Holding On

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faith, Flood, heart of the world, helplessness, hope, injustice, love, Peace, Pope Francis, psalm 69, sacrifice of praise, shooting, silence, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, violence, wars

Today I wake to a sense of the paradox of life. Still energized by the visit of Pope Francis and a 2-day gathering full of hope this week for generations younger than mine, I am nearly crushed by the latest random, senseless shooting of college students in our country and futile wars around the world. I can no longer live in one reality or the other but have come to know the necessity of bearing both sides (or rather all sides!) of this chaotic era at once. How does one hold all this? Having gone the route of protest and demonstrations in my younger life, I now find the necessity of silence and the spiritual practice of connection with peace and love at the heart of the world to be my contribution. We all need to find our place in seeking solutions to violence and injustice. It is helpful for me to read the words of the psalmist who, at the beginning of Psalm 69, seeks the face of God in symbolic flood waters threatening to drown him. Save me, O God, I cry, I’m in deep waters over my head and sinking fast. My feet are mired; there’s no firm ground for me, no place on which to stand…These words give voice to the feeling of helplessness in the face of great evil and destruction. But faith will not allow the drowning to occur. Here is the section of the psalm that appears today and calls me to return to the trust that God will not abandon us.

In my affliction I know nothing now but deepest pain, my only hope, that you will lift us from this miry clay. I raise your name in this my final song to you. I offer up my words, a sacrifice of praise…And all afflicted ones in life will hear my song and finding strength, will seek you, God, with all their hearts and live. For your own ears are always tuned and turned to needy ones. You never spurn or cast away those bound in chains. So let everything in heaven and on earth offer up their praise, for God rebuilds their walls; their land is freely given back in full. And even children of the lowly ones who trust your name find lodging safe and home secure at last in you.

Zeal for God’s House

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crucifixion, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., God's house, Holy Week, Isaiah, Jesus, prophecy, prophets, psalm 69, zeal

In today’s first reading (Isaiah 50) the prophet speaks of all the suffering he has been willing to undergo in his vocation of prophecy. From “buffets and spitting” to violent death he is called to endure whatever comes from those who refuse the messages he [or she] is compelled to offer in the service of truth, the word of God. We know this from the prophets of our own time, mindful of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as we just remembered the 50th anniversary of the Selma March. Jesus spoke the word of God in his very being and today Psalm 69 speaks of his motivation as he continues the journey toward crucifixion. It says: I have become an outcast to my brothers, a stranger to my mother’s sons, because zeal for your house consumes me.

The word zeal (from the Greek zelos) speaks loudly to me. It has many meanings. Among them are: passion, ardor, love, fervor, fire, avidity, devotion, enthusiasm, eagerness, keenness, gusto, vigor and intensity. Today I will carry it with me in all of its iterations, pondering the level of my zeal for “God’s house” and joining myself to the mind of Jesus as I move deeper into the experience of this Holy Week.