I will Thank God for Ever!

R. (see 1)  I will praise your name for ever, Lord.
Every day will I bless you,
and I will praise your name forever and ever.
Great is the LORD and highly to be praised;
his greatness is unsearchable. 
R. I will praise your name for ever, Lord.
Generation after generation praises your works
and proclaims your might.
They speak of the splendor of your glorious majesty
and tell of your wondrous works. 
R. I will praise your name for ever, Lord.
They discourse of the power of your terrible deeds
and declare your greatness.
They publish the fame of your abundant goodness
and joyfully sing of your justice.
R. I will praise your name for ever, Lord.
The LORD is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and of great kindness.
The LORD is good to all
and compassionate toward all his works.
R. I will praise your name for ever, Lord.
Let all your works give you thanks, O LORD,
and let your faithful ones bless you.
Let them discourse of the glory of your Kingdom
and speak of your might.
R. I will praise your name for ever, Lord.

Today I want to preach on the Responsorial Psalm, Psalm 145. It is a prayer of nothing but praise to God. There is no supplication, no requests, no petitions or pleas. It is pure, unadulterated praise to God. David was awestruck with God’s blessings. We don’t know where or why David wrote this Psalm but since it is one of the last Psalms we can imagine that it was towards the end of his life. We can well imagine David reflecting on the many ways that God had blest him during his life. David realized just how much God had done for him. He realized how much good God had done for him and how underserving he was of all of these blessings. The psalm is a prayer of praise, a benediction expressing his gratitude toward God.

A psalm is a song, so it is David’s song of praise to God. David begins his song saying that he will praise God every day, always and everywhere. He says that this has always been so, in the second strophe says all the generations praise God. A sign of being grateful is that they tell others of God’s greatness. In the third strophe David gets to the heart of his gratefulness, “God’s mercy and compassion.” We remember the story of David. We know that David was a recipient of God’s mercy and compassion. He wasn’t talking of a theoretical idea; he knew God’s mercy.

Take a moment, what are you most thankful to God? Your family? Your health? We have so much to be thankful for but like David we are most grateful for God’s mercy and compassion. That is the one gift that never ends, it is the one gift that we can never have too much of.

In the final strophe David says that everyone and everything gives thanks to God, so our thankfulness joins us with all of creation.

Speaking of gratitude Pope Francis says that if we are joyful believers we will attract others to God. Joy springs from a grateful heart.  Truly, we have received much, so many graces, so many blessings, and we rejoice in this. 

It will do us good to think back on our lives with the grace of remembrance.  Remembrance of when we were first called, remembrance of the road travelled, remembrance of graces received...and, above all, remembrance of our encounter with Jesus Christ so often along the way.  Remembrance of the amazement which our encounter with Jesus Christ awakens in our hearts....  Let us seek the grace of remembrance so as to grow in the spirit of gratitude.  Pope Francis