Sunday is a day of blessing – the blessing!
It’s the day to celebrate that we are made new. A day to start over.
Strange to think then that we made this gift an obligation; why would one do that?
This Sunday, when we gather, we will have some poetry put before us as usual.
We probably don’t think of the responsorial psalm that way – but what else is it?
We’ll have a portion of an incredibly old poem, written by some anonymous mystic who had a handle on the ways of God.
And it is our privilege to let the images pour over us, to see what is there in our wonderful, ordinary life that resonates with these remarkable words:
“Mercy and faithfulness have met;
justice and peace have embraced.
Faithfulness shall spring from the earth
and justice look down from heaven.”
Our poet personifies some divine attributes and marvels at what it is to live in a graced world, the one intended by God, the source of all that is.
This person had never heard of Jesus, yet with his (or her) poetic imagination and spiritual intuition paints a picture of what unfolds in Jesus.
In his every word, his every move, we see who God is and what he offers us: The meeting of mercy and faithfulness, of justice and peace!
Today as he sends us out, Jesus says: “Take nothing with you!”
Could today be the day when I try again to trust my God completely?
Sean Goan
