psalm 22: all shall worship god - tuesday 4th week

Psalm 22 is a psalm that speaks of the passion of Jesus.  Two lines from the psalm has been quoted by Jesus himself when he was dying on the cross:  My God why have you forsaken me, (the first line of the psalm) and It is finished (the last words of the psalm). And the gospels show so many similarities as they narrate the passion of Jesus:  they pierced my hands and my feet; they divide my garments, and for my clothing they cast lots.  One author says that the details between psalm 22 and the passion of Jesus has astounding similarities and to think that the psalm was written by David a thousand years before Christ.  It is as if David, by composing this psalm, prefigures already a future event.

Our responsorial psalm today reads the last part of the psalm when David prophesied that because of what God has done to his people, all the nations, not just Israel, but all the ends of the earth shall worship and bow down before him.  And this is what has happened today.  Jesus is worshipped all over the world because of what he suffered for our salvation.

Today our responsorial psalm reminds us that there will be some of you here in this room who will rise to the challenge of proclaiming to peoples and generations yet to come, what Jesus has done for all humanity, prefigured by psalm 22.  This is the meaning of your formation, this is point of your sacrifices, this is the purpose of your training, this is the sense of your difficulties.  As future priests you are to hand over, to proclaim to future generations the fruit of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus, prefigured by psalm 22.  You are to become channels of the grace won by Christ so that all nations will bow down before God and Jesus the savior of all.  Do not therefore belittle your formation.