In today’s readings, we encounter a fairly typical Lenten pattern of Scripture.  The first reading speaks from the Old Testament of the foreshadowing of the Messiah’s passion and death at the hands of those who were unwilling to experience the true message of God.  Likewise, the Gospel of John has begun to express the tension that was building up between Jesus and the hierarchy of the temple and Jerusalem that would eventually lead to his arrest.  Now while these readings, and ones similar, are critical to help prepare us for the road to Calvary, for me personally, the outreach of God’s love comes through today’s responsorial psalm. 

About a month ago, I had my heart broken for the first time, and I mean really and truly broken.  I was beyond devastated and quickly sunk deep into desolation.  No phrases of God’s great plan, or trusting in God’s will were helpful.  Nothing made me feel at ease with the situation.  Even trying to pray with the different ways in which Christ had his heart broken throughout the Gospels appeared useless.  I was more than frustrated and angry with life and God’s providence.  And then a few weeks after the break up, through the grace of God, it hit me.  Everyday Christ has his heart broken.  Every moment of every day, Christ desires to be with us and yet we turn away.  He has given everything, he sacrificed his entire being out of his love for each one of us, and more often than not, we look at him and we say, sorry Jesus, you are great but my heart is just not in it today.  Christ is not just close to the brokenhearted, Christ is the brokenhearted.  

And that is exactly what the response in today’s psalm calls out to us.  God is more than just near us in our broken heartedness, God is continually going through that pain with us.  And just as the Father did not elevate the suffering from Christ, He is not here to quickly remove the pain from us, to make us numb to the world and what we experience.  What God does is in these moments is walk with us and hold us up, just as Simon held up Christ.  He knows the strength we have through the Holy Spirit to persevere through the desolation, and He challenges us to give into that, to give into His grace and strengthen our dependence on Him.  Many of us, myself included, will turn away, we will not want the challenge, and the confusion of it all will over take us.  Yet through the prayers of the communion of saints and just by the sheer pull of the Holy Spirit within us, we will return.  It will not be an easy journey, the pain and confusion will not magically disappear.  But each step forward, each day we continue on and give into the love of God, things will become a little bit lighter, our hearts will gradually begin to mend. The darkness that surrounds us will slowly fade into the background, and the ever-luminous light of God will grow more apparent.   Let us pray today that the Holy Spirit will constantly be at work to remind those that suffer from a broken heart, whether it be ourselves or another, that God is close, He is holding us up, and He is gently picking up the pieces of our shattered hearts.