ within his house. 
This is how a man is blessed who fears the Lord.

If we have a right relationship with the Lord,
we will know how to treat our wives and our
children, and in turn, we will discover how blessed
we are in our home and by the presence of our
family.  “Just so will they be blessed
who fear the Lord.”

Having been so favored by God, we understand
why, “A man shall leave his father and mother and
be joined to his wife.”  God made them one flesh,
and, “What God has joined, no human being may
separate.” (Gospel, Mark 10:7-9)

If we fear the Lord and walk in His ways, we will
receive the blessings of our labor, prosper in a
material way, and grow old gracefully in the company
of our wife and children.

Amen


Discussion Questions for Reflection

1.  Our psalmist speaks of the benefits of a right relationship with the Lord. 
Tell of how fearing the Lord has led you to have a better relationship with your
spouse and your family members.

2.  The Psalm asks, "May the Lord bless us all the days of our lives."  Recall

how you have been blessed by God, both physically and spiritually, and how you have been inspired to walk in His ways.

Psalm for Sunday, September 29, 2024

Reflections

Psalm 19: 8, 10, 12-13, 14   (Read)

“The precepts of the Lord give joy 

to the heart.”

This Sunday's Psalm celebrates the Law of
the Lord, first given to Moses on Mt Sinai. 
But it also tells us what God’s Law reveals
about our Creator, and about the joy that is
stirred up in our hearts when we follow the
Lord’s commands.

If I am to imitate the divine life, everything
I need to know is found in God’s Law.  Our
psalmist David shows me that the Law of
Moses is an instruction manual for life.  
I learn that obeying the Law does not prevent
me from being happy or limit me in a negative way.  
Instead, obeying the Law brings much reward.
 
I am kept from willful sins by the Law.  Obey the Law
and I will not be controlled by sin and instead will be
able to walk as a God fearing person.  I may think
of statutes as something intended to control me or
restrict me.   But as our psalmist explains, the Law
of the Lord does the opposite – it is in fact a source
of joy, something to be desired.  This is so because
the Law gives me wisdom and provides me with
something I can trust.

“His ordinances are true, all of them just.”
Far more than a set of rules that I cannot hope to follow,
God’s commandments refresh my soul.  They give
‘wisdom to the simple,’ they are more 'desirable than
gold, sweeter also than honey.'

It is through the inspired Word of God that I know His
commandments and through this Psalm that I know
His Law is a source of refreshment, a source of joy.  
His statutes do not bind me, they set me free.

The reading of the Law should not make me sad, but
be a source of rejoicing.   Give me ears to hear!

Amen


Discussion Questions for Reflection

1.  Our Psalm Response this Sunday is, "The precepts of the Lord
give joy to the heart."   Do you believe that the Lord's commandments
can be a source of joy, instead of a set of rules and restrictions?   Explain.

2.  Our psalmist says that the 'decree of the Lord gives wisdom to the simple.' 
Describe how God's Law inspires you to celebrate God's perfection and helps
you to imitate the divine life.

Psalm for Sunday, September 22, 2024

 

Reflections

Psalm 54: 3-4, 5, 6, 8   (Read)

"O God, by your name save me." 

 

The psalm is a prayer sung by David at a time when 
he was being hunted by King Saul.  David was in 
great peril, threatened by the “ruthless.” He says, 
“The ruthless seek my life; they set not God before 
their eyes.”

I may not be threatened by King Saul and his troops,
but I am surely under threat by satan and his band 
of fallen angels.  And where does the threat come from?
Is it from outside?   Or is it from within?  
For all my proclamations of trust in God, I can sense
the wavering inside of me which besets us all.

Just as David turns to the Lord for protection, so too 
should I pray to the Lord to save me.  David prays, 
”O God, by your name save me.”  For me that name 
is the name of Jesus.  Where else would I turn for a 
shield in time of battle?   Or a sword in time of peril?
With Christ present as my helper, I can turn back the 
evil which lurks within my heart.

David writes about the 'haughty men' who have risen 
against him.   Am I one of them?  Am I one of those
described in this Sunday's first reading who resent
the just one? (Wisdom 2:12)   Am I part of the crowd
who condemn Jesus to a shameful death to test if He 
is truly the son of God?

Are jealousy and selfish ambition lurking within me,
causing disorder and every foul practice, as St James 
warns us in Sunday's second reading? (James 3:16)   
Am I like the disciples on that journey with Jesus through 
Galilee who were arguing about who is the greatest?

If so, then I too had better call upon the name above all 
names to save me, as David does.  I had better pray that 
I will approach God in proper humility and pray that I shall
'undertake to become the last of all and the servant 
of all.' (Gospel, Mark 9:35)

“God is my helper; the Lord sustains my life.”
I had better receive Him;
I had better gain His peace to quiet the battle within.
I had better keep my eyes fixed on the Cross;
I had better be open to rescue and redemption.

Amen


Discussion Questions for Reflection

1.  Our psalmist is fighting against forces that threaten him; he says, 
"The ruthless seek my life."   Are you aware of powerful forces, external 
or internal, that put your faith in jeopardy?   Explain.

2.  The Psalm says, "The Lord upholds my life."  Speak of how your life 
is sustained by the Lord when you are under threat physically or spiritually.

Psalm for Sunday, September 15, 2024

 

Reflections

Psalm 116:  1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9   (Read)

“He has freed my soul from death."





