I’m someone who likes to read. Now I’m not what you would call a voracious reader, but I like books, especially about Scripture and faith, but I’ll also read novels of different types, too. And if you look at my bookshelves, you’ll probably find many books that have bookmarks partway through that I need to pick up and revisit again. I’ll be partway through this book, then I find something else that gets my attention, and I have to put this book down and start that one.
But there’s one type of literature that I really don’t like. And that’s poetry. I never really enjoyed it; I just could never get myself into it. And because of that, I really struggled to read and pray the Psalms in Sacred Scripture. Because that’s what they are. Songs—poetry. So what do I do? I buy books on the Psalms to help me dig deeper into their meaning, purpose, and ways to read and pray with them. To this day, I still have to work hard to pray with the Psalms.
But I remember the first time I really listened to Psalm 22, part of which is used as our Responsorial for today’s Liturgy. I was awestruck as to how prophetic it was, pointing so directly to the Passion and Crucifixion of Jesus. Listen to some of the lines from this Psalm:
But I am a worm and no man; scorned by men, and despised by the people. All who see me mock at me, they make mouths at me, they wag their heads; He committed his cause to the Lord; let him deliver him, let him rescue him, for he delights in him! (vv. 6-8)
I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax, it is melted within my breast; my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaves to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death. (vv. 14-15)
Yes, dogs are round about me; a company of evildoers encircle me; they have pierced my hands and feet—I can count all my bones—they stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. (vv. 16-18)
This Psalm was probably written by King David, about one thousand years before Jesus died on the cross. These things he wrote of he never suffered himself, and yet they could have been spoken by Jesus. In fact, they were, when he was lifted up on the Cross. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” It’s the first line of Psalm 22, and also the line we repeat in the Responsorial.
But this cry, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” was not a cry of despair, as if Jesus had lost all hope of being saved, but it was a cry of distress, because at that time he feels none of the consolations of God in the midst of his suffering. It was common in ancient times to refer to a psalm by reciting the first line. So when Jesus cries, “My God, my God …” from the Cross, he is referring to the entire Psalm 22, and the intention was to invite the bystanders to interpret what he is going through in light of this psalm. So how does this psalm end?
I will proclaim your name to my brethren; in the midst of the assembly I will praise you: “You who fear the Lord, praise him; all you descendants of Jacob, give glory to him; revere him, all you descendants of Israel!” (vv. 22-23)
The last part of Psalm 22 is a song of trust which ends in a cry of praise and triumph. This is the message of this responsorial we pray – that even in the darkest moments of our lives we can put our trust in God who is always with us. Psalm 22 is a prayer that gives us confidence and reassurance that our suffering is not in vain.
And this is the message for each of us. No matter what kind of suffering we might face, whether it’s physical, emotional, or spiritual, we sometimes feel alone, abandoned, and even neglected. But in the midst of our suffering we can be reassured that God is always there to give us guidance, compassion, and comfort. And because Jesus was able to cry to God the Father at the point of his greatest suffering, we can be reassured that when it seems we’re at the point of our deepest despair, when it seems that we are most alone, it is then that God is as close to us as he can possibly be.
That’s the love of God at work. We are not alone. Not only is God with us in our most desperate times, but he shares our suffering with us. The love of God is so powerful that suffering, sickness and death cannot defeat it. Wars, terrorism and division can’t overcome it. Hurricanes, floods, or tornadoes can’t conquer God’s love. To quote Saint Paul in his letter to the Romans, “I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:38-39).