Pope Benedict XVI’s Commentary/Meditation on Psalm 123

BENEDICT XVI
GENERAL AUDIENCE
Wednesday, 15 June 2005

 Psalm 123[122]
“Have mercy on us!’
Evening Prayer – Monday of Week Three

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Unfortunately, you have suffered under the rain. Let us hope that the weather will now improve.

1. Jesus very vigorously affirms in the Gospel that the eyes are an expressive symbol of the innermost self, a mirror of the soul (cf. Mt 6: 22-23). Well, Psalm 123[122], which has just been proclaimed, is the focal point of an exchange of glances: the faithful person lifts his eyes to the Lord, awaiting a divine reaction, ready to glimpse a gesture of love or a look of kindness. We too, as it were, raise our eyes and await a gesture of benevolence from the Lord.

The gaze of the Most High who “looks down on the sons of men to see if any are wise, if any seek God” (Ps 14[13]: 2), is often mentioned in the Psalter. The Psalmist, as we have heard, uses an image, that of the servant and slave who look to their master, waiting for him to make a decision that will set them free.

Even if this scene is connected with the ancient world and its social structures, the idea is clear and full of meaning: the image taken from the world of the ancient East is intended to exalt the attachment of the poor, the hope of the oppressed and the availability of the just to the Lord.

2. The person of prayer is waiting for the divine hands to move because they will act justly and destroy evil. This is why, in the Psalter, the one praying raises his hope-filled eyes to the Lord. “My eyes are always on the Lord; for he rescues my feet from the snare” (Ps 25[24]: 15), while “My eyes are wasted away from looking for my God” (Ps 69[68]: 4).

Psalm 123[122] is an entreaty in which the voice of one of the faithful joins that of the whole community: indeed, the Psalm passes from the first person singular, “I lifted up my eyes”, to the first person plural, “our eyes” and “show us his mercy” (cf. vv. 1-3). The Psalmist expresses the hope that the Lord will open his hands to lavish his gifts of justice and freedom upon us. The just person waits for God’s gaze to reveal itself in all its tenderness and goodness, as one reads in the ancient priestly blessing from the Book of Numbers: “The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you: the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace!” (Nm 6: 25-26).

3. The great importance of God’s loving gaze is revealed in the second part of the Psalm which features the invocation: “Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy” (Ps 123[122]: 3), that comes in continuity with the finale of the first part in which trusting expectation is reaffirmed, “till [the Lord our God] show us his mercy” (cf. v. 2).

The faithful are in need of God’s intervention because they are in a painful plight, suffering the contempt and disdain of overbearing people. The image the Psalmist uses here is that of satiety: “We are filled with contempt. Indeed, all too full is our soul with the scorn of the rich, with the proud man’s disdain” (vv. 3-4).

The traditional biblical fullness of food and years, considered a sign of divine blessing, is now countered by an intolerable satiety composed of an excessive load of humiliations. And we know today that many nations, many individuals, are truly burdened with derision, with the contempt of the rich and the disdain of the proud. Let us pray for them and let us help these humiliated brethren of ours.

Thus, the righteous have entrusted their cause to the Lord; he is not indifferent to their beseeching eyes nor does he ignore their plea – and ours – or disappoint their hope.

4. To conclude, let us make room for the voice of St Ambrose, the great Archbishop of Milan who, in the Psalmist’s spirit, gives poetical rhythm to the work of God that reaches us through Jesus the Saviour: “Christ is everything for us. If you wish to cure a wound, he is doctor; if you burn with fever, he is fountain; if you are oppressed by iniquity, he is justice; if you are in need of help, he is strength; if you fear death, he is life; if you desire heaven, he is the way; if you flee from darkness, he is light; if you seek food, he is nourishment” (La verginità, 99: SAEMO, XIV/2, Milan-Rome, 1989, p. 81). (source)

Lectio Divina Notes on Psalm 104

The following comes from the Lectio Divina Homepage. Their font doesn’t “translate” onto my blog very well.

Vs. 1: Bless the Lord, O my soul! O Lord, my God, you are very great! You are clothed with honor and majesty. Here the psalmist’s nephesh does the blessing (barak) as opposed to himself, as it were. He uses two titles, the divine name proper (YHWH) and God (‘elohym). Very or me’od can also mean excessive. The two pieces of divine clothing (verb, lavash; cf. levush, Ps 102.26) are hod and hadar, which are similar in sound. The latter implies an ornament. “Array yourself with glory and beauty” [Job 40.10].

After the introductory exhortation to bless the Lord, the psalm recounts a number of instances where God shows his care for the created realm which may be outlined as follows:

1) vs. 2: God covers himself (hatah): a verb which also connotes rolling. “He (Nebuchadnezzar) will wrap himself in the land of Egypt as a shepherd wraps himself in a cloak” [Jer 43.12]. Compare this wrapping in light with God’s manifestation in darkness to Moses: “I am coming to you in a thick cloud” [Ex 19.9].

2) Stretches out heavens like a tent: yeryhah, which also means a veil; from the verbal root yarah, to shake (as a tent in the wind). “You shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen and blue and purple and scarlet stuff” [Ex 26.1].

