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).

June 2008 Lectio Divina

Psalm 135
Praise for the wonderful things God does for us

He has won us for himself…and you must proclaim what he has done for you. He has called you out of darkness into his own wonderful light (see 1 Peter 2:9)

Praise the name of the Lord,
praise him, servants of the Lord,
who stand in the house of the Lord
in the courts of the house of our God.

Praise the Lord for the Lord is good.
Sing a psalm to his name for he is loving.

For the Lord has chosen Jacob for himself
and Israel for his own possession.

For I know the Lord is great,
that our Lord is high above all gods.

The Lord does whatever he wills,
in heaven, on earth, in the seas.

He summons clouds from the ends of the earth;
makes lightning produce the rain;
from his treasuries he sends forth the wind.

The first-born of the Egyptians he smote,
of man and beast alike.

Signs and wonders he worked
in the midst of your land, O Egypt,
against Pharaoh and all his servants.

Nations in their greatness he struck
and kings in the splendor he slew.
Sihon, king of the Amorites,
Og, the king of Bashan,
and all the kingdoms of Canaan.
He let Israel inherit their land:
on his people their land he bestowed.

This psalm was undoubtedly sung at one of Israel’s festivals, probably the feast of the Passover. Although it includes parts of other psalms (notably Psalm 115 and 136), Psalm 135 has a real unity and development of thought. The psalm gives thanks to the Lord for his work in creation and in Israel’s history, and contrasts this with the futility of pagan idols who can do nothing.

Praise the Lord for the Lord is good.
Sing a psalm to his name for he is loving.

For the Lord has chosen Jacob for himself
and Israel for his own possession.

We begin to hear the reasons why we should praise the Lord. The first of them is because of the way he has shown his goodness and love by choosing Israel to be his people. Israel’s identity and value rested solely in the fact that the Lord had chosen her for himself. Israel belonged to the Lord alone. The sentence carries over this fact to the new Israel, the church: You are a chosen race. Sing the praises of one who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light (1 Peter 2:9).

For I know the Lord is great,
that our Lord is high above all gods.

Creation becomes the next reason why we should praise the Lord. In creation his greatness is revealed. He does whatever he wills.

He summons clouds from the ends of the earth;
makes lightning produce the rain;

Lightning often accompanies heavy rain in Palestine, but to say that the lightning produces the rain is poetry, not science.

The first-born of the Egyptians he smote,
of man and beast alike.

Signs and wonders he worked
in the midst of your land, O Egypt,
against Pharaoh and all his servants.

From creation we move to the Exodus. The psalm rehearses only the bare outline of events. The death of the first-born was the climax of the plagues sent on Egypt to make Pharaoh change his mind and let the people go. It was the catalyst for the Exodus. Signs and wonders are events that specifically reveal the majesty and glory of God. St. John takes up the word sign and uses it in the same sense to describe Jesus’ miracles.

Nations in their greatness he struck
and kings in the splendor he slew.
Sihon, king of the Amorites,
Og, the king of Bashan,
and all the kingdoms of Canaan.
He let Israel inherit their land:
on his people their land he bestowed.

We skip straight from the flight out of Egypt to the entry into the Promised Land, leaving out the crossing of the Red Sea and all the wilderness events. Sihon and Og are singled out because they were the first kings defeated by Israel in their march into the promised land. The Amorites lived in the territory we today call Jordan. Bashan is in this area too. The story of the conquests is told in Numbers 21:21-35. The description of the land as Israel’s inheritance makes a link back to the Lord’s promise to Abraham, to give him the land as ‘an everlasting possession’ (Genesis 17:8).

Lord, your name stands for ever,
unforgotten from age to age:
for he Lord does justice for his people;
the Lord takes pity on his servants.

God’s character as revealed in the Exodus is of one who liberates the oppressed, does justice for his people, the implication being that he will always act in this way. His character is unchanging, his name stands for ever.

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

May 2008 Lectio Divina

Psalm 110
Christ in the Psalms

Within the two main psalm-types (praise and lament) there is one group of psalms which has had a profound influence on Christian use of the psalms – the Royal Psalms. Scattered throughout the psalter are a number of psalms originally connected with the court or the person of the Davidic king. There are prophetic psalms addressed to the king, prayers for the king, thanksgiving for the king, prayers of the king himself, a royal processional song and a bridal ode for the marriage of the king,

In these psalms the king is proclaimed to be ‘son of God,’ his reign is said to be without end, stretching to the bounds of the earth. He is to bring peace and justice to the world and to be a savior to his people. The fact that Israel’s king was the anointed of Yahweh, the ‘Messiah’ (‘Anointed One’), meant that many of these psalms became part of Israel’s messianic hope. Christians quickly came to see in them clear prophecies of Christ. Psalm 110 is the most quoted psalm in the New Testament. In the messianic psalms the Church came to hear ‘Christ calling out to his Father, or the Father speaking to the Son.’ Hence in the psalms we are led into the heart of the Trinity, into the inner relationship between Father and Son. Patristic exegesis of the psalms concentrated on discerning the voice of the Father, the voice of the Son, and the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking in the psalms.

To read the psalms as a prophecy of Christ and his relationship with his Father, and through them to enter into the heart of the relationship between Father and Son, is perhaps the most important dimension of learning to pray the psalms, but also the most difficult. We will look at several psalms from Morning and Evening Prayer to see how they can be understood as expressing the experience and prayer of Christ.

Prophetic Psalms addressed to the King
Psalm 110 occurs each Sunday, for Evening Prayer II, and is a prophecy addressed to Israel’s king, a prophecy which Jesus applied to himself in Matthew 22:41-46. Because this psalm is the most quoted in the whole of the New Testament and because it occurs each week in the four-week cycle of psalms of the Divine Office, it is worth while studying it closely.

The psalm begins:

The Lord’s revelation to my Master:
‘Sit on my right:
Your foes I will put beneath your feet.’

There are two levels of meaning in the psalm. The first is historical. The psalm seems to have originally been composed for the coronation of Israel’s king. The opening words are a prophecy delivered, by the high priest, to the king, called here ‘my Master.’

Sit on my right. In the prophecy the Lord invites the king to take the place of highest honor, at God’s right hand. Some scholars have suggested that at the coronation ceremony the king’s throne was placed on the right of the Ark of the Covenant in the holy of holies, symbolically seating the king at the Lord’s right hand.

Your foes I will put beneath your feet. A victorious king would sometimes place his foot on the neck of his defeated enemy, symbolizing his total power over his foe. The prophecy promises the king victory over all his enemies.

