
7:00AM: I am sitting in our living room where all is quiet. In the silence a song begins to play in my mind, once again from the St. Louis Jesuits. Over and over, just the refrain. Over and over I hear: Only in God will my soul be at rest…from him comes my hope, my salvation. He alone is my rock of safety, my strength, my glory, my God. “Why those words?” I ask and then another question: “What is my role here now?”
Lots of people are asking questions like that these days, I think. Over 200,000 people have died in our country over the past six months. Why would that question not rise up at some point? So I go to the lectionary readings for a clue and find more questions than answers.
- (ECCL 3:1-11): There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for everything under heaven…
- PS 144: Blessed is the Lord, my rock, my mercy and my fortress, my stronghold, my salvation, my shield in whom I trust…
- (LK 0:18-22): Once when Jesus was praying, he asked them (his disciples) “Who do the crowds say that I am?”…”Who do you say that I am?”
Questions and answers – oblique though they may be – then more questions…As I read again the three readings for the day, the gospel acclamation catches my eye and everything comes together in this one short statement: The Son of Man came to serve. (MK 10:45) And so it is with me.