Psalm 118 (119) Lamed (v89-96): On reading the signs of the times

Today's stanza of Psalm 118 is Lamed.  In the Knox translation::

89 Lord, the word thou hast spoken stands ever unchanged as heaven.
90 Loyal to his promise, age after age, is he who made the enduring earth.
91 Long as time lasts, these shall stand, obeying thy decree, Master of all.
92 Lest I should sink in my affliction, thou hast given thy covenant to be my comfort.
93 Life-giving are thy commands, never by me forgotten.
94 Lend me thy aid, for thine I am, and thy bidding is all my quest.
95 Let sinners go about to destroy me, I wait on thy will.
96 Look where I may, all good things must end; only thy law is wide beyond measure.

And the Latina nd Douay Rheims:

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
89  In ætérnum, Dómine,* verbum tuum pérmanet in cælo.	Forever, O Lord, your word stands firm in heaven.
90  In generatiónem et generatiónem véritas tua: * fundásti terram, et pérmanet.	90 Your truth unto all generations: you have founded the earth, and it continues.
91  Ordinatióne tua persevérat dies: * quóniam ómnia sérviunt tibi.	91 By your ordinance the day goes on: for all things serve you.
92  Nisi quod lex tua meditátio mea est: * tunc forte periíssem in humilitáte mea.	92 Unless your law had been my meditation, I had then perhaps perished in my abjection.
93  In ætérnum non oblivíscar justificatiónes tuas: * quia in ipsis vivificásti me.	93 Your justifications I will never forget: for by them you have given me life.
94  Tuus sum ego, salvum me fac: * quóniam justificatiónes tuas exquisívi.	94 I am yours, save me: for I have sought your justifications.
95  Me exspectavérunt peccatóres ut pérderent me: * testimónia tua intelléxi.	95 The wicked have waited for me to destroy me: but I have understood your testimonies.
96  Omnis consummatiónis vidi finem: * latum mandátum tuum nimis.	96 I have seen an end of all perfection: your commandment is exceeding broad

I am yours...

The central verse of today’s stanza of Psalm 118, Lamed, is I think, verse 94:

Tuus sum ego; salvum me fac: quoniam justificationes tuas exquisivi.

I am yours, save me: for I have sought your justifications.

Pope Benedict XVI has commented on this verse (in a speech to the Synod on Scripture) that:

"The Word of God is like a stairway that we can go up and, with Christ, even descend into the depths of His love. It is a stairway to reach the Word in the words. “I am yours”.

Signs of the times

How, specifically does God show us that stairway?  Cassiodorus’ commentary on the stanza gives us a little lesson on God's justifications as ‘reading the signs of the times’ that I think is worth reflecting on.

Reading the signs of the times is one of those expressions popularized by the aggorniamento (updating) school of spirit of Vatican IIism, used to justify changing anything and everything about the way the Church is structured and operates.

The Wikipedia entry on the term claims that it “dropped out of use in the 1970s”.  If only! 

God is eternal and unchanging

The second half of Psalm 118 (for we have reached the twelfth stanza) starts with a restatement of some of the attributes of God, namely that he is eternal, unchanging, our creator, and our sustainer (verses 89-91).

It then sets out man’s relationship to God as his creatures, saying: for all things serve you.

Yet despite the immutable nature of God’s law and the psalmists commitment to it, despite the fact that by definition we are God’s he still has to assert that he belongs to God, and plead for salvation (verse 94): for God has given man free will, and set the means for us to test our decision in this world in the form of those lying in wait to tempt us to fall (verse 95).

What saves us, the speaker asserts, is our memory of and meditation on God’s ‘justifications’, or testimonies (in the Septuagint the word used in verse 95 is marturia, from which the word martyr is derived).

God's testimonies

What then are these ‘justifications’ or testimonies?

Cassiodorus argues that the signs of the times are those events that point to our journey towards salvation:

“justifications are the understanding of the signs to come through events in time; the slaying of the spotless lamb at the Pasch, the jour­ney to salvation afforded by the Red Sea, the gaining of the promised land by the people led in by Joshua. It is clear that all these events offered indications of the perfection to come. So we must not in any way forget these justifications, which afforded us the initial bases of our faith; for no-one can acknowledge the favour of a gift unless he recalls how events were seen to have their beginning.”

The signs of the times, then, are arguably not, as some would have us believe, what we can learn from the secular world in the positive sense, but rather God’s providential actions that recall us to the correct path and offer salvation: natural events that remind us that God controls things not us, and that he punishes as well as rewards; the consequences of immoral laws such as no fault divorce that we constantly see exposed around us; the persecution of the good that remains a constant in so many societies around the world that are antagonistic to Christianity.

