April 9/Fifth Wednesday of Lent
Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of our fathers, praiseworthy and exalted above all forever.
Blessed are you in the firmament of heaven, praiseworthy and glorious forever.
~ Daniel 3.52, 56
Despite living amid abundant natural and architectural beauty, I often return from a long walk having not noticed any of it – the colorful azaleas, the graceful piazzas and facades, the harbor’s wave-tossed waters. I resemble Evelyn Underhill’s goal-fixated “No-Eyes,” lost in myself, intent only on the endpoint, who “trudges along, steadily, diligently; avoiding the muddy pools, but oblivious of the light which they reflect.” The thirty-one verses of Daniel that lie just beyond today’s lectionary reading (Daniel 3.57-88) check this tendency toward obliviousness: collectively, they are a joyful invocation of God’s glorious creation. Having paid homage to the Creator in the lectionary, we next encounter an exuberant enumeration of all He has created, summoned to praise him. And what a set of praises! Thirty-one lines of unchecked exaltation, each Hebrew verse framed by “Bless” at its beginning and “the Lord” at its end, with the world’s marvelous variety inserted in the middle. Sun and moon, stars of heaven, every shower and dew – bless the Lord. Fire and heat, frost and chill, lightning and clouds – bless the Lord. Mountains and hills, seas and rivers, you dolphins and all water creatures, all you beasts, wild and tame (dogs included) – bless the Lord. And finally, we, the “servants of the Lord,” we too are called to join the chorus of blessing. If I bring these verses to mind as I head out, I find myself more attentive to, and grateful for, all that I encounter. For in this paean of praise, God invites us to see – truly and lovingly – his generous love. As a fourteenth-century German priest wrote in a treatise later translated by Martin Luther, “The created world provides directions and paths to God and Eternity.” May we take those paths with eyes and hearts attuned to God.
O God of all the earth and every living creature, Open my eyes and my heart to see and give thanks for the gifts of your creation, on this day that you have made. Amen.
For today’s readings, click here: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/040925.cfm
To hear the Choir of Trinity College (Cambridge) sing Henry Purcell’s “O All Ye Works of the Lord,” click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fImjpAWspno
