Psalm 143 has a measure of fame in devotion and music as one of the Seven Penitential Psalms, but it is not ever appointed for us in Sunday or daily Mass readings. (Another good reason to read the Bible!) Here are a couple of verses from it that caught my eye this week:
Psalm 143
…
5 I remember the days of old;
I ponder all your deeds;
the works of your hands I recall.
6 I stretch out my hands toward you,
my soul to you like a parched land.
…
8 In the morning let me hear of your mercy,
for in you I trust.
Show me the path I should walk,
for I entrust my life to you.
…
I do remember “days of old” more frequently these days. My 74th birthday was back in May–I’m now living out my 75th year. I find myself musing over encounters and events rather long past. Of course, plenty is still going on in the present, but all of it has background or set-up that I can comprehend with a better, sounder perspective than was possible when I first lived through them all. I begin to grasp how God was working in them in ways undetected or unexpected or unclear back then. Now, “in (this) morning” I find myself stretching out my hands toward my Lord, trusting in his mercy, expecting him to show me the path I should walk these current days .
All of us must learn (and re-learn!) how to entrust our lives to our Lord.
Consider: how is my struggle to entrust my life to our Lord going now?