In the New Testament (Lk 11:29), Our Lord tells ‘an evil generation’ seeking a sign that the only one they shall be given is that of Jonah, usually interpreted as the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ.  In this psalm too, we are reminded that God’s truth endures from generation to generation for those with the eyes to see it. 

We too, should heed the message of that St Luke records from Our Lord’s discussion of ‘the signs of the times’: The men of Nineveh will arise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.” (Lk 11:32).

The face of Christ

Pope Benedict's comments on the verse 'I am yours', quoted above, continue:

"The word has a face, it is a person, Christ. Before we can say “I am yours”, He has already told us “I am yours”. The Letter to the Hebrews, quoting Psalm 39, says: “You gave me a body… Then I said, ‘Here I am, I am coming’”. The Lord prepared a body to come. With His incarnation He said: I am yours. And in baptism He said to me: I am yours. In the Holy Eucharist, He always repeats this: I am yours, so that we may answer: Lord, I am yours. In the path of the Word, entering the mystery of his incarnation, of His being among us, we wish to appropriate His being, expropriate our existence, giving ourselves to Him, He who gave Himself to us."

This is indeed the message of the final verse of this stanza, which concludes with a vision of the consummation of all, that is, Christ:

Omnis consummationis vidi finem, latum mandatum tuum nimis.

I have seen an end of all perfection: your commandment is exceeding broad

Verse by verse

89 In æternum, Domine, verbum tuum permanet in cælo.

Forever, O Lord, your word stands firm in heaven

aeternus, a, um eternal. forever

permaneo, mansi, mansum, ere 2, to remain, abide, continue, endure.

caelum, i, n., or caeli, orum, m.  heaven, the abode of God; the heavens as opposed to the earth; the air;

In æternum, Domine = Forever, O Lord

God is eternal.

verbum tuum permanet in cælo = your word endures in heaven

God is unchanging – standing in stark contrast to the conflicts, persecutions and disputes the psalmist has been chronicling in this world.   The point is, as Bellarmine notes that, “though it may not seem to stand firm on earth, when we see the just depressed, and the wicked exalted, still it stands quite firm in heaven; for God will certainly carry out anything he promised. He will cause the brief tribulation of the just to be turned into everlasting joy; and the short glory of the wicked to be turned into eternal disgrace and punish­ment.”

90. In generationem et generationem veritas tua; fundasti terram, et permanet

Your truth unto all generations: you have founded the earth, and it continues.

generatio, onis, f, a begetting, generating, generation "for ever and ever."

veritas, atis,  truth. grace, kindness ,goodness, fidelity to promises, Faithfulness

fundo, avi, atum, are to lay the foundation of, to found, establish

terra, ae, f the earth

permaneo, mansi, mansum, ere 2, to remain, abide, continue, endure.

In generationem et generationem veritas tua= From generation to generation your truth

St Augustine suggests that this tells us that God always preserves a faithful remnant: “the Truth of God was never absent in His saints, at one time fewer, at one time more in number, according as the times happened or shall happen to vary; or wishing two particular generations to be understood, one pertaining to the Law and the Prophets, another to the Gospel...”

fundasti terram, et permanet= you have founded/created/established the earth and it endures

God is creator.

91 Ordinatione tua perseverat dies, quoniam omnia serviunt tibi.

By your ordinance the day goes on: for all things serve you.

ordinatio, onis, f ordinance, decree.

persevero, avi, atum, are  to continue, remain constant.

dies, ei, m. and f fem.   a day, the natural day

quoniam, conj.,  for, because, since, seeing that, whereas.

omnis, e, all, each, every; subst., all men, all things, everything

servio, ivi, itum, ire  to serve, worship, to obey, do service to

Ordinatione tua perseverat dies = By your ordinance/command the day continues

God is the sustainer of all.  Britt notes that the Hebrew has ‘They (heaven and earth) abide this day according to Thine ordinances’.

quoniam omnia serviunt tibi= for all things serve you

And those who reject God’s service will be served justice at the end…

92 Nisi quod lex tua meditatio mea est, tunc forte periissem in humilitate mea.

Unless your law had been my meditation, I had then perhaps perished in my abjection

nisi,, if not, unless.

meditatio, onis, f thought, reflection, musing, meditation

tunc, adv. denoting a point of time which corresponds with another; then, at that time. as a subst

forte, adv. perhaps, perchance

pereo, li, ltum, ire,  to perish, come to naught, be lost;  stray, be lost.

humilitas, atis, f affliction, humiliation, wretchedness, misery

 Nisi quod lex tua meditatio mea est= Unless [that] your law is [were] my meditation

tunc forte periissem in humilitate mea= then perhaps I would have perished in my humiliation

Meditation on the law sustains us, preventing us from falling into sin.

