Why Must We Lament

Psalms of Lament make up 1/3 (or even more, depending on whom you ask) of the Book of Psalms. We read Psalm 42, for example, and we see that the psalmist is remembering the past:

These things will I remember
as I pour out my soul:
How I would lead the rejoicing crowd
into the house of God,
amid cries of gladness and thanksgiving,
the throng wild with joy. (Ps 42:4)

But things seem to have changed for him. 

He remembers the past, and now laments—lamenting even in a way that sounds at times like complaining. 

We notice how the psalmist can move from praise right to lament: 

…by night I will sing to the LORD,
praise the God of my life.

— then in the next verse:

I will say to God, my rock,
“Why have you forgotten me? (42:9, 10)

— and then back again: 

Why are you cast down, my soul… ?
Hope in God; I will praise yet again,
my savior and my God” (42:12).

 

Why must the psalmist lament? And why may we also need to lament what is lost?  

1. First, we lament because we love. “Grief,” says N.T. Wright, “after all, is part of love. Not to grieve, not to lament, is to slam the door on the same place in the innermost heart from which love itself comes” (God and the Pandemic, Zondervan, 2020).

We grieve because we love and because we value what is past and what now seems to be lost. “When we lose the ability to lament, we lose an opportunity to share with our God the things of this world that are breaking our hearts…” (Ryane Williamson, "The Lost Art of Lament").

2. And, second, we lament because, without honoring the grief within us, it is likely that we would be hindered in fulfilling our call to move into the future. We may be unable to see beyond the dried winter leaf on the ground. We may remain stuck in unclaimed grief – or in a sterile and perhaps even unrecognized grief – unfruitful, as opposed to the loving lament that helps carry us forward in love. So we need to name our grief, for what one person grieves may not be the same as what another one of us grieves, even in a similar situation. 

We need to name for ourselves what it is that we grieve, and lament what we have loved and seems now to be lost. And in so doing we are helped to allow the new to be born. Lamenting helps make it possible for us to move into the future, even as the blessing of what we lament and will never forget remains in our hearts and nurtures the future, so that we can say, with the psalmist in Psalm 27:

I believe that I shall see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living. (27:13)

__________

Psalm quotations are from The Psalms: The Grail Translation Inclusive Language Version
(London: HarperCollins, 2004).

 

That You May Lay Hold of Me

 

 

My God,
that at every moment you may find me
as you desire me,
and there where you are waiting for me;
that is, so that you may take hold of me fully —
both by the within and the without of myself —
grant that I may never break this double thread of my life.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Divine Milieu

 __________

Mon Dieu, pour que, à toute minute, vous me trouviez tel que vous me désirez, là où vous m'attendez, c'est-à-dire pour que vous me saisissiez pleinement, - par le dedans et le dehors de moi-même, - faites que je ne rompe jamais ce double fil de ma vie.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Le Milieu divin

 

Beauty in a Time of Sorrow

 

Where do we find the beauty and goodness of God during a time of so much suffering? Pandemic, storms, terrible fires do not tend to make us think about beauty or express gratitude for the goodness of creation. 

Where is the beauty that we find it easy to relish in calmer times?

According to Father Stephen:

"The great mystery of Beauty is that its most profound statement in all of human history is the crucified Christ. The human experience of that Beauty is well described by Isaiah:

Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or comeliness that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. … But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed (53:1-5).

Christ had “no beauty that we should desire him.” How is it possible that the King of Glory should have no beauty? This is itself the mystery of Beauty: it lies hidden beneath the sufferings of God

Father Stephen, “The Mystery of Beauty,” Glory to God for All Things 

In the beauty of the crucified and risen Christ, we see that pain doesn't have the last word; Covid-19 doesn’t have the last word; terrible fires do not have the last word; destructive storms do not have the last word. Fear and pain do not have the last word. No, the beauty of self-giving love does. 

It has been said that we become what we contemplate. Let us gaze on the beauty of Christ crucified; let us behold the beauty of Christ risen, even as we weep and grieve the losses of this painful time in which we are living.

No Retribution

The resurrection of Jesus is a victory both of life over death and of forgiveness over the power of sin and retribution. It is a victory of love. And in this victory is a call to union in the life and the mercy proclaimed through the risen Christ.

On a very practical note, without the resurrection the disciples of Jesus would not have fully grasped their own forgiveness. With the resurrection, however, the despondent and probably guilt-ridden friends of Jesus begin to learn something new: they learn that the forgiveness Jesus has been preaching is an energy that changes lives, including their own. ...

Retribution would be a natural human response to being unjustly arrested, abandoned by friends, tortured, and executed, once one had returned in a body freed from earthly limitations. Instead the friends of Jesus experience that there is no vindictiveness in him, which means that there is none in God. In spite of any appearances to the contrary, love and goodness have triumphed. God is in control of the universe, and they themselves are forgiven.

[For more, see That God May Be All in All: Christian Life and Sacred Paradox, Chapter IV.] 