3) vs. 3: Laid beams of chambers on waters: qarah, an alternate meaning is to meet, perhaps alluding to the fact that beams “meet” each other to form a structure. Chambers or halyah (singular) refers to one located in the upper part of a building. “And he (Elijah) took him from her bosom and carried him up into the upper chamber” [1 Kg 17.19]. In the verse at hand, note the location of these chambers, “in (b-) the waters,” that is, the waters surrounding creation.

4) God makes the following his messengers: winds, fire and flame; perhaps alluding to three forms of divine manifestation throughout the Bible.

5) vs. 5: Set earth on foundations: makon (singular); it can also mean a place or better, a place where God dwells. “The place, O Lord, which you have made for your abode” [Ex 15.17].

6) This place is not shaken, mut, alluding to an earthquake. “Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved” [Ps 16.8].

7) vs. 6: Cover earth with the deep: tehom, the word used to describe the earth before creation: “And darkness was upon the face of the deep” [Gen 1.2]. Note use of garment (levush) here with respect to tehom as used in Ps 102.26.

8) Waters stood above mountains, hal being the preposition in the sense of being upon. Mountains are the highest reaches of land extending to the heavens yet such waters which are associated with tehom are above them as well as below the earth.

9) vs. 7: Waters fled at God’s rebuke (geharah), a verb usually associated with one’s enemies. “But he will rebuke them (enemies) and they will flee far away” [Is 17.13].

10) Waters fled at sound of God’s thunder: qol or sound which connotes a voice and thus a personal element. The verb chaphaz for to fled suggests a leaping up (cf. Ps 48.5).

11) vs. 8: Mountains rose and valleys sank, actions proper to their natures. Note that both opposites have a single place, maqom, appointed by God.

12) vs. 9: God established a bound (gevul) so waters will not cover the earth. This noun can also refer to the land within such limits. “And the locusts came up over all the land of Egypt and settled on the whole country of Egypt” [Ex 10.14]. The Hebrew text has “return again (shuv) suggesting that such waters in the form of tehom once covered the earth.

13) vs. 10: The Hebrew text reads, “He sends springs (nachal, singular; cf. Ps 18.4) into the valleys.”

14) vs. 11: Streams provide drink for: beasts of field, wild asses, (vs. 12) birds live by them.

15) vs. 13: God waters mountains from his lofty abode (halyah, as in vs. 3).

16) earth satisfied with fruit of God’s work, savah (cf. Ps 103.5).

17) vs. 14: Grass for cattle.

18) Plants for man to cultivate or in the Hebrew, “fodder for the animals that serve man.”

19) For the purpose of bringing food (lechem, more properly, bread) from the earth.

20) vs. 15: Wine to gladden (samach) man’s heart. “The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart” [Ps 19.8].

21) Oil to make man’s face shine (tsahal). For an alternate meaning, cf. Is 12.6: “Shout and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion.”

22) Bread to strengthen man’s heart, sahad. “And give you support from Zion” [Ps 20.2].

23) vs. 16: Lord’s trees watered abundantly, savah, as in vs. 13.

24) Cedars of Lebanon planted by God.

25) vs. 17: Birds build nests in Lord’s trees and Lebanon cedars. The second half of this verse reads in Hebrew, “the stork,” chasydah; from the same verbal root as chesed. This bird has its nest in fir trees, berush. “The cedars in the garden of God could not rival it, nor the fir trees equal its boughs” [Ezk 31.8].

26: vs. 18: High mountains are for wild goats, yahel (singular). “Do you know when the mountain goats bring forth” [Job 39.1]?

27: Rocks are refuge for badgers, shaphan (singular). The only other reference to this animal, Prov 30.26: “Badgers are a people not mighty, yet they make their homes in the rocks.”

28: vs. 19: Moon to mark seasons, mohed (singular; cf. Ps 102.13). The LXX has kairos.

29) Sun knows (yadah) time for setting, a verb with a personal connotation.

30) vs. 20: God makes darkness or night.

31) At this time beasts of forest creep forth, ramas. “All the creeping things which creep upon the earth” [Gen 1.26].

32) vs. 21: Young lions roar for prey, seeking food from God; baqash: another example of personification.

33) vs. 22: At sunrise young lions get away and lie in their dens; the verb ravash refers to quadrupeds when they gather their feet beneath them. “The wolf shall lie down with the lamb” [Is 11.6].

34) vs. 23: At sunrise man goes forth to work.

35) At sunrise man labors until evening.

Vs. 24 is an exclamation at the wonders just described where the psalmist notes their manifold nature and that they were made in God’s wisdom, chakmah. “Making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding” [Prov 2.2].

36) vs. 25: The sea teems with innumerable things; ramas as in vs. 20.

37) vs. 26: On the sea ships sail.

38) In the sea lives Leviathan (cf. Ps 74.13) in which it sports; sachaq suggests play. “For the mountains yield food for him where all the wild beasts play” [Job 40.20].

39) vs. 27: All animals look to God; savar in the sense of examining something and waiting. “On the very day when the enemies of the Jews hoped to get the mastery over them” [Est 9.1].

40) All animals savar for food in due season, heth; LXX has eukaioros; the prefix eu- signifying something beneficial.

41) vs. 28: When God gives foot to animals, they gather it up.

42) When God opens his hand, the animals are filled, savah (cf. vss. 13 &16).

43) vs. 29: When God hides his face, animals are dismayed; the verb is bahal. “By your wrath we are overwhelmed” [Ps 90.7].

