February 26/First Friday of Lent
Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD; LORD, hear my voice!. ~ Ps 130.1-2
The only time I have truly felt myself to be in peril on the sea was years ago when, on a solo outing in the family Sunfish off the beach, I capsized. As the sail filled with water and the waves billowed alarmingly around me, I tried and failed repeatedly to right the boat. In those moments I experienced panic, adrenaline, fear, and desperation — probably much like the feelings that our psalmist channels in the marvelously onomatopoeic opening verse of Psalm 130 (the Hebrew for “out of the depths” is mim-ma-a-ma-kim, the repeated “m”s conjuring the chattering teeth of one struggling in deep, cold water). One need not have been physically engulfed by billows to know what it feels like to be drowning, particularly this year. We may be submerged by pandemic-driven needs of those we love, or flooded by extra financial worries, or immersed in anxiety about the future — in addition to whatever existing burdens we have been shouldering. As we feel ourselves going under — and because of our human pride, often not until we are about to go under — we cry out for the strong hand of God, acknowledging that he alone can save us. Perhaps the gift of rough seas is that they force us to acknowledge our utter dependence on the One who loves us. As Saint Augustine observes in his exposition of Psalm 130, “For this mortal life is our deep. Whoever has understood himself to be in the deep, cries out, groans, sighs, until he be delivered from the deep, and come unto Him who sits above all the deeps.”
Lord God, creator of the earth and master of the deep, Accompany and protect me as I sail forth upon the uncertain seas of my life. Amen.
For today’s readings, click here: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/022621.cfm
To hear J.S. Bach’s cantata Aus der tiefen, rufe ich, Herr, zu dir, BWV 131, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAM_HUTnwQg
Bonus track, if you dare: to hear Arnold Schoenberg’s evocative and unsettling composition De Profundis, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ulYDme3bnQ
