Chapter Two of Book Two of The Imitation of Christ is on the subject of humble submission (IC 2,2).  As we have seen over and over again, humility is the pervasive theme of the author’s, Kempis’s, writing in this volume.  God bestows great gifts on the humble when they consider themselves inferior to all.

The psalm today is attributed to David in his thanksgiving for being delivered from the evil designs of King Saul.  From what we read from Jeremiah in the first reading, the prophet may well have been praying this very psalm in his deep trepidation regarding his enemies’ intentions toward him.  Both David and Jeremiah had great confidence that, in their grave circumstances, the Lord would hear their cries and come to their aid.

We, too, should have confidence in crying out to God in our distress.  But not only then.  Does the Almighty only hear from us when we are in dire straits?  Or have we developed the interior conversation much more robust, in which daily interaction breeds a familiarity in which we just as easily express praise, thanks, and contrition, as we petition Him.  The Lord wants us to be humble: trust God completely and think of ourselves as the lowest of all human creatures.  Resignation to the will of God will “deliver us from all turmoil.”   Maybe not as quickly as we’d like, possibly in an unexpected manner, or it may await us in the next life.  But we must have full confidence that Father knows best.