Suffering With Joy

Friday Lauds and God’s Snowy Blessing

January 29, 2010

Snow-covered honeysuckle in our back yard

Friday’s hour of Lauds, meaning “praise”, in the Divine Office celebrates deliverance from the Babylonian captivity in Psalm 147 (147 B) and Jerusalem’s God-given privilege.  In a short verse from Romans following the psalms we receive an instruction about how to live in this deliverance.

As I looked out the window watching the snow falling, I thought that although it is cold and gray outside, how perfect is this time to praise with the psalmist the power and glory of God.  So after I finished morning prayers I stumbled out into the gently falling snow and took a few pictures to share along with this  psalm.

Psalm 147

Glorify the Lord, O Jerusalem; praise your God, O Sion.

For He has strengthened the bars of your gates; He has blessed your children within you.

He has granted peace in your borders; with the best of wheat He fills you.  He sends forth his command to the earth; swiftly runs His word!

He spreads snow like wool; frost He strews like ashes.

He scatters His hail like crumbs; before His cold the waters freeze.

He sends His word and melts them; He lets His breeze blow and the waters run.  He has proclaimed His word to Jacob, His statutes and His ordinances to Israel.

He has not done thus for any other nation; His ordinances He has not made known to them.  Alleluia.

"He spreads snow like wool..."

Looking at the allegorical meaning of these scriptures, after the winter of sin comes the springtime of salvation.  Beneath the snow lies the promise of new life – Redemption.  The all-powerful Father sends His Word to melt the cold of our hearts, bringing us the warmth of spiritual peace, joy and prosperity. He fills us with the best of wheat – the Holy Eucharist and the graces It brings.

With His commandments and His blessings (the Beatitudes), He strengthens the bars of the gates of our hearts against Satan and the world. He shows us how to live as people redeemed, laying aside the works of darkness and putting on the armor of light, walking becomingly as in the day (Rom. 13:12-13).  We are a privileged people (“praise your God, O Sion…He has not done thus for any other nation”) with an obligation of lighting the way for those still in winter who do not yet know him or who have fallen away.

Tags: Catholic Church, conversion, psalms

3 Comments to Friday Lauds and God’s Snowy Blessing

1. 

   Pictures great. Final sentence perfect.
Lynn on January 29th, 2010
2. 

   Barb,
   What a very beautiful post and picture! And what beautiful words to read before I go to sleep! Thank you
Mary333 on January 29th, 2010
3. 

   God bless you, Mary. It’s always good to remember that God is always in charge. No matter how dreadful things look, we do what we can to co-operate with His grace and let Him care for us as the good Father He is. Then we spread the good news to others.
barb on January 30th, 2010