February 23/First Tuesday of Lent
Near is the LORD to the brokenhearted, and the crushed in spirit he saves.
~ Ps 34.19
We soldier on amid confinement and deprivation and isolation, waiting for a better day. Then — an unexpected death, a sudden job loss, a betrayal, and we are brought to our knees in shock and sorrow. The Hebrew conveys it even more vividly: our hearts are “shattered,” our spirits “pulverized, like dust.” In our grief or anger, we may not feel that God is near, at all; we may experience him as completely absent. Now I am no theologian, and for me suffering remains a mystery, and a challenge. But as a lover of the Bible, I do know this, and today’s psalm richly affirms it: God is with us in the midst of our pain. He is Christ on the cross, helpless, vulnerable, and powerless in the face of terrible suffering. And he is Christ with us in our own agony, stretching out his hand in love and compassion to wipe away our tears and knit up our unraveling souls. The young Jesuit priest Alfred Delp, writing from the bleak isolation of Tegel prison, where he was held by the Nazis, felt this presence deeply, attesting even as he paced his tiny cell that our God is “the God of personal nearness.” And he is. For it is Christ who wraps us in his consolation as we cry out in despair, Christ who envelops us in the peace that passes understanding when we can sob no more, Christ whose rod and staff comfort us, whose hand guides us, as we stumble along the dark way. Our hearts can be shattered and our spirits crushed by many forces — personal tragedy and community rancor, financial struggles and bodily sickness. Yet we can have faith that even in the face of sorrow deep and vast, God is ever near.
Compassionate God, Let me feel your nearness, even in times of great grief and pain. Amen.
For today’s readings, click here: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/022321.cfm
To hear Roberta Flack and Donnie Hathaway sing “Come, Ye Disconsolate,” click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmnnMHGvVJc
