Psalm 42: 1-5
1 As a deer longs for flowing streams,
so my soul longs for you, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
When shall I come and behold
the face of God?
3 My tears have been my food
day and night,
while people say to me continually,
“Where is your God?”
4 These things I remember,
as I pour out my soul:
how I went with the throng,[a]
and led them in procession to the house of God,
with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving,
a multitude keeping festival.
5 Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my help and my God.
I almost got used to not going to Mass. I almost got used to just staying in on Sunday mornings, not rushing out the door, or wrestling kids into coats and shoes, or loading into the car. We still watch Mass on the computer, but it’s more relaxed, we don’t have to worry about the kids making noise, we can pop into the kitchen to grab them a snack if need be, or better still, leave them to play with toys in the other room. Sure, it’s sad watching Mass on the TV instead of being there, but it’s also a lot easier. I am ashamed to say, I almost got used to it.
Read morePsalm 133: A Song of Ascents. Of David.
1 Behold, how good and pleasant it is
when brothers dwell in unity!
2 It is like the precious oil on the head,
running down on the beard,
on the beard of Aaron,
running down on the collar of his robes!
3 It is like the dew of Hermon,
which falls on the mountains of Zion!
For there the Lord has commanded the blessing,
life forevermore.
I woke this morning to the voices of my older two children coming through the baby monitor that sits on my night stand. This is usually the sound that wakes me up, unless by some act of Providence they sleep past 6:00 am, in which case it’s my husband’s alarm. Today it was the children. I listened as they exchanged a few lines of the excited sort of conversation children carry on in the mornings when they realize the time for sleep is over and they have an entire day of play ahead of them. Once I was assured that they were happily playing I turned off the baby monitor to get a few more minutes of sleep.
Read morePsalm 130: A Song of Ascents.
1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord!
2 O Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to the voice of my pleas for mercy!
3 If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?
4 But with you there is forgiveness,
that you may be feared.
5 I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
and in his word I hope;
6 my soul waits for the Lord
more than watchmen for the morning,
more than watchmen for the morning.
7 O Israel, hope in the Lord!
For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
and with him is plentiful redemption.
8 And he will redeem Israel
from all his iniquities.
I remember many nights as a child (and, let’s be honest, as an adult) laying awake in my bed waiting for a thunderstorm to pass. Some people enjoy a good summer storm, but I am not one of them. Each flash of lightning and crash of thunder sends new waves of terror through my body. The minutes drag by as I wait for the dawn that always seems to drive the storms away. It’s nights like these, kept awake by a storm, or a child who won’t sleep, or by my own anxiety, that call to mind verse 6 of this Psalm:
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