A Daily Dose of God

 

                                

                

 

 

 

Chapter 6 “Lament Is a Legitimate Form of Prayer”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we continue our look into Fr. Gerhard Lohfink’s book, Prayer Takes Us Home, today we reflect upon lament.  “Sorrow must be shown …. Pain is allowed expression.”  [p.95]

 

Psalm 88 is pure lament: A Despairing Lament

 

I Lord, the God of my salvation, I call out by day;

    at night I cry aloud in your presence.

 Let my prayer come before you;

    incline your ear to my cry.

 

For my soul is filled with troubles;

    my life draws near to Sheol.

 I am reckoned with those who go down to the pit;

    I am like a warrior without strength.

 

My couch is among the dead,

    like the slain who lie in the grave.

You remember them no more;

    they are cut off from your influence....

 

All day I call on you, Lord;

    I stretch out my hands to you ....

But I cry out to you, Lord;

    in the morning my prayer comes before you.

 

Why do you reject my soul, Lord,

    and hide your face from me?....

  All day they surge round like a flood;

    from every side they encircle me. 

Because of you friend and neighbor shun me;

    [my only friend is darkness!]

 

“There are few psalms that end so darkly.  The last line declares that impenetrable darkness reigns.”  [p.99]  “The result … is that … the individual and … Israel Prays these psalms: the hoped-for Messiah prays them together with his people….”  [p.103]  “The petitioner clings to the knowledge that God helped this people in the past.”  [p.110]

 

“Finally, at Pentecost, they [Christians] celebrate how his rescue and his telling of it creates community.”  [p.119]

 

Suffering is a profoundly difficult human problem to deal with, to comprehend!  Why is there suffering if God is all loving, all good and all-powerful?

 

Pope St. John Paul II said, "It is suffering, more than anything else, which clears the way for the grace which transforms human souls. Suffering, more than anything else makes present in the history of humanity the powers of the Redemption."

 

Why does anyone suffer?  Why does God permit suffering?  The truth is I don’t know, but I am very interested in finding out!

 

You and I will not fully understand the why of suffering until we arrive at our eternal reward.  Eugene Kennedy said, “Heartbreak is impossible unless there is great love.  Without love, sorrow and tears would disappear.”

 

Saint Joseph, pray for us.

 

Saint Andre Bessette intercede for us.

 

Saint Thomas More, plead for us.

 

May God Be Praised!