44) When God takes away animals’ breath (ruach) they die.

45) vs. 30: When God sends his Spirit (Ruach), animals are created.

46) God renews (through Spirit) face of the ground, i.e., its surface.

Vs. 31: May the glory of the Lord endure forever, may the Lord rejoice in his works. God’s kavod by its very nature is everlasting; perhaps the psalmist is referring to glory as it contacts creation as described in this psalm and can be perceived as not enduring due to creation’s limited nature. Samach as in Ps 21.6: “You make him glad with the joy of your presence.” The short but delightful expression of God taking delight is mirrored by Bar 3.34: “The stars shone in their watches and were glad; he called them and they said, ‘Here we are!’ They shone with gladness for him who made them.”

Vs. 32: Who looks on the earth and it trembles, who touches the mountains and they smoke! The relative pronoun “who” shows that this verse is connected with the same Lord who “rejoices in his works.” Thus the earth’s trembling and mountains’ smoking may be taken as a form of divine samach. The verb nagah (touch) can also refer to smiting anything. “And Joshua and all Israel made a pretense of being beaten before them” [Jos 8.15].

Vs. 33: I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being. This verse as well as the next may be read in conjunction with Bar 3.34 just cited. Here singing (shyr) and living, that is, in the physical sense, are as one. The psalmist distinguishes this in the second part of the verse where signing (zamar; cf. numerous other references, to prune) is a reality existing in the future. It seems to be dependent upon whether the psalmist will have being or hod; this word means again, still, and implies continuation.

Vs. 34: May my meditation be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the Lord. A close connection between the psalmist’s meditation (verbal root, syach) and his rejoicing (samach; cf. this term as related to God, vs. 31. Syach fundamentally means to bring forth. “Evening, morning and at noon I utter my complaint and moan, and he will hear my voice” [Ps 55.17]. For a negative sense, cf. 1 Kg 18.27: “Cry aloud, for he is a god; either he is musing or he has gone aside.” In the verse at hand, the psalmist wishes his syach to be pleasing, harav, a verb which connotes a pledge. “Lay down a pledge for me with yourself” [Job 17.3].

Vs. 35: Let sinners be consumed from the earth, and let the wicked be no more! Bless the Lord, O my soul! Praise the Lord! The verb tamam (to consume) connotes the bringing to an end in the sense of being perfected as has been noted often. With regard to sinners, the psalmist wishes them consumed from the ‘erets; with regard to the wicked, he wishes them cease to exist, that is, be fully annihilated. In anticipation of this event his nephesh both blesses (barak) and praises (halal) the Lord.

Pope John Paul II’s Commentary/Meditation on Psalm 11

A prayer of trust to the Lord
who is not indifferent to right and wrong

1. We continue our reflection on the Psalms, which comprise the essential element of the Liturgy of Vespers. We have just made ring out in our hearts Psalm 11[10], a brief prayer of trust that, in the original Hebrew, is studded with the holy name ‘Adonaj, the Lord. This name echoes at the beginning (cf. v. 1), is found three times at the heart of the Psalm (cf. vv. 4-5), and returns at the end (cf. v. 7).

The spiritual key of the entire psalm is well-expressed in the concluding verse:  “For the Lord is just, he loves just deeds”. This is the root of all trust and the source of all hope on the day of darkness and trial. God is not indifferent to right and wrong:  he is a good God and not a dark, incomprehensible, mysterious destiny.

2. The psalm unfolds substantially in two scenes: in the first (cf. vv. 1-3), the wicked man is described in his apparent victory. He is portrayed in the guise of a warrior or hunter:  the evildoer bends his long or hunter’s bow to violently strike his victim, that is, the just one (cf. v. 2). The latter, therefore, is tempted by the thought of escape to free himself from such a merciless fate. He would rather flee “to the mountain like a bird” (v. 1), far from the vortex of evil, from the onslaught of the wicked, from the slanderous darts launched by treacherous sinners.

There is a kind of discouragement in the faithful one who feels alone and powerless before the irruption of evil. The pillars of a just social order seem shaken, and the very foundations of human society undermined (cf. v. 3).

3. Now, the turning point comes in sight, outlined in the second scene (cf. vv. 4-7). The Lord, seated on the heavenly throne, takes in the entire human horizon with his penetrating gaze. From that transcendent vantage point, sign of the divine omniscience and omnipotence, God is able to search out and examine every person, distinguishing the righteous from the wicked and forcefully condemning injustice (cf. vv. 4-5).

The image of the divine eye whose pupil is fixed and attentive to our actions is very evocative and consoling. The Lord is not a distant king, closed in his gilded world, but rather is a watchful Presence who sides with goodness and justice. He sees and provides, intervening by word and action.

The righteous person foresees that, as happened in Sodom (cf. Gn 19: 24), the Lord makes “rain upon the wicked fiery coals and brimstone” (Ps 11[10]: 6), symbols of God’s justice that purifies history, condemning evil. The wicked man, struck by this burning rain – a prefiguration of his final destiny – finally experiences that “there is a God who is judge on earth!” (Ps 58[57]: 12).

4. The Psalm, however, does not end with this tragic image of punishment and condemnation. The final verse opens onto a horizon of light and peace intended for the righteous one who contemplates his Lord, a just Judge, but especially a merciful liberator:  “the upright shall see his face” (Ps 11[10]: 7). This is an experience of joyful communion and of serene trust in God who frees from evil.

