Suffering With Joy

Praying the Psalms – Psalm 30

July 7, 2010

On Saturdays I join Jenny at Just a Minute where we share thoughts on the meme, Praying the Psalms.  Today we are reflecting on Psalm 30, which is thanksgiving for deliverance from death.

1.  I will extol you, O Lord, for you drew me clear and did not let my enemies rejoice over me.  2.  O Lord, my God, I cried out to you and you healed me. [Yes, Lord, you came to my aid in temptation so that Satan could not rejoice over a fall.  With the sacrament of Penance you healed my soul, giving me the grace of conversion of heart.]

11.  …Hear O Lord, and have pity on me; O Lord, be my helper. [O Lord, you are always there when I call upon you, taking pity on my weakness. You are my helper in following the Gospel and all good that I do.]

12.  You changed my mourning into dancing; you took off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, that my soul might sing praise to you without ceasing; O Lord, my God, forever will I give you thanks. [Mourning over sin transforms into joyous dancing of spirit, celebrating the forgiveness and salvation that has come to each of us through Jesus.  In heaven my soul will continue to sing the praise begun here on earth in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass - an unceasing celebration of thanksgiving, the eternal todah to which we are all invited. Lord, grant that I be faithful to you in this life that I may dance with the angels in the next.]

Tags: psalms

Praying the Psalms – Psalm 27

July 17, 2010

David points to his eye: an illustration of verse 13 of Psalm 27, tempera colors and gold paint on parchment, Master of Jean de Mandeville French, Paris, about 1360 - 1370

Psalm 27 is a prayer of trust in God no matter the adversities we face.  Every verse speaks of faith in the power of God and trust in His ways with sure knowledge of victory over the evil one.  Since my main spiritual task is to learn to trust in God for everything and to thank Him for His goodness, this psalm helps me a lot.  It’s long, so I will take only one of my favorite verses to speak about, #5:

One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to contemplate His temple.

One thing I look forward to about heaven is to “behold the beauty of the Lord”, a beauty that is sure to evoke a feeling of everlasting joy.  In heaven everything will be in place, in peace.  Nothing will be able to trouble us.  But God evidently means for us to start practicing faith and hope in Him in this life, and practicing humble worship of Him in His temple, too.  He is our strength.

I am learning not to struggle against adversity in this life, but rather to face it calmly and ask God what He wants me to learn from it.  Facing temporal and spiritual difficulties with peace of heart and confidence in God is a lifelong exercise of the soul and will. It is an habitual turning toward Christ and laying all things at His feet. As Father Paschal Botz, O.S.B. wrote about this psalm:

Faith and trust are an ever-flowing fountain that leads to eternal life.  If we seek His face in the celebrations around the Altar, Christ can fill our whole lives.  Generally Christians do not know all that the Altar means.  It is God’s special place, the crossroads of two worlds, the rock of ages, where trust grows out of the Sacrifice-Banquet.  There we live anew the Mysteries of Christ in our midst, share His sentiments of trust, become identified with His life-giving vitality. We lose our fears and false self and become truly free of real and phantom enemies.  We must take seriously that He is the Light of the world (Jn. 8:12), that no one goes to the Father except through Him (Jn. 14: 6), which includes His incarnation and sacramental system.  He was consumed with passion for God’s house, which He fulfilled in Himself.

After contemplating this I must often say to myself verse #14:

I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living!

This psalm is prayed every Monday at the hour of Terce in the 1962 Divine Office. Monasteries and convents have it right when they stop everything seven times a day to praise God (eight times if you count getting up at 4:30 to chant Matins).   Because we’re human and very distractable and get agitated over worldly things, setting formal hours throughout the day to recollect ourselves and focus on God builds peace of soul. Holy Mass usually follows Terce in monastic life, and this psalm foretells the sharing in the Holy Eucharist. Gathering around His altar on earth I see the goodness of the Lord (the Holy Eucharist). I am in the land of the living with all others who are living in Him.

Tags: psalms

Praying the Psalms – Psalm 24

June 26, 2010

On Saturdays Jenny at Just A Minute hosts this meme.  Join her to see thoughts other Catholic bloggers have on this psalm and join us if you have a mind to do so.

The Church prays this beautiful psalm on Mondays at the hour of Prime, a fitting beginning for the morning prayers of the week.  We are in procession to Mount Sion, our heaven, walking in the footsteps of Christ on the earthly pilgrimage to paradise. King David and his people sang this psalm at the solemn entry of God’s Ark to Mount Sion.  Its jubilant cry foreshadows the glory of the Risen Christ, our King.

This week I am using the CCD translation from my Short Breviary of 1962, the one used for the Psalms in the Novus Ordo.

David, assisted by Christ, lifts up a door and opens the entrance for Christ to come in, St. Alban's Psalter, 12th century

1  The Lord’s are the earth and its fullness, the world and those who dwell in it. 2 For He founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.

From the instant of conception we belong to God as does the entire earth and everything on it and in the heavens above. No amount of declaration of man’s superiority can change the fact that he is creature and God is God, the all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving uncreated Being.  Man has been given authority over the earth by God as husbandman, to develop and care for it, but he is dust and to dust he will return.  May I be a good steward, O Lord, over my body, soul, and temporal things until You call me home.

3 Who can ascend the mountain of the Lord? or who may stand in His holy place? 4 He whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean, who desires not what is vain, nor swears deceitfully to his neighbor.

God sets four conditions upon us to enter His presence: clean hands, clean heart, a soul that is undivided in its pursuit of the holy, and a tongue that is truthful with our neighbor. God desires an inner moral holiness, not the mere ritual cleansing He set forth in the law to the Israelites.  O Lord, give me a pure heart, clean hands, a truthful tongue, and a thirst for You alone.

