April 14/Holy Thursday
How shall I make a return to the LORD for all the good he has done for me? ~ Ps 116.12
Today, on this holy Thursday, let us reflect on all the good the Lord has done for each of us. We might enumerate small and mundane blessings, like the morning cup of coffee or the spring flower we saw on our way to work, and we might appreciate God’s cosmic gifts of life, loving friends and family, or faith. But what about the flies in the proverbial ointment — the person who wronged us, a bout of ill health, the promotion we haven’t gotten? We tend to categorize these as “curses,” to use the Old Testament antonym of blessings, and we whine about them: “Why me, O Lord?” But what if we were to shift perspective and approach everything that happens to us as a divine blessing? The offending family member or friend may be God’s way of spurring us to practice forgiveness. The bout of ill health could be a lesson in patience and acceptance. The denied or delayed promotion might be an occasion to remind us of the centrality of humility to the Christian life. In his book He Leadeth Me, Jesuit priest Walter Ciszek, who spent 20 years in Soviet-era prisons and labor camps, wrote, “The simple soul who each day makes a morning offering of ‘all the prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day’—and who then acts upon it by accepting unquestioningly and responding lovingly to all the situations of the day as truly sent by God—has perceived with an almost childlike faith the profound truth about the will of God. . . . God’s will for us is clearly revealed in every situation of every day, if only we could learn to view all things as God sees them.” Christ took the cup of suffering willingly, turning the curse of death into the blessing of eternal life. Let us continue to follow in his footsteps, to the foot of the Cross and beyond.
Gracious and generous Lord, Grant that I may gratefully receive the blessings you bestow on me, in whatever form they come. Amen.
For today’s readings, click here: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/041422-supper.cfm
To hear the Mississippi Mass Choir sing “What Shall I Render,” click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEil6ZoLyD8
