pleasure and purpose in the people

The psalmist proclaims the pleasure that the Lord takes in His people in the refrain to the psalm from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today. The Wisdom of Sirach praises the righteous ancestors who continue to positively influence the people through their descendants in whom the tradition and practice of a covenant relationship with the Divine has been maintained. This relationship continues to bear fruit. The episode from the Gospel of Mark points out the two sides of the fruitful relationship with the Divine. We are called to greater intimacy, to bear fruit, even when it is not “in season”. We need to attend to the search and the journey and to continue to put right those things which are identified as obstacles to the deepest of relationships. The Gospel assures us that the power of the Divine is with us to help as we make those moves toward wholeness.