April 25, 2021

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19 Open to me the gates of righteousness,
that I may enter through them
and give thanks to the Lord.

20 This is the gate of the Lord;
the righteous shall enter through it.

21 I thank you that you have answered me
    and have become my salvation.
22 The stone that the builders rejected
    has become the chief cornerstone.
23 This is the Lord’s doing;
    it is marvelous in our eyes.
24 This is the day that the Lord has made;
    let us rejoice and be glad in it.        - Psalm 118:19-24

In those moments of true humility, I come to realize that I haven’t really done much if anything in this life. I don’t say this as self-pity, but as an observation that everything good I have done does not come from me but from God.

I think this is the beauty of understanding the spirituality of our faith. The spirituality of our faith is the beginning of understanding that God is truly everywhere, in all things, including creation itself. Antient Church Fathers understood this fact, and modern mystic, Richard Rohr helps his readers to begin to ‘see through the veil’ as he shows them the creator by looking at the creation itself. I believe this is a rare look at what some of the ancient psalmists also knew and understood. Through they lived in the physical world, they understood God presence as something real within this world.

Scholars believe that in an ancient Jewish context this psalm would have been part of an entrance liturgy into the temple, and often used during the festival of Passover. It proclaimed God’s deliverance from Egypt, and from exile. However, that same understanding passes down to modern Christians as we enter into our spiritual temple, moving from the humility of recognizing God has done every good thing in our lives, to the exaltation that every good thing has come from God, and God has chosen us through which divine good has come into the world.

We can then take a moment to appreciate that this day is good, for God is in it, and God is good. We can appreciate the Christ the cornerstone has brought to us salvation, all that is good is God’s doing, and our eyes and hearts marvel as we enter into His sanctuary full of praise and exaltation. For God is good! And today is the day God has given our hearts reason to rejoice.

Grace & Peace,
Sam