Man and Death

Tuesday, April 1, 2025

Theme: "Man and Death."

Text: Psalm 90:3-6

3. You make men return to the dust, and say, "Son of man, return!" 4. For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past, and like a watch in the night. 5. You sweep them away like a dream, which in the morning fades like grass. 6. It blossoms in the morning and fades; it is cut down in the evening and withers.

Let us remember:

This psalm of Moses is very eloquent. Moses lets his heart speak before a God he knows deeply and has served all his life. At the end of his life, Moses raises this prayer full of gratitude and hope towards the God he saw intervene in the most difficult moments, manifesting his power, his authority, his wrath, his patience, his forgiveness, in short, a God of all seasons. Moses consumed the virtues of this God in every way without being satisfied with his blessings. This intercession of Moses describes the fragility of the human, powerless before the sovereign majesty of God. Yes, a God who can give life and who can take life. A God capable of withdrawing his breath invested in Man at the time willed by Him. Moses said noble things in this psalm. He elucidated truths that do not decay; despite the ages that pass and surpass them, this psalm has not lost its magnificence. Let us learn that it is God who makes men return to the dust, and asks them to return to the earth, their place of origin. Time almost does not exist before God because God is time. God evaluates time differently than we do. In His eyes, a thousand years are like yesterday when it is no more, like a watch in the night. God calls every creature to Himself through death. Like a dream, life stops, often to the surprise of ordinary mortals, who don't know how to handle it. Like a flower with a very fleeting life cycle, God cuts short our earthly wanderings to bring us into rest. Thus, in anticipation of the death that comes suddenly to us, Moses said to God: "Teach us to number our days well, so that we may apply our hearts to wisdom." Excellent start to April. Amen.

Alain Louz.-