When will you come, Lord?
September 19, 2023 - Tuesday, 24th Week in Ordinary Time
Psalm 101:1b-3ab, 5, 6
In today’s Psalm 101, we encounter a plea of the psalmist: “When will you come to me?” The coming of the Lord and His kingdom is at the heart of the biblical message. Jesus taught us to pray, “Father, your Kingdom come” (Luke 11:2), during the Eucharist we proclaim that “Christ will come again”, and in the letter to the Corinthians Saint Paul uses the famous Aramaic phrase “Maranatha” which means “come, Lord Jesus” (1 Cor 16:22). The last book of the Bible ends with a prayer of the Church, “Come, Lord Jesus” and His assuring answer: “Yes, I am coming quickly” (Rev 22:20).
The Church teaches about two comings of the Lord, the one during Christmas in lowliness and the one at the end of times in glory. However, since St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153), we began to speak about one more coming of the Lord that continuously takes place during our liturgical celebrations and personal prayers. There is no doubt that for the early followers of Christ, the expectation of Christ’s coming played a vital role in living their faith. The prayer “Maranatha” is found in a Christian document called “Didache” which is as ancient as our Gospels. But does this longing for God also fill our hearts?
The prayer of the psalmist, “When will you come to me?”, expresses his recognition that we need God in our life. But our times are times of self-sufficiency. We do not expect anything anymore because we seem to have everything. And yet some of us notice the emptiness within our hearts and ask the question, “Is there more to life than these?” The truth is that there is more to life than the tedious, tiring and unfulfilling activities that fill our days.
Jesus said: “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). Despite the improved quality of life for most people in the world we observe a paradox of material prosperity leading to spiritual emptiness and despair. There are enough examples of rich and famous people who ended up in despair. We have to rediscover the truth that neither material things nor achievements in life can satisfy our lives. We are meant for a relationship with God because he alone can satisfy the longings of our hearts.
The psalmist asks: “When will you come to me?” St. Bernard says that the second coming of Christ takes place at every moment in our life. We are invited to cultivate the longings for God and to deepen our relationship with Him. Like the first Christians, let us make the Aramaic prayer, “Maranatha”, our own. Through the spiritual practice of personal prayer and communal participation in the Eucharist, let us grow in the awareness of God’s presence in our lives.