Who is our God?
June 9, 2023 - Friday, 9th Week in Ordinary Time
Psalm 146:1b-2, 6c-7, 8-9a, 9bc-10
Psalm 121 begins with a question: "From where will my help come?" (Ps 121:1) Where do we look for help? The psalmist immediately answers his question saying: “My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth” (Ps 121:2). Psalm 146 reflects on the same question and gives the same answer but with supporting evidence.
Who do we ask for help? Parents, friends, people with connections in society? But we all know that there are situations and circumstances in which none of those people can help us and we also cannot help ourselves. The psalmist is aware of this fact and so he advises his readers not to put trust in other people, no matter how powerful and influential they are (see Ps 146:3-4). Why? The answer is obvious - we are all mortal. What if one day, the person you relied upon all your life dies? What are you going to do then?
According to the psalmist, our hope should be in God, the creator of heaven and earth (see Ps 146:6). We believe in an everlasting God, who has neither beginning nor end. And we believe in Jesus Christ who conquered death and dies no more. In this God of ours, we put our trust by saying, “Jesus, I trust in You”. In verses 6-9, the psalmist gives us examples of God’s transforming power in the lives of the most vulnerable in society: the wronged, the hungry, the prisoners, the blind and those who cannot stand straight, the stranger, the orphans and the widows.
The Gospel of Luke presents Jesus’ ministry in the line of God’s preferential opinion for the vulnerable and the needy narrated in Psalm 146. “The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them” (Luke 7:22). Then, the Church continues this ministry in our world. It is worth realising what we often overlooked that the Church is the biggest volunteer organisation in the world. Christ’s believers are engaged in feeding the hungry, visiting the sick and those in prison, helping the poor and fighting injustice in the world. The Church imitates her Lord.
The psalmist says that the Lord loves the just and thwarts the way of the wicked. There is so much injustice in this world generated by those who do not care about others and only think about themselves. But, as the entire Psalter proclaims, they have no future. The future belongs to the righteous ones who imitate their God and Lord in restoring the lives of the most vulnerable in our society and making this world a better place for living.