Down through history, countless righteous people have had a similar experience. Many stories tell of the trust of Christian martyrs during torment and their steadfastness that kept them firm in trial.

In the Atti de Euplo, the deacon martyr from Sicily who died around 304 A.D. under the rule of Diocletian spontaneously exclaims in this sequence of prayers:  “Thank you, O Christ:  shield me as I suffer for you…. I adore the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. I adore the Holy Trinity…. Thank you, O Christ. Come to my aid, O Christ! For you I suffer, Christ…. Great is your glory, O Lord, in the servants whom you count worthy to call to yourself!… I thank you, Lord Jesus Christ, because your strength has comforted me; you have not permitted my soul to be lost with the evildoers and you have given me the grace of your name. Now confirm what you have done in me, so that the shameless enemy is put to confusion” (cf. A. Hamman, Preghiere dei Primi Cristiani, Milan, 1955, pp. 72-73). [source]

Heaven Is Our Goal: A Sermon Plan for the Ascension

This sermon plan can be used for homily or sermon ideas, points for meditation or further study.

Our Lord to-day ascended to Heaven, the reward of His labours. This reward, the goal which we also must aim at. Our Lord tells us this, and also shows the means to do it.

Christ tells us Heaven is our goal:

I. By His Words :

1. “I go to prepare a place for you.” John 14:2.
2. “I will that where I am, they also may be.” John 17:24.
3. “To him that shall overcome, I will give to sit with Me in My throne.” Rev 3:21.

a. What words could be more clear than these?

b. What promises more consoling?

c. Heaven then must be the object of our aim, as shown also

II. By remarkable Facts:

a. Five hundred disciples witness the Ascension of Our Lord. As though to put it beyond the possibility of doubt.

b. A cloud received Him out of sight (Acts 1:).

1. The ordinary accompaniment of the Divinity.

2. Realizing the words of the Royal Prophet: “Who makest the clouds Thy chariot” (Ps 104:3).

c. Angels announce His entry into Heaven (Acts 1:10-11).

Such facts confirm Our Lord’s words: and He encourages us also

III. By material proofs :

a. The marks of His feet, left on the rock whence He ascended.

b. The impossibility of covering them over. According to Saints Jerome and Augustine, when S. Helen, in the 4th century built a Church over the place whence our Lord ascended to Heaven, never could they succeed in laying a stone upon the traces of His sacred feet in the rock, nor in closing the roof over them, which at that point ever remained open to the Heavens above.

c. The very feast of to-day, instituted by the Apostles themselves. Clearly showing the thought of Heaven as its object.

Christ shows us the means, of reaching Heaven:

I. By His Words (Luke 9:23.

a. Self-denial:

1. Renouncing our own wishes and desires.

2. Submission of Intellect and Will to God.

3. Mortification, a preservative against sin. As salt is, against corruption in food.

b. Carrying the Cross cheerfully:

1. Each one has his own cross in life: From friend or foe, poverty or sickness, etc.

2. If we refuse one cross, we may find a heavier.

c. Following Christ, by

1. Imitating His hidden life.

2. Practising the Christian virtues.

3. The spirit of self-sacrifice,

II. By His Example :

a. He ascended from the very place of His previous humiliations. As though showing that trial and triumph go together.

b. Nothing so encourages the army, as the example of the General.

Lessons:
A. Walk in the path, thus shown by Our Saviour. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (john 14:6.

B. This we promised in Baptism to do: then,

C. As He is our only Redeemer, so will He be our eternal Reward.~Fr. William Howe, Sermon Plan 187.

Sermon Plan: Thoughts on the Ascension

These notes can be used for sermon/homily ideas, points of meditation or for further study.

“A cloud received Him out of their sight.”
Acts 1:9

Each mystery of Our Lord’s history presents thoughts and lessons. Consider some in reference to His Ascension.

He was taken to Heaven:

I. Not by the hands of Angels,

II. But by His own divine power, as God-Man. By the “agility” imparted to His glorified Humanity,

III. Opening to man the gates of Heaven, closed by Adam’s sin.

IV. Why at the early age of 34? It was popularly held that the years 34-36 were those of a man’s prime and perfection, probably on the basis of Psalm 90:10 where it is stated that the average mans life span is 70 years, 35 being half of this.

a. Christ came to offer His life to redeem us.

1. Befitting that this should be in the fulness of age; for,
2. Adam was created, and sinned, in perfect manhood.
3. Christ repaired this evil at that same age.

b. He had completed the work He came to do: viz.:

1. The preaching of His doctrine.
2. The practising of all virtues.
3. The working of many miracles.
4. The founding of His Church on earth.

c. Heaven thus now due to His sacred Humanity. As it is also promised to His followers.

d. To teach us not to desire long life, but Heaven rather.

Forty days after the Resurrection:

I. The number 40 is sacred and of frequent use in Scripture:

a. The deluge lasted 40 days : Gen 7:4.

b. Moses was 40 days on the mount: Exodus 24:18.

c. Our Lord fasted 40 days: Matt 4:2

II. Fulfilling types of old:

a. God showed Himself 40 days to Moses, in giving the Old Law. Christ spent 40 days with the Apostles, completing the New Law.

b. The Jews wandered 40 years in the desert, journeying towards Cana.

