Reflections
“I was hard pressed and was falling,
but the Lord came to my help.”
Once again we visit this powerful psalm of praise
and thanksgiving. This time the verses stress
the enduring love that God has for us – so much so
that despite the part we played in crucifying His son,
God went ahead and carried out His plan to save us.
“God’s mercy endures forever.”
“I was hard pressed and falling, but the Lord came
to my help.” This verse could be about us. Are we
any different from our psalmist, any less desperate
or in need of the Lord's healing power and presence
in our lives?
“My strength and my courage is the Lord.” He is
present to us, just as He was in those early days of the
church described in today's 1st reading (Acts 2: 42-47),
and in the Gospel (John 20: 19-31). We may not have
the awesome experience of physically putting our hand
in the Lord’s side and our fingers into the nail marks
on His hand, but He is with us.
We are victorious over death. The Lord’s deliverance
is cause for joy. Just when we were down, the Lord raises
us up. “I was hard pressed and falling, but the Lord has
been my Savior.” The joyful shout of victory is heard.
We are on firm ground after all – Christ has become our
cornerstone, as our psalmist reminds us. Christ has become
a source of strength for us, despite His apparent weakness
that day on the cross, when He died a shameful death.
The Lord is present to us when we are frightened as He
was present to those frightened disciples in the upper room.
Who would have been more hard pressed and falling
than they were before Jesus appeared to them and blessed
them and extended His peace to them? That same source of
strength and might the psalmist speaks of is available to us;
all we have to do is open our hearts and receive His saving grace.
As Peter tells us in today's 2nd reading (1 Peter 1: 3-9), Christ’s
resurrection gives us a living hope and a powerful faith. This is
cause for rejoicing: “By the Lord has this been done; it is
wonderful in our eyes. This is the day the Lord has made.”
Along with the disciples and the early church, “Let us be glad
and rejoice in it.”
Amen
Discussion Questions for Reflection
1. Our psalmist was 'hard pressed and falling,' but affirms that the Lord has been
his savior. Describe how you have been saved by the Lord and given strength and
courage by Him.
2. The Psalm declares, "The joyful shout of victory is heard." Speak of what makes
2. The Psalm declares, "The joyful shout of victory is heard." Speak of what makes
you joyful during this Easter season, and tell of how you have shouted and rejoiced
in the Lord's resurrection.
We have just celebrated Easter! "He is not here; he has risen, just as he said..." (Matthew 28:6) Sometimes, I find myself searching for Jesus, in places he does not dwell. I am stuck in the pain and sadness of Good Friday. (Of course we need the crucifixion to have happened in order to be redeemed.)
ReplyDeleteThe homily I heard at dawn Mass, Easter Sunday, was profound. The priest had been in the Holy Land recently, in hopeful expectation of tearful, moving encounters with the Lord in the very places he had physically walked and laid his head. Other Christian pilgrims were expressing their life-changing moments whilst visiting the Holy Sites. The priest was privately saddened to feel an emptiness in his heart - no tears or overwhelming awe, even when visiting the tomb of Jesus.
The priests asked the Lord why? Where was he ? Why was he withdrawing from him? The Lord spoke to his heart in an amazing way. The message was: I am not there in the tomb. Or in the cave at Bethlehem. Now, I am fully present at the altar. That is where you will find me -- very much alive!" The congregation's astonishment was palpable. The priest emphasized that at every Mass we celebrate the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ by receiving him wholly in the Eucharist - the real flesh and blood of Jesus.
After a mediocre Lenten journey, the Lord found me Easter morning. The Psalmist writes,"I was pushed hard, so that I was falling, but the Lord helped me. The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation." (V. 13-14) I have been saved by the Lord... yet again. Like the frightened apostles after the Resurrection, I have been a little lost; but his mercy falls afresh on me and I am given new strength and courage each day. Divine mercy, indeed!