March 5/Second Thursday of Lent
They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season,
and their leaves do not wither.
Not so the wicked, not so; they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
For the Lord watches over the way of the just, but the way of the wicked vanishes. ~ Ps 1.3, 4, 6
Most of us are so removed from agricultural realities that we fail fully to take in the image of chaff in today’s psalm. Many years ago, on a school field trip to a historic New England farm with one of my children, we watched the docent demonstrate the process of threshing and winnowing. The grain was spread out on the threshing floor, beaten with flails, and then tossed up into the air with a wooden winnowing fork. The scaly husks that surrounded the seed — lightweight, no longer important — vanished into the breeze. In our psalmist’s calculus, the wicked — those who scoff at justice and sneer at faithfulness — will vanish into thin air, wafting away on the wings of their insubstantial commitments and misguided priorities. Those who follow the way of the LORD, on the other hand, are grounded and nurtured, and will flourish for a long time to come. We live in a culture that flips the psalmist’s script: those who have attained power, wealth, status, celebrity, by whatever means – all of which are ephemeral – are valorized and held up as exemplars of success. Meanwhile, as the world tells it, the nice guys (and gals), those who hold firm to their faith and put the values of the world where they belong, finish last. In our pursuit of what the world offers — those glittering prizes that catch our eye and capture our attention — we may find ourselves struggling to sustain a lasting relationship with our LORD. Untethered to a life in and with God, we will waft away like chaff. God calls us instead, today and always, to root ourselves in the life-giving sustenance of his love.
Watchful and loving God, Help me to walk the way of the just in the light of your presence. Amen.
For today’s readings, click here: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/030526.cfm
To hear the Peñalosa-Ensemble sing “Beatus Vir,” by Hans Leo Hassler (1564-1612), click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1WEohvjlsE&list=RDt1WEohvjlsE&start_radio=1
