February 24/First Saturday of Lent
Blessed are they whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD.
Blessed are they who observe his decrees, who seek him with all their heart. ~ Ps. 119.1-2
As we know from yesterday’s psalm, God is not a bean-counter, running up a tab of all the ways in which we go wrong and holding them against us. He forgives, extravagantly and everlastingly. However, God’s grace doesn’t absolve us from obligations on our end. Life with God is a covenantal proposition, entailing mutual rights and responsibilities. In the simplest formulation, it is this: God offers us boundless love and we are to respond in equal measure. God promises to sustain us, direct us, and love us; he declares that he will be with us wherever we go. We are enjoined to accept this offer by actively seeking the sustenance of faith, by taking God’s direction for our lives, and by welcoming him into our hearts. Nowhere is the covenantal imperative to follow God more exhaustively laid out than in the 176 verses of Psalm 119, six of which constitute today’s verses. We are to “walk in the law of the Lord,” to “observe his decrees,” and “to “seek him with all [our] heart.” To walk in the law of the Lord does not mean unwavering adherence to a rigid set of rules; rather, it points to the importance of putting God at the center of everything we do. To observe his decrees doesn’t point us towards a purely legalistic understanding of our faith; it means to love God and our neighbor with every ounce of our being, and to act on that love every day. And to seek him with all our heart suggests that we strive to create the spaces and times in which our human longing for the peace of God can be articulated and answered – through the sacraments and through prayer.
Lord God, Grant that I may truly place you at the center of my thoughts and actions. Amen.
For today’s readings, click here: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/022424.cfm
To hear the Tallis Scholars (Peter Phillips, conductor) sing Thomas Tallis’s “Blessed are those that be undefiled,” click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc5_fgOaH_k
