Each time Psalm 90 comes up in the Liturgy of the Hours I must pause a little while to ponder. Psalm 90 verse 10 lets us know that our life span is typically seventy years, or eighty if we are strong. However, the picture painted of these years is what makes me pause. Depending upon the translation being used, we see the description of these years of life as being filled with emptiness, pain, trouble, sorrow, toil, labor, struggle, oppression, affliction, misery, and vanity. Are you excited for that experience?
There is no shortage of sickness and suffering in our world. The violence that permeates much of our inner cities is featured in the news each evening. The pain and suffering in Syria continues to mount with each passing day. Our hospitals and nursing homes are filled with people who are suffering with physical, mental, and emotional maladies. How can we help alleviate the suffering in our hurting world?
Even if the psalmist is accurate in the depiction of what life looks like for our seventy or eighty years, does it mean we simply resign ourselves to that fact and do nothing to meet the needs of those who are hurting? I do not believe that is the case. Jesus came to bring glad tidings to the poor and to proclaim liberty to captives. He brought hope to people through His ministry of preaching, teaching, and healing. Shall we not do likewise?
In this final week of Advent, how are you going to love?