IN GOD ALONE BE AT REST, MY SOUL (Ps 62)

Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A (26 Feb 2017)

Isa 49:14-15; Psalm 62:2-3, 6-7, 8-9 (R.v.6a); 1Cor 4:1-5; Matt 6:24-34

IN GOD ALONE BE AT REST, MY SOUL (Ps 62)

The Liturgy of today, in a special way, sets out to remind us of the importance of putting all our trust in God because he is the source of our help (cf. Ps 121:2). The First Reading and the Gospel brought this out more clearly while the Second Reading admonishes us to be more concerned rather with what God thinks of us than what men think of us. The Responsorial Psalm appears to be a summary of all those important lessons.

The portion of the Prophecy of Isaiah that we took today falls within the cult of prophesies which are dated within the exilic era. At the time the Israelites were in exile, they went through great suffering which made many of them to start losing faith in God and hope that his salvation might still come their way. They became so anxious that many of them began to seek solutions among the heathens.

The evangelist was out to condemn that in the Gospel. Notice the kinds of basic needs that was mentioned there food, drink and clothing. These were the essential lack of the people of that time and any leader that promises to provide them became popular among the people. We could see that as being the reason why many followed Jesus and he pointed it out, You are looking for me, not because of the signs you saw, but because you ate bread to your satisfaction (John 6:26).

The challenge there is that people would forget to seek God who provides for them and begin to seek mere satisfaction of those needs. This situation can equally be applied to us. With all the difficulties we pass through today economic recession, hunger, lack of power, insufficient water supply, insecurity, extortion, etc., we can begin to question the real presence of God in our midst.

In all these, Jesus urges us to entrust our lives in the hands of God, who values us more than a father or mother values his or her child. St. Paul equally encourages us not to allow human judgement infringe on our relationship with God. It is only God who can judge rightly for he alone knows the secret intentions of our heart (cf. Prov 24:12) and by extention, our basic needs (Matt 6:32).

Let us then learn to pray with faith:

All to Jesus I surrender,
All to Him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust Him,
In his presence daily live.

I surrender all, I surrender all
All to thee, my Blessed Saviour
I surrender all.

All to Jesus I surrender,
Humbly at His feet I bow.
Worldly pleasures all forsaken
Take me Jesus, take me now.

All to Jesus I surrender,
Lord, I give myself to Thee;
Fill me with Thy love and power,
Let Thy blessing fall on me.

Have a great Sunday. Peace be with you.