Each time Psalm 103 rolls around I am reminded that I truly believe The Lord is Kind and Merciful.
Each time, too, I have to ask myself, what does that mean?
It doesn’t mean that God waves the magic wand and makes life easy. It doesn’t mean that we never fall ill, it doesn’t mean that those we love aren’t taken from us too soon. It doesn’t mean that we don’t struggle.
My life has had challenges, and then my life has had blessings. I have wondered if perhaps hope is to constantly allow the blessings to overpower the challenges in my heart. Or perhaps mercy is that challenges can be also be blessings.
Maybe the gift is in the question, in our God-given longing for God, in our restless hearts, in our capacity to always be moving closer to an answer, knowing that our whole lives will be taken up with the exploration of what mercy means.
This is the repsonsorial Psalm sung at my mom’s funeral almost 10 years ago. The keyboardist and vocalist did it beautifully; the whole Mass was the same–so lovely and worshipful. And I always think of my Mom whenever I read or hear it.