Psalm Meditation 789
Tenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
August 2, 2015

Psalm 133
1 How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!
2 It is like the precious oil on the head, running down upon the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down over the collar of his robes.
3 It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion. For there the LORD ordained his blessing, life forevermore.
(NRSV)

There are folks who are stingy with their resources. They use just enough of everything they have; not too little and certainly not too much. Extravagances are totally out of the question. If too much is used there probably won’t be enough for the next time and certainly not enough for the time after that. To be extravagant is to be wasteful. My dad defined the difference between extravagance and waste this way, “Extravagance is having all the lights on when you are in a room alone. Waste is leaving the lights on when you leave.”

The psalmist lets us know that when we get along in a family setting, it is a wonderful extravagance. It is not something we have to do, it is a gift that we give to each other. Our temptation is to hold out for, to hold onto as much as we can possibly get for ourselves without regard for anyone else involved. The psalm reminds us that when we consider the needs and wants of others we have a different mind set. We may not get as much actual stuff, but what we have will not have any bad feelings from others attached to.

When we make the effort to get along, with brothers and sisters, we cultivate an atmosphere of generous and abundant life among ourselves. Generosity and abundance are contagious. When we practice them in the family we find ourselves living that way in other parts of life as well. Extravagant amounts of oil, enough to run from the top of one’s head to the neck and shoulders, is lots of precious anointing oil. Dew so thick that it runs off leaves and branches is a lot of dew. There is a difference between extravagance and waste and the psalmist invites us to be generous and extravagant, especially with those with whom we are closest.

July 27, 2015
LCM