Saturday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time

November 7, 2020

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we pray again with Psalm 112, placed between two interestingly complementary readings.

Psalm 112 is basically a guide to what constitutes a happy life. The psalm tells us this:

Blessed and happy  is the one:

• who fears the LORD,
• who greatly delights in God’s commands.
• who is gracious and lends
• who conducts affairs with justice
• who gives to the poor

The psalmist tells us that this kind of humble, grateful generosity is its own reward.

Such a person

• shall have a posterity which is mighty upon the earth
• shall never be moved;
• shall be in everlasting remembrance
• shall be steadfast; shall not fear.
• shall be remembered for enduring generosity
• shall have a “horn” exalted in glory. ( “horn” = strength and power)

If we translate the biblical language here, what is Psalm 112 telling us.

This. True happiness comes from:

• loving God
• living within the law of love
• being just, merciful, and generous
• taking care of the vulnerable

Such happiness looks like this:

• others can look up to you, especially the young
• you stay faithful to goodness and righteousness 
• your faithfulness nourishes those who come after you
• you are strong and courageous 
• your generosity inspires generosity in others
• you are respected and loved for your goodness, even long after you’re gone

These are the kind of people Paul is depending on in our first reading to keep his ministry afloat. It sounds like he didn’t find too many of them, except finally in his Philippian community! Actually, under his eloquence, I think Paul sounds a little ticked off!😉

Jesus was looking for this kind of people too, but he certainly didn’t find them in the Pharisees of today’s Gospel. And Jesus let’s them have it in a dose of their own medicine. 

What does Jesus, who “knows our hearts”, find when he looks at us? Let’s pray Psalm 112 today asking for the grace to grow in true, generous, faith so we can look back at Jesus with deep peace and HAPPINESS!

Poem: The Work of Happiness by May Sarton

I thought of happiness, how it is woven
Out of the silence in the empty house each day
And how it is not sudden and it is not given
But is creation itself like the growth of a tree.
No one has seen it happen, but inside the bark
Another circle is growing in the expanding ring.
No one has heard the root go deeper in the dark,
But the tree is lifted by this inward work
And its plumes shine, and its leaves are glittering.

So happiness is woven out of the peace of hours
And strikes its roots deep in the house alone:
The old chest in the corner, cool waxed floors,
White curtains softly and continually blown
As the free air moves quietly about the room;
A shelf of books, a table, and the white-washed wall—
These are the dear familiar gods of home,
And here the work of faith can best be done,
The growing tree is green and musical.

For what is happiness but growth in peace,
The timeless sense of time when furniture
Has stood a life’s span in a single place,
And as the air moves, so the old dreams stir
The shining leaves of present happiness?
No one has heard thought or listened to a mind,
But where people have lived in inwardness
The air is charged with blessing and does bless;
Windows look out on mountains and the walls are kind.

Music: Psalm 112 – 4Him

We only get so many times
To ride around this sun
And so many times to see a full moon shine
When day is done if anything's worth doing
Then it's worth doing right

So I looked for wisdom on how to
Best live this brief life I have found
Blessed is he who fears the Lord
Who finds delight in His commands
Blessed is he who fears the Lord

Who finds delight in His commands
I guess that we all gamble on some
Truth to guide our days
And we trust that it will bring us joy and meaning
On the way

I've got friends who feel betrayed by all the things
They once believed
So with everything I've seen I've gotta say
It seems to me

Blessed is he who fears the Lord
Who finds delight in His commands
Blessed is he who fears the Lord
Who finds delight in His commands
Please hear this from a humble heart

But I feel like Exhibit A
In the evidence that God is good to those
Who live by faith, that's why I believe

Blessed is he who fears the Lord
Who finds delight in His commands
Blessed is he who fears the Lord
Who finds delight in His commands
He will not be shaken
He will have no fear
He will then remember