February 17/Saturday after Ash Wednesday
Incline your ear, O LORD, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.
Preserve my life, for I am devoted to you;
be gracious to me, O LORD, for to you do I cry all day long. ~ Ps. 86.1-3
When my children were in elementary school, one of the principal goals that undergirded the curriculum was for them to become “self-advocates,” able to speak up on their own behalf and to articulate their needs and desires. This can be a challenge for any of us, whether we are eight or fifty-eight. Various obstacles block our path: we are embarrassed, or afraid that we will not be heard or, worse, heard and denied. When it comes to representing ourselves and our needs to God, we can become even more tongue-tied. Amid the frustrations and difficulties of modern life, what good will prayer do? Will God really listen? Is God even there? Stymied and exhausted, many of us may simply give up. Today, our ancient singer — whose life surely had its own frustrations and setbacks — shows us a different approach. He turns his poverty and powerlessness into tools of prayer. Helpless though he is, he makes his case boldly, almost badgering God (through repeated uses of the imperative) to pay attention to him. The psalmist does not specify his afflictions, making space for us to substitute our own version of the daily grind that rubs on our souls. But the very act of asking becomes a form of praise. As the great 20th century Dutch theologian and seeker Henri Nouwen wrote, “If you pray in hope, all [your] concrete requests are mere ways of expressing your unlimited trust in him who fulfills all his promises, who holds out for you nothing but good, and who wants for himself nothing more than to share his goodness with you.”
Gracious God, May we who are poor and needy forthrightly offer our prayers to you, trusting that you will hear us. Amen.
For today’s readings, click here: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/021718.cfm
