23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
R. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
Written by Fr. Kyle Sanders
As human beings we’ve been given the gift to peer into eternity. Because of our intellect and imagination, we can create in our minds an infinite number of possibilities. Novelists and four year olds alike have created whole fictional worlds. Despite this god-like quality, how often, especially when we are in pain, can we be incredibly short sighted?
Think of when we stub our toe, every other thing in the world disappears, including our propriety. We say things we don’t normally say, or we dance more than we would when we’re three drinks in a wedding reception. I know this is an extreme example, but I use it to prove a point. When we are suffering, we tend to forget all but the suffering itself. We forget God’s goodness to us, His mercy, His love, the countless times He’s been there with us, and we find ourselves crying out with the Psalmist, “Return, O Lord! How long? Have pity on your servants!” When not a few days before and a few verses before we were singing, “In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.” We turn in on our pain and we forget.
This is why I love the psalms, because they so often teach us how to pray when we are in darkness, when it’s difficult to even generate the cry, “Return, O Lord!” They fill our mouths and direct our hearts out of the darkness and into the light of truth. God knows this suffering we are in is fleeting. It too shall pass just as grass springs up in the morning and by evening it withers and fades. He shows that, although today may be suffering, or this week, or this year, joy comes in the morning (to paraphrase the psalm and to quote Jesus Culture).
So, let this psalm speak when you can’t. Can you let it sing in your ears when suffering seems to be the only thing because “In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge?”
Fr. Kyle Sanders, a priest of 10 years, is pastor of Holy Family Parish in Franklinton, LA, a small country parish, and he wishes he could emulate the country priests written by Bernanos and Chesterton. He has served in music ministry, youth ministry, and catechesis throughout his priesthood. He looks like a hobbit, and does on occasion delight in excess that is second breakfast.
Pray with today’s psalm.