Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

 Lectionary: 502

Blessed be the LORD, my rock, 

who trains my hands for battle,

my fingers for war;

My safeguard and my fortress,

my stronghold, my deliverer,

My shield, in whom I take refuge,who subdues peoples under me.

The responsorial psalm today is taken from Psalm 144, one of the "royal psalms." It was a song like the American Hail to the Chief or the British God save the Queen, used on state occasions to honor the king. 

The psalmist intends to remind the king and all the people where their strength and security come from. It is not in force of arms or the hard work of a successful economy. 

Whether we live a thousand years before Christ or two thousand years afterward, we don't kid ourselves into thinking we manage the vagaries of this world. If we enjoy a measure of peace, it's God's gift. If we have adequate income to pay the bills, we thank God who gives us the wherewithal to do that. If our enemies are subdued like the psalmist's, we know it is God who has effected that. 

Nor should anyone suppose they deserve this daily assurance. That predictable stability also comes from God. 

David's kingdom remained united during his and his son Solomon's rule, and then split into the northern kingdom of Israel, and the southern Judah. Neither nation was very powerful, nor was their combined power. Historians tell us they were overrun more than a few times by armies from Asia, Africa, and Europe. Judah managed to survive for over four hundred years, often by forming alliances with Egypt or an Asian powers, much to the consternation of the Hebrew prophets who denounced them. They insisted only God could save them. 

But since neither the rulers nor the people would submit to God's demands that justice and mercy be shown to aliens, widows, and orphans, they had to settle for unholy alliances with foreigners. Of course, that meant they retained their sovereign freedom so long as it fit the purposes of their more powerful neighbors. Israel was overrun in the sixth century bce; and Judah, in the fifth. Since then, Jews have survived admirably as a stateless religion, to the honor of God. 

Jesus ben Sirach in his book Ecclesiasticus shows us where we belong, how we should act, and how we should pray in his 36th chapter:

Come to our aid, O God of the universe,

and put all the nations in dread of you!

Raise your hand against the foreign people,

that they may see your mighty deeds.

As you have used us to show them your holiness,

so now use them to show us your glory.

Thus they will know, as we know,

that there is no God but you.

Give new signs and work new wonders;

show forth the splendor of your right hand and arm.

Our calling is not to be powerful but to be holy. By daily acts of mercy and by justly respecting the dignity of every human being including that of our enemies, we reveal God's holiness to a skeptical world. By protecting us in a turbulent world, by providing us with a measure of prosperity and reasonable stability, God reveals his power. Our faith and devotion in the sight of our foes is a mighty deed; our willingness to forgive, atone, and be reconciled is more astonishing than saying, "Rise and walk." 

Like Jesus on Easter Sunday; we're still here. And God is with us.