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September 7, 2022“Like the deer that yearns for running streams, so my soul is yearning for you, my God.” - Psalm 42
My apartment building faces the Hudson River. Often, I see deer come from the woods, run through the garden and leap towards the river for their fill of water. So, when I pray Psalm 42 as we do in today’s Communion prayer, I picture myself leaping toward God with my many needs in life!
Jesus is so creative in describing to us what a gift it is to choose peaceful ways of living; to be generous with our personal resources; not to retaliate with negative words or gestures towards those who dislike us or even hate us; to be a real person of peace in our everyday encounters. Jesus makes it sound almost easy! As we follow His teachings on a daily basis, we realize that how he is challenging us to live demands an unselfish giving of ourselves—not a piece of cake! But then, Jesus never told us that life in his footsteps would be easy. Remember where it leads him? The crucifixion!
Yet, why would our hearts and souls yearn for God as the psalmist expresses so well? Because Jesus’ invitation to us is to love, to love our God, to care for one another, to respect one another’s persona, reputation, struggles, to give life to one another.
My friend, Christina, and her husband have struggled for years to bear a child. Uncomfortable tests, surgeries, and disappointments have filled that intervening time. She has taken such care for her own health, as well as that of her baby. She has given up certain foods and activities to provide a healthy atmosphere for her child to grow within her. Christina’s scenario is similar to what Jesus is asking of us in caring for ourselves and for each other. Jesus wants us to give a life of goodness to ourselves, as well as to each other. To live that way entails a prayer of living in the present moment—not before, not after—but in the present moment, attentive to what Jesus is asking of us. Always he is asking us to look out for the good in other people, to give life to peace and understanding.
When Paul writes to the Corinthians, he is not dictating what state of life they should choose. They are adults and have already made that decision. Like Jesus, what Paul is asking of us is to live our chosen path of life according to the way of the beatitudes. We are alert—living in the present moment—to what or who is around us.
The beatitudes, especially as Luke relates them, are the perfect way of life. Perhaps, we should insert them in our Sunday liturgies and pray them together on a weekly basis. Just a thought!
Song on You Tube:
The Presence You Are by Jan Novotka
