Date: Memorial of St. Francis of Assisi
Scripture Text: Ps 139:1-3, 7-8, 9-10, 13-14ab
R. (24b) Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.
O LORD, you have probed me and you know me;
you know when I sit and when I stand;
you understand my thoughts from afar.
My journeys and my rest you scrutinize,
with all my ways you are familiar.
R. Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.
Where can I go from your spirit?
From your presence where can I flee?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I sink to the nether world, you are present there.
R. Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.
If I take the wings of the dawn,
if I settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
Even there your hand shall guide me,
and your right hand hold me fast.
R. Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.
Truly you have formed my inmost being;
you knit me in my mother's womb.
I give you thanks that I am fearfully, wonderfully made;
wonderful are your works.
R. Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.
Breaking the text open – background and summary:
The psalm today wonderfully responds to the first reading from Job which recounts the LORD’s answer to Job who questioned the LORD’s ways. In the psalm we confess our LORD’s knowledge and understanding of us as well as presence to us. We take our rightful place before the LORD in awe.
Meditating on the text with personal questions:
Do I seek to listen to the LORD who knows me so well?
Praying:
LORD, “You have probed me, and you know me; You know when I sit and when I stand; You understand my thoughts from afar. My journeys and my rest You scrutinize; with all my ways You are familiar.” Grant that I may always and everywhere rely on You and your love for me, seek your will rather than my own, and live into the being You created me to be. Amen.