1. Christ remained 40 days before returning to Heaven.
2. This also denotes our whole life of exile on earth,

III. A recompense to His Apostles, for His 40 hours’ separation from them, in death.

IV. Gradually weaning them from His visible presence,

V. Showing His liberality in bestowing consolation :

a. For 40 hours’ withdrawal, He gives 40 days of His presence.

b. Thus does He also deal with souls : joy after pain.

Speaking of the Kingdom of God:

I. The Kingdom of Heaven and its glory.
The eternal reward for which all must strive,

II. The Kingdom of the Church on earth:

a. Where God reigns in souls by His grace.

b. Which is the way to the Church in Heaven,

III. Giving the Apostles instructions, as to

a. The constitution of the Church.

b. The preaching of the Gospel to men.

c. The Sacraments and Sacrifice.

d. The Christian virtues, leading to Heaven.

e. The spiritual trials and persecutions to come (Matt 11:12).

IV. Teaching us to think and speak of Heaven:

a. Heaven, our support in trial.

b. Heaven, the reward of our fidelity. Faith in which will make us strong in God (Heb 11).

Let us to-day fix our eyes and hearts on Our Lord ascending to Heaven (whence He came to redeem us) which we must all strive to gain. ~By Fr. William Howe, Sermon Plan 63.

Pope John Paul II’s Commentary/Meditation on Psalm 93 (92 in Vulgate)

God is our strength in the storms of life
Psalm 92 [93]

1. The essential content of Psalm 92 [93] on which we are reflecting today is evocatively expressed by some verses of the Hymn in the Liturgy of the Hours for Vespers of Monday:  “O, immense Creator who, in the harmony of the cosmos laid out a path and a limit for the pounding waves of the sea, you gave to the harsh deserts of the parched earth the refreshment of rivers and seas”.

Before entering the heart of the Psalm with its powerful image of the waters, let us understand its basic tone, the literary genre that supports it. In fact, our Psalm, like the following Psalms 95-98, is described by Bible scholars as “a song acclaiming Our Lord the King”. It exalts the Kingdom of God, the source of peace, truth and love, which we pray for in the “Our Father” when we implore:  “Thy Kingdom come!”.

Indeed, Psalm 92 [93] opens precisely with a joyful acclamation:  “The Lord reigns!” (v. 1). The Psalmist celebrates the active kingship of God, that is, his effective and saving action which creates the world and redeems man. The Lord is not an impassive emperor relegated to his distant heavens, but is present among his people as Saviour, powerful and great in love.

2. The Lord, the King, occupies the first part of this hymn of praise. Like a sovereign, he is seated on a throne of glory, a throne that is indestructible and eternal (cf. v. 2). His mantle is the splendour of transcendence, the belt of his robe is omnipotence (cf. v. 1). The omnipotent sovereignty of God is revealed at the heart of the Psalm, which compares it to the striking image of turbulent waters.

The Psalmist mentions in particular the “voice” of the rivers, in other words, the roaring of their waters. Actually, the thundering of great waterfalls produces a sensation of tremendous force in those whose ears are deafened and whose whole body is seized with trembling. Psalm 41 [42] evokes the same sensation when it says:  “Deep is calling on deep, in the roar of waters; your torrents and all your waves swept over me” (v. 8). The human being feels small before this natural force. The Psalmist, however, uses it as a trampoline to exalt the power of the Lord, which is greater by far. The triple repetition of the words:  “have lifted up” (cf. Ps 92 [93], 3) their voice, is answered by the triple affirmation of the superior might of God.

3. The Fathers of the Church like to comment on this Psalm by applying it to Christ, “Lord and Saviour”. Origen, translated into Latin by St Jerome, says:  “The Lord reigns, he is robed in beauty. That is, he who formerly trembled in the misery of the flesh, now shines in the majesty of divinity”. For Origen, the rivers and waters that lift up their voices represent the “authoritative figures of the prophets and the apostles” who “proclaim the praise and glory of the Lord and announce his judgements for the whole world (cf. 74 omelie sul libro dei Salmi, Milan 1993, pp. 666; 669).

St Augustine develops the symbol of the torrents and oceans even further. Like swollen rivers in full spate, that is, filled with the Holy Spirit and strengthened, the Apostles are no longer afraid and finally raise their voice. However, “when many voices begin to announce Christ, the sea starts to get rough”. In the ebb and flow of the ocean of the world, Augustine says, the little barque of the Church seems to rock fearfully, menaced by threats and persecutions, but “the Lord is full of wonder on high”; he “walked upon the waters of the sea and calmed the waves” (Esposizioni sui salmi, III, Rome 1976, p. 231).

4. Yet God, sovereign of all things, almighty and invincible, is always close to his people, to whom he imparts his teachings. This is the idea that Psalm 92 [93] expresses in the last verse:  the highest throne of the heavens is succeeded by the throne of the ark of the temple of Jerusalem, the power of God’s cosmic voice is replaced by the sweetness of his holy and infallible words:  “Your decrees are very sure; holiness befits your house, O Lord, for ever more” (v. 5).

Thus ends a short hymn, but one with real prayerful breadth. It is a prayer that instils confidence and hope in the faithful who often feel restless, afraid of being overwhelmed by the storms of history and struck by dark, impending forces.

