Psalm Reflection: The Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle B

“I love you, Lord, my strength.” - Psalm 18

This Psalm is a favorite of mine, and it is the inspiration behind one of my all-time favorite worship songs, “I love you, Lord” by Matt Maher. I have played that song at countless retreats and events over the past fifteen years. Needless to say, I was surprised when I read the Psalm this week and none of those many memories came flooding back. Instead, the first thought I had was the line now famous Jack Nicholson’s character says in the move As Good As It Gets: “You make me want to be a better man.” I only recall seeing that movie once, and I remember thinking it was very weird and was one of those movies I watched with my parents that they seemed to understand and appreciate more than me (I was 10 when it was released). However, that line always stuck with me and many others as it has become an iconic piece of movie history.

Jack utters this line to Helen Hunt to tell her despite all of his previously awful ways, she has somehow made him strong and motivated enough to start doing the good things others have always told him to do, but with no success. God has led me out of a way of life that was once very self-focused and was not always concerned with doing what was right or good. When I finally had an experience that showed me how much God loves me despite my mistakes, it gave me the strength and the motivation to want to be a better man.

We can often limit ourselves and our idea of our worth by our mistakes and shortcomings. And yet God loves us as we are. Pope John Paul II put it this way when he said, “you are not the sum of your faults and failures, you are the sum of the Father’s love for you.” God has loved you passionately and has pursued you in both your best and your worst moments. He will continue to love you no matter what you do. Shouldn’t we be motivated to respond to a love so free and great? Shouldn’t that inspire us to be better, and to live up a little more to the love God so undeservedly pours out on each one of us?

When I think about who I was before my conversion, I know that the strength to change so dramatically could not have come from my own effort or willpower. God loves me so much that He thought I was worth dying for. God loves so much that He thought you were worth dying for. If someone gave their life to save mine, I could not simply go on with my life leaving that sacrifice unacknowledged. Such an act would radically effect me and the course of the rest of my life. If someone took a bullet for me, I would remember it forever, share the story with others, and would try to do all I could to make my life worthy of that sacrifice. Does the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross impact us in the same way? Does His love for us give us strength to be better and respond back to Him in love?

This week, I invite you to reflect back on the person you used to be, perhaps when you were the most troublesome or rebellious. Reflect on how God has led you from that person to who you are today. 

Are you grateful for that journey? 

Does it make you want to be even better? 

What do you need to do to more faithfully respond to that desire, and live up to being the person God has called you to be?

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

Matt