Timing Is Everything

A Reflection on the Psalm for Sunday, July 13th, 2025:
​Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

---

Psalm 69 or Psalm 19

​Psalm 69

R. Seek God in your need, and let your hearts revive.

As for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love, answer me. With your steadfast help, rescue me. Answer me, O Lord, for your steadfast love is good; according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.

R. Seek God in your need, and let your hearts revive.

But I am lowly and in pain; let your salvation, O God, protect me. I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him ·with thanksgiving.

R. Seek God in your need, and let your hearts revive.

Let the oppressed see it and be glad; you who seek God, let your hearts revive.

R. Seek God in your need, and let your hearts revive.

For God will save Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah; the children of his servants shall inherit it, those who love his name shall live in it.

​R. Seek God in your need, and let your hearts revive.

or

Psalm 19

R. The precepts of the Lord are right, and give joy to the heart.

The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the decrees of the Lord are sure, making wise the simple.

R. The precepts of the Lord are right, and give joy to the heart.

The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is clear, enlightening the eyes.

R. The precepts of the Lord are right, and give joy to the heart.

The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever; the ordinances of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.

R. The precepts of the Lord are right, and give joy to the heart.

More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey, and drippings of the honeycomb.

​R. The precepts of the Lord are right, and give joy to the heart.

Pause. Pray. Reflect.

During my first year in religious life, when our community was literally weeks old and our habits were crisp and clean, the Franscian Sisters invited the Franciscan Brothers to our convent for a meal, a chance to spend time together in prayer and fun. It was sort of a last minute idea but we were young and spontaneous. The sister in charge of cooking that day came to me (the grocery shopper) and told me we had enough meat for everyone but we didn’t have anything to go with it: vegetables, pasta, potatoes, etc.

My first thought was to scold myself for poor shopping choices. My second thought was to pray that the Lord would provide us with something and not 5 minutes later our doorbell rang. It was the parish council president at the door to say that they had been in a meeting all day and that there were leftovers from their meal. She apologized because there wasn’t much meat, but there were a lot of potatoes and vegetables. 

This was my first experience with God’s providence in my life; or at least the first blatantly obvious one! I have often thought back to that day and wondered, if God can do that, why can’t He answer all my prayers quickly? 

The psalm for Sunday’s liturgy is the cry of one in great need and begging God to help in time of trouble. The psalmist says, “At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love, answer me.” 

The key to that verse is the desire for it to be ”an acceptable time”! Acceptable to who? God, of course, because I know that my timing is often off and that I want everything NOW. Why now? So I can relax and rejoice in God? No, because then I can move on to the next thing I stress over and want dealt with immediately. 

The psalmist says he is in pain and then says “I will praise the name of God” which sounds to me like a call to turn to the Lord and rejoice even in the midst of suffering and difficulty. 

I have a choice: I can spend my life trying to convince God that now is the acceptable time to answer my prayers, or I can rejoice in the Lord. It seems to me that the second option offers great gifts of joy, grace, love, trust and so much more but the first option seems to distract me from those things. 

My time on earth is short; my goal is heaven. So everything I do now is meant to prepare me for heaven: both the good and the bad. I choose to follow the words of the psalmist “Seek God in your need and let your heart revive.” Knowing that reviving the heart can happen before I ever see the prayer I pray answered. 

In your own time Lord, I will wait!


​

Sr. Teresa MacDonald

---