Today's reading from the book of Wisdom explains to us how the wicked often lie in wait for the righteous one, wanting to destroy the righteous man because he is inconvenient and opposes their actions, how the righteous one recognizes the sins of the wicked, how this threatens them. These are the forces of darkness that were at work in the world described by the book of Wisdom, the forces of darkness that tried to destroy Jesus in our Gospel reading, the forces of darkness that tried to entrap him wherever he traveled in his ministry in Ancient Israel.
However, our psalmist assures us today: The Lord is close to the brokenhearted. The Lord confronts the evildoers. He hears the just cry out to him. We might look out at our world today and see a lot to cry out about. We see acts of violence in our community, acts of terrorism and war in the world, people attacking others with their words and actions. Perhaps we are broken hearted at seeing all that is going on in our world today, in the struggles we are enduring in our own lives, for our inability to let go of our past hurts and brokenness. The Lord tells us to remember that in the middle of our Lenten journey, he is close to the brokenhearted and the crushed in spirit. The Lord's mercy and compassion is always with us. We, in turn, are to be a healing presence in the world, the presence of the Gospel values. The world is definitely in need of such a presence.
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