Our response to the first reading uses verses from Psalm 34, one of the acrostic psalms. In an acrostic psalm, each verse begins with each successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet, from “aleph” to “tav.” It is a technique that is used in several of the psalms. However, because of the constraints that this puts on the psalmist, the verses lack cohesion. Each verse is a wisdom saying without considering the verse that comes before or after it. However, this also renders a psalm that can be used as a way to remember the Scriptures of the day as we go about the business of the day. The verses that are chosen for today speak of how God deals with both the just and the evildoers.
The readings today talk of bad people. They are called “the wicked.” You can substitute any synonym and still get the idea. These people find it difficult to live with their opposites, the good people. Their difficulty lies in the fact that the good people remind them of who they are supposed to be. So they speak of “besetting” the just one.
The Gospels constantly pit Jesus against the Pharisees, the scribes, and the Jewish elders. He is “beset” by them until they finally carry out their plot to do away with him. Yet we know that this was all part of God’s plan. Though they thought they had eradicated the problem, they only fulfilled God’s design.
Jesus was trying to bring about change in the lives of his people. His only desire was for them to accept him as the one sent by the Father. Lent is a time for us to remember that we too are called to change, to set aside our faults and failings, to live up to our profession of faith. God is ready at all times for us to turn to him and receive forgiveness. The sacraments of the Eucharist and Penance provide us with special opportunities to do just that if we approach God with a contrite heart and admit our sin and our need for God’s forgiveness.
Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator