Psalm Reflection: The Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle A

“Lord, your love is eternal; do not forsake the work of your hands.” - Psalms 138

When I was in graduate school I had a professor teach me an important lesson:

“Kill your darlings.”

He taught us this in regard to our writing: sometimes we would get so lost in our writing that we would add too much detail, go too far in one direction, or lose sight of the topic. “Kill your darlings,” was a reminder for us to always have the willingness to delete, edit, or rework anything, no matter how attached we might be to it.

In the spiritual life, it is also an important lesson.

We get attached to things that we think will make us fulfilled or happy, only to to one day discover we have gone off track and lost sight of our ultimate goal: Heaven. 

We are imperfect, we all sin (Romans 3:23), and so we all have inordinate earthly attachments that distract us or cause us to turn away from God. We need the constant reminder to let those things die and follow the advice Saint Paul gives to the Church in Ephesus:

…you should put away the old self of your former way of life, corrupted through deceitful desires, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new self, created in God’s way in righteousness and holiness of truth. - Ephesians 4:22-24

God, however, is perfect. 

God does not make mistakes.

God made all of us to be inherently good. 

No matter how distorted that goodness becomes by our sin, or how much we might lose sight, God made us good.

God did not make sin, suffering, and death (Wisdom 1:13), those are all ways we went off track and lost sight of the goal. Yet, God loves us infinitely more than we could possibly understand, whether we are holiest saint or the most heinous sinner.

So, we rejoice with the words of the Psalm for this Sunday: “Lord, your love is eternal; do not forsake the work of your hands.” Despite having every justifiable reason to, because the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), God still chooses not to kill His darlings. He lets the story of our lives play out messily and chaotically, constantly trying to call us back on track and reorient us to the goal: Heaven.

We have a Creator who is willing to let the mistakes stay. 

He loves us and will never press edit or delete on our lives outside of His plan.

So, as we reflect on this Psalm, we should first be overcome with gratitude for the Lord’s merciful love for each one of us. 

Secondly, we should look at our lives with a fine-toothed comb and a red pen, willing to edit or delete anything that is keeping us from God, because He will not do it for us.

You have the freedom to choose.

You have the freedom to stay in the mess.

You have the freedom to kill your darlings.

Rejoice in the love that God has for you, that He will give you every possible chance to respond to His love.

So, respond.

I am praying for you, please pray for me, and I will see you in the Eucharist.

Matt

This reflection is based on the Responsorial Psalm for this Sunday, August 27th, 2023, which is The Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle A: Psalms 138:1-2, 2-3, 6, 8.