July 2008 Lectio Divina

Psalm 21

Psalm 21 (Week I, Tuesday Evening) is a thanksgiving or a king’s victory, as the heading to the psalm says:

O Lord, your strength gives joy to the king;
how your saving help makes him glad!

You have granted him his heart’s desire;
you have not refused the prayer of his lips.

The antiphons and sentence clearly indicate how the psalm can be prayed as a thanksgiving for Christ’s victory over death, and when prayed as this we become witnesses to the resurrection, and join with the first disciples in their praise of God.

Ant. 2: We shall sing and praise your power.

Eastertide: You have assumed your great power, you have
begun your resign, alleluia.

Sentence: He accepted human life, so that he could rise from the dead and live for ever and ever (St. Irenaeus).

Commentary from ‘The School of Prayer’ – an Introduction to the Divine Office for All Christians, by John Brook, The Liturgical Press, Collegeville, Minnesota (1992).