Memorial of Saints Timothy and Titus, bishops
For many people, this time of year is the “post-Christmas slump.” The joy of that season has ended. The short days and cold weather lead us to get even less natural light than normal. Meanwhile, the bad-news cycle continues to assault our senses and attempts to steal our peace, replacing it with melancholy. Thank God for the Psalms, and particularly today’s.
The Psalms are a Spirit-filled response to God’s actions in the world. They are an honest reflection of the limited human experience of our unlimited Lord. Today’s Psalm encourages us to remember all God’s marvelous deeds. What a balm for our weary world! When we remember, list, or best-of-all, sing about divine glory, it pulls us out of this season of darkness. God is good. The world remains God’s good creation. It is continuously being renewed in the Spirit, not simply torn down. We are tempted to believe that lie that death is the end; that when our favorite restaurant closes or a special occasion is missed or an institution isn’t working the way it once did, there is nothing left to come but tears. As Christians we know that Jesus set the paschal mystery pattern of the universe: death leads to new life. In the midst of darkness we have an inexhaustible hope.
Servant of God Dorothy Day once wrote, “My strength returns to me with my cup of coffee and the reading of the Psalms.” Could she perhaps have been reading today’s psalm the day she wrote that? Our strength day after day comes from God’s action in our lives and our world. It’s a tiny but repetitive miracle. Does someone in your life need this encouragement today? ‘All the nations’ need this good news. The whole world is struggling right now. We all need someone to save us, to lift us out of this especially dark and dreary and dangerous winter. The Good News is that Jesus keeps saving us, and that’s something worth talking about. May the Spirit implant in each of us a song of praise that we can announce to all our friends, families, and neighbors.
-Chris Nieport