March 31/Fifth Tuesday of Lent
O LORD, hear my prayer, and let my cry come to you.
Hide not your face from me in the day of my distress. ~ Ps 102.2-3
As the days of our distress accumulate, we may well wonder, where is God in all of this? It may seem that God is hiding his face from us just when we most need to see it. Certainly the ancient singer of today’s psalm experienced God as absent, and his words give us permission to voice our own anger, disappointment, or anxiety in our prayers. It is not all praise and glory! At the same time, however, we need to be honest about who, exactly, has gone missing here. As people of faith, we are in a relationship with the living God, who loves us endlessly and asks that we love him in response. How well are we doing at “staying in touch” with this One whom we love? If we reflect carefully, we may conclude, with Orthodox Archbishop Anthony Bloom (who wrote widely and well on prayer), that “God could complain about us a great deal more than we about Him. We complain that He does not make Himself present to us for the few minutes we reserve for Him, but what about the twenty-three and a half hours during which God may be knocking at our door and we answer ‘I am busy, I am sorry’ or when we do not answer at all because we do not even hear the knock at the door of our heart, of our minds, of our conscience, of our life.” The more we can dedicate ourselves to being aware of God’s presence and being animated by God’s will throughout the day, not just at that set-aside “God time,” the more we will sense that presence in our midst — just when we need it most.
Compassionate God, Grant that I may search for your face continuously, not taking you for granted but seeking true encounter. Amen.
To hear the Choir of Westminster Abbey sing Richard Farrant’s “Hide Not Thy Face,” click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OMDqvPj7oc
For today’s readings, click here: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/033120.cfm
