Lenten Devotions in Hard Economic Times

THIRTY-NINTH DAY OF LENT 
       APRIL 2, Good Friday 
  
 Psalm 22: 1-2, 9-10, 23-26, 31b 
 
My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?
Why are You so far from helping me?
So far from the words of my groaning?
O my God, I cry out by day,
But You do not answer;
And by night,
But I find no rest.
 
Awash in grief, strained by cares,
Stretched taut over the crater of stress,
We can only wail in isolation,
Sleepless in our desolation.
 
Yet it was You, O God, who brought me out of the womb;
You kept me safe
When I was an infant on my mother’s breast.
To You I was entrusted from the moment of my birth;
From my mother’s womb You have been my God.
 
So now we wash away the dust with recollection of
A sturdiness of Presence that infused our amniotic fluid?
A staunch and resolute Love that hasn’t fumbled
     our squirmy souls?
And hope, against all odds, spreads its wild wide wings:

You who know the Almighty, give honor!
All you offspring of wanderers and heirs of grace,
Give praise!
Stand in awe of the Most High,
All you who are God’s people!
For the Holy One did not despise my affliction,
Or abhor me in my affliction;
Nor did the Almighty turn away from me,
But heard my cry for help.
 
You, O Redeemer, cause me to rejoice
When the community gathers;
I will offer my thanksgiving
In the company of those who seek Your presence.
The needy shall feast and be satisfied;
All those who seek the Most High shall give reverence.
May Your hearts live forever!…
For God has done it.  God has stayed with us.
 
 

Psalm cited from Redemption Songs-A 21st Century Descant on the Psalms 
 commentary in italic