psalm 33: trustworthy god, he is risen as he said - easter tuesday

Today we read and meditate on the Psalm 33, specifically on the first two lines of our responsorial psalm – "Upright is the word of the LORD, and all his works are trustworthy."  The words and the works of the Lord are inseparable.  God's word and God's work are one.  What God says and what God does are the same.  The words of God are fulfilled and it does not return empty.

Beginning this week instead of praying the angelus, we pray the regina caeli: "Queen of heaven rejoices, alleluia; the Son whom you merited to bear, alleluia; has risen as He has said, alleluia.  Rejoice and be glad O Virgin Mary alleluia; for the Lord is truly risen. Alleluia."  Sometimes when we pray this we do it so fast we miss something very important in the mystery of the resurrection which we celebrate.  And what is that something important – that Jesus is risen as he has said.  He did not just rise from the dead.  He said it first and then it happened.  He said he will rise from the dead and it happened.

In history there are some people who claimed that they rose from the dead.  Well, anyone can claim that.  But they never said or mentioned that they would do so before they died.  Some say they will rise from the dead.  But this never happened.  Jesus said he will rise from the dead and so it happened.  Resurrexit sicut dixit, he has risen as he has said.  This is what we celebrate.  We celebrate not just the fact that Jesus rose from the dead, but we celebrate it because he rose as he said he will. "Upright is the word of the LORD, and all his works are trustworthy."  In the Lord words and works are inseparable.

It is also good to remind each one of us of this quality of God and therefore the quality of every Christian life.  Why do we celebrate golden jubilees – 25 years, 50 years of marriage.  Why celebrate it?  Because they remained faithful to each other as they said they will – for poorer for richer, in sickness and in health.  Word and work remain inseparable.

We have just renewed our baptismal promises last Sunday.  Again, we spoke words:  "Do you reject Satan and all his works and all his empty promises?  Yes, I do."  Are these words matched with our works?  Do we really reject the works of Satan in our offices, in our places of work, in our homes?  Or are these merely words and words and a lot of words?  If you notice Satan is a study in contrast to the Lord.  We attribute to God truthfulness and faithfulness to his words – words and works are inseparable.  In contrast to Satan we attribute empty promises.  Empty promises.  Are our marriage vows empty promises?  Are our oaths empty promises?

We pray that like Jesus who rose from the dead as he said he will, we too will become faithful to our words and promises, so that our word and work will also become inseparable.