The second level of interpretation came when the psalm was interpreted by Jewish scholars as a prophecy concerning the Messiah. Now, instead of being addressed to David the king, the psalm was interpreted as being composed by David the king, and addressed to the coming Messiah.

This is the way Jesus reads the psalm in Matthew 22:41-45.

‘While the Pharisees were gathered round, Jesus put to them this question, ‘What is your opinion about the Christ? Whose son is he?’ They told him, ‘David’s.’ He said to them, ‘Then how is it that David, moved by the Spirit, calls him Lord, where he says:

The Lord declared to my Lord,
take your seat at my right hand,
till I have made your enemies
your footstool?

If David calls him Lord, how then can he be his son?’

Jesus is pointing to the fact that while his human origins go back to David, there is something divine about the Messiah which sets him above David. The early Church followed this second level of interpretation, taking its lead from Jesus himself and interpreting Psalm 110 as a prophecy given by David concerning the Messiah.

The psalm continues:

The Lord will wield from Sion
your scepter of power:
rule in the midst of all yours foes.

On the historical level, it may have been at this point in the coronation ritual that the king was invested with the scepter, symbol of his might and authority. The psalm says that the Lord God will wield the king’s scepter. In other words, God will exercise his divine authority and power on behalf of the king. Sion is another name for Jerusalem, the holy city.

Rule in the midst of all your foes. The king is commanded to exercise his authority as God’s representative over all peoples. The prophecy assures the king he will be triumphant.

It is easy to see how this verse came to be applied to the Messiah, and hence to Jesus. It is understood by the Church as being a prophecy of the way the authority and power of Jesus the Christ will be exercised over all the world. Sion is interpreted as referring to heaven, or to the Church, the new Jerusalem.

A prince from the day of your birth
on the holy mountains;
from the womb before the dawn I begot you.

This verse has a number of widely variant translations, each dependent on different textual variants. The version we have here continues to prophecy addressed to the king, and speaks of his royal dignity from birth, and of his being ‘son of God’ – from the womb...I begot you. Psalm 89:27 also speaks of the Davidic king as God’s first-born son. When the psalms speak of the king in this way, as god’s son, they mean much less than what the New Testament means when it speaks of Jesus as God’s Son.

The Old Testament use of the title ‘son of God’ when applied to the king meant that there was a unique relationship between the Lord and the king, a relationship as close as father and son. It is the Lord who has created and chosen the king, and who will be his Father. The king for his part owes the Lord the obedience and love of a son. Again, it is easy to understand how the early Church read this verse as a prophecy of Christ, Son of God in a unique sense.

The Lord has sworn an oath he will not change
‘You are a priest for ever,
a priest like Melchizedek of old.

This prophetic oracle installs the king in the priestly office. Melchizedek was a mysterious figure described in Genesis 14:18 as king of Salem (possibly an early name for Jerusalem) and ‘a priest of God Most High,’ who blessed Abram and to whom Abram gave a tithe of all he possessed.

Psalm 110 takes Melchizedek as a forerunner of the Davidic king, who, like Melchizedek, is invested with his authority not by an earthly power but by God himself.

The Second Book of Samuel, (6:13-19) describes King David performing priestly functions of offering burnt offerings and communion sacrifices when the Ark was first brought into Jerusalem. The Church reads this verse as a clear prophecy of Christ’s priesthood. Its relationship to Melchizedek if fully worked out in Hebrews 7.

The Master standing at your right hand
will shatter kings in the day of his wrath.

This verse appears to be addressed to God, and speaks of the victory David will have over all his enemies. Understood as a prophecy of Christ, it refers to the Day when he will come to judge the living and the dead.

He shall drink from the stream by the wayside
and therefore he will lift up his head.

The king during the coronation ceremony may have drunk water from the brook – possibly the spring Gihon in Jerusalem, mentioned in connection with the anointing of King Solomon in 1 Kings (1:33-45) – in order to be empowered with life and power. Or the reference may be to the king refreshing himself from a mountain stream in the midst of battle. To lift up his head is a metaphor for victory. In this verse the Christian can read of the way Christ was filled with the Spirit for his ministry, and was therefore triumphant over sin and Satan.

The different ways that this psalm can be prayed with reference to Christ are indicated by the antiphons that go with it.

Through the Year: The Lord will send his mighty scepter from Sion, and he will rule for ever, alleluia.

This antiphon gives the basic interpretation of the psalm as a prophecy concerning Christ, through whom God rules for ever. The heading for the psalm (The Messiah is king and priest) and the sentence (He must be king so that he may put all his enemies under his feet (1 Corinthians 15:25) emphasize this Christological interpretation.

Advent: Rejoice greatly, daughter of Sion, shout with gladness, daughter of Jerusalem, alleluia.

As we pray Psalm 110 in Advent we celebrate the coming of Christ the king.

Lent, Sunday 1: You must worship the Lord, your God, and serve him alone.

This antiphon takes the reply Jesus gave at his temptation in the wilderness (which is read on this Sunday) and underlines the sovereign rule of the Lord. He has authority over Satan, the ultimate enemy.

Lent, Sunday 5: As Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up:

reminds us that the Messiah reigns from the tree, that his victory over his enemies was won on the Cross.

Eastertide: The Lord has risen and sits at the right hand of God, alleluia:

celebrates the ‘coronation’ of Christ, his ascension to his rightful place as ruler of all.

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

April 2008 Lectio Divina

Exodus 19:16-19

The Exodus was the founding event of the nation of Israel, and the story of the Exodus resounds again and again in the psalms. To understand the psalms one must read the book of Exodus. Exodus tells how the Hebrews were in slavery in Egypt, and God ‘remembered his covenant with Abraham’ (Exodus 2:24) and sent Moses to lead them out of bondage into the Promised Land. Pharaoh proved to be stubborn and he refused to let the people go, so the Lord sent a series of plagues on Egypt to persuade him to change his mind. The climax of these plagues was the death of all the first-born in Egypt. Pharaoh let the people go, but quickly changed his mind and pursued them with his army to the shores of the Sea of Reeds. The Lord parted the waters of the sea by means of a strong east wind (Exodus 14) and the Israelites crossed to safety, leaving the pursuing army of Pharaoh trapped in the mud, to be engulfed by the returning waters.

