The
psalm we hear today is not actually from the book of psalms at all. It
contains verses from the 12th chapter of the book of the prophet
Isaiah. Sometimes
we don’t know what words to say in our prayers, do we? We
have emotions, feelings, and thoughts that are difficult to put into words. Thus,
the words we hear from the psalms, from the prophets, and from the other books
of the Bible help us express our feelings to the Lord. We
have heard in a few different places in the Gospels the disciples asking Jesus
how to pray. In
the words of Isaiah, we hear from someone who places his trust in the Lord, as
he says: “I am confident and unafraid, my strength and my courage is in the
Lord…. With joy, you draw water at the fountain of salvation.” Even
in the midst of our fears, our doubts, our frustration, and our confusion, we
are called to turn to the Lord for strength, for consolation, and for
courage. That
is not always an easy thing to do, but the more we do it, the easier it will
become. Pope
Francis has said that a life of action and a life infused with faith must
always be rooted in prayer. He states:
“Listen well: ‘Evangelization is done on one’s knees.’ Without a constant relationship with God, the
mission becomes a job…. No. It is not a
job, but rather something else. The risk
of activism, of relying too much on structures, is an ever-present danger. If we look toward Jesus, we see that prior to
any important decision or event he recollected himself in intense and prolonged
prayer. Let us cultivate the contemplative dimension, even amid the whirlwind
of more urgent and heavy duties." To those words of Pope Francis, I say: AMEN.
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