An echo of this Psalm can be detected in the Apocalypse of John when the inspired author, describing the great gathering in heaven that is celebrating the fall of oppressive Babylon says:  “I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty thunderpeals, crying, “Alleluia! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns’” (19,6).

5. Let us end our reflection on Psalm 92 [93] by listening to the words of St Gregory of Nazianzus, “the theologian” par excellence among the Fathers:  We do so through one of his beautiful poems in which praise to God, Sovereign and Creator, acquires a Trinitarian dimension:  “You, [Father], have created the universe, giving everything its rightful place and preserving it through your providence…. Your Word is God the Son:  indeed, he is consubstantial with the Father, equal to him in honour. He has harmoniously tuned the universe to reign over all things. And in embracing them all, the Holy Spirit, God, safeguards and cares for all things. I will proclaim You, the living Trinity, the one and only monarch … steadfast strength that sustains the heavens, a gaze inaccessible to our sight but which contemplates the whole universe and penetrates every secret depth of the earth to its abysses. O Father, be good to me:  … may I find mercy and grace, because glory and grace are to you to the age without end” (Carm. 31 in Poesie/1, Rome 1994, pp. 65-66).

Pope Benedict XVI’s Commentary/Meditation on Psalm 137:1-6

“If I forget you, Jerusalem”

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

1. On this first Wednesday of Advent, a liturgical season of silence, watchfulness and prayer in preparation for Christmas, let us meditate on Psalm 137[136 in the Vulgate], whose first words in the Latin version became famous:  Super flumina Babylonis. The text evokes the tragedy lived by the Jewish people during the destruction of Jerusalem in about 586 B.C., and their subsequent and consequent exile in Babylon. We have before us a national hymn of sorrow, marked by a curt nostalgia for what has been lost.

This heartfelt invocation to the Lord to free his faithful from slavery in Babylon also expresses clearly the sentiments of hope and expectation of salvation with which we have begun our journey through Advent.

The background to the first part of the Psalm (cf. Ps 137:1-4) is the land of exile with its rivers and streams, indeed, the same that irrigated the Babylonian plain to which the Jews had been deported. It is, as it were, a symbolic foreshadowing of the extermination camps to which the Jewish people – in the century we have just left behind us – were taken in an abominable operation of death that continues to be an indelible disgrace in the history of humanity.

The second part of the Psalm (cf. Ps 137:5-6) is instead pervaded by the loving memory of Zion, the city lost but still alive in the exiles’ hearts.

2. The hand, tongue, palate, voice and tears are included in the Psalmist’s words. The hand is indispensable to the harp-player:  but it is already paralyzed (cf. Ps 137:5) by grief, also because the harps are hung up on the poplars.

The tongue is essential to the singer, but now it is stuck to the palate (cf. Ps 137:6). In vain do the Babylonian captors “ask… for songs…, songs… of joy” (cf. Ps 137:3). “Zion’s songs” are “song[s] of the Lord” (cf. Ps 137:3-4), not folk songs to be performed. Only through a people’s liturgy and freedom can they rise to Heaven.

3. God, who is the ultimate judge of history, will also know how to understand and accept, in accordance with his justice, the cry of victims, over and above the tones of bitterness that sometimes colours them.

Let us entrust ourselves to St Augustine for a further meditation on our Psalm. The great Father of the Church introduces a surprising and very timely note:  he knows that there are also people among the inhabitants of Babylon who are committed to peace and to the good of the community, although they do not share the biblical faith; the hope of the Eternal City to which we aspire is unknown to them. Within them they have a spark of desire for the unknown, for the greater, for the transcendent:  for true redemption.

And Augustine says that even among the persecutors, among the non-believers, there are people who possess this spark, with a sort of faith or hope, as far as is possible for them in the circumstances in which they live. With this faith, even in an unknown reality, they are truly on their way towards the true Jerusalem, towards Christ.

And with this openness of hope, Augustine also warns the “Babylonians” – as he calls them -, those who do not know Christ or even God and yet desire the unknown, the eternal, and he warns us too, not to focus merely on the material things of the present but to persevere on the journey to God. It is also only with this greater hope that we will be able to transform this world in the right way. St Augustine says so in these words:

“If we are citizens of Jerusalem… and must live in this land, in the confusion of this world and in this Babylon where we do not dwell as citizens but are held prisoner, then we should not just sing what the Psalm says but we should also live it:  something that is done with a profound, heartfelt aspiration, a full and religious yearning for the eternal city”.

And he adds with regard to the “earthly city called Babylon”, that it “has in it people who, prompted by love for it, work to guarantee it peace – temporal peace – nourishing in their hearts no other hope, indeed, by placing in this one all their joy, without any other intention. And we see them making every effort to be useful to earthly society”.

“Now, if they strive to do these tasks with a pure conscience, God, having predestined them to be citizens of Jerusalem, will not let them perish within Babylon:  this is on condition, however, that while living in Babylon, they do not thirst for ambition, short-lived magnificence or vexing arrogance…. He sees their enslavement and will show them that other city for which they must truly long and towards which they must direct their every effort” (Esposizioni sui Salmi, 136, 1-2:  Nuova Biblioteca Agostiniana, XXVIII, Rome, 1977, pp. 397, 399).

