When we play the card game "31" at family gatherings we knock on the table if we think we're holding a better hand than at least one other family member. Everyone except the knocker is then given a card and the cards are shown, producing many (temporary) winners and one loser. When there's a lot of family gathered around the table, the odds are pretty slim that you'll be holding the weak hand. So some bold folks might "knock in the dark", which is to say they knock before they've even looked at what they've got, trusting that their unseen hand will suffice.
Today's first reading was astonishingly beautiful. And there was a strong sense that Sarah, the daughter of Raguel, was 'knocking in the dark'. She was praising God even in her darkness, even in her depression, even when she didn't seem to have any particular reason to praise Him:
That day, she grieved, she sobbed, and went up to her father’s room intending to hang herself. But then she thought, ‘Suppose they blamed my father! They will say, “You had an only daughter whom you loved, and now she has hanged herself for grief”. I cannot cause my father a sorrow which would bring down his old age to the dwelling of the dead. I should do better not to hang myself, but to beg the Lord to let me die and not live to hear any more insults.’ And at this, by the window with outstretched arms she said this prayer:‘You are blessed, O God of mercy!
May your name be blessed for ever,
and may all things you have made
bless you everlastingly.’
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