5 He shall receive a blessing from the Lord, a reward from God his savior. 6 Such is the race that seeks for him, that seeks the face of the God of Jacob.

Through Christ’s blood, by the ineffable mercy of the Father, we of the Mystical Body of Christ will receive the greatest blessing possible: an eternity of joy in His presence if we seek His face in this life by imitating His Son.  Give me the grace, O Lord, to seek Your face without distraction, and to recognize You when I come upon You.

7 Lift up, O gates, your lintels; reach up, you ancient portals, that the king of glory may come in!

God is so great the gates are never high enough yet when we open the door of our hearts to Him, lifting up the portal, He always enters and expands His grace (glory) within us. Keep knocking at the door, O Lord, and take away my deafness, that I may hear Your voice.

8 Who is this king of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle.

The Victor over sin and death, Jesus Christ, is the Lord God of Hosts (Armies).  If we acknowledge Him as leader and take our place behind Him, His strength become our strength, His might, our might.  Through Him we join in the victory over the prince of darkness who can have no part in the glory we will all share. Let me serve You valiantly, O King of glory, never losing sight of the final prize.  With the armies of angels, let me sing Your praise.

9 Lift up, O gates, your lintels; reach up you ancient portals, that the king of glory may come in! 10 Who is this king of glory? The Lord of hosts; He is the king of glory.

All glory, laud and honor to Thee, Redeemer King.

Tags: psalms

Runways to God

May 28, 2010

Today is the Ember Friday after Pentecost.  As I sometimes do when I can’t get to Mass, I read the propers and then turn to Father Paschal Botz, O.S.B.’s book, Runways to God: The Psalms As Prayer(©1980) to understand the Introit psalm better.

Father Paschal was a monk of St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota who was heavily involved in the development of the Short Breviary (1962), and whose writings on the liturgy, scripture, and spiritual life are well known from the early liturgical movement in the United States (pre-Vatican II) before it went off the rails.  A dear Benedictine priest gave me this book and I treasure it as the best contemporary commentary on the Psalms I have seen.

Today’s Introit is from Psalm 70 (71), verses 8, 23, 1, 2.  In the Traditional Mass verses and texts were often rearranged for emphasis on the theme of the feast or liturgical season, often with alleluias inserted.  It reads:

Let my mouth be filled with Thy praise, alleluia, that I may sing, alleluia; my lips shall rejoice when I shall sing to Thee, alleluia, alleluia.  In Thee, O Lord, have I hoped, let me never be put to confusion: deliver me in Thy justice, and rescue me.  Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.  Let my mouth…

You might remember the “let me never be put to confusion” from the last line of the great early Christian poem, the Te Deum Laudamus which the Church sings today at major celebrations and on Sundays in the Divine Office. Father Paschal’s commentary on the entire Psalm could not be more relevant for the pro-life issues the sick and elderly face today. Here are some excerpts:

Rock of the Aged

Many a phrase in this Psalm is known to us from other Psalms.  That is as we expect from an elderly author who lived all his life in fidelity to the Lord.  Sheer, unbounded praise alternates with acts of trust, even as the Psalmist repeatedly begs for divine help more insistently with the advancing years. God is his Rock of refuge and strong fortress from the womb to the tomb.  His venerable gray hair, however is also the occasion for new trials, recriminations of accusers, and there is no lack of enemies, those who watch to take advantage of him.  Old age is not serene and quiet, respected for wisdom of experience, but its spent strength changes over to new anxieties.

There are those who pounce on the aged and take advantage of their weakness.  The shadows lengthen with the years, as “many sore troubles” crop up, not least of all from oppressors of the elderly, even the criminally violent.  We think here of the “mercy killers” for whom life is cheap, “cruel men” without humane feelings. While the life span of men and women is growing, so are the enemies who consider advanced age useless.  This is the meaning of verse 7: “I have been as a portent to many,” a sign of evil and an easy target.  Failing health is a sign of age, but the author’s faith grows the stronger.

Hope and trust are the music of the years.  Total dependence on God is the childlikeness of the Gospel.  Trust and confidence is the greatest heritage that old people can pass on to the young. To proclaim God’s deeds, His might and victories to the young is the glory and dignity and sanctity of declining years. The simple fact that God takes good care of those who live by faith is enough.  This is music to the young generation.  The Psalmist speaks of the harp and the lyre, with which the elderly count their blessings “without number” (v. 15).  God is always near and brings new comfort.

We are grateful for this inspired hymn of praise in Israel’s repertoire of prayer, as it rejuvenates old age. Just as the coming of the infant Jesus fulfilled all the hopes of Simeon and Anna (Lk. 2: 22ff., 36ff.), so He does in the Holy Anointing not only of the sick but also of the aged.  He takes over their suffering, their whole lives.  Older people could spend much more time singing the praises of the Lord, cultivating the memory of God in devout recollection. They could be renewed in their comeback from the depths (v.20) and rise above their enemies, they could experience a blessedness that exceeds their wildest dreams of health and strength and security.  Such is the foretaste of the resurrection, for “all generations to come.”

Considering Father Paschal’s comments, good questions to ask are, do I do enough to proclaim God’s might and victories to the young?  Am I setting a good example of faith and trust in God? Do I speak of the blessings God has given me rather than complaining about my woes? Do I include God in all my daily activities – walk with Him in the garden? We can be witnesses to God’s love and mercy until we draw our last breath.

Tags: end-of-life, pro-life, trust in God