Tuesday, March 11th
Ellen Durst
17 The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles.
18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit
19 The righteous person may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all;
20 he protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken.
Psalm 34:15-22
In Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, we teach the colors of the liturgical calendar. There is a cute song that goes along with it and it begins with “Purple for preparation….” As I am sure many of you have noticed, our altar linens are currently purple. We are preparing. Preparing for the Resurrection of Christ. The preparation of Lent is often a somber, reflective period of time. We are reflecting on our own sins, and the ultimate sacrifice that Jesus gave when He gave his life for our eternal life. It often makes me think of the hardest times in my own life and how the Lord led the path righteousness.
About 12 years ago, I gave birth to twins. They were born more than 4 months early. One of the twins survived, and one of them did not. And I was ANGRY. I cried out at GOD, angry that such trouble was upon myself and my family. And while I never lost my faith, my anger made it hard for me to pray. I counted on others to do it for me. Not to just pray for the child that was fighting for his life in the NICU, but for myself who was so angry at the Lord for putting this in my path. It was the most troubled time of my life.
But, as this Psalm tells us, the Lord delivers us from them all. He protected me, just as he protects you in your time of need. He stays close to us in all our troubles, walking with us, and even when our own faith may waiver, our Lord never loses faith in us.
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