Turn To The LORD

Responsorial Psalm 69:3, 14, 30-31, 33-34

R.   Turn to the Lord in your need, and you will live.

I am sunk in the abysmal swamp

  where there is no foothold;

I have reached the watery depths;

    the flood overwhelms me.

R.    Turn to the Lord in your need, and you will live.

But I pray to you, O LORD,

    for the time of your favor, O God!

In your great kindness answer me

    with your constant help.

R.    Turn to the Lord in your need, and you will live.

But I am afflicted and in pain;

    let your saving help, O God, protect me;

I will praise the name of God in song,

    and I will glorify him with thanksgiving.

R.    Turn to the Lord in your need, and you will live.

“See, you lowly ones, and be glad;

    you who seek God, may your hearts revive!

For the LORD hears the poor,

    and his own who are in bonds he spurns not.”

R.    Turn to the Lord in your need, and you will live.

Today’s responsorial psalm is very fitting for us personally and for our nation suffering serious divisions and confrontations.  Pleading, cursing and praying, that’s what our psalms are all about.  That’s what we all do.  We plead; we curse; and we pray.  Unfortunately, not all for the same things, and, as a consequence, we are afflicted and in pain.  

We all should work together for a common cause expressed perfectly in Psalm 148 that reads:

Praise the LORD from the heavens; praise him in the heights. Praise him, all you his angels; give praise, all you his hosts. Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all shining stars. Praise him, highest heavens, you waters above the heavens. Let them all praise the LORD’s name; for he commanded and they were created, assigned them their station forever, set an order that will never change.

Praise the LORD from the earth, you sea monsters and all the deeps of the sea; Lightning and hail, snow and thick clouds, storm wind that fulfills his command; Mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars; Animals wild and tame, creatures that crawl and birds that fly; Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all who govern on earth; Young men and women too, old and young alike.

Let them all praise the LORD’s name, for his name alone is exalted. His majesty above earth and heaven. He has lifted high the horn of his people; to the praise of all his faithful, the Israelites, the people near to him.

Hallelujah! (end)

We Christ the King’ers also are the people near to God.  We praise the name of God in song, and we glorify him with thanksgiving. When we turn to the Lord in our need, we will live.

Deacon David Pierce