And let us pray to the Lord that in all of us this desire, this openness to God, will be reawakened, and that even those who do not know Christ may be touched by his love so that we are all together on the pilgrimage to the definitive City, and that the light of this City may appear also in our time and in our world.

Pope John Paul II’s Commentary/Meditation on Psalm 147:1-11

The Pope’s commentary/meditation on the second part of this Psalm (i.e, Ps 147:12-20) can be found here.

“Praise the Lord!’

1. The Psalm just sung is the first part of a composition that also includes the next Psalm, n. 147[146], that the original Hebrew had kept as one. It was the ancient Greek and Latin versions which divided the song into two different Psalms.

The Psalm begins with an invitation to praise God and then lists a long series of reasons to praise him, all expressed in the present tense. These are activities of God considered as characteristic and ever timely, but they could not be more different:  some concern God’s interventions in human life (cf. Ps 147[146]: 3, 6, 11) and in particular for Jerusalem and Israel (cf. v. 2); others concern the created cosmos (cf. v. 4) and more specifically, the earth with its flora and fauna (cf. vv. 8-10).

Finally, in telling us what pleases the Lord, the Psalm invites us to have a two-dimensional outlook:  of religious reverence and of confidence (cf. v. 11). We are not left to ourselves nor to the mercy of cosmic energies, but are always in the hands of the Lord, for his plan of salvation.

2. After the festive invitation to praise the Lord (cf. v. 1), the Psalm unfolds in two poetic and spiritual movements. In the first (vv. 2-6), God’s action in history is introduced with the image of a builder who is rebuilding Jerusalem, restored to life after the Babylonian Exile (cf. v. 2). However, this great mason who is the Lord also shows himself to be a father, leaning down to tend his people’s inner and physical wounds humiliated and oppressed (cf. v. 3).

Let us make room for St Augustine who, in the Enarrationes in Psalmos 146 which he gave at Carthage in the year 412, commented on the sentence “the Lord heals the brokenhearted” as follows: “Those whose hearts are not broken cannot be healed…. Who are the brokenhearted? The humble. And those who are not brokenhearted? The proud. However, the broken heart is healed, and the heart swollen with pride is cast to the ground. Indeed, it is probable that once broken it can be set aright, it can be healed. “He heals the brokenhearted, and binds up their wounds…’. In other words, he heals the humble of heart, those who confess, who are punished, who are judged with severity so that they may experience his mercy. This is what heals. Perfect health, however, will be achieved at the end of our present mortal state when our corruptible being is reinvested with incorruptibility, and our moral being with immortality” (cf. 5-8: Esposizioni sui Salmi, IV, Rome 1977, pp. 772-779).

3. God’s action, however, does not only concern uplifting his people from suffering. He who surrounds the poor with tenderness and care towers like a severe judge over the wicked (cf. v. 6). The Lord of history is not impassive before the domineering who think they are the only arbiters in human affairs:  God casts the haughty to the dusty ground, those who arrogantly challenge heaven (cf. I Sam 2: 7-8; Lk 1: 51-53).

God’s action, however, is not exhausted in his lordship over history; he is also the King of creation:  the whole universe responds to his call as Creator. Not only does he determine the boundless constellations of stars, but he names each one and hence defines its nature and characteristics (cf. Ps 147[146]: 4).

The Prophet Isaiah sang: “Lift up your eyes on high and see:  who created these [the stars]? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name” (Is 40: 26). The “hosts” of the Lord are therefore the stars. The Prophet Baruch continued: “The stars shone in their watches and were glad; he called them, and they said, “Here we are!’. They shone with gladness for him who made them” (Bar 3: 34-35).

4. Another joyful invitation to sing praises (cf. Ps 147[146]: 7) preludes the second phase of Psalm 147[146] (cf. vv. 7-11). Once again God’s creative action in the cosmos comes to the fore. In a territory where drought is common, as it is in the East, the first sign of divine love is the rain that makes the earth fertile (cf. v. 8). In this way the Creator prepares food for the animals. Indeed, he even troubles to feed the tiniest of living creatures, like the young ravens that cry with hunger (cf. v. 9). Jesus was to ask us to look at the birds of the air; “they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them” (Mt 6: 26; cf. also Lk 12: 24, with an explicit reference to “ravens”).

Yet once again our attention shifts from creation to human life. Thus, the Psalm ends by showing the Lord stooping down to the just and humble (cf. Ps 147[146]: 10-11), as was declared in the first part of our hymn (cf. v. 6). Two symbols of power are used, the horse and the legs of a man running, to intimate that divine conduct does not give in to or let power intimidate it. Once again, the Lord’s logic is above pride and the arrogance of power, and takes the side of those who are faithful, who “hope in his steadfast love” (v. 11), that is, who abandon themselves to God’s guidance in their acts and thoughts, in their planning and in their daily life.

It is also among them that the person praying must take his place, putting his hope in the Lord’s grace, certain that he will be enfolded in the mantle of divine love:  “The eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love, that he may deliver their soul from death, and keep them alive in famine…. Yea, our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name” (Ps 33[32]: 18-19, 21).

 

Aquinas’ Homily Notes for the Fourth Sunday After Epiphany (Part II)

THE MYSTICAL SHIP (Part II)
FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY.
“And when He was entered into a ship His disciples followed Him.”
Matt 8:23.