_____

The photograph for today has little obvious relation to the reflection above, but I took it early last evening (Holy Saturday), and it delighted me. We don't ordinarily see rabbits in our courtyard, but here was one (an Easter bunny?) nestled in the grass, seemingly unafraid of the two of us who were there. He (or she) just wiggled its nose at us, followed us with eyes and a gentle shift of the head, but made no move to run off.  This morning she was gone.

That God May Be All in All

That God May Be All in All: Christian Life and Sacred Paradox is the title of my new book, recently published.

But what does it mean for God to be all in all? Is this mysterious promise only for the end of time, or does it contain a call to us now?

How are we to let ourselves be transformed in the God who is Unknown, yet at the same time is our most intimate Knowing? And what about the wondrous mystery that the God who is supremely Other longs for us to share the divine life in Christ?

I invite you to take a look on Amazon.com, which will let you view samples of the book.  Just click on the picture of the cover, and you will be taken there.

Small Gifts

[Used with permission from "Caught Up in God."]

If you are like me, there are some days when, without intending to, you move through the day in a whirl, or in a stupor, or dragging in sadness, or simply preoccupied. On those days we may miss the small but precious gifts we are given.

One afternoon, distracted and a bit discouraged, I went outside and walked around the courtyard behind our house. As I walked I saw, floating through the air, a small seed surrounded by tendrils. I don’t know what kind of seed it was, but it was beautiful, and I reached out my hand toward it.

What amazed me was that it stayed with me. Perhaps there was a very fine tendril clinging to my finger.

 

 But it even changed hands at one point.

 

Taking photos was not easy. I had my cell phone with me, but getting a picture meant holding the phone in only one hand, tapping, adjusting, and snapping the camera with the same hand,  all the while not disturbing the beautiful seed hovering at my other hand.

After a while I blew on it gently and off it flew, only to settle gently toward the ground behind the nearby bushes.

The presence of the seed felt like a gift, just when I needed one. I wonder sometimes if it has sprouted.

The Prayer of Jesus

What we call the "Lord's Prayer" is the prayer Jesus taught to his disciples.

If we can't pray it sincerely ourselves, we can ask Jesus to pray the prayer in us.

Dawn into Flame

The essence of mysticism is not, as some think, visions, levitations, or other extraordinary phenomena. On the contrary, it is a growing into union with the God of love. “Christian mysticism,” writes Harvey D. Egan , “is a way of life that involves the perfect fulfillment of loving God, neighbor, all God’s creation, and oneself” (Introduction, An Anthology of Christian Mysticism).

Bernardo Olivera, speaking of the great 12th-century mystics, uses a dramatic but very beautiful image to describe this journey of the Christian life.

Thus, mysticism is the reality of grace accompanying the whole life of the believer, transforming him or her from dawn into midday and from an individual burning coal into an all-consuming fire.

The Sun at Midnight (Cistercian Publications)

Through the abundant grace of God, may we too be transformed from dimness into an all-consuming blaze of love in God.

 __________

(For more, see "The Mystic as Flame" on "Caught Up in God.")

Fire photo with fractal by Faylei (Rose Hoover, rc)
(Fractal created in Apophysis)

In Deep Waters

Mysterious Swamp

Save me, O God,
    for the waters have come up to my neck.

I sink in deep mire,
    where there is no foothold;
I have come into deep waters,
    and the flood sweeps over me.

I am weary with my crying;
    my throat is parched.
My eyes grow dim
    with waiting for my God.

. . . . .

But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord.
    At an acceptable time, O God,
    in the abundance of your steadfast love, answer me.

(Psalm 69:1-3, 13)

Golden Sunset

Golden Sunset

(Click to view full size.)

Sunsets in Chicago can be spectacular. (One theory is that the air pollution enhances the colors.) This one was indeed beautiful, but I confess that I have edited it and intensified it somewhat with Photoshop.

Surface Tension

 

I find surface tension—which is a simple phenomenon, I suppose, as far as scientific phenomena go—fascinating and beautiful. So when I saw the water in my teacup hovering above the rim, I took some pictures.

How great are your works, LORD!
How profound your designs!
A senseless person cannot know this;
a fool cannot comprehend.

(Psalm 92:6-7 NAB)

Big Baby

Baby Rhino King

Here is baby rhinoceros King about three weeks before his first birthday at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.  On his birthday he weighed more than 1000 pounds. A zoo official told me, on the day I photographed King, that he was still nursing, even with that horn!

Troubled Planet

Troubled Planet

Let us pray for our troubled world and for all, including ourselves, who commit violence in deed, word, or thought.

See "Justice, Compassion, Prayer" on the blog, "Caught Up in God."

- - - - -

“Troubled Planet” image is by Rose Hoover, rc (with fire texture adapted from NASA photos).

How Manifold Your Works

Pepper and Tomato on Ledge

You cause the grass to grow for the cattle,

and plants for people to use,
to bring forth food from the earth,

and wine to gladden the human heart,
oil to make the face shine,

and bread to strengthen the human heart.

O Lord, how manifold are your works!

