Click here to read the daily readings from the USCCB website.
I didn’t do much research about the first reading so I’m not going to pretend I know exactly what’s going on haha, but the psalm especially touched my heart.
“Lord, listen to my groaning.”
The world is groaning right now. Racism, political polarization, pandemic, isolation, fear, prejudice, hate. Does not our collective human heart ache? Are we not all moved in some way by the pain we see around us? I’m remembering the solidarity we experienced at the beginning of the pandemic. Our neighbors talked to each other from their porches like never before. We all had something in common and so we were comfortable with each other. Remember the videos of Italians singing together on their balconies? Or people gathering in their cars outside hospitals at shift change to applaud the medical workers? Along the same lines, in the Denver area someone created a Facebook event called “Go Outside and Howl at 8pm.” Guess what? Hundreds of thousands of people throughout Colorado go outside and howl at 8pm every night. Talk about solidarity.
I don’t feel that solidarity anymore. I feel like we’re back in the midst of the politically polarized climate that makes me feel guilty just for being me. The Lord waits for our groaning. Indeed, He hearkens to our words, He attends to our sighing. He does not delight in wickedness. Last night I sat in my house chapel and cried out to the Lord. I honestly don’t know what my heart was aching over, but I know that it aches. I let my heart break in the hands of my Father, knowing that He will hold all of the pieces and create them anew.
God’s ways are not our ways.
-Amanda Benner, Director of Evangelization