Every morning, in the Liturgy of the Hours, there is a prayer called the Benedictus.
It is taken from the words of Zechariah in Luke's gospel. Zechariah lost the ability to speak when he expressed his doubts about the angel's message that he would have a son.
When his ability to speak returns to him after his son, John the Baptist, is born, his first words are words of praise.
Zechariah blesses God, and then he testifies to the goodness and constancy of God's love for us:
In the tender compassion of our God,
the dawn from on high will break upon us,
to shine on those who dwell in darkness
and the shadow of death,
and to guide our feet into the ways of peace.
This morning, as the sun came through my window, I was thinking of this prayer. It is prayed every single day as part of the office of morning prayer. And every single day, it is true. The sun keeps on coming up. No matter how dark the night was before, we can trust that in the morning, light will come. It has happened for centuries. It is happening today. We can trust that it will happen again, tomorrow.
It is a visible sign of the mercy of God, shining directly in our faces. It bathes us in warmth, even when the temperatures are frigid. It shines into every window, no matter who that window belongs to. It provides light and warmth for every person on the planet, no matter who they are or what they've done or how their day is going.
It's almost as if God knew that some of us (many of us?) would need a constant, ongoing reminder of his mercy and love.
As Lent begins this year, there is a lot of darkness, pain, and confusion in the world around us. Some of us are carrying that darkness, pain, and confusion in our own hearts. It can be a struggle to remember what we know: we are never alone. God is always with us.
As Saint Benedict says near the end of his Rule, "Never despair of the mercy of God."
Sometimes, we forget, and we despair, anyway.
But when we do? When we feel lost, unsure, afraid, or just tired of waiting to hear some good news?
We just need to wait for the sun to come up again...and to remind each other:
God's mercy is new every single morning.
As sure as the rising of the sun.
All we need to do is to lean into it.
Looking for a musical soundtrack to accompany your journey this Lent? Listen to our community playlist.
