April 5/Fifth Tuesday of Lent Hide not your face from me in the day of my distress. Incline your ear to me; in the day when I call, answer me speedily. ~ Ps 102.2 As the days of our distress have accumulated in the past year, we may well wonder, where has God been in all of this? It may…
Song 29: Laying the Table
April 4/Fifth Monday of Lent You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. ~ Ps 23.5 Setting a lovely table is a way of honoring one’s guests. Whether it is a small Ikea table laid for two with simple utensils, humble dinnerware, and a posy of wildflowers,…
Song 28: Deep Down
April 2/Fourth Saturday of Lent Judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness and according to the integrity that is in me.O let the evil of the wicked come to an end, but establish the righteous, you who test the hearts and minds, O righteous God. ~ Ps 7.8-9 Through the years, the stratagem known as “Bambi eyes,” essentially a…
Song 26: Taking a Knee
March 31/Fourth Thursday of Lent Our fathers made a calf in Horeb and adored a molten image;They exchanged the glory of God for the image of an ox that eats grass. ~ Ps 106.19-20 We may regard ourselves as far too sophisticated and worldly to bow down before a molten image (the Hebrew word translated “adored” is a rarely-used verb…
Song 25: Finishing the Hat
March 30/Fourth Wednesday of Lent The LORD is good to all and compassionate toward all his works.The LORD is near to all who call upon him, to all who call upon him in truth. ~ Ps 145.9, 18 Stephen Sondheim’s song “Finishing the Hat,” from the 1984 musical Sunday in the Park with George, is a paean to the creative…
Song 24: Peace Like a River
March 29/Fourth Tuesday of Lent There is a river whose streams gladden the city of God, the holy dwelling of the Most High.God is in its midst, it shall not be disturbed; God will help it at the break of dawn. ~ Ps 46.5-6 Peace has been a scarce commodity in our lives in the past couple of years, especially…
Song 23: Greeting the Dawn
March 28/Fourth Monday of Lent At nightfall, weeping enters in, but with the dawn, rejoicing. You changed my mourning into dancing. ~ Ps 30.6 Nightfall seems to have been on an endless loop these past two pandemic-laced years, and we have experienced more than a few false dawns, as well. And now the brutality sweeping Europe by an unhinged madman prolongs…
Song 22: No Stain Unturned
March 26/Third Saturday of Lent Thoroughly wash me from my guilt and of my sin cleanse me. ~ Ps 51.4 After raising four children, I thought I knew a thing or two about laundry. But I nearly met my match with the challenges one of my children presented to me after a solo cross-country bike ride a few summers ago. …
Song 21: Sit. Stay. Heed.
March 25/Third Friday of LentFeast of the Annunciation Sacrifice and offering you do not delight in, but you have dug out my ears.To do your will, O God, I delight in; your teaching is within my belly [lit. transl]. ~ Ps 40.7, 9 Obedience — how it goes against the human grain. We no sooner construct a set of rules…
Song 20: Testing, Testing
March 24/Third Thursday of Lent Oh that today you would hear his voice.Harden not your hearts as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the desert,Where your fathers tempted me; they tested me though they had seen my works.~ Ps 95.8-9 It is easy to trust in God when things are going smoothly, isn’t it? When things fall…