Just as things seemed so bad in the Philippines that they could not get any worse, last November 8, they did. The Philippines Supreme Court allowed the burial of Marcos at the Libingan ng Mga Bayani. And just as November 8 seemed so bad that it could not possibly get any worse, it did. The results of the US elections have been stunning to say the least.
I am at a loss for words. I feel something heavy in my chest but I cannot put my finger on it. I feel a deep foreboding of impending doom and it hangs thick in the air. I used to revel in the dawning of each new day. Now, it seems the eternal night has descended upon us.
I do not know what to say. I do not know what to write. I do not know what to pray for nor how.
As a deer longs for streams of water,
so I long for you, O God!
I thirst for God, for the living God.
I say, “When will I be able to go and appear in God’s presence?”
I cannot eat, I weep day and night;
all day long they say to me, “Where is your God?”
I will remember and weep!
For I was once walking along with the great throng to the temple of God,
shouting and giving thanks along with the crowd as we celebrated the holy festival.
Why are you depressed, O my soul?
Why are you upset?
Wait for God!
For I will again give thanks
to my God for his saving intervention.
I am depressed,
so I will pray to you while I am trapped here in the region of the upper Jordan,
from Hermon, from Mount Mizar.
One deep stream calls out to another at the sound of your waterfalls;
all your billows and waves overwhelm me.
By day the Lord decrees his loyal love,
and by night he gives me a song,
a prayer to the living God.
I will pray to God, my high ridge:
“Why do you ignore me?
Why must I walk around mourning
because my enemies oppress me?”
My enemies’ taunts cut into me to the bone,
as they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”
Why are you depressed, O my soul?
Why are you upset?
Wait for God!
For I will again give thanks
to my God for his saving intervention.
~ Psalm 42