Wis 1:1-7 Ps 139:1b-3, 4-6, 7-8, 9-10 Lk 17:1-6

Weekly Guide for Daily Prayer The Daily Reflections

"Because God is the witness of his inmost self and the sure observer of his heart and the listener to his tongue.” -Wisdom 1:6
               
While studying the readings for today, I noticed a common theme: God’s presence in our lives. Not just when we pray or go to church, but in the smallest, most seemingly insignificant of moments. Not just when we’re on our best behavior and doing everything as we ought, but when we disobey and ignore him.

I’m afraid we often see God as disconnected, separate from us in his Kingdom in the sky, if you will. Being reminded of his constant presence thus initially gave me pause; I did not like the idea that God was watching my every stumble and failure, knowing “when I sit and when I stand” and aware of every thought and word before it even enters my mind. To have all my shortcomings laid out, completely bare, before the one that I desire to please the most, sounds awful. I found myself wondering how I could hide, much like in Psalms 139:7, “Where can I go from your spirit? From your presence where can I flee?” My options, it appears are limited, for “If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I sink to the nether world, you are present there.”

But the more I read, the more I found to comfort my agitation. God may be there to see every fault and mistake, but he is also steadfastly there to pick us up again and set us on the right path. In the Responsorial Psalm, the response says, “guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.” It is a plea for God’s assistance but also a guarantee that he will always be there to help. “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.” In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus tells us that as many times as another sins against us but then asks for forgiveness, we are to forgive him. This is an illustration of what God does for us; he is always there to guide and forgive us. And that is a comforting thought indeed.