Hindrances to Heaven – A reflection on Psalm 42 (Bro Martin Arlando)

St. Francis told bro Leo this story: “Once there was an ascetic who had been struggling for years to see God, but without success. Something always loomed up before him and prevented him. The unfortunate man wept, shouted, implored but all this was in vain. He just could not understand what it was that kept him from seeing God.

One morning, however, he leapt out of bed, overjoyed. He had found it! It was a small richly decorated pitcher which was the sole object he had retained from among all his possessions, so dearly did he love it. Now he seized it and with one blow, smashed it into a thousand pieces. “Then lifting up his eyes, he saw God for the first time.”

When we read Psalm 42 we find a vivid picture of the hind (the female deer) longing for the running streams. She runs, sniffing for the slightest scent of water. Her very life depends on her finding it. The thought is elaborated in the three-fold refrain: “I shall wait for God”. Human beings waiting for God are human beings at their best, thirsty for God, his will, his strength, his peace.

When Jesus hung to its appointed end, said in fulfillment of scripture, “I am thirsty” (John 19:28). Of course he was thirsty. The sun was beating down on his body. The pain was excruciating. Oh, for a drink! But I think there was a deeper meaning to that cry, deeper than physical thirst. He was thirsty for God. He was thirsty to do his will even to the point of death. That had been his motto throughout life. “Here I am…; I have come, O God, to do your will” (Hebrews 10:7)

Likewise during this season of Lent, we are called to return to the Father with all our heart. Let us, like the deer “sniff out” all that hinders us from drawing close to the stream of life and be constantly reminded like Jesus who thirsts to do the will of God.


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Stay tuned for the next post by Bro Aloysius Tan on 3rd Mar 2010.