Friday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time
“O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall proclaim your praise.” (Psalm 51:17)
This last verse of today’s responsorial psalm (from which the refrain comes) is one that is prayed at the start of morning prayer throughout the world. I started praying morning prayer more regularly since first subscribing to the Benedictine liturgical publication “Give Us This Day” a few years ago.
One of the things I love about this simple opening prayer from the psalm is that it reminds us that even our speaking or singing praise to God does not happen without God choosing to “open my lips.” Our very breath, our waking each morning, lying down each night, and however we fill the time in between, is all gift, all dependent on God’s creative goodness and grace.
Similarly, we are reminded of this in today’s first reading from Hosea (14:2-10). Although we may be tempted to take credit for what we “do”, create, or accomplish in this life, isn’t it truly God who is the life force and creator behind our work, our labors? The passage extols us, “We shall say no more ‘Our god’ to the work of our hands….” And reminds us that it is the Lord who deserves the praise, “I have humbled him, but I will prosper him… – because of me you bear fruit!” As paraphrased in today’s antiphon for morning prayer, “The Lord says, ‘Because of me you will blossom like the vine and bear fruit.’”
Borrowing once more from this day’s morning prayer, let us join in this communal prayer, “May God bless the work of our hands and make our deeds fruitful, through Jesus the Vine.” And once again with the psalmist – May our mouths proclaim God’s praise! Amen.
~Eileen Miller