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

“Praise the Lord, my soul!” - Psalms 146

My Senior prom date was one of my best friends, Jessi. We met during our Senior year of high school doing the play Peter Pan together. She was Wendy, and I was Captain Hook. We became fast friends and her love, care, kindness, and generosity for others was unmatched. She was, and still is, one of the best people I have ever known.

It was only a few weeks after prom that my best friend AJ tragically drowned two weeks before our high school graduation. Of our entire group of friends, only myself and one other person were there when AJ died. I felt like it was my fault, like I could have done more to try and get to him quicker, despite the paramedics assuring me that there was nothing that would have made a difference in time to save him.

I felt so alone, but I wasn’t. Jessi was there by my side. She slept on the couch at my house that night to make sure I was not alone. The next day when all of our friends went to AJ’s house to be with his family and I felt too guilty to go, Jessi stayed with me. The next Monday at school when they announced AJ’s passing on the morning announcements, Jessi stayed by my side to answer all the friends who came up to me asking questions about what happened. In fact, I barely spoke to anyone for a few days after the incident, but Jessi stood with me in my silence.

When I read the verses of the Psalm for this Sunday and see lines about the Lord remembering the oppressed, the hungry, the captives, the blind, those who are bowed down, the stranger and the widow, I think of the compassion of people like Jessi.

R. Praise the Lord, my soul!

The LORD keeps faith forever,

secures justice for the oppressed,

gives food to the hungry.

The LORD sets captives free.

R. Praise the Lord, my soul!

The LORD gives sight to the blind.

The LORD raises up those who were bowed down;

the LORD loves the just.

The LORD protects strangers.

R. Praise the Lord, my soul!

The fatherless and the widow he sustains,

but the way of the wicked he thwarts.

The LORD shall reign forever;

your God, O Zion, through all generations. Alleluia.

R. Praise the Lord, my soul!

The word compassion literally means “to suffer with.” We do not like to be around suffering, at least not for long. We will send a note, some flowers, or a meal. We will dress up in nice clothes, pay our condolences and leave. No one really wants to stay in suffering with people. In fact, we try to isolate it away from us. We put the elderly in homes, the sick in hospitals, the homeless in encampments, so we can go back to our comfortable lives and forget about the pain others are experiencing.

But the Lord looks at us in our pain, He sees into the depths of our souls, and He chooses to stay and look at us face-to-face in our pain. He wants to show us that He is not running away from our suffering, sin, and brokenness, but He is running to the cross to suffer for us and with us. He does not run away from our pain, like Jesus refused to run away from me in mine.

Right now, there are people in your life who are experiencing the pain of loss, loneliness, or debilitating illness. They are experiencing grief anniversaries in silence, while everyone else has seemed to move on with their lives. And you too, you are experiencing suffering and feel compelled to bury it or hide it away so as not to be a burden to others.

Brothers and sisters, Jesus wants us to burden Him. He wants us to bother Him with our problems, because to Him they are never a bother and never burdens. We have a Savior who died on the cross for us not only to forgive our sins, but also to show us that He is intimately familiar with pain and suffering. He knows exactly what you are going through and He is with you. And in experiencing His love and presence in those moments, we are meant to go out and be Christ to others, sitting with them in their pain and suffering and not running away from it.

This week, pray for an awareness of compassion. Pray for the Lord to reveal to you where you need it, and to reveal who in your life needs it from you.

Do not run away from your own hurt. Ask for help. You are not an inconvenience to those who love you. Their love is not earned because of the lack of problems you share, their love is freely given and ready to be present to you in your moments of need.

Do not run and hide from the pain of others, or treat supporting others as a momentary task. Spend time with others in their suffering and give them the healing gift of your love and presence. Listen, embrace them, play cards, go for a walk, let them know that you care beyond a one-time gesture.

Jesus is not afraid of your pain, do not shy away from the pain of those around you so they will see Christ too.

I am praying for 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, November 10th, 2024, the Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle B: Psalms 146:7, 8-9, 9-10.