Psalm Reflection: The Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle A

“Lord, in your great love, answer me.” - Psalm 69

Have you ever felt ghosted by God? Like He disappeared on you without a trace and suddenly stopped communicating or listening?

This is the truth: God is perfect and we are not. If there is a problem in our communication with God, it is most certainly never a problem with Him.

If you want to make a marriage (or really any relationship) work, what is the number one thing you need?

Communication. 

Every time I have asked that question, people always know this is the answer. It is like is it hardwired into our brains. 

Then what is the problem? We talk to God and sometimes it feels like He is not there! 

Here is the deal: God loves you so much that He is always going to tell you the truth. Sometimes telling the truth in love means correcting us. Sometimes it means saying “no,” or letting us learn something for ourselves. Even when evil or suffering happen in your life, He is immediately intervening to bring about the greatest possible good from it (Romans 8:28).

God is our father and He is the most loving, attentive parent imaginable, but He is not a helicopter parent. He does not coddle us. He loves us into maturity and He wants to show us the right way to live, but He will respect our free will and let us make our own decisions, even if those decisions destroy us.

When we ask God for something He will only give us what is best for us. A loving parent cannot and should not accommodate every single request their children make, no matter how many times they ask or how big of a tantrum they throw. He will scoop us up and hold us in our frustration, but He will not cave or give in when He knows something we want is going to be bad for us.

When we come to God with our requests, He answers every single one of them. Sometimes we are not asking the right question or listening for any other answer than the one we want to hear. Sometimes the answer is “no” or “wait.” As a parent, I see on a daily basis how upsetting answers like this can be for my children, but telling them the truth and pursuing the good for them as best I can will be better for them in the long run even if they do not like me in the moment. If I had to choose between the two: I would rather love them with all I am and always tell them the truth rather than have them like me all the time.

Have you ever been asked by a spouse or a friend the question: “does this make me look fat?” If so, you understand the difficulty that speaking the truth can sometimes bring. What do I say? Is there even a right answer? Will the truth hurt? What is more loving to do or say in the moment? Sometimes we do not navigate those experiences well.

Lying is never the answer, and God will never lie to you. Jesus said “I am the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6). God will tell you exactly what you need to hear and will only give you what is good for you, and He will let you turn away from His will to try to find what you are looking for elsewhere. Spoiler alert: you will never find what you are truly looking for anywhere else.

Sometimes the truth hurts.

Sometimes a person is beautiful but the dress is not flattering.

Sometimes the most loving answer is “no.”

God does not care if we like Him. He cares whether or not we receive His love and respond to the gift of eternal life His love won for us. He is always present to us, we need to be willing to listen even when the answer is not the one we hoped for. He will always answer us, but always in His great love.

Let that be enough for you, because it truly is more than enough.

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

Matt

This reflection is based on the Responsorial Psalm for this Sunday, June 25th, 2023, which is The Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle A: Psalms 69:8-10, 14, 17, 33-35.