March 4/First Saturday of Lent
You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently;
O that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes! ~ Ps 119.4
In the past year or so, I have tried to be more faithful about attending 8 a.m. Mass during the week. The simplicity and quietude of the daily Eucharist is deeply nourishing – and I commend the practice to all who are able. But in all honesty, there are many mornings when I don’t make it – I have an early meeting, or the plumber is coming to fix a leak, or the day’s schedule just doesn’t lend itself to half an hour spent in church. Several of my fellow worshipers seem to be more faithful than I, including an older friend who rides to church on a bicycle every day, safely helmeted and vested, because driving is no longer possible. Talk about someone who is “steadfast”! Whether we strive to go to daily Mass or simply to spend meaningful time in prayer, especially during this season of reflection and penitence, we inevitably fall short. “You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently,” we are told – and indeed, the entirety of this mega-psalm 119, at 176 verses the longest in the psalter, is an extended hymn about the beauty and importance of living in the light of God’s teaching, or statutes, or precepts. But the interjection neatly captures our human predicament in its wistfulness – “O, that my ways might be steadfast.” That “O,” in Hebrew a seldom-used word, signals the psalmist’s recognition of his own failings. Our attention spans shortened, our minds distracted, our focus distorted, we are anything but steadfast. As British-born American poet Denise Levertov wrote, “Lord, not you,/it is I who am absent . . . /I have long since uttered your name/but now/I elude your presence.” As we settle in to the rhythm of Lent, let us pray for perseverance and faithfulness as we follow Christ’s path towards Calvary.
O God, who is unchanging and ever-faithful, Grant that I may imitate your steadfastness in my relationship to you and to all whose lives are closely linked with mine. Amen.
To hear The Lutheran Quartet sing “O that the Lord would guide my ways,” by Isaac Watts, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X–TqAFCDQ4
For today’s readings, click here: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/030423.cfm