(Psalm 104:14-15, 24) 

Moon over Chicago

Full moon over Chicago from the Cenacle roof

(Click on photo to view full size.)

THE MOON IS ALSO BUSY

I bow to God in gratitude,

And I find the moon is also busy

Doing the same.

I bow to God in great happiniess,

And I learn from where the suns

And the children

And my heart

All borrow their Light.

I bow to the Friend in deep reverence

And discover a marvelous secret carried in the air:

This whole Universe is just as blessed

And divinely crazed as I,

And just as lost in this Wonderful Holy Dance.

My dear,

After such a long, long journey,

God has made another soul

Free!

Now all Hafiz wants to do

Is open a beautiful Tavern

Where this Sacred Wine

Of God's Truth, Knowledge and Love

Is forever and ever

Freely offered to you.

O bow to God in gratitude,

And some day

You will see how

The moon is also busy doing the same.

I Heard God Laughing: Poems of Hope and Joy (Renderings of Hafiz by Daniel Ladinsky) Penguin, 2006.

At Play in the Cosmos

(This image is composed of multiple layers: among others, a fractal flame and Hubble's photo of Galaxy Cluster 1E 0657-556.)

I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you. . .

Ephesians 1:17

Iced Tea Season

Now that the weather is getting warmer, it is time to share with you some of my photos of, yes, a glass of iced tea!

Light shining on glass of ice and tea

(Click on image to view full size.)

Variations:

 

 

 

 

 

I saw written as in letters of gold this word Goodness,

which I repeated for a long while with an indescribable sweetness.

I saw it, I say, written on all creatures,

animate and inanimate, rational or not — 

 all bore this name of goodness. 

(Saint Therese Couderc)

Flying Saucer?

(Click photos to view full size.)

This photograph is of a large soap bubble in a glass plate.  As you see, the room was dark except for one strategically placed light—which, curiously enough, looks a bit like an angel hovering in the bubble.

Since the picture reminded me of a flying saucer, I decided to have a little fun and situate it in a whimsical space scene.  The result is below.

Hawk Gazing

(Click photo to view full size.)

(This hawk is not the same bird as Hopkin's windhover, but this raptor can also inspire awe.)

The Windhover

To Christ our Lord 

I caught this morning morning's minion, king-
    dom of daylight's dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his riding
    Of the rolling level underneath him steady air, and striding
High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing
In his ecstasy! then off, off forth on swing,
    As a skate's heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend: the hurl and gliding
    Rebuffed the big wind. My heart in hiding
Stirred for a bird, – the achieve of, the mastery of the thing!

Brute beauty and valour and act, oh, air, pride, plume, here
    Buckle! AND the fire that breaks from thee then, a billion
Times told lovelier, more dangerous, O my chevalier!

   No wonder of it: shéer plód makes plough down sillion
Shine, and blue-bleak embers, ah my dear,
    Fall, gall themselves, and gash gold-vermilion.

Rock and Hawk

  by Robinson Jeffers

Here is a symbol in which
Many high tragic thoughts
Watch their own eyes.

This gray rock, standing tall
On the headland, where the seawind
Lets no tree grow,

Earthquake-proved, and signatured
By ages of storms: on its peak
A falcon has perched.

I think, here is your emblem
To hang in the future sky;
Not the cross, not the hive,

But this; bright power, dark peace;
Fierce consciousness joined with final
Disinterestedness;

Life with calm death; the falcon's 
Realist eyes and act
Married to the massive

Mysticism of stone,
Which failure cannot cast down
Nor success make proud.

- See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15478#sthash.fwInHg0P.dpuf

Rock and Hawk

  by Robinson Jeffers

Here is a symbol in which
Many high tragic thoughts
Watch their own eyes.

This gray rock, standing tall
On the headland, where the seawind
Lets no tree grow,

Earthquake-proved, and signatured
By ages of storms: on its peak
A falcon has perched.

I think, here is your emblem
To hang in the future sky;
Not the cross, not the hive,

But this; bright power, dark peace;
Fierce consciousness joined with final
Disinterestedness;

Life with calm death; the falcon's 
Realist eyes and act
Married to the massive

Mysticism of stone,
Which failure cannot cast down
Nor success make proud.

- See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15478#sthash.fwInHg0P.dpuf

Rock and Hawk

  by Robinson Jeffers

Here is a symbol in which
Many high tragic thoughts
Watch their own eyes.

This gray rock, standing tall
On the headland, where the seawind
Lets no tree grow,

Earthquake-proved, and signatured
By ages of storms: on its peak
A falcon has perched.

I think, here is your emblem
To hang in the future sky;
Not the cross, not the hive,

But this; bright power, dark peace;
Fierce consciousness joined with final
Disinterestedness;

Life with calm death; the falcon's 
Realist eyes and act
Married to the massive

Mysticism of stone,
Which failure cannot cast down
Nor success make proud.

- See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15478#sthash.fwInHg0P.dpuf

Winter Sunsets

Pale Sun through Winter Haze

Same Scene on a Clear Day