The Israelites journeyed to Mount Sinai and there received the covenant and the Ten Commandments. At Sinai the Lord appeared to Moses and Israel in a way which is recalled in every account in the psalms of God’s coming to save his people. When the Lord appeared on Sinai Exodus records how:

There were peals of thunder and flashes of lightning, dense cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast; and, in the camp, all the people trembled. Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet God; and they took their stand at the bottom of the mountain. Mount Sinai was entirely wrapped in smoke, because the Lord had descended on it in the form of fire. The smoke rose like smoke from a furnace and the whole mountain shook violently. Moses spoke, and God answered him in the thunder…

(Exodus 19:16~19).

This appearance of the Lord (known as a theophany) on Sinai etched itself into the consciousness of Israel, and when the psalms speak of God’s appearing, it is usually in terms of earthquake, f ire, thunder and lightning.

Immediately following God’s appearance is the account of the giving of the Ten Commandments, Israel’s obligation under the covenant. One of the distinctive features of the psalms is their appeal to God as a God of justice, a God who is concerned above all for the widow, the orphan and the stranger. This revelation of God as a God of justice is inherent in the law given at Sinai.

From Mountain Sinai the Israelites wandered for forty years in the wilderness, and several incidents from those desert wanderings make their appearance in the psalms, especially the giving of water from the rock (Exodus 17:1-7) and the constant grumbling of the people against Moses and Aaron.

Finally, the Israelites approached the Promised Land, the land of Canaan. Their first victories were over Sihon king of the Amorites and Og king of Bashan, and Israel’s victory over these two kings features in the psalms as a symbol of God’s power to bring his people into the promised land and to give them victory over all their enemies.

This whole experience of the Exodus, the giving of the Law at Sinai, the wilderness wanderings, and the entry into the promised land is reinterpreted by the New Testament in the light of Christ. The sentence and the antiphons of the psalms in the Office indicate the way in which these events are taken up in Christ and so in Christian prayer.

For the Church, the Exodus from Egypt foreshadows the Cross and Resurrection of Christ, the founding events of the new covenant, the mighty acts of God by which he delivered his people from slavery to sin and fear of death.

Jesus’ commandments become the Christians’ law – Matthew’s Gospel presents Jesus as the new Moses who delivers his teaching in the Sermon on the Mount, a teaching which supersedes the Law given on Mount Sinai.

The wandering in the wilderness becomes a symbol of the Christian’s journey through this world on the way to the promised land, to the presence of God in heaven. On this journey we are fed with the manna of the Eucharist and the water from the rock is none other than the gift of the Holy Spirit.

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

March 2008 Lectio Divina

Psalm 42
Longing for the Lord’s presence in his Temple

Like the deer that yearns
for running streams,
so my soul is yearning
for you, my God.

My soul is thirsting for God,
the God of my life;
when can I enter and see
the face of God?

My tears have become my bread,
by night, by day,
as I hear it said all the day long:
“Where is your God?”

These things will I remember
as I pour out my soul:
how I would lead the rejoicing crowd
into the house of God,
amid cries of gladness and thanksgiving,
the throng wild with joy.

Why are you cast down, my soul,
why groan within me?
Hope in God; I will praise him still,
my savior and my God.

My soul is cast down within me
as I think of you,
from the country of Jordan and Mount Hermon,
from the Hill of Mizar.

Deep is calling on deep,
in the roar of waters:
your torrents and all your waves
swept over me.

By day the Lord will send
his loving kindness;
by night I will sing to him,
praise the God of my life.

I will say to God, my rock:
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why do I go mourning,
oppressed by the foe?”

With cries that pierce me to the heart,
my enemies revile me,
saying to me all the day long:
“Where is your God?”

Why are you cast down, my soul,
why groan within me?

Hope in God; I will praise him still,
my savior and my God.



The movement of this (Psalm) is from despair to praise. The first psalm is the cry of someone who feels cut off from God. The Old Testament canticle prays for God’s glory to be renewed in the life and worship of his suffering people. The final psalm has been called ‘the greatest poem in the psalter,’ and offers exuberant praise to God for his revelation through creation.

The heading of the psalm provides a key to its interpretation: The Exile’s nostalgia for the Lord’s Temple. The psalmist is in exile, probably in Babylon, far away from the Temple, surrounded by the enemies who had destroyed the Temple and the city he loved. The psalm divides into two parts, each part following a three-fold pattern: the psalmist pours out his sorrow, he then deliberately turns his mind away from his distress, and finally he turns to God in the words, Hope in god; I will praise him still, my savior and my God. The psalm is a model of how to deal with spiritual depression, and some interpreters understand it to refer not to the desolation of the Exile but to the sense of desolation brought on by a severe illness.

The Holy Week antiphon takes us deep into the sorrow of Jesus as we pray with him in Gethsemane. Jesus experienced the sense of being forsaken by god at the time of his greatest need, and in this he has undergone the most devastating experience which can come to anyone who loves God. In this psalm we pray with Christ and with all those who have felt abandoned by God. As we share in Christ’s sufferings and the sufferings of his Body the Church, so we will share in his consolation.

(Prayed on a Monday, this psalm can express the prayer of priests and pastors who have led the celebrations of the previous Sunday).

Like the deer that yearns
for running streams,
so my soul is yearning
for you, my God.

In Palestine in the dry season the sun beats down for five long months, May to September. The land is baked dry, rivers cease to flow, and animals die of thirst. The psalmist longs for God with the same desperate intensity that the deer in the dry season thirsts for fresh water, for running streams.

Jesus promised ‘living water,’ the water of the spirit, to all who come thirsty to him (John 4:14; 7:37; and the sentence from Revelation 22:17). There is a true sense in which all who drink of the water of the Spirit are ‘never thirsty again,’ the soul’s deepest longing is satisfied; but there is another sense in which those who drink the water of the Spirit are always thirsty for more. They long to know more of the love and truth of their Lord. This thirst is the pre-requisite of all spiritual growth.

Soul in the psalms means the whole person.

My soul is thirsting for God,
the God of my life;
when can I enter and see
the face of God?

The Temple was the place where the Lord met with his people. There he spoke to them through priest and prophet; there the sacrifices for sin were offered; there the great events of Israel’s redemption were celebrated in the feasts of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. The Temple was at the heart of Israel’s relationships with God, and to be cut off from the Temple, as the psalmist was, was to be cut off from the wellsprings of spiritual life. He asks: when can I enter the Temple again, and know the intimate presence of God’s presence of God, the face of God. The psalmist does not limit god’s presence to the Temple, otherwise he would not pray as he does, but the Temple is the place above all where God is revealed.

This verse can express the Christian’s longing for heaven. We, like the psalmist, are exiles on this earth, for ‘our homeland is in heaven and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ’ (Philippians 3:20).

