Song 23: Morning Has Broken

March 31/Fourth Monday of Lent 

For his anger lasts but a moment;  a lifetime, his good will.
At nightfall, weeping enters in, but with the dawn, rejoicing. ~ Ps 30.5

For most of us, worries cluster most densely at night, descending like locusts in the darkness.  Along with our thoughts, with only the void of sleep in front of us and the light of day a long way off, we toss, we turn, we cannot find peace.   These days especially, with the world seemingly turned upside down, it is all too easy to fall into the ditch of anxiety and become convinced that the problems gnawing on our souls are permanent and insoluble.   We forget about all those other restless nights when we have worried about a person or a circumstance, only to have our anxiety resolved in unexpected ways, thanks to the grace of God.  While we may know intellectually that life has cycles and that change is always percolating, sometimes we don’t breathe in that knowledge emotionally or spiritually.  Today’s joyful psalm verses are a wonderful antidote to our tendency to join the Sackcloth and Ashes Squad.  The psalmist accepts that weeping and lamentation get the upper hand at times.  But buoyed by an infinite trust in God, he is confident that joy will eclipse suffering, that light will conquer darkness, that love is stronger than death.  Yes, as night comes, weeping often takes a room in our houses (the concrete meaning of the Hebrew verb is to “stay overnight, to lodge”); but in the morning, as the psalmist says so concisely, so beautifully, “shouts of joy.”  These Lenten days of penance and sorrow can seem endless, but God will ultimately transmute our waiting and wailing into a dance of joy, as we look in hope 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/033125.cfm

To hear Tennessee Ernie Ford sing “Give to the Winds Thy Fears,” by Paul Gerhardt (transl. John Wesley), click here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dq_3aEPRwuA