Have you ever felt that way?

Floridians awoke realizing everything was gone in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian!.

On the news, we see wars in foreign lands, threats of nuclear warfare, strangers opening fire in our churches, schools and malls.

Our lives have become pressure cookers. We can’t take it anymore!

Some react with more violence. Others curl up in a fetal position trying to protect themselves

Can the word of God teach us anything about crying out?

Are you aware there is an entire book of the bible devoted to the theme “ I can’t take it anymore”.

The Book of Lamentations tells us of cries of pain of a people saying I can’t take it anymore after the conquest of Jerusalem. We hear the cries of people facing unspeakable losses of lifestyle and challenges to their faith.

They had to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives and somehow find the strength to carry on.

Lamentations described cries from the depths of pain, sorrow and loss.

How long, O LORD?  I cry for help  but you do not listen!

I cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not intervene.

More than many other book of the Bible, Lamentations speaks to those who grieve today … if we have the courage to read it

“When the tears come, let them flow! Don’t hold them back! Let tears stream down like a torrent day and night! Give yourself no rest, your eyes no rest” (Lam. 2:18).

Pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord (Lam. 2:1)

Today it teaches us it is okay to vent to God and take the lid off the pressure cooker before it blows off. It teaches us it is okay to cry out. God is bigger than our anger, It teaches, along with the Book of Psalms, and Job  that no matter what we experience, God’s vision for us is wider than we could imagine.

Habakkuk stands in that tradition and also says

 “Write down the vision clearly upon the tablets,  so that one can read it readily.”

He also teaches us hope and trust.

 For the vision still has its time, presses on to fulfillment, and will not disappoint;

if it delays, wait for it,  it will surely come, it will not be late.

Today we need to trust Habakkuk’s vision of God’s faithfulness over and over, to keep us strong in our faith when God doesn’t seem to care, or respond.

What else can we learn

Looking to God in our pain reminds us of our limits and of God’s expansive knowledge and power.

The more we trust God with our sadness, the more likely we are to trust God with everything.

We can become more aware of the grief of others. We are more likely to listen to our neighbors with kindness and love when they experience the brokenness of our world. 

AA and groups experiencing a similar tragedy learn and draw strength from each other. The bonds of a shared grief are powerful.

Walking in Jesus’s steps. 

Jesus had great reason for grief. He brought that sorrow to His Father. We see Jesus

in agony in the Garden

crying from the Cross “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

We know one day Christ, the suffering servant,  will wipe away all tears from your eyes.

So let us pour out our hearts…

… and trust that in the long run eye has not seen or ear heard what God has in mind for those who trust even when they can’t take anymore.

(Homily for the 27th Sunday in ordinary time Year C)

Click below for an early audio version of this Vincentian Mindwalk