Day 8: Rejoicing From a Place of Reality...

For tonight’s prayer, here is the second antiphon:

O Adonai and leader of Israel, You appeared to Moses in a burning bush and You gave him the law on Sinai.

O come and save us with Your mighty power.

O come, O come, Thou Lord of might, who to Thy tribes on Sinai’s hight, in ancient times didst give the law in cloud, and majesty and awe:

Rejoice! Rejoice! Immanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

I long to have the wisdom to know, deep in my bones, that it is God who fills and holds the universe together in a strong and gentle manner. To know these things surely would change my own attitude about what strong means and how to exercise power. Surely it would change where I place my hope for change.

I long to remember rightly. That long before there was a pandemic (a mere blip in the course of history) God appeared in a burning bush and dispensed laws for living and loving well as a community. Surely this would change my focus of attention. My eyes would turn inward; my problems would be more about how I live and love than how others are living.

I long to rejoice. Rejoice from a place of reality. Rejoice in the midst of suffering. Accept suffering as part of life even as I seek to alleviate the suffering of others.