MORALLY, by a ship holiness of life is signified by reason of (1) the material; (2) the form; (3) the use.

I. On the first head, the material of the ship, it is to be noted that a ship is made of wood, iron, oakum, and pitch.

(1) By wood is represented righteousness, which is the righteousness of Christ: “Blessed is the wood by which justice cometh” [Wis 14:7].

(2) By iron, on account of its solidity, fortitude is expressed: “Behold
I have made thee this day an inner pillar” [Jer 1:18]

(3) By oakum or tow, by which wounds are bound up, is implied temperance, by which is healed the wound of fleshly lust. Of those whose wounds have not been bound up it is said: “Wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up” [Isa 1:6] It is said of Samson, when deceived by Delilah, and bound with new ropes, “he broke them from off his arms like a thread” [Judges 16:13.

(4) By pitch is symbolized charity, which is the bond of souls: "Pitch it within and without with pitch" [Gen 6:14].  A holy man is formed by charity: “Let all your things be done with charity” [1 Cor 16:14].

II. On the second head it is to be noted that the form of the ship consists in five particulars. Firstly, the smallness of the beginning. Secondly, breadth of the middle. Thirdly, the height of the end. Fourthly, the narrowness of the bottom. Fifthly, the wideness of the top.

1.  The smallness of its beginning, is the grief for past sins: “Make thee mourning as for an only son, most bitter lamentation” [Jer 6:26].

2. The breadth of the middle is hope of the eternal joys “Rejoicing in hope” [Rom 12:12].

3. The height of the end is the fear of eternal punishments. The holy man grieves over the sins he commits, and he fears the punishments which he merits, but he fails not through desperation in fear and grief : “Bring forth,
therefore, fruits meet for repentance”[Matt 3:8].

4. The narrowness of the bottom is the humility which arises from highest goodness: “Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it” [Ps 81:10].

III. On the third head it is to be noted that the use of a ship in four ways stands for holiness of life.

1. The first use is to carry men across the sea. We ought by holiness to pass over the sea of this world to the heavenly country, to God: “Men also trust their lives even to a little wood, and passing over the sea by ships are saved” [Wis 14:5].

2. The second is to carry merchandise, or fruits, which are the odour of good works, to be diffused from us on all sides: “My days are swifter than a post they
are passed away as the swift ships”[Job 4:25-26].  “An odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God” [Philippians 4:18].

3. The third use is to make war in them. We ought by holiness to war against the demons “I have chosen a great army, and have built ships of war” [1 Macc 15:3].  “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers’ [Eph 6:12].

4. The fourth use is to catch fishes, to convert men to God: “I will
make you fishers of men” [Matt 4:19].

Aquinas’ Homily Notes on The Leprosy of Sin for the Third Sunday After Epiphany (Matt 8:2)

These sermon notes were probably not prepared by St Thomas preparatory to his preaching; rather, they are most likely notes taken by first year students as he preached.  This was an important training exercise for young students to help them acquire the ability to recognize the structure of oral and written works. The outlining of  sermons was a basic starting point for this. these sermon notes can be used for homily ideas, or for points of meditation or further study. Text in red are my own notations.

THE LEPROSY OF SIN
THIRD SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY
Behold, there came a leper and worshipped Him, saying, Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean.
Matthew 8:2

MORALLY, by this leper the sinner is understood, and this for four qualities of leprosy. Firstly, it is a corruption of humours. Secondly, it is a corruption of the members. Thirdly, it is infectious to others. Fourthly, it causes a separation from others. Sin is, therefore:

(1), a corruption of natural powers;

(2) a failing of the gifts of grace;

(3) an infection of one’s neighbours;

(4) a separation from the joys of saints and angels.

Regarding points 1 & 2, the corruption of nature and the failing of grace:  S. Austin calls sin a corruption of manner, form, and order. It takes away grace, since grace cannot exist with mortal sin: “Nor dwell in a body subject to sins” (Wisdom 1:4). 

Regarding point 3, the infection of one’s neighbor: It infects neighbours and the unreasoning creatures: “And the land was defiled with their works” (Ps 106:38-39).  “Thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms” (Jer 3:2). 

Regarding point 4, separation from the joy of saints and angels: It separates man from fellowship of God and the angels: “Perverse thoughts separate from God” (Wisdom 1:3). 

Of these four Psalm 14:1-2 treats:

Regrding point 1: “They are corrupt” , behold the corruption of natural things; ” they have done abominable works,” behold the separation came not for effect; abomination is a cause of separation;

Regarding point 2: “those that doeth good,” behold the loss of grace: when grace is lost no one can do good works;

Regarding point 3: “they are altogether become filthy,” behold the infection. The leprous man chiefly infects by his breath.

Regarding point 4: Apparently the note-taker started to doze off.

These four particulars of leprosy are described in Leviticus 13:45. The leper in whom the plague is:

(1) his clothes shall be rent, because he is rent and poured out in his natural powers;

(2) and his head bare, for the naked head is (symbolizes) a mind devoid of grace;

(3) he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, for the lip-covering is to prevent (symbolizes the prevention of)  infection: “guard the door of my lips” (Ps 14:3) guard it from gossip, calumny, heresy and other sins of the tongue ;

(4) he shall dwell alone without the camp, i.e., without the camp of God, separated from the habitation of angels and saints.