My tears have become my bread,
by night, by day,
as I hear it said all the day long:
“Where is your God?”

The psalmist is depressed not only by the absence of God, but because of the presence of men who mock him, asking ‘Where is your God?’ These men may be the Babylonians who have conquered Jerusalem and therefore believe that the God who protected the city, the Lord God of Israel, is nothing compared with their gods. They say to the Israelites in captivity: ‘The Lord has been defeated. He is powerless to help you. Where is your God?’ This was precisely the taunt hurled at Jesus by his enemies while he hung on the cross. ‘He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him.’ (Matthew 27:43).

These things will I remember
as I pour out my soul:
how I would lead the rejoicing crowd
into the house of God,
amid cries of gladness and thanksgiving,
the throng wild with joy.

At this point the psalmist turns away from his present troubles and thinks back to the times when he led the processions into the Temple on the great feast days. This may imply that the psalmist is Israel’s king, or a leading priest. In remembering the feasts he begins to remember the events they celebrated: the Exodus from Egypt, the giving of the law and the covenant God made with Israel at Sinai, the entry into the promised land, the building and consecration of the Temple. This memory makes his present captivity even more painful, but at the same time renews his hope that the God who acted to deliver Israel in the past will act to deliver her in the future.

When we feel abandoned by God the memory of his past goodness can be a bittersweet experience. It may make our present trouble all the more painful, but it can also arouse hope. The God who acted in our past will come again to save us.

Why are you cast down, my soul,
why groan within me?
Hope in God; I will praise him still,
my savior and my God.

The psalmist’s hope is not a vague optimism but a conviction based on his memory of the way God has acted in the past. The Lord who saved Israel from Egypt will save her from this present captivity. He is my savior and my God. It is this sure hope that gives rise to praise. In his depression the psalmist wills himself to praise and so begins to be lifted out of himself, to see life from God’s perspective.

This is precisely the path St. Paul followed in his own experience of suffering. In the midst of his suffering he looked back to the great events of Christ’s death and resurrection, and then looked forward with unquenchable hope. ‘What shall we say to this? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all, will he not also give us all things with him? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies; who is to condemn? Is it Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who rose was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us? ‘Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?’ (Romans 8:31-35).

My soul is cast down within me
as I think of you,
from the country of Jordan and Mount Hermon,
from the Hill of Mizar.

The second part of the psalm follows the same three-fold pattern as the first: the psalmist expresses his anguish; he turns away from himself; he turns to God.

The geographical references in this verse imply that the psalmist is in the far north of Palestine, at the headwaters of the Jordan river, under the shadow of Mount Hermon and the Hill of Mizar (presumably also in the north, but a place unknown to us now). The psalmist may have actually been there in the procession of captives as they made their way in chains to Babylon, or he may be picturing the north of Israel as the furthermost point in the land from Jerusalem and thus a symbol of his present distance from the Temple.

Deep is calling on deep,
in the roar of waters:
your torrents and all your waves
swept over me.

The thought of Mount Hermon brings to mind the raging waterfalls which cascade off the mountain in winter. The psalmist feels as though he is in the midst of such a torrent, swept away, drowning. Behind this image there may be the thought of the ancient waters of chaos which God tamed at creation, but which now seems to be unleashed again. The psalmist’s whole world has broken down. Chaos and evil reign.

By day the Lord will send
his loving kindness;
by night I will sing to him,
praise the God of my life.

This verse may be out of place, and belong at the end of the psalm, but it can be understood in its present position as an expression of hope. The psalmist has known the continual experience of God’s grace in the past, his loving kindness, and this memory stirs hope that the loving kindness of the past will be renewed in the future.

I will say to God, my rock:
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why do I go mourning,
oppressed by the foe?”

The image of the raging waters is taken up again, and in the midst of this wild river the psalmist clings to God, my rock. The most painful part of this whole experience is the thought that god has forgotten him. He has been abandoned to his foes.

With cries that pierce me to the heart,
my enemies revile me,
saying to me all the day long:
“Where is your God?”

The second part of the psalm finishes with the same question as the first, ‘Where is your God?’, and the same refrain, 'Why are you cast down my soul…'

The psalm is not finished here. Psalm 42(43) is a continuation of Psalm 41(42), and in some Bibles the two are printed as one (New Jerusalem Bible).

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

February 2008 Lectio Divina

Psalm 32
They are happy whose sins are forgiven

David speaks of the happiness of the man who is holy in God’s eyes not because of his own worth, but because God has justified him (roman 4:6)


Happy the man whose offense is forgiven,
whose sin is remitted.
O happy the man to whom the Lord
imputes no guilt,
in whose spirit is no guile.


I kept it secret and my frame was wasted.
I groaned all the day long
for night and day your hand was heavy upon me.
Indeed, my strength was dried upas by the summer’s heat.


But now I have acknowledged my sins;
my guilt I did not hide.
I said: “I will confess my offense to the Lord.”
And you, Lord, have forgiventhe guilt of my sin.


So let every good man pray to youin time of need.
The floods of water may reach highbut him they shall not reach.
You are my hiding place, O Lord; you save me from distress.
You surround me with cries of deliverance.
I will instruct you and teach youthe way you should go;
I will give you counsel with my eye upon you.


Be not like horse and mule, unintelligent,
needing bridle and bit,
else they will not approach you.
Many sorrows has the wickedbut he who trusts in the Lord,
loving mercy surrounds him.


Rejoice, rejoice in the Lord,
exult, you just!
O come, ring out your joy,
all you upright of heart.


The joy of forgiveness is the theme of this psalm. In Christian tradition it is one of the seven penitential psalms. It was the favorite of St. Augustine. The psalm is in three parts: the first is the personal testimony of the psalmist to his experience of God’s forgiveness; the second is an instruction addressed to the congregation, possibly by the priest; finally there is a concluding call to rejoice in the Lord. The setting of the psalm is the worship of the Temple.


Happy the man whose offense is forgiven,
whose sin is remitted.
O happy the man to whom the Lord
imputes no guilt,
in whose spirit is no guile.


Woven into the exuberant joy of the psalmist is a profound analysis of the meaning of sin and forgiveness. Four different aspects of sin and forgiveness are described in the particular Hebrew words used in the opening verses of the psalm. First, sin is an offence, an act of rebellion against God, an act of disobedience which becomes a heavy burden. To be forgiven means to have the burden lifted and carried away. Second, sin is sin, wandering from God’s way and going off on our own, making a mess of things. Forgiveness means that the mess is cleaned up, put right, remitted. A better translation would be covered, or blotted out. Third, sin involves guilt, which for the psalmist led to the breakdown of his health. Forgiveness means that the Lord no longer imputes the guilt to his account. The debt is cancelled. Fourth, sin is guile, deceit, cover-up; forgiveness means that inner purity is restored: in his spirit is no guile. Repentance and confession can only come when deceit is renounced.


