Psalm 146:5-10 (NRSV)
Read Psalm 146:5-10 on biblegateway.com
Verse 5Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God,
Verse 6who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith forever;
Verse 7who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free;
Verse 8the Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous.
Verse 9The Lord watches over the strangers; he upholds the orphan and the widow, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
Verse 10The Lord will reign forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the Lord!
Devotion
For the Advent season we are looking back and reflecting on the previous week's readings.
Psalm 146 strengthens the vision of what God is hoping for on this earth: justice for the oppressed and food for the hungry. The vision of Isaiah is also reiterated and intensified: announced in last week's reading with the wolf and lamb sleeping together and now in this week with the elimination of the roaring lion (not the elimination of creation but of violence). God is working in silent, quiet ways among us, liberating prisoners and watching over the stranger (the foreigner). But this work does not happen without us. In the giving of a glass of water, in the sharing of a meal, in the welcome to a refugee, in all these ways God is working with us towards what is our deepest Advent hope: the vision of a splendid universal communion, a vision Pope Francis has described in his encyclical "Praise be to You: In Care of our Common Home."
Prayer
O God, praise be to you! Your name is holy, for you have lifted up the lowly, you fill the hungry with good things, you have looked upon us in mercy. Amen.