I woke up late this evening and could not make it to our Catholic Church for the evening mass. Somehow strangely I decided to try an online mass. The first result that greeted my online search is what? – President Obama (a non-Catholic) attending a Catholic service? Oh, it was the interfaith prayer service to honor the victims of the Boston Marathon bombings from Boston’s Historic Cathedral of the Holy Cross. It was held on 18 Apr 2013. It came three days after Boston Marathon bombings was a terrorist attack during the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013. It came two days after the “Three Mile Island Emergency Preparedness Drill held on Apr 16, 2013, a day after the Boston marathon bombing. The atmosphere was indeed very tense during that period.
I watched the online interfaith service held at the Catholic church and somehow noticed that Psalm 147:3 was used instead of the predetermined Catholic Daily Reading for that day which should be Psalms 66:
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Psalms 66: 8 – 9, 16 – 17, 20
8 Bless our God, O peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard,
9 who has kept us among the living, and has not let our feet slip.
16 Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for me.
17 I cried aloud to him, and he was extolled with my tongue.
20 Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me!
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Psalms – 147 – 3
1 Alleluia! Praise Yahweh — it is good to sing psalms to our God — how pleasant to praise him.
2 Yahweh, Builder of Jerusalem! He gathers together the exiles of Israel,
3 healing the broken-hearted and binding up their wounds;
4 he counts out the number of the stars, and gives each one of them a name.
5 Our Lord is great, all-powerful, his wisdom beyond all telling.
6 Yahweh sustains the poor, and humbles the wicked to the ground.
7 Sing to Yahweh in thanksgiving, play the harp for our God.
8 He veils the sky with clouds, and provides the earth with rain, makes grass grow on the hills and plants for people to use,
9 gives fodder to cattle and to young ravens when they cry.
10 He takes no delight in the power of horses, no pleasure in human sturdiness;
11 his pleasure is in those who fear him, in those who hope in his faithful love.
12 Praise Yahweh, Jerusalem, Zion, praise your God.
13 For he gives strength to the bars of your gates, he blesses your children within you,
14 he maintains the peace of your frontiers, gives you your fill of finest wheat.
15 He sends his word to the earth, his command runs quickly,
16 he spreads the snow like flax, strews hoarfrost like ashes,
17 he sends ice-crystals like breadcrumbs, and who can withstand that cold?
18 When he sends his word it thaws them, when he makes his wind blow, the waters are unstopped.
19 He reveals his word to Jacob, his statutes and judgements to Israel.
20 For no other nation has he done this, no other has known his judgements.
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Although only excerpts of Psalms 147 was read, which is Psalms 147-3 “ healing the broken-hearted and binding up their wounds “, there are other words in further down the passage of the entire psalms which I fear will be wrongly interpreted and employed by certain people, some knowingly, some unknowingly to assert the power of horrendous weapons to maim innocent people. Catholic religion has always preaches peace and tolerance and it has always been the cornerstone for peace.
The mass is subtly telling us that there are extremely powerful worldly figures behind the scene manipulating the world and killing innocent people. Even Obama may be powerless to do anything about it. Hope that peace will prevail eventually and that the Catholic church will do its best to bring about peace and justice to all.
God Bless Everyone
Take Care
Mikey