March 15/Fourth Monday of Lent
At nightfall, weeping enters in, but with the dawn, rejoicing.
You changed my mourning into dancing. ~ Ps 30.6, 13
It has been a long nightfall, these past twelve months. The weeping has been prolonged, and the joy, hard to find. We may have been drawn so deep into the maze of worries and troubles that we are only just beginning to find our way out; we are grasping for the thread that will carry us back to wholeness. But we are full of trepidation, of “what ifs.” We may pay lip service to the truth that change is a constant and that joy and sorrow come through our lives in waves, but we don’t always inhabit that truth spiritually. Today’s hopeful verses are a wonderful antidote to our tendency to join the Sackcloth and Ashes Squad. The psalmist doesn’t deny the negatives: for him, the hostility of enemies and the dangers of “the pit,” for us, the ordinary challenges of life topped by the depredations of COVID-19. He even acknowledges that weeping and lamentation get the upper hand at times — and certainly they do for us, too. But, buoyed by an infinite trust in God, he also proclaims his belief that joy eclipses suffering, that light conquers darkness, that love is stronger than death. Yes, as night comes, weeping often takes a room in our houses (and the concrete meaning of the Hebrew verb here is to “stay overnight, to lodge”); but in the morning, as the psalmist says vividly, concretely: “shouts of joy.” Vaccines are being dispensed, infection rates are dropping, life is stirring again. This year in particular, Lenten days of penance and sorrow can seem dark and long, but God will ultimately transmute our waiting and wailing into a dance of joy, as we look hopefully towards the Easter dawn.
O God of tears and laughter, Bestow upon me a hopeful patience as night falls and I await the morning’s shouts of joy. Amen.
For today’s readings, click here: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031521.cfm
To hear Psalm 30, “Mourning into Dancing,” featuring Elizabeth Enalls, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijUPw54kAZM
