Psalm Reflection: The Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle C

“In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.” - Psalm 90

In every age, God is faithful.

Every eon.

Every era.

Every millennia.

Every century.

Every decade.

Every year.

Every season.

Every month.

Every week.

Every day.

Every hour.

Every minute.

Every second.

In every moment of our lives, in every moment of history since the very beginning, God has been faithful. 

He has always been there.

He refuses to give up on us.

He constantly chooses us to love and work through, even though we are unworthy, broken sinners.

He saves us from sin, because we cannot save ourselves.

No matter what we have done or will do to turn away from Him, He never turns away from us.

Take a moment to think about that. 

Think about the pure beauty and goodness of God and His love.

Think about the depth of love He has for you individually. 

I do not know about you, but in moments when I realize this, I get overwhelmed by the love of God and how easily I lose sight of it. I realize that all the times I have felt distant from God have been about me, because God is always there.

Why, then, do I sometimes feel like He is not there, or that He is not worthy of trust?

It makes me think about some of my favorite comic book heroes: Batman, Spiderman and Daredevil.

All three of them have different origins and abilities, but the one thing they have in common is that they were all painted as the enemy at some point when they were trying to do good. In each one of their stories, the people of their respective cities are convinced they are evil, doing more harm than good, despite these heroes risking their lives to try and save those very critics from evil and injustice. 

When love looks different than we thought it would, when we realize how messy it can be, we can sometimes respond in resentment. 

Think about a marriage: a couple who falls deeply in love can find themselves in a marriage years later that is marked by irritability, resentment, bitterness and anger. 

As they say, “familiarity breeds contempt.” We tend to judge or criticize those closest to us the harshest.

Faithfulness and love look different in different seasons of a relationship. In the beginning, the relationship has the marks of romantic effort. As it progresses, the effort moves from romance to sacrifice. But, sacrifice is messier than the movie-magic of romance. It costs more, it is harder, and the fruitfulness of it is not as obvious to us as grand romantic gestures.

Instead of recognizing that love evolves and how we receive it changes with time, we can become resentful in our most important relationships. We can feel like we are putting in all the effort and the other person is not reciprocating or appreciating us. 

With God, we can feel like we are doing our best to be faithful and God is suddenly absent or not working in the same ways He used to. We can fall into the Devil’s favorite trap of convincing us that God is against us.

This weeks Psalm is a reminder that God is for you. 

He is eternally for you.

He made you on purpose.

He died for you on purpose.

He rose for you on purpose.

If He forgot about you for a millisecond you would cease to exist.

He wills you into existence at every moment on purpose.

He loves you. 

He is not the enemy. 

He is fighting the enemy every day specifically for your heart and your soul.

This week, recognize the ways you have lost sight of God and what He is doing in your life. Offer up to Him the obstacles, sins, struggles and misunderstandings that get in the way of you knowing and experiencing His love for you. Realize that no matter what you are going through, whatever suffering is in your life, He is with you and has not forgotten you.

In every age, He is your refuge. 

He is faithful.

He is for you.

He is with you.

Do not forget it.

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

Matt