March 10/Third Wednesday of Lent
For he has strengthened the bars of your gates. ~ Ps 147.13
Walls, fences, gates — they can function as tools of exclusion. But looked at from another perspective, they create spaces that are protected and apart (interestingly, the Hebrew word for holiness connotes apartness). Think of garden walls that frame a beautiful outdoor room, or a small fence around a sapling that allows it to grow and flourish, safe from predators. We, too, have a deep need for spiritual and temporal boundaries — something we are not very good at constructing even in normal circumstances. In the age of COVID, it has been especially difficult to fence off time and space for our spirits when the demands of work and family have pressed so acutely upon us. For many, the nonstop march of onscreen meetings collides with the needs of children undertaking remote learning; for others, the very act of going into work has become fraught. For all of us, deprived of what psychologists call “boundary events,” such as the school drop-offs or work commutes that normally divide the days, one week blurs into the next. And with our ever-present smartphones pinging and ringing for our attention, it is harder than ever to make a place in time that is truly ours. The psalmist today proclaims the virtue of boundaries. Among the many actions for which God is praised, here he is lauded for protecting Jerusalem’s inhabitants by strengthening the bars of their gates. If we but ask, God will help us, too, protect ourselves from the sound and the fury that signify nothing. We will find the wherewithal to unplug the devices, to put aside the work, to be present to others. And in the safety of the heart’s quiet, we will find the space to connect with God in moments of prayerful peace.
Lord, Give me the wisdom and strength I need to establish appropriate and life-giving boundaries in my life. Amen.
For today’s readings, click here: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031021.cfm
To hear Sam Cooke and The Soul Stirrers sing “Jesus, Be a Fence Around Me,” click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Fvj0pUAKW4
