psalm 17 - remaining loyal - 26th week monday

Our psalm today, psalm 17 is an honest and earnest plea for God’s help in the midst of great torment and suffering.  And the psalmist argues to God that even in the midst of so much trial he remains faithful to God, he remains loyal and obedient to God’s laws.  He said, “your eyes behold what is right; though you test my heart, searching it in the night, though you try me with fire, you shall find no malice in me.”

If you notice we are most vulnerable when we are in great trial, our faith is most vulnerable when we are in crisis.  I remember the first ever Filipino monk who abandoned his vocation when he became sick and was confined in the hospital.  I also remember so many Filipinos with marital problems abandoning their catholic faith in the midst of a crisis.  I also remember priests losing their vocation because of midlife crisis or husbands and wives separating because of financial problems and difficulties.  Crisis is always a time when everything in us is tested making us vulnerable to all persuasions.

We have to follow the psalmist who declares that even in the midst of a crisis Lord you could not find malice in me.

We pray for that strength when we are led into trials and temptations following the example of Jesus who was tried in the desert and in the garden of Gethsemane, and yet he remained steadfast in doing his Father’s will.  Let us pray that we may follow what the Lord bid us do in our gospel today – to trust in God as a little child has trust in the Father.  God will take care of us just like a father takes care of his child.  Amen.