Do This in Memory of Me: See Through the Storm Cloud

By: Laura Catherine Worhacz

One of my favorite psalms that raises my heart to the heavens each time it is prayed in the morning Liturgy of the hours is Psalm 81: 

“I freed your shoulder from the burden; your hands were freed from the load. You called in distress and I saved you.”  

An invisible force of God’s love is manifested in these words; they have spirit and life in a magnified way. We can meditate with them for a moment to find the inner cenacle of our existence connected to our Eucharistic Lord and comfort in His redemption for us in this psalm of salvation.  
 
As we enter into ordinary time, we hear about false gods in the scriptures; indeed, these cannot free us from the burden.  

The Cross is a gift for the Christian.  

As we are transcended and identify more with the Crucified One, Jesus Christ, we experience love beyond this world. It does become visible for those who believe. It is visible love ignited in a soul that wants to return and bring to life the love they have found, the freedom they have been given.  
 
“I answered, concealed in the storm cloud...” (Psalm 81) 
 
Saint Peter Julian Eymard, a profoundly contemplative soul, discovered that the way to live in perfection through his humanity is to become a gift of self. Can we look to the other in every breath of life and relationship? The night before our Lord Jesus Christ handed himself over to death, he revealed to us how to glorify Our Heavenly Father. Jesus knelt down and washed his disciples’ feet (John 13:5). The Holy Spirit, the invisible grace, offers us joy in our work. Jesus washed the disciples’ feet with joy, passion, and love. 

Jesus teaches us to love one another. 

To be “freed” from ourselves and live in the Incarnation of God’s promise, love, and the blessings of the Holy Spirit.

God wants us to be exalted! 

Yes, through life’s passions, hardships, and pains, we cling to the Kingdom of Heaven.  
 
The Bishop of St. Petersburg, Bishop Gregory Parkes, is having surgery as I type; he will have part of his leg amputated to save him from a recurring infection in his foot. This has been a heavy burden on our diocese and the Universal Church. It is incomprehensible to think of waking up without part of your body. A dearest sister in Christ is living in the reality that her nine-year-old son’s cancer has returned forcefully into his body. My daughter’s co-worker died in a car accident this past week. Challenging to grasp this level of mystery of suffering. 
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Yet we believe!

“Let there be no foreign god among you, no worship of an alien god. I am the Lord your God, who brought you from the land of Egypt. Open wide your mouth, and I will fill it.” (Psalm 81)
 
As we open our mouths to receive the Blessed Sacrament, may we find true freedom in our lives, a place to be strengthened in God’s grace to rise out of this life and live in the Spirit of God’s magnificent love. May we be attentive to others to help shoulder their Cross with our love. Let us be a visible sign in our world of God’s love,

“I freed your shoulder from the burden; your hands were freed from the load. You called in distress and I saved you.” (Psalm 81)

May our Eucharistic love make Jesus present in our midst.  
 
We are convinced that Jesus’ saving grace will help us persevere through the challenges of our times.
 
In the words of Saint Peter Julian Eymard:

“This vow must be the greatest, the holiest of all the others since it is the vow of the self, and of a self ever free to give itself anew. So then, oh my soul: you will be the members, the faculties of Jesus Christ, in order that he may live and act in all things for the glory of the Father. Our Lord desires this union to better glorify his Father on earth, by incarnating himself in a certain way in each Christian, in order to become like his divine personality. It is there, our Lord, who wants to relive in us and to continue through us the glorification of his Father. By this union then our actions become the actions of our Lord.” 
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Laura Catherine Worhacz

Laura Catherine Worhacz is a Lay Associate of the Blessed Sacrament and author of Consecration to Jesus Through Our Lady of The Blessed Sacrament. She is also the Director of Mothers of The Blessed Sacrament. She lives in Trinity, FL with her husband and their two daughters.