With Us in Our Suffering

A Reflection on the Psalm for February 19th, 2023:
​Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Psalm 103

R. The Lord is merciful and gracious.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget all his benefits. 

R. The Lord is merciful and gracious.

It is the Lord who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the Pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy.

R. The Lord is merciful and gracious.


The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. 

R. The Lord is merciful and gracious.


As far as the east is from the west, so far he removes our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion for his children, so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him.

R. The Lord is merciful and gracious.

Over the past four months, I have been a joyful witness to my husband embracing his new role as a father. In the first few weeks with our newborn, I was particularly moved by how he immediately loved our son so freely, fully, and actively. As I was going through postpartum recovery and was slow to move, my husband was always the first to respond to his cries. Attentive to his needs, he would gently lift, rock, and hold our babe and try all manner of ways to soothe him when feeding alone wasn’t enough. When our son had occasional moments of being seemingly inconsolable, my husband was sometimes moved to tears at how sad he sounded. It was hard for each of us, as new parents, to be left wishing we could share more fully in our son’s little sufferings and challenges as he adjusted to living life on the outside – but I know that our presence alone did help and now I see how our child’s trust in us has grown. 

My spouse’s interactions with our newborn awakened me more fully to the reality of God’s compassionate, paternal love for us. It was such a gift to be reminded of how God is with us in our suffering, and how there can be moments where we are confused, afraid, and feeling misunderstood even as we are safe and being held by Him. The love of our parents, and the love that we participate in as parents, is a small icon that reflects God’s heart and how He has made us to abide in one another. I can recognize moments in my life where I feel like my son does – helpless to communicate and even comprehend my needs. God is also using this journey of parenthood to reveal how He feels when I hurt – He knows my pain and loves me in ways I cannot fully know or receive yet. But He is patient with me, and He will wait for me to grow in knowledge of, and relationship with, Him. In a similar way, we can be patient and continue to love our son and teach him how much we love him and are with him – even if we will never know and love him as perfectly as God does. 

Next Wednesday, we enter the season of Lent, and God the Father will invite us, once again, to remember (and unite ourselves with) Christ’s Passion through fasting, penance, and almsgiving. Now is a good time to pray and ask Him to prepare our hearts for the “desert” and for the ways He wants to gift us with greater simplicity and focus in our lives. Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to guide our steps along the path we will walk, and remind us often of His presence when we encounter our crosses – both big and small. Amen.




Kendra L

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