Fear and trust: Psalm 27

Psalm 27 is mainly a psalm of petition, and its petitions flow from a profound faith in a caring God. Once again we meet “God the Teacher” and “God the Protector” as we did in Psalm 25. The Psalmist is living in a dangerous world constantly at war with foes and enemies and “an army camped against me.” (v. 3).

We might not be involved in any particular war in a literal sense (although millions of Christians are in such a situation right now), but isn’t it true that in one sense or another we are engaged in a struggle or in combat with the enemies of our peace, our striving for God, and our living in faith? In all of this, God is at our side.

The Psalmist has great confidence in God and in what He can do, and this psalm becomes an urgent appeal for God’s mercy and assistance.

The Lord is my light and my help;

whom shall I fear?

·         These first two lines of the psalm can provide us with food and insight for a lifetime. I am especially drawn to the second line, whom shall I fear? So many times, our peace of mind is disturbed by fears that we have. Meditate on this. Ask the Lord to reveal to you how much of your thinking and acting may be subtly based on fear.  I know someone who had some real difficulties but who was afraid to go and talk to his superiors about them. Finally he got the courage to speak up, and the situation was resolved quickly and decisively. Are you held back by certain fears? This might be a perfect verse for you.

Though an army encamp against me

my heart would not fear.

Though war break out against me

even then would I trust. (v 3)

·         Pray for such trust at every moment of every day. Let go of a situation and trust in God to take care of it for you. A director once said to me, “What are you worried about? This entire situation is on God’s hands and He is going to deal with it at the right time.”

There is one thing I ask of the Lord,

for this I long,

to live in the house of the Lord,

all the days of my life. . . .

For there he keeps me save in his tent

in the day of evil.

He hides me in the shelter of his tent,

on a rock he sets me safe.  (v 4-5)

·         We might not be able to sleep on the sanctuaries of our churches all our days, but what we can do is allow our loving and caring and protecting God to hold us in an eternal embrace. It says in Psalm 57, in the shadow of your wings I take refuge till the storms of destruction pass by. Rest there today if you’d like.

God bless you!

Resurrection trumps evil.

Nobel Peace Prize recipient Bishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa wrote an Easter text which provides us with fruit for reflection. As you read the text, consider how it might come to life in your life by the way you think about things, especially during times of conflict and difficulty. See if your heart can open to the hope which the text offers. Here it is:

Goodness is stronger than evil;

Love is stronger than hate;

Light is stronger than darkness;

Life is stronger than death.

Victory is ours, through him who loved us.

Sometimes it seems like evil, hatred, darkness and death are getting the upper hand in our world and in our lives. But they are mere shadows when seen from the perspective offered by the Resurrection of our Lord. Shadows have no real substance; shadows are temporary; they are illusory like wisps and ghosts in the face of true life. Just consider the Crucifixion and death of Jesus: at the time He was hanging on the cross, it looked like evil had won the battle over goodness and life.

But those victories were illusions. Even during this time when there is much hatred and violence and turmoil in our world, what we witness in horror is not the final word in the evolution of the world. In the face of all that is happening, our task is to continue to life a Resurrection life:

Live and practice goodness.

Live and practice love.

Choose to live in light and to spread that light where you can.

Choose life in all of its aspects.

Consider, if you will, how it may be possible, in God’s grace, for you and me to apply and give witness to goodness, love, light and life. For each of us, the answer will be different. It might be helpful if you can think of people in your life who demonstrate each of these qualities. That would be a good start. From there, go on to claim the victory!

God bless you with goodness, love, light and life.

Catch the grace

Catch the Grace

Grace floats by,  humble and free,

   and renders itself so easy to un-sense.

But if we open for it, we can

   see it hovering near

   as on the wings of an angel.

   It only takes a quick  glimpse from a soul bowed down,

                a glimpse of the light

                extinguished not by the darkness

                of desires

                                raging from the realm of the lost.

Reach beyond your fear to catch it

   and there! it rests in your soul’s hand

                allowed by your allowing,

                accepted by your accepting,

brought to life,

embraced,

nourished,

empowered not by your impotence

but by the fertility of God

   Who through love gave life

and Who can do it again,

   even in us who have willed not creation, but destruction,

                not life but death,

                not heaven but hell.

© 2016, Bede Gary Camera, O.S.B.

The light comes gently

From the 6^th verse of O Come, O Come, Emmanuel:

                O come, O Dayspring from on high,

                And cheer us by your drawing nigh.

Think of the coming of the dawn. Consider how slowly it rises, and how gentle is its first light.

And then, consider the coming of the Savior of the World into the world: not as a mighty king, but as a little child, poor and homeless. Gradually, over the course of years, that child will grow into a man, into the God-man ready to teach and to heal, to suffer, die and to rise again. To be “a light in the darkness,” to quote the prologue in St. John’s Gospel.

These things come slowly.

Conversion, enlightenment, awakening: most often, these come slowly as well. Slow, gradual but inevitable.

I like to think of it in this way:

We are in a room that is completely dark. And we strike a match and light a single candle. At first, there is just a tiny, flickering light, but then the light slowly spreads and begins to fill the room with a soft gentle light. The light is there with us, but the room is still somewhat dark. Light and darkness exist together in the beginning. And then, if we use that tiny light to light other candles and spread them throughout the room, then the darkness recedes while there is only the light left.

This is the process of conversion, of enlightenment, of awakening or of anything else you might like to call it.

Sometimes Christ comes into our lives as a blast from heaven knocking us off our horse, as happened to Saint Paul. But for most of us, most of the time, the light begins as a dayspring, or as a single candle in a darkened room.

As you pray for the coming of Christ into your life this year, pray also that you might be able to see the gentle light as it begins its process within your heart and your mind and your soul.

Blessed Advent to you.

Our Deepest Fear

This quote from Marianne Williamson was given me by a friend:

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."