Lectionary: 24No evil shall befall you,
nor shall affliction come near your tent,
For to his angels he has given command about you,
that they guard you in all your ways.
A psych ward Veteran asked me to sit down with him as he told me the story of his conversion to Jesus. He spoke of the usual trials of all young Americans who must make hard choices about themselves, their recreation and their fun, and the decision to grow up. But what he especially wanted to tell me about was Psalm 91, the same prayer which we heard sung today as our responsorial Psalm:
He will rescue you from the fowler’s snare,
from the destroying plague,
He will shelter you with his pinions,
and under his wings you may take refuge;
his faithfulness is a protecting shield.
You shall not fear the terror of the night
nor the arrow that flies by day, (vss 3-5)
He read this passage with intense emotion and great joy, and I remembered that many soldiers have carried small copies of the Psalm in past wars as they met the enemy in Europe and the South Pacific, in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan, in Colombia and Nicaragua and Cuba. And I remembered my own story of Psalm 91.
When COVID-19 swept the nation the hospitals especially suffered. Already strained by the aging Baby Boom, nurses, doctors, therapists, and housekeepers struggled to maintain the standards of care that are both necessary and expected of them. Many hospital staff got sick, and some of them died. I was a chaplain at the Louisville VA through it all, and Washington decreed that no VA chaplain should enter the room of any COVID patient under any circumstance. If the patient was conversant we could speak to them from our offices by telephone; or, possibly, through a window and with our cell phones.
However, the directive came rather late and I had already been smocking with all the necessary PPE -- personal protective equipment -- to visit Catholic patients, anoint them, talk with those who could, stay with those who couldn't, and give them rosaries and other Catholic literature. I heard the chief chaplain's instructions to all of us and said nothing; it was several weeks before the busy man discovered what I was doing.
He was outraged, as were several other chaplains, and they complained that I was imperiling all of them. I reminded them that, as a priest, I could not give communion or hear confessions without meeting the patient face to face. I could not anoint the sick without touching their foreheads and hands. I reminded them of Psalm 91:
You shall not fear the terror of the night
nor the arrow that flies by day,
Nor the pestilence that roams in darkness,
nor the plague that ravages at noon.
Though a thousand fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
near you it shall not come.
The chaplains were not impressed by my job description and Psalm 91, and the Chief Chaplain called Washington to ask what he should do about me. I happened to know the executive director of all the chaplains in the VA; she had been on the chaplain staff with us in Louisville for a while. J___ told the Chief, "Let Father Ken do his job!"
No evil shall befall you,
no affliction come near your tent.
For he commands his angels with regard to you,
to guard you wherever you go.
Jesus quoted the same Psalm 91 when Satan confronted him,
‘With their hands they will support you,
lest you dash your foot against a stone.’
Psalm 91 was the Lord’s disposition as he prayed in the desert. The man from Galilee had cast his lot with the Lord God. He relied on God to provide him with whatever the wilderness might provide, and the courage to bear hunger and thirst. In the desert, he would always say yes to whatever God required of him.
But today’s gospel reminds us also that Jesus said No to three major opportunities despite their potential for enormous good. To most people they would appear very good. He could provide an endless supply of food and provisions. He could command the nations. As the Messiah he could rule the souls of men, women, and children with unquestioned religious and spiritual authority.
But he refused these powers regardless of the good that might come from them. Although God had fed his ancestors with meat, manna, and water in the wilderness for forty years, he would not be godlike and change stones into bread. If the world is hungry for bread, it would not come from him.
He refused political power when Satan offered him all the kingdoms of the earth. He could have controlled the military and stopped all wars. He could make laws, regulate the economy, inspire the arts and sciences, govern the schools, and make this world a bearably pleasant place. He would put a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage; he would create a worker’s paradise.
Some time later Jesus told the story of the faithful servants who shared their master’s joy! But he would not accept the perks, privileges, and rewards of kings, presidents, governors, senators, and mayors.
And finally, he refused the most seductive power of all, the power of religion. If the governor rules the outer world, the Messiah/Christ/priest controls the inner world, the soul. He can tell people whether they are in sin or in grace. He can dole out anxiety and relief, guilt and innocence, salvation and damnation, depending on whether they obey or disobey him. The Messiah who floats down from the parapet of the temple on the hands of angels can ease or dis-ease souls. If he serves himself first in that most secret, most private place, the human heart, the hurt will be immeasurable; the scandal, inestimable; and the damage irreparable.
Jesus would have none of it. Power frees no one; and the freedom which power is supposed
to give is Satan’s most seductive trap. Economic, political, and religious powers are the deepest prisons of our souls.
Jesus waited on God’s benevolence as he suffered hunger for forty days in the desert; and by that he chose the freedom to become what God the Father had made him to be in the manner which the Father would determine. He would know God as any human being knows God, by faith; and as a son knows his father. He would show us God the Father, and that is sufficient for us.
He followed the Spirit’s lead and healed some who were sick, raised some of the dead, comforted some of the afflicted. But in the end he read Psalm 91 and relied on God’s mercy. He would know the shame of the helpless and the guilt of sinners. He would hang nakedly before God with nothing more than his belief that the Father would not forget him.
