The Shepherd's Rod

Psalm 123

The psalm for the Sunday of the coming ACTS retreat feels like the other side of Psalm 23, "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want."  I love the musical version sung at most funerals and occasionally at Mass.

Psalm 123

Shepherd me, O God, beyond my wants, from death into life.

This psalm, exactly one hundred later, is also about looking to God, all powerful God, our Lord and Master.  Watching Him for when punishment might descend.  However deserved, this is about fear of God.

"As the eyes of the servant are on the hands of their masters."

Looking for if the master will strike a blow.  Pleading for mercy and deliverance.

That's the other side of believing that prayer has tangible change in the physical world.  A believe you can't help having under duress.  Because it means the terrible things you are afraid will happen...you're watching the Hand of God, watching to see if it will descend.  Like a servant -- powerless to stop it, probably deserving it, not sure if the master will be kind and forgiving or strike.

The Lord is my shepherd, and as He guides me, sometimes He pushes me down.

The other side of grace. The side that knocks you flat when you're getting too puffed up.  It's the same grace that bolsters you when you're low.

It's the grace that St. Paul is talking about too.  The kind that keeps you from growing too elated and proud and insufferable in your righteousness.  From overcorrecting to a new kind of sin.

The gentle guidance in your hardest times is the same grace that knocks you flat when you've been soaring so long you are starting to forget those you're passing by.