“Repeat After Me…”

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kind, mantra, merciful, Psalm 103, The Lord is kind and merciful, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Every day there is in the daily lectionary a selection of readings. It usually includes a prayer from the Book of Psalms and the format is verse, response…verse response…the verse being read by a lector and the response by the gathered community. That response is the same throughout the prayer. Today, for example, the verse is a section of Psalm 103 and the response is: The Lord is kind and merciful. It goes like this:

R. The Lord is kind and merciful.

The Lord secures justice and the rights of the oppressed. He has made known his ways to Moses and his deeds to the children of Israel.

R. The Lord is kind and merciful.

Merciful and gracious is the Lord, slow to anger and abounding in kindness. He will not always chide, nor does he keep his wrath forever.

R. The Lord is kind and merciful. (et cetera)

Sometimes the refrain is so strong in meaning that it stays with me all day. Today, I am certain, will be one of those days. It is not difficult for me to believe that God is kind and merciful, but keeping that in mind throughout the day – and all days – is sometimes a challenge to my memory. If it becomes a mantra, repeated like a heartbeat, it will take its place in my heart and rest there bringing great peace. It is a simple (but not easy) practice that I would recommend to anyone. Why not try it?

The Prophet, the Poet and the Pope

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baby, care, compassion, forgiveness, Isaiah, Jesus, love, mercy, mother, motherly tenderness, Pope Francis, Psalm 145, tenderness, The Lord is kind and merciful, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

As I sit in my rocking chair this morning before dawn, I hear inside me the refrain from Psalm 145, often sung in our Liturgy of the Word: The Lord is kind and merciful; the Lord is kind and merciful. Isaiah has already prepared me for the sense of peace that washes over me as I rock to the tune. He asks, Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? (IS 49:15) I picture my mother rocking my brother to sleep while crooning such tender words, just as Isaiah has conjectured the care of God for each of us. The Lord is kind and merciful… One translation of verses 17-18 of the psalm praises God saying: You open your arms of love to us and the longing of each soul is deeply satisfied. Your paths run straight to every creature ever made. Your compassion fills up everything you do. I marvel at the sheer poetry of the psalmist’s message and again I hear: The Lord is kind and merciful…

Pope Francis reminds us that Jesus images perfectly these qualities of God’s mercy and kindness and calls us often to do the same. In a general audience on March 27, 2013 he said it this way: What does being a Christian mean? What does following Jesus on his journey to Calvary on his way to the cross and the resurrection mean?…He spoke to all without distinction: the great and the lowly, the rich young man and the poor widow, the powerful and the weak; he brought God’s mercy and forgiveness; he healed, he comforted, he understood; he gave hope; he brought all to the presence of God who cares for every man and every woman, just as a good father and a good mother care for each of their children. God does not wait for us to go to him but it is God who moves toward us, without calculation, without quantification. That is what God is like.

Today I am thankful for Isaiah, the psalmist and Pope Francis for bringing me to a place of peace, a remembrance of motherly tenderness and an assurance of God’s all-giving and forgiving mercy. What more can I ask of this day but to spread the word that, indeed, the Lord is kind and merciful.