Psalm 90 v15 - Rising glorified with Christ

Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry, Folio 27v -
David Imagines Christ Elevated Above All Other Beings
the Musée Condé, Chantilly

Clamábit ad me, et ego exáudiam eum: cum ipso sum in tribulatióne: erípiam eum et glorificábo eum.

He shall cry to me, and I will hear him: I am with him in tribulation, I will deliver him, and I will glorify him.

Understanding the Latin

The key vocabulary is:

clamo, avi, atum, are  to call, cry out; to call to or upon for aid.

exaudio, ivi, Itum, ire, to hear, hearken to, listen to, give heed to; to regard, answer.

tribulatio, onis, f. , trouble, distress, anguish, affliction, tribulation

eripio, ripui, reptum, ