Friday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time
November 20, 2020
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we pray once again with our longest Psalm 119.
This morning, we take one little morsel from its long string of reflections :
The word “promise” can evoke a range of responses from us. Indeed, they are sweet as the psalmist says. But they can also be elusive, ephemeral, and easily broken. I know I’ve have made a few promises in my lifetime that have fizzled away unfulfilled. Haven’t you?
On the other hand, there are some promises, kept, that have rooted and defined my life. These, made in the bud, have blossomed in a long, tendered fidelity. They have dug the deep roots of trust for the essential relationships of my life with God, beloved neighbor, and all Creation.
Such vital promises can be made and kept when we act in the image of God, the loving and faithful Promiser described in Psalm 119:
Your word, LORD, stands forever;
Psalm 119: 89 – 90
it is firm as the heavens.
Through all generations your truth endures;
fixed to stand firm like the earth.
Like the psalmist, we pray:
- to be imitators of God who is always faithful.
- to be promise-keepers in response to the trust God has placed in us by the gift of our creation.
- to meditate on, and understand in our hearts, the divine order of God’s immutable Law of Love
Poetry: Psalm 119 – Christine Robinson
Dear God, The seed of your love is deep within
every molecule of the universe, and it abides through time.
The laws of the cosmos serve your purpose to the end.
If I remember this, I can abide all manner of trouble.
If I delight in this, it gives me life.
I belong to you to my very core.
Holding firm to that knowledge, I can live my life in love.
All things will come to and end.
And in the end all will be One
My mind is filled with your Way
Making me wise like a teacher or an elder.
Mastering my life in your way gives me purpose.
Many times I use it to guide my steps.
My mouth waters and my heart softens to consider your Way.
Music: God Hath Not Promised – Annie Johnson Flint
This charming 19th century hymn captures the faithful spirit of it composer whose life, though beset by suffering, radiated faith and joy.
Lavish Mercy 