Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent
These days, there is a lot of fear in popular discourse. While present circumstances are unique to our world, a general fear of disaster is common throughout human history. The psalms are loaded with human-divine reactions to it. Today’s Psalm is an excellent example and a balm to our troubled minds.
A stronghold, in the military sense, is a place where townspeople can flee when an enemy attacks. Its fortifications make it difficult to take, and so everyone inside is safe. Spiritually, the psalmist declares that our Lord is our stronghold. We are not afraid; we’ll just go to our stronghold when the enemy attacks. Some people wrongly interpret God’s help as a direct defense of our enemy. But we know that people who love the lord and do God’s will still become victims of crime and persecution; they still get sick, they still lose family, friends, and support, and they still die. So what’s the point of God’s protection if not a guarantee of our temporal needs being met?
By faith, we transcend our temporal needs. We have courage in the midst of our fear of sickness because at death we believe we will meet the loving and merciful God. We are courageous in the face of economic or financial calamity because we know our treasure is stored up in heaven. We don’t fear criminals or terrorists, because Jesus told us to only fear the one who can destroy the soul, and not just the body.
Today, as we prepare and practice the difficult work of resisting both conscious and inanimate evil, let us let’s remember our stronghold. Our God does astounding deeds- bringing Jesus into our midst in the Eucharist, and joining us to Him in Spiritual Communion when we cannot receive the gift. God brought our spiritual ancestors out of Egypt and delivered them from sickness with a silly snake on a pole. We can trust the same Lord to deliver us with power and glory, from a fear that would otherwise hold us tighter than any chains. Thanks be to God!
-Chris Nieport