93 In æternum non obliviscar justificationes tuas, quia in ipsis vivificasti me.

Your justifications I will never forget: for by them you have given me life.

aeternus, a, um eternal. forever

obliviscor, oblitus sum, oblivisci to forget

quia, conj. for, because, that. truly, surely, indeed

ipse, a, um, demon, pronoun., himself, herself, itself

vivifico, avi, atum, are to quicken, give life to, vivify.

In æternum non obliviscar justificationes tuas= I will not ever forget your justifications

quia in ipsis vivificasti me= for through them you have revived me

That is given me grace.

94 Tuus sum ego; salvum me fac: quoniam justificationes tuas exquisivi.

I am yours, save me: for I have sought your justifications.

salvum facere, to save, keep safe, preserve from harm

exquiro quaesivi itum ere 3, to seek, seek after

Tuus sum ego; salvum me fac = I, I am yours, save me

Earlier in the stanza it was asserted that all things serve God; all things belong to him who created them.  Yet we have free will, and so must make a special choice for God, an beg for his sustaining grace.

quoniam justificationes tuas exquisivi= for I have sought your justifications

All that is necessary is that we seek to do his will.

95 Me exspectaverunt peccatores ut perderent me; testimonia tua intellexi.

The wicked have waited for me to destroy me: but I have understood your testimonies.

exspecto, avi, atum, are,  to wait for a person or thing, to await, trust; to look for, expect

peccator, oris, m.  a sinner, transgressor; the wicked, the godless.

perdo, didi, ditum, ere 3, to destroy

intelligo, lexi, lectum, ere 3  understand, give heed to something, to consider

Me exspectaverunt peccatores me=Sinners have waited for me

Sinners lurk about, waiting for their moment to strike.

ut perderent= in order that they might destroy me:

testimonia tua intellexi= [but] I have understood your testimonies

But the psalmist has stood firm.

96 Omnis consummationis vidi finem, latum mandatum tuum nimis.

I have seen an end of all perfection: your commandment is exceeding broad.

omnis, e, all, each, every; subst., all men, all things, everything

consumatio –ionis f perfection, accomplishment, achievement; destruction; close, ending

video, vidi, visum, ere 2,  to see, behold; consider; experience, undergo, suffer, realize; keep watch, look for, meditate on

finis, is, m., a boundary, limit, border; territory; end, limit, termination

latus, a, um, broad, wide.

nimis, adv., exceedingly, greatly, beyond measure.

Omnis consummationis vidi finem= I have seen the end/limit of all perfection/consummation

Cassiodorus notes that: “Perfection is the full attainment of all virtues, and Christ is the end to this perfection. They rightly state that they have seen Him, for at that moment with enlightened minds they be­lieved that He would come.”

Alternatively, earthly perfection comes to an end; the law does not.

The phrase ‘in finem’ is used in the titles of many of the psalms, and invariably interpreted by the Fathers as a reference t the Resurrection or Second Coming of Christ.

latum mandatum tuum nimis= your commandment [is] exceedingly broad.

St Augustine interprets broad as follows: “Broad therefore is the commandment of charity, that twofold commandment, whereby we are enjoined to love God and our neighbour. But what is broader than that, on which hang all the Law and the Prophets?”

Pope Benedict takes this reflection a step further, saying:

“All human things, all the things we can invent, create, are finite. Even all human religious experiences are finite, showing one aspect of reality, because our being is finite and can only understand one part, a few elements: “latum praeceptum tuum nimis”. Only God is infinite. And therefore His Word too is universal and knows no boundaries. Coming into communion with the Word of God, we enter a communion of the Church that lives the Word of God. We do not enter into a small group, with the rules of a small group, but we go beyond our limitations. We go towards the depths, in the true grandeur of the only truth, the great truth of God. We are truly a part of what is universal…”

Scriptural and liturgical uses of the psalm

NT references	Lk 21:33 (89-91)
RB cursus	Sunday None
Monastic feasts etc	-
Roman pre 1911	Daily Sext
Responsories	No 6889,
Mass propers (EF)	IN – Virgin martyr (95-6)

You can find the next part in this series here.