psalm 111 - training our eyes to see the good - 17th week monday 2016

Psalm 111, our responsorial psalm in today’s mass begins with an invitation to give thanks to God and ends with a summons to praise.  The reason for this thanksgiving and praise are the works of the Lord – great are the works of the Lord exquisite in all their delights – to praise God for his many interventions in the lives of his people especially in establishing a covenant that bound him to his people forever.

In a way this psalm is inviting us to discover the many good things that the Lord is giving us every day of our lives.  Think of the life God has given us, the gift of family and friendships, the gift of sustenance such as food, work, health, the help and assistance of friends.  Many times however when we pray we focus only on the negative things in our lives – our lack, our regrets, our mistakes, what we need and what we don’t have. 

This psalm tells us to change our focus, to change the way we pray even – to thank God, to focus on the good that we do, instead of focusing on the mistakes we did and the regrets that follow.  That instead of focusing on what we lack and what we need, we focus on what we have - our gifts, our abilities and capacities.  This psalm encourages us to develop a spirit of gratitude because of the many gifts we have received.  We need to discover gratitude in praying, we need to develop a grateful heart. 

In fact, this is why we celebrate the Eucharist.  The Eucharist is always a celebration of thanksgiving.  And so it is redundant to say thanksgiving mass for every mass is actually a thanksgiving.  In fact the meaning of Eucharist is thanksgiving. And so let us be thankful, to be conscious of the many things in us and in our lives that we should be thankful for to the Lord.

The parable of the good Samaritan, our gospel today, is also a challenge for us to train our eyes to see the good in our lives and in each other.  We always see the bad, we always focus on what separates, what differentiates – I am a Jew and he is a Samaritan.  Instead let us train our eyes to see the good in us and in each other so that we can see giftedness and thus be filled with gratitude.