Psalm 16

Psalm 16

Preserve me, God, I take refuge in you. 

I say to the lord: 'You are my God.

My happiness lies in you alone.'

He has put into my heart a marvellous love

for the faithful ones who dwell in his land. 

Those who choose other gods increase their sorrows.

Never will I offer their offerings of blood.

Never will I take their name upon my lips. 

O Lord, it is you who are my portion and cup;

it is you yourself who are my prize.

The lot marked out for me is my delight:

welcome indeed the heritage that falls to me!

I will bless the Lord who gives me counsel, 

who even at night directs my heart.

I keep the Lord ever in my sight:

since he is at my right hand, I shall stand firm. 

And so my heart rejoices, my soul is glad;

even my body shall rest in safety. 

For you will not leave my soul among the dead,

nor let your beloved know decay. 

You will show me the path of life, 

the fullness of joy in your presence, 

at your right hand happiness for ever. 

The smart sheep

There is the NT passage where the call is to have one shepherd and one flock (John 10).  We read that prior to our discussion about the GC 29.  

Jesus is talking about bringing the sheep into one fold. That there are some sheep who are already with him; that there are others which are not yet in his fold, but will eventually find their way to him... 

The fact that struck me was that the purpose of the sheep or the mission of the sheep is known and envisioned, not by the sheep, but by the shepherd!! What each sheep is meant for, what is to be achieved by the whole flock or some sheep, why the sheep need to do what they are told to do... all of this is the plan of the shepherd.  From deciding where to graze and when to sheer the wool, to which sheep to cull for the feast and when to vaccinate, it is all by the shepherd. 

So, what then are the sheep? Dumb sheep? Have they nothing to contribute to their own life and growth?  Far from being dumb, they are called to be smart; smart enough to know the shepherd!  And when they know him well enough, to be so attached to him that they let him decide what's best for them; because they know that he wants nothing but the best for them.  

This understanding is what makes Jesus, the good shepherd!  And us, the smart sheep! 

Religious vows

 When we make our vows, as religious men and women, we really never understand fully the depth of its implications!  Even if we do understand it to a great extent, we often do not live it fully!  

The vow indicates a total surrender. A complete submission of all of ourselves.  Holding back nothing.  But our human insecurities prevent us from this complete surrender or total submission.  In the process, we neither live our human life fully nor our religious vows.  Worse is when we make use of one for the other, merely for our personal petty plans! 

Action reflection

The readings of Sunday, very sharp and going around in vicious circles for me!  They present a down to earth spirituality, on one side and on the other, shows the height of its conceptualization.

The first reading from Isaiah is the practical spirituality:

Thus says the LORD: Share your bread with the hungry, shelter the oppressed and the homeless; clothe the naked when you see them, and do not turn your back on your own. Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your wound shall quickly be healed; Your vindication shall go before you, and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.

To do good, one does not need high level thinking and reasoning.  Just do it!  Do it for the less advantaged, those marginalised, those in need! Just do it!

Then comes the second reading, the lofty part of spirituality:

When I came to you, brothers and sisters, proclaiming the mystery of God, I did not come with sublimity of words or of wisdom. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear and much trembling, and my message and my proclamation were not with persuasive (words of) wisdom, but with a demonstration of spirit and power, so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.

If I'm to carry out what is good and needed, as Jesus did, I need to know Jesus!  Now understanding why he did what he did, is no easy task.  That requires great amount of reflection.  Merely imitating what Jesus did, will not take us far... sooner or later, we'll get tired of doing it or lose our sanity, unless backed by great amount of motivation and inner strength.  And from where do we gain that? From knowing - not merely an intellectual discovery - why he did what he did! 

However, one clue to resolve this going round in circles, one chasing the other and being chased, lies in the last phrase of the second reading: power of God.  Doing everything (action or reflection) all by ourselves may land us in that merry-go-round.  But if we let ourselves be guided by God's hand, perhaps we stand a better chance to actually get going!  

Holy Saturday: Silence

Holy Saturday marks the death of God. The day is akin to an eerie silence that pervades all around us and everything is still. Bereft of all plans, all hopes, of everything we had, we stand still. Not sure what next. It is like Saul after he was blinded after his encounter with the Lord near Damascus. Utterly helpless. Not sure what the future holds. Not convinced of the past one has lived. Yet it is these days that mark the conversion of Saul to Paul. His introspection where he has nothing to claim his own or anything for sure is what paves the way for his transformation. Holy Saturday offers us the same tomb-experience. Of being silent. Of being still.

As Christians, we often kill this experience or brush past this opportunity for the silence is haunting. We prefer the sentimentality of Good Friday or the thrill of Easter Sunday. The stillness of Holy Saturday is too demanding. Yet one is challenged to live it. Imagine the state of the apostles, of Jesus' disciples, of Mother Mary. They did not have the assured guarantee of the Sunday resurrection. They lived through the Holy Saturday and therefore Easter meant more than Jesus' resurrection to them. It paved the way for their own transformation too.