I kept it secret and my frame was wasted.
I groaned all the day long
for night and day your hand
was heavy upon me.
Indeed, my strength was dried up
as by the summer’s heat.


Refusing to face up to our wrongdoing, keeping it secret, stifling our conscience, means that sin becomes like a festering sore which eats away at body and soul. We groan in self-pity. We loose all vitality and enthusiasm for living, and become like a wilting plant in the mid-summer’s heat. The psalmist sees that even this self-imposed anguish is the discipline of the Lord: Your hand was heavy upon me. Lovingly the Lord brings him to the point of repentance.


But now I have acknowledged my sins…


The same words which described the reality of sin in the first part of the psalm (sin, guilt, offence) are all used to show the completeness of the psalmist’s confession. Honest confession, giving up deceit and pretence, leads to forgiveness. ‘He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.’ (Proverbs 28:18)


So let every good man…


The psalmist now turns to the congregation to exhort them to turn from their sins to the Lord and find mercy.


The floods of water


Here we have a picture of the build-up of unconfessed sin and the trouble it brings as being like a torrent rushing down a dry stream bed after heavy rain, sweeping all before it. The cries of deliverance are the shouts of joy from the psalmist’s fellow worshippers in the Temple.


I will instruct you and teach you
the way you should go;


Here begins the word of instruction from the Lord. It is the Lord who is speaking. He is the I in this verse. The verse is a prophetic word given by the priest to the newly-pardoned sinner (the you in this verse is singular) assuring him of the Lord’s guidance, but it is a word spoken in the presence of the whole congregation and is intended to encourage and instruct them too.


Be not like horse and mule, unintelligent,
needing bridle and bit,
else they will not approach you.


It is better to submit willingly to the Lord than to need his heavy hand of discipline. If we do not approach the Lord readily, to confess our sins and receive his guidance, then we are like dumb animals (horse and mule, unintelligent) needing force to make us go in the right direction.


Many sorrows has the wicked
but he who trusts in the Lord,
loving mercy surrounds him.


This verse summarizes the Old Testament teaching on the two ways. The way of life is to trust in the Lord and experience his mercy. The way of death is the way of the wicked, the way of unrelieved sorrow.


Rejoice, rejoice in the Lord
exult, you just!


The psalm concludes with a call to the congregation to join the psalmist in his joy.


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

January 2008 Lectio Divina

Psalm 72
The Messiah’s royal power
Opening their treasures, they offered him gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh (Matthew 2:11)

O God, give your judgment to the king,
to a king’s son your justice,
that he may judge our people in justice
and your poor in right judgment.

May the mountains bring forth peace for the people
and the hills, justice.
May he defend the poor of the people
and save the children of the needy
and crush the oppressor.

He shall endure like the sun and the moon
from age to age.
He shall descend like rain on the meadow,
like raindrops on the earth.

In his days justice shall flourish
and peace till the moon fails.
He shall rule from sea to sea,
from the Great River to earth’s bounds.

Before him his enemies shall fall,
his foes lick the dust.
The kings of Tarshish and the sea coasts
shall pay him tribute.

The kings of Sheba and Seba
shall bring him gifts.
Before him all kings shall fall prostrate,
all nations shall serve him.

For he shall save the poor when they cry
and the needy who are helpless.
He will have pity on the weak
and save the lives of the poor.

From oppression he will rescue their lives,
to him their blood is dear.
Long may he live,
may the gold of Sheba be given him.
They shall pray for him without ceasing
and bless him all the day.

May corn be abundant in the land
to the peaks of the mountains.
May its fruit rustle like Lebanon;
may men flourish in the cities
like grass on the earth.

May his name be blessed for ever
and endure like the sun.
Every tribe shall be blessed in him,
all nations bless his name.

Blessed be the Lord, God of Israel,
who alone works wonders,
ever blessed his glorious name.
Let his glory fill the earth.
Amen! Amen!

*************

PRAYERS FOR THE KING

Psalm 72 (week 2, Thursday Evening) is a prayer for King Solomon, whose wealth, glory and just rule it extols. Jewish Messianic interpretation read it as a psalm celebrating the future ideal King foretold by the prophet Isaiah (9:6-7; 11:1-5). Christians soon applied it to Christ.

O God, give your judgment to the king,
to a king’s son your justice,
that he may judge your people in justice
and your poor in right judgment.

May the mountains bring forth peace for the people
and the hills, justice.
May he defend the poor of the people
and save the children of the needy
and crush the oppressor.

The way as Christians we should pray the psalm is indicated by the antiphons, the heading and the sentence. The first set of antiphons for Holy Week and Eastertide highlights the theme of Christ the just ruler, the one whose final triumph we pray and long for.

Holy Week: Christ is the First-born from the dead, the Ruler of the kings of the earth.
He has made us a kingdom for his God and Father.

Eastertide: God has appointed him to judge all men, both living and dead, alleluia.

The second set of antiphons highlights Christ’s present work of bringing good news to the poor:

Ant. 2: The Lord will save the poor; from oppression he will rescue their lives.

And God’s deliverance of Christ from suffering and death:

Holy Week: The Lord will save the poor when they cry and the needy who are helpless.

The theme of the Messiah’s universal rule is picked up by the first antiphon for use during the year, Ant. 1: I will make you the light of the nations to bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.

The psalm celebrates this universal rule of the Messiah in verses like:

Before him all kings shall fall prostrate,
all nations shall serve him.

Every tribe shall be blessed in him,
all nations bless his name.

Finally, the sentence for the psalm indicates how the gifts of the wise men, the ‘three Kings,’ to the infant Jesus are anticipated in the psalm. The sentence is: They opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh (Matthew 2:11). The psalm has this verse:

The kings of Sheba and Seba
shall bring him gifts.
Before him all kings shall fall prostrate.

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

After praying to our most beautiful flower of Mt. Carmel, my prayerswere answered regarding the well-being of my daughter at college.
Thank you, O Holy Mary, Mother of God
Mary
December 17, 2007

Lectio Divina
November 2007

The Covenant
Meditate on the meaning of your own Covenant agreement with Our Lord

The word “covenant” is not a word we use much today, but the idea of covenant is central to modern life. A covenant is a binding agreement between two parties. A treaty between two nations is a covenant. A commercial contract is a covenant. The marriage vow is a covenant. The whole basis of Israel’s life was the covenant God made with his people. It was God’s covenant that made Israel his people. Time and time again the psalmists appeal to the covenant as the basis of their prayer for God’s help for the nation and for the individual.

