God is Near, Attentive and Rescues Us

Homily for Thursday of the 2nd Week in Easter

If there is a psalm that feels like a deep breath for the soul, it is Psalm 34. It is the prayer of someone who has tasted fear, danger, uncertainty—and discovered that God is not distant from any of it. The psalmist says, “I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.” That is not the voice of someone whose life is easy. That is the voice of someone who has learned, through struggle, that God is faithful. Today’s readings invite us to stand inside that same confidence.

Psalm 34 gives us three movements of trust: “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted.” “The Lord hears the cry of the poor.” “He rescues them from all their distress.” To summarize, God is near, attentive, and rescues any who call upon the Lord. This is not poetic exaggeration. It is a spiritual reality. Indeed, God’s nearness is not a reward for the strong; it is a refuge for the wounded.

And that is why this psalm resonates so deeply with so many people. It names the truth we often hesitate to admit: we are fragile. We are anxious. We are sometimes overwhelmed. And yet—God is near.

In Acts, the apostles stand before the Sanhedrin, facing threats and punishment. Their courage is not bravado. It is not stubbornness. It is the fruit of the same trust Psalm 34 describes. They can say, “We must obey God rather than men,” because they know the God who hears, who saves, who stands with the brokenhearted. Their boldness is rooted in the conviction that God is not absent from their suffering. Psalm 34 is the soil from which apostolic courage grows.

In the Gospel, John tells us that Jesus speaks the very words of God because He comes from above. If Psalm 34 reveals God’s heart, Jesus embodies it; for it Jesus who is near to the brokenhearted, who hears the cry of the poor, and who delivers us from distress, Jesus does not remove the struggle. He enters it with us.

Psalm 34 is not just a comfort; it is a call. If God is near to the brokenhearted, then we must be near to them too. If God hears the cry of the poor, then we must listen as well. If God rescues, then we must become instruments of that rescue. The apostles lived this. Jesus embodied it. And the psalm invites us into the same way of life.

Psalm 34 does not promise a life without hardship. It promises a God who steps into hardship with us. It promises that suffering does not have the final word. It promises that God’s faithfulness is stronger than fear. And so the psalmist can say, with full heart and full honesty: “Taste and see the goodness of the Lord,” because God is good.