Rising with Our Lord This Easter Season at Work With the Help of This Psalm

Easter has brought us the Resurrection of Our Lord after our 40 days of Lent. A Great Light breaks through the horror of the suffering and death of Jesus Christ as He rises from the tomb.

Today we beg for the grace to rise with Our Lord as we head off to our usual work. We'll look to Psalm 118 (Protestants have it as Psalm 119) to help us. Our hope is that we can refresh all we do for the greater glory of God. Why will Psalm 118 assist us here?

For one thing, Psalm 118 is chanted every Sunday in the Divine Office, beginning with Lauds. It starts each week anew. It is also chanted on select special feast days. It's the longest psalm, traditionally broken into parts that begin with a Hebrew letter. (You can find explanations for this readily.)

At one time I thought the psalm was "too long." As I read through the Psalms in order as part of my daily Scripture reading, I always sort of dreaded Psalm 118. (Small minds have trouble with great things sometimes.) No more. We'll see why.

Basically, we're plunged into "the law." Our minds and hearts reach out to God to seek to know His ways. From the law and our knowledge of God's way all of the good within us comes alive. Indeed, we come alive.

Those who would ignore or oppose God's law not only fall into sin, but they can never be truly happy. If not corrected, their thoughts, words, and deeds will turn their minds and hearts away from God. And if they die in such a state, their future lies in hell.

We want Heaven. And Psalm 118 delivers to us all we need to get there.

As we work our way through each section of this astounding psalm, we'll see how we it's words can help us in our work, to further hone our daily activities that they serve God even as we serve those to whom we owe an honest day's work.

It's the perfect way to pray and work (ora et labora) our way through this glorious Easter Season.

We begin with the first section, with its Hebrew letter heading.

ALEPH

1 Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord. 2 Blessed are they who search his testimonies: that seek him with their whole heart. 3 For they that work iniquity, have not walked in his ways. 4 Thou hast commanded thy commandments to be kept most diligently. 5 O! that my ways may be directed to keep thy justifications. 6 Then shall I not be confounded, when I shall look into all thy commandments. 7 I will praise thee with uprightness of heart, when I shall have learned the judgments of thy justice. 8 I will keep thy justifications: O! do not thou utterly forsake me.

And so we are called to "search his testimonies," to seek Him with our whole heart. These basic requirements allow us to become steeped in God's Law. At work, we want to be sure that God's Law isn't some "option" that would be nice, but can't always be applied. After all, we're here to make money, to advance our career. As business owners, we want to grow revenue, etc., etc. All true, of course. But without the sure hand of God's Law to guide us all will be in vain. We may even succeed in the eyes of the world, but the value of such success will dissipate on the day of our death.

We should all know this, with certainty, right?

With this sure foundation, we will continue to work our way through the Easter Season with the help of Psalm 118.

Happy Easter!