Psalm Reflection: The Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle B

“The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.” - Psalm 126

Do you have a resumé? 

What is on it? 

I remember the first time I had to put together a resumé being very difficult. I felt like I had a lot of skills, but I had not yet had many formal jobs, and no relevant extracurriculars in high school. I found myself looking up creative ways to make my skills sound more formal, appealing and attractive to prospective employers. I was trying to market myself, to sell myself to them ,and trying to convince people of my worth and value through a piece of paper.

Often, our sense of joy, purpose, contentment and peace is attached to what we do and the things we accomplish. We think that if we have a noteworthy title and salary, or a full resumé, it is a sign that we are doing well in life. The problem is that those things don’t make up happy in any lasting way. Once we get them, we just want more. More zeroes on our paycheck, less managers above us and more subordinates below us. More, more, more.

These things do not satisfy us because all of them are not actually ours to begin with. We did not earn them or receive them on our own or by our own power. Every single one of the bullet points on our resumé was given to us by God, either directly or through us using the gifts and talents He gave us. As the Psalmist says, He has done great things for us. We cannot claim ownership of any of it, and instead of hyper focusing on those things as the source of our happiness, we should rather look to the source of those things for our happiness. When we stop participating in the rat race that makes us chase after more, and instead recognize how much God has given us, we will be filled with gratitude and joy.

We are conditioned by society to always be improving, marketing, and optimizing ourselves. Look at Instagram: there are no longer users, but influencers, content creators, and brand ambassadors. This way of life can make us forget who we are, what matters most, and what will make us happy. Or, even worse, it can make us try and become someone else. 

Do our jobs, our resumés, and our possessions own us, or do we recognize we only “own” them because they have been given to us by God? Either way, when we all inevitably die, we will not be able to take any of it with us. I don’t know about you, but I would rather leave behind a legacy that inspires others to faith, joy, fulfillment, and gratitude, rather than a long, impressive resumé that no one will ever read after my eulogy.

So, take some time today to reflect on the things in your life right now, and ask where you might be putting too much hope for your own happiness. A simple way of doing this is to look at the resumé of your current life, look at each item and ask, “what if I completely lost this thing today?” If you feel a sense of panic, devastation, or an identity crisis in response to that question, then you may be too attached to that thing that prompted it. Trust that the Lord will always provide, and be grateful that He has already provided abundantly for you in your life. Say a simple prayer of thanksgiving for everything in your life right now: for the good things He has given you, and even for the bad things, because He will use them to bring greater goods in your life.

Life is a gift, and the Giver is good. We are the clay, not the potter, so let Him mold you and your life into the work of art He created you to be, not to glorify yourself, but for His glory.

I am praying for you, please pray for me, and I will see you in the Eucharist.

Matt