Reminders

A Reflection on the Psalm for Sunday, May 12, 2024:
The Ascension of the Lord

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Psalm 47

R. God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.

Clap your hands, all you peoples; shout to God with loud songs of joy. For the Lord, the Most High, is awesome, a great king over all the earth. 

R. God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.

God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises. 

R. God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.

For God is the king of all the earth; sing praises with a Psalm. God is king over the nations; God sits on his holy throne. 

R. God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.

Pause. Pray. Reflect.

I learned about the power of praising God from a sister in Christ who plays music and sings praise. She begins all her prayers with praise and knows that in the face of adversity — earthly or otherwise – praise is the first resort, so to speak. I have encountered the Holy Spirit in powerful ways by praising God through music and meditating on lyrics of praise. However, as I prayed with the psalmist’s reminder to sing praise, I kept gravitating to the line “Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises.” Then, all I could see was praise, praise, praise, praise! I started a list of all the ways to praise God and realized that, ultimately, we can praise God with our whole hearts, our whole bodies, our whole lives. I was so moved by considering what has resulted from the praise that I have witnessed. So, here we are: what happens when we praise?

When we praise, we are reminded of God’s greatness, of His sovereignty over all things, His authority, and His goodness. So, even in the face of what is (from our earthly perspective) horrific, tragic, or heartbreaking, love is above it all. Our deepest pain, the emptiest feelings of grief, the most vicious anger, and the shakiest ground of anxiety are all beneath Love. Constant praise of God is the act of intentionally reminding ourselves of his position in our existence, that Love is over all. Though it may sometimes be hard to believe, Love will always win in the end. Praise keeps this front of mind.

When we praise, we are reminded to look for Him everywhere. I see him in the beautiful shades of gold in my dog’s fur, in the miraculous design of our bodies. I see Him in the way the person in the car behind me in traffic gave his sandwich to the man asking for help on the boulevard and in the way my husband perseveres in marriage with me. Of course, I see Him at Mass, in the Eucharist. Though we cannot see Him physically or even adequately describe Him, the Holy Spirit flows through what is good, true and beautiful – and suddenly, there He is.

When we praise, we are reminded of our belovedness. If He is awesome, and holy, the Most High, and a great king, and He made us in His image, then we can truly stand in the confidence that He intended for us to be here, now. When the Holy Spirit flows through that confidence, we then have the courage to get in touch with our hearts and to follow our giftedness to new heights. I have seen this happen in many lives around me, transformations made possible only by the love of God.    

These reasons are all reminders to all of us to sing His praises – so that He can remind us of His endless goodness!

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Lindsay Elford

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