The psalms constantly allude to God’s covenant with Abraham and his covenant at Sinai. God’s covenant with Abraham marked the beginning of Israel as a nation. Genesis tells how the Lord appeared to Abraham and said to him:

Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you. And I will give to you, and to your descendants after you… the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God (Genesis 17:1-8

When Israel was under threat of invasion, when it looked as if her enemies would wrest the land from them, it was to this covenant with Abraham that Israel appealed.

God renewed this covenant with Jacob, Abraham’s grandson (Genesis 28:10-17), and when the psalmists refer to the nation of Israel as ‘Jacob’ it is Jacob as the heir of the covenant with Abraham that is in mind. To call Israel ‘Jacob’ or to refer to God as the ‘God of Jacob’ is to refer back to the covenant God made with Abraham and renewed with Jacob.

The next covenant God made with Israel was the covenant at Sinai. The covenant God made with Abraham promised him a lot and asked of him very little, just that he circumcise his sons as a sign of the covenant. But the covenant at Sinai (sometimes called the Mosaic covenant, although the covenant was not with Moses but with the whole nation) demanded much more of the people. Obedience to the Law enshrined in the Ten Commandments was Israel’s obligation under the covenant. At Sinai the Lord said to Moses:

Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my own possession among all people; for all the earth is mine, and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Exodus 19:3-6).

At the making of the covenant the Lord revealed himself in words that are echoed on every page of the psalms:

The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty… (Exodus 34:6-7)

The psalms of praise praise the Lord because of his commitment to the covenant. The psalms of lament appeal to him on the basis of the covenant. The words mercy, grace, steadfast love, faithfulness, forgiveness are the notes out of which the music of the psalms is written. God’s mercy, love, and faithfulness all refer to God’s commitment to the covenant.

Israel’s failure to keep the covenant led to its collapse. Ezekiel and Jeremiah prophesied a new covenant made not of tablets of stone, as with the covenant at Sinai, but written instead on the hearts of the people. This new covenant came into effect with Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, his resurrection from the dead, and his gift of the Holy Spirit. The Lords’ mercy, grace, steadfast love, faithfulness and forgiveness have been poured out in superabundance through Christ in the new covenant, and as we pray the covenant language of the psalms it is the new covenant which is our praise and the basis of our prayer for help.

(Commentary on the Psalms: Introduction: The School of Prayer, An Introduction to the Divine Office for all Christians, by John Brook, The Liturgical Press, Collegeville, Minnesota)

Lectio Divina
October 2007

Philippians 2:6-11
Christ, God’s holy servant

Though he was in the form of God,Jesus did not deem equality with Godsomething to be grasped at.

Rather, he emptied himselfand took the form of a slave,being born in the likeness of men.

He was known to be of human estate,and it was thus that he humbled himself,obediently accepting even death,death on a cross!

Because of this,God highly exalted himand bestowed on him the nameabove every other name,

So that at Jesus’ nameevery knee must bendin the heavens, on the earth,
And under the earth,and every tongue proclaimto the glory of God the Father:
JESUS CHRIST IS LORD!


This canticle is an early Christian hymn taken up by Paul in his appeal for unity in the Church at Philippi. Unity, he says, can only come as we each imitate the example of Christ in his humility.

Though he was in the form of God,
Jesus did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped.

The hymn may be making a comparison between Christ and Adam. Adam, made in the image of God, grasped proudly at equality with God and lost the glory of communion with God. By contrast, Christ, who was in the form of God, in humility was obedient to the will of the Father and received the highest honor in heaven and on earth.

Jesus did not regard his equality with God as a privilege to be jealously clung to, a thing to be grasped at all costs. Instead, He emptied himself,taking the form of a servant,being born in the likeness of men.

When Jesus became man he did not case to be God, he did not empty himself of his divinity. He emptied himself of all the glory and status, all the privileges and honor which rightly accompanied his divine nature. (At the transfiguration the disciples are given a glimpse of the divine glory, the form of God, which Jesus put aside in becoming man). A servant was the lowest human status, and therefore the most dramatic contrast to the form of God. Jesus described his mission as that of a servant: ‘The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and give his life as a ransom for many’ (Mark 10:45). His mission began when he was born in the likeness of men.

And being found in human form,he humbled himself and became obedient unto death,even death on a cross.

The hymn takes us down, down, down, each step involving a radical humility. Jesus not only became a human being, he suffered the ultimate fate of all humanity – death. His death was no ordinary death, but the most humiliating of deaths, death on a cross. The Old Testament Law pronounced a cruse on anyone who died as Jesus did: ‘Cursed be every one who hangs on a tree’ (Galatians 3:13, quoting Deuteronomy 21:23). This is as far from the glory of God as it is possible to go.

Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the namewhich is above every name.

The hymn now lifts our gaze from the depths to the heights. Jesus humbled himself, God now acts to exalt him. This is the strongest appeal Paul can make for Christian unity – ‘Follow the example of our Lord in his humility. Never hesitate to renounce your status or dignity in order to serve on another. If you follow the way of Jesus, God will exalt you.’

The same message is given in 1 Peter (5:6), ‘Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Humble yourselves therefore under the might hand of God that in due time he may exalt you.’

The name which is above every name is revealed to us at the conclusion of the hymn. It is the name of God himself, the name ‘Lord.’ In the Scriptures a person’s name expresses their nature and character. By bestowing on Jesus the name ‘Lord,’ the name of God, God is declaring to the world the nature, character and authority of his Son.

That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth.

In Isaiah 45:23 the Lord God declares:

By my own self I swear it; what comes from my mouth is saving justice, it is an irrevocable word: All shall bend the knee to me, by me every tongue shall swear, saying, ‘In Yahweh alone are saving justice and strength, until all those who used to rage at him come to him in shame.

Jesus begins to fulfill this prophecy of the saving justice of God, a justice which will eventually triumph throughout the whole cosmos, in heaven, on earth, under the earth. (The underworld was the traditional place of the dead).

And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Lord is the name used in the Old Testament for God himself. The Hebrew name was YHWH (translated into English as Yahweh), for which the Jews substituted the word Adonai, Lord, because they believed the divine name was too holy to pronounce. The Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament) translated YHWH as Kyrios, Greek for ‘Lord,’ and it is the word Kyrios which is used for Jesus here in the Philippian hymn.

