Brimming with Trust.

To try to express the inexpressible and imagine the unimaginable, we need the language of poetry and imagery, but poetry and imagery that is not divorced from human experience. The Old Testament prophets had spoken in this way, using cosmic imagery about the “day of the Lord” when divine judgment would come.

In the language of apocalypse, the first reading from the Book of Daniel describes what has not yet taken place but is a revelation granted to Daniel: the struggle at the end of human history, and the judgment of both the virtuous and the wicked. In the imagery of this portion, Michael (Micha-el, “who is like God”), the patron and defender of Israel and the messenger of God’s will, is described as a warrior-judge who stands up for God’s people in the time of distress, and checks those who are gathered before him for either reward or punishment. The great reward for those who have struggled is something new and unique in the Old Testament: the first unambiguous reference to the resurrection from the dead. This is the huge hope and confidence that, even when life in this world is ended, God never forgets those who have suffered and kept faith with the divine will. Resurrection will be part of the triumph of God’s saving justice that will transform cosmic and human history.

In Psalm 16 we pray with the psalmist that our memory of the steadfast loving-kindness of God may always be the center of such faithful hope and obedience. Although not professing life after death as does Daniel in the face of death, the psalmist is brimming with trust in God with heart, soul, and body. We are privileged to know that the confidence of the psalmist became a hope fulfilled in the resurrection of Jesus who shows us the path through death to eternal life.

Sr. Verna Holyhead, adapted from Welcoming the Word. Taken from Give Us This Day.

Sr. Verna A. Holyhead, SGS (d. 2011), was an Australian Sister of the Good Samaritan of the Order of St. Benedict.