Devotional Thought of the Day:

¹⁴  Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy, That we may rejoice and be glad all our days! Psalm 90:14 (NKJV)

P. O satisfy us early with Thy mercy;
R. That we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

Devotional Thought of the Day:

¹⁴  Fill us each morning with your constant love, so that we may sing and be glad all our life. Psalm 90:14 (TEV)

I used to enjoy climbing up the cathedral towers to get a close view of the ornamentation at the top, a veritable lacework of stone that must have been the result of very patient and laborious craftsmanship. As I chatted with the young men who accompanied me, I used to point out that none of the beauty of this work could be seen from below. To give them a material lesson in what I had been previously explaining to them, I would say: “This is God’s work, this is working for God! To finish your personal work perfectly, with all the beauty and exquisite refinement of this tracery stonework.” Seeing it, my companions would understand that all the work we had seen was a prayer, a loving dialogue with God. The men who spent their energies there were quite aware that no one at street level could appreciate their efforts. Their work was for God alone.“

As I came across the liturgical (in purple above) response this morning, I began to think about what it takes to get satisfaction, to be satisfied with life.

And in the background of my mind I kept hearing the Rolling Stones chanting that you can’t get no satisfaction! (Does that mean they got satisfaction?)

The Psalmist tells us that satisaction can be found with God, as we call on Him to reveal His mercy early in the moring. That is where satisfaction is known, experiening the mercy of God, and it provides so much satisfaction that it turns into joy!

What a great thought – even more when you see that modern translations use “unfailing love” instead of mercy. What an incredible way to start each day! To know how God comes to us, no matter how broken, no matter how sinful, and loves cares for us. He picks us up and restores us!

It is this kind of joy that causes the work that Josemaria revelled in, the hidden work of great beauty, that required great skill and craftsmanship.

This is the same kind work that most of us do as we care for people, as we minister to each other. Sure some of it is seen on Sunday moring. But more of it happens behind the scenes. The elder taking communion to the shut-in. The ladies laughing and giggling together as they sew things, the group that shows up for an elderly person’s 95 birthday, driving by in a parade by their home.

It is beautiful, and yet not visible. It is the work done that no one may ever see…

Yet it is done in joy, an expression of the knowing we dwell in Chirst, of being filled with His constant love…

This is the life we have in Jesus.

William Loehe, Liturgy for Christian Congregations of the Lutheran Faith, ed. J. Deinzer, trans. F. C. Longaker, Third Edition. (Newport, KY: n.p., 1902), 80.

Escrivá, Josemaría. Friends of God . Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.