The confession Jesus Christ is Lord was the earliest Christian creed, and is the climax of the hymn.

(Commentary on Week 1: The School of Prayer, An Introduction to the Divine Office for all Christians, by John Brook, The Liturgical Press, Collegeville, Minnesota)

July 2007 Lectio Divina
Psalm 45
The Marriage of the King

My heart overflows with noble words.
To the King I must speak the song I have made;
my tongue as nimble as the pen of a scribe.

You are the fairest of the children of men
and graciousness is poured upon your lips:
because God has blessed you for evermore.

O mighty one, gird your sword upon your thigh;
in splendor and state, ride on in triumph
for the cause of truth and goodness and right.

Take aim with your bow in your dread right hand.
You arrows are sharp: peoples fall beneath you.
The foes of the king fall down and lose heart.

Your throne, O God, shall endure for ever.
A scepter of justice is the scepter of your kingdom.
Your love is for justice; your hatred for evil.

Therefore God, your God, has anointed you
with the oil of gladness above other kings:
your robes are fragrant with aloes and myrrh.

From the ivory palace you are greeted with music.
The daughters of kings are among your loved ones.
On your right stands the queen in gold of Ophir.

Listen, O daughter, give ear to my words:
forget your own people and your father’s house.
So will the king desire your beauty:
he is your lord, pay homage to him.

And the people of Tyre shall come with gifts,
the richest of the people shall seek your favor.
The daughter of the king is clothed with splendor,
her robes embroidered with pearls set in gold.

She is led to the king with her maiden companions.
They are escorted amid gladness and joy;
they pass within the palace of the king.

Sons shall be yours in place of your fathers:
you will make them princes over all the earth.
May this song make your name for ever remembered.
May the peoples praise you from age to age.

This psalm is unique in the psalter. It is a royal wedding song in two parts. The first addresses the bridegroom, the king, dressed in all his "splendor and state." The second addresses the bride, the queen, who comes escorted by her bridesmaids to be married in the royal palace. In Jewish tradition the psalm was read as a prophecy of the Messiah, God’s anointed king. The Church readily applied the psalm to Jesus. He is the bridegroom (the sentence Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him (Matthew 25:6)), and the Church is his bride, "those who are called to the wedding fast of the lamb" (Eastertide antiphon).

My heart overflows with noble words…

The poet, possibly a priest or a prophet, is exhilarated by his theme. The wedding of the king is an event of prime importance for the whole nation, as the king is God’s viceroy.

You are the fairest of the children of men
and graciousness is poured upon your lips:
because God has blessed you for evermore.

The king’s handsome appearance and gift with words are signs of the fact that God has blessed him from birth. A man’s physical appearance was expected to reflect his inner qualities, and hence the bewilderment of Israel when they saw that the suffering servant of the Lord in Isaiah 53 "had no beauty, no majesty to draw our eyes, no grace to make us delight in him" (Holy Week antiphon). Those who see in Christ the suffering servant prophesied by Isaiah know that he is "the image of the invisible God," "full of grace and truth" (Colossians 1:15; John 1:14). He is the fairest of the children of men.

O mighty one, gird your sword upon your thigh;
in splendor and state, ride on in triumph
for the cause of truth and goodness and right.

The king is responsible for the protection of his people from the attacks of their enemies, and so he must be mighty in battle. His cause is not a selfish cause, but the cause of justice. He is to fight for truth, goodness, and right. As he engages in this battle for justice he shared the attributes of God, to whom belongs splendor and state (Psalm 96:6).

In his triumphant reign, Christ will "put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death" (1 Corinthians 15:25, 26). The sword of Christ and his disciples is "the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" (Ephesians 6:17). The weapons of Christ are spiritual, for his "kingdom is not of this world" (John 18:36).

Take aim with your bow in your dread right hand…

Wherever the king fights for truth, goodness, and right his strong power (dread right hand) will bring him victory.

Your throne, O God, shall endure for ever.
A scepter of justice is the scepter of your kingdom.
Your love is for justice; your hatred for evil.

A king was anointed at his coronation, and thus became the anointed one, the messiah, but the anointing here may be the king’s anointing with fragrant oils at his wedding as a sign of abundant joy, the oil of gladness.

From the ivory palace you are greeted with music.
The daughters of kings are among your loves ones.
On your right stands the queen in gold of Ophir.

The wedding music has begun and the new queen comes to stand at the king’s right hand, signifying her superiority over all other women in the realm. The fact that the king’s harem includes the daughters of kings indicates how powerful he is. In Christian interpretation these foreign princesses represent the Gentile nations converted to Christ and brought into the new Israel. The moment for the wedding has arrived, and the queen stands dressed in gold of Ophir. (Ophir may have been in the Arabian desert, the mine from which Solomon’s gold came).

It is possible that the queen in this verse is the Queen Mother, standing with her son awaiting the bride. In Christian tradition this has prompted some interpreters to identify the queen with the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Our Lord, Queen of Heaven.

Listen, O daughter, give ear to my words:
forget your own people and your father’s house.
So will the king desire your beauty:
he is your lord, pay homage to him.

The queen is a foreign princess, and the poet advises her to forget her own people. Foreign princesses sometimes brought with them their gods, and insisted on introducing them into the worship of Israel (this was one of the reasons for Solomon’s downfall, (1 Kings 11), so the queen is told to leave all that behind, and be loyal to her husband and to his God. This is the way she will attract her new husband’s devotion. The Church as the bride of Christ is challenged to the same loyalty to her Lord.

And the people of Tyre shall come with gifts,
the richest of the people shall seek your favor.
The daughter of the king is clothed with splendor,
her robes embroidered with pearls set in gold.

Tyre is the city just to the north of Israel, on the coast. The poet prophesies that the richest of the people of the surrounding nations will bring gifts to the new queen (a princess in her own right, a daughter of the king) in order to seek her favor. She will have to cut her ties with her father’s house, but she will be rewarded with splendor and gold, and with sons (last verse), future princes over all the earth.

Again, these lines can be interpreted with reference to the Church. Her beauty and wealth are the fruits of the Spirit which will draw people to seek her favor. Her royal robe is holiness (Ephesians 5:27).

She is led to the king…

As the bride enters the palace amid gladness and joy, so the Church will enter heaven for "the marriage of the Lamb" (Revelations 21:9).

Sons shall be yours in place of your fathers:
you will make them princes over all the earth.

The Davidic king was to rule the earth in justice and truth, a prophecy that found its fulfillment in Christ. The union of Christ and his Church brings the blessing of sons and daughters through whom the name and honor of the king are revealed over all the earth.