It is said that Jesus called out this prayer 
on the night He was betrayed, and went 
to His death with these words on His lips.

The psalm is a simple prayer of thanks to 
God that the psalmist might have used after 
escape from the “snares of the netherworld,” 
as he called upon God, “O Lord save my life!”

But unlike the psalmist, our Savior does not 
ask to escape death; instead He begins to
teach the disciples that the Son of Man must 
suffer greatly and be killed.  Jesus summons 
the crowd and begins to preach on the redemptive
value of His death, saying that 'whoever loses his 
life for my sake will save it.' (Gospel, Mark 8: 31-35)

Having become the prayer of Our Lord on the night 
of his Passion, the Psalm says to us believers that 
there is hope, that we too will “walk before the Lord
in the land of the living.”

In Sunday's first reading, the prophet Isaiah reminds 
us that the suffering servant is not disgraced, is not 
put to shame. (Isaiah 50:7)   It is that same spirit of 
defiance in the face of death that empowers the 
suffering servant to set his face like flint, knowing
that the Lord God is his help.

Because we are little and “brought low,” we depend 
on our God to “incline His ear” to us when we call.  
We cannot raise up ourselves; we are at the mercy 
of God's grace.  We cannot become divine, and 
therefore God in His love for us became like us
and inclined Himself to our humanity

For this we are grateful, and we join with the 
psalmist who celebrates as we do, “For the Lord 
has freed my soul from death.”

Amen


Discussion Questions for Reflection

1.  Our psalmist says that the "Lord has freed my soul from death."  Speak about how the Lord has worked in your life to give you hope that you are saved and raised you up away from the "cords of death."

2.  The Psalm says, "The Lord keeps the little ones."  Are you one of His 'little ones?'  Explain how by humbling yourself you have a better chance of being pleasing in the eyes of God.

Psalm for Sunday, September 8, 2024

 

Reflections

Psalm 146: 6-7, 8-9, 9-10  (Read)

“The Lord raises up those who were bowed down.”

 
Our psalmist is singing about God's 
promises to the oppressed, the hungry, 
the prisoner, the blind, and those of us 
who are bowed down in one way or another.

We could all benefit by being set free in the Spirit or healed so that we are no longer blinded.   Then we too would no longer be lame, but would be able to “leap like a stag,” as the prophet Isaiah foresees in this Sunday's first reading.  (Isaiah 35:5-6)

The Psalm is telling me that I really need 
to humble myself if I want to be raised up 
with Jesus.  That may be hard to do if it 
means I have to swallow my pride and put 
aside worldly concerns.   But if I truly want 
to be set free from the sins that bind me, 
then I need to repent and bow down before 
the Lord, accept my brokenness, and seek 
his grace.  Only then will I begin 
to have a right relationship with the Lord.

And where do I turn to be lifted up and made whole again?  
I turn to the Lord.  Where else are the promises of our God 
fulfilled but in the healing ministry of Jesus, as this Sunday's 
Gospel tells me.  (Mark 7:31-37)   Who else has the grace 
and the mercy to heal me?

Christ carries out the promises of the Psalm – He sets us 
captives free and gives sight to us so we can truly see. 
The Lord raises me up when I am down – He sustains me – 
with real food and drink.

So I can pray this Psalm, not only in honor of the heavenly Father,
but also in honor of Christ Jesus, whom God exalted.  
“The Lord shall reign forever, through all generations.”

Amen


Discussion Questions for Reflection

1.  Our psalmist says, "The Lord sets captives free."   In what ways are you captive, and how has the Lord set you free?

2.  The Psalm proclaims, "The Lord gives sight to the blind."  In what areas of your life were you not able to see things clearly, and give an example of how the Lord has enabled you to regain your sight.

Psalm for Sunday, September 1, 2024

Reflections

Psalm 15: 2-3, 3-4, 4-5  (Read)

“The one who does justice 
will live in the presence of the Lord.”

Just as Moses tells the Israelites 
how to take possession of the 

promised land (Deuteronomy 4:1), 
so our psalmist tells us how 
we may climb the holy mountain of God 
and live in the presence of the Lord.  

The way forward is twofold -- 
love neighbor, and love God.   
If I truly love the Lord, 
then my heart will not be far from Him.    
If I love the Lord, He will remain in me;
how else would I expect my heart 
to remain pure?   
When my heart is pure, 
I do no harm to my fellow man; 
and I think the truth in my heart.  

St. James tells us to be doers 
of the word (James 1: 22, 27);  
we are to keep ourselves  
unstained by the world.   
And Jesus reminds us 
in the Gospel (Mark 7:15, 20-23)

that it all starts from inside; 

it is from within our hearts 

that evil thoughts reside.  
The things that come out from within 
are what defile us.

So if I am right with the Lord 
and my heart is close to Him, 
then I will not slander with my tongue 
nor take up a reproach against  
my neighbor.   Nor will I do harm 
economically to my neighbor.   
If I do these things, as our psalmist says, 
I shall never be disturbed, 
and I will live in the presence of the Lord.

Amen

 

Discussion Questions for Reflection

1.   Our psalmist says whoever thinks the truth in his heart 
will live in the presence of the Lord.   How do you go about 
preparing your heart so that you are able to receive the Lord?

2.  The verses of the Psalm remind us not to slander, 
nor to blame our neighbor, nor to harm our fellow man, 
nor to hurt him economically.   Explain how being a doer 
of the word is inspired by your love of the Lord.