Friday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
“Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest in which she puts her young…” (Psalm 84:4a) Maybe this verse from today’s Responsorial Psalm particularly speaks to me now that my husband and I are considered “empty-nesters” welcoming some of our “not-so-young” back to the nest for Thanksgiving. But I think it’s more than that. Today’s Psalm is called the Prayer of a Pilgrim to Jerusalem, and biblical commentary (NAB) tells us it “expresses the sentiments of the pilgrims eager to enjoy the divine presence.” As the birds find their home, their nest, so “My home is by your altars, Lord of hosts, my king and my God!” (84:4b) And what about us?
The previous verse exclaims, “My soul yearns and pines for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.” Elsewhere (Psalm 42), the psalmist uses the familiar poetic imagery of a thirsty deer longing for running water as the pilgrim’s soul is longing for God’s presence.
We are all pilgrims on a journey to the Living God. Where do we find God’s dwelling place here and now? Perhaps in the expected sacred places and sacraments, but where else? In all of creation, including every living thing and person we encounter? Today’s psalm response comes from the book of Revelation, the verse immediately following today’s first reading, “Here God lives among his people.” (21:3b) Do I recognize God’s dwelling among us?
As the liturgical year comes to an end and we prepare for the Advent season, let us take comfort in knowing God is with us even in our pilgrim seeking. For as today’s communion antiphon (Matthew 28:20) reminds us, “Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
—Eileen Miller