March 7/Second Tuesday of Lent
“When you do these things, shall I be deaf to it? Or do you think that I am like yourself?
I will correct you by drawing them up before your eyes.” ~ Ps 50.21
When my children were in middle school, their English teacher was notoriously exacting. So granular and numerous were Ms. G’s edits, scrawled across those 7th-grade essays in vivid red, that she was eventually asked to switch to a green pen for editing – I suppose on the theory that her comments would land more softly if written in green (a flawed theory, in my view). But I appreciated her exactitude (perhaps more than my children did at the time). She had high standards and she held her students accountable. In our spiritual lives, God has great expectations of us; he is the God of mercy, as we read yesterday, but he is also the God of justice. He sends forth his word – the psalm’s “covenant” and “statutes” – and he intends that we hear and obey that word. He does not turn a blind eye to our flaws: his ear is cocked, his attention is focused, his gaze never leaves us. God will not, as today’s psalm expresses vividly, be put off by our lame attempts to distract his attention by lip service and window dressing. “Look at me, God, I go to church every week, so what does it matter that I never think about you from Monday to Saturday?” “Look at me, God, I serve on the parish finance council, so don’t give me a hard time for failing to welcome that stranger.” Or “Look at me, God, I teach Sunday school, so give me a break if I don’t pay enough attention to my spouse.” We are all too willing to let things slide, to rationalize our hypocrisy and downplay our deficiencies. God, however, expects more, and today’s psalm might function as a summons to us, in these days of reflection and penitence, to do better.
O God, Teach me to hear and obey your will with my whole heart. Amen.
To hear the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, chant Psalm 50, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zM7sDJSllkk
For today’s readings, click here: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/030723.cfm