May this song make your name for ever remembered.
May the peoples praise you from age to age.

The last two lines are the poet’s address to the king, wishing him and his dynasty long life, honor and renown for all time.

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

June 2007 Lectio Divina

Reflect upon the great dignity it is to be a member of the Church.

Psalm 48
Thanksgiving for the people’s deliverance

The Lord is great and worthy to be praised
in the city of our God.
His holy mountain rises in beauty,
the joy of all the earth.

Mount Zion, true pole of the earth,
the Great King’s City!

God, in the midst of its citadels,
has shown himself its stronghold.
For the kings assembled together,
together they advanced.

They saw; at once they were astounded;
dismayed, they fled in fear.
A trembling seized them there,
like the pangs of birth.

By the east wind you have destroyed
the ships of Tarshish.
As we have heard, so we have seen
in the city of our God,
in the city of the Lord of hosts
which God upholds for ever.

O God, we ponder your love
within your temple.
Your praise, O God, like your name
reaches to the ends of the earth.

With justice your right hand is filled.
Mount Zion rejoices;
the people of Judah rejoice
at the sight of your judgments.

Walk through Zion, walk all round it;
count the number of its towers.
Review all its ramparts,
examine its castles,

that you may tell the next generation
that such is our God,
our God for ever and always.
It is he who leads us.

This psalm is one of a group which have as their theme the praise of Sion, Jerusalem, site of the royal palace and the Temple. It may have been a psalm designed for the Feast of Tabernacles, because this feast celebrated (among other things) the Temple as the center of Israel’s worship. The psalm contrasts the reactions of two groups of people as they see Mount Zion: the enemies of Israel, the pilgrims coming to worship.

The key to praying the psalm in Christ is to understand Zion as a reference to the Church, especially the Church in heaven, as indicated by the sentence: He took me to the top of a great mountain, and showed me the holy city of Jerusalem (Revelation 21:10).

"The Lord is great and worthy to be praised in the city of our God,” in the Church in which we gather to praise the Lord.

Mount Zion, true pole of the earth is literally ‘in the far north’. In Canaanite mythology ‘the mountain of the north’ or ‘the far north’ was the home of the gods, as Mount Olympus was in Greek mythology. The psalmist takes over the expression, applying it to Zion. Zion is the home of the true God. Zion (the Church) is the true ‘north,’ the true pole of the earth, the spiritual summit of the world.

God…has shown himself its stronghold

God is the true defense of Jerusalem, not the impressive physical battlements protecting the city. The Christian is reminded of Jesus’ promise to the Church that ‘the gates of hell can never overpower it.’ (Matthew 16:18). The Church’s defense is not in treaties or alliances with political powers, as the twentieth century of all centuries has shown us, but in God himself.

For the kings assembled together,
together they advanced.

They saw; at once they were astounded;
dismayed, they fled in fear.

This verse may refer to the miraculous deliverance of Jerusalem from the Assyrian armies during the reign of King Hezekiah, King of Judah from 715-687 B.C. The Assyrian King Sennacherib besieged Jerusalem, but Isaiah prophesied that Sennacherib and his forces would suddenly leave. ‘That same night the angel of the Lord went out and struck down a hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. In the early morning when it was time to get up, there they lay, so many corpses. Sennacherib struck camp and left; he returned home and stayed in Nineveh.’ (Isaiah 37:36-37)

But the event in the psalmist’s mind may not be an event in the past but an event in the future: the Day of the Lord, the great Day when God will come in power to bring justice on the earth. Prophets predicted (Psalm 2) that on this Day the kings of the earth would assemble together against Jerusalem to fight against the Lord and his anointed king.

They saw may refer to an awesome appearance of the Lord himself, such as is described in Isaiah 29:5-8:

Suddenly, in an instant,
you will be visited by Yahweh Sabaoth
with thunder, tempest, flame of devouring fire.’

By the east wind you have destroyed
the ships of Tarshish.

These ships were among the largest vessels afloat, capable of sailing to Tarshish, a distant Phoenician colony in Spain. The kings are compared to these mighty ships, but the Lord shatters them on the rocks, like the east wind dashing the ships of Tarshish against the cliffs.

The powerful forces, political or social, which threaten to overwhelm the Church may at times gain the upper hand, but they will not ultimately triumph.

As we hear heard refers to the prophecies concerning Jerusalem, prophecies that promise its security and prosperity. The New Testament speaks in like manner of the ultimate victory of the Church, the body of Christ.

In the heavenly Jerusalem ‘there will be no more death, and no more mourning or sadness or pain. The world of the past has gone.’ (Revelation 21:4).

the Lord of hosts.

The hosts may have referred originally to the armies of Israel, but later they were understood to be the hosts of heaven.

O God we ponder your love
within your temple.

Love translates the Hebrew word hesed, covenant love, the love by which the Lord binds himself to his people. We celebrate the love of God revealed on the Cross and mediated to us in the Eucharist by the Spirit.

your right hand

The right hand means the strong hand, the hand that brings victory.

Walk through Zion

The people are invited to join in a thanksgiving procession around the city, to rejoice in its physical strength seen in the ramparts, sloping banks protecting the foot of the walls; and her castles, the fortified towers of the palace.

The Christian rejoices in the wisdom and truth (the judgements) revealed in the Gospel, knows its invincible strength, and from personal experience of that strength evangelizes the next generation.

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

During the last few months, my OCDS community has allowed me an experiment. From January through June, I am presenting scripture for Lectio Divina. Lectio Divina is one of the oldest methods of meditation. It has been written elsewhere that with the loss of Lectio Divina amongst the laity, and also the monasteries and convents, that the vitality of Christianity was lost. It is therefore incumbent upon us that we renew the vitality of the Church with this wonderful and ancient practice.

It is my intention to share with the readers of this blog the fruit of this experiment. The idea first germinated when I was presenting a talk to our Aspirants on Lectio Divina. Some of the writings I came across suggested that after a session in Lectio Divina that the individuals in the group then pray for the person to their right, and also for their intentions. This was a suggestion for a Dominican community, and I thought that it would be worth a try in our Secular Carmelite community, as its intention is to draw the group together. So far so good, our community is showing signs of drawing together in a way it never had before. Pray for us in this regard, that we continue this exercise and come together in a mighty way. I often think of our community as a 'powerhouse' of prayer. It is to this end that we pray for vocations in the world, and for priests.

Very soon, I will add to this blog my first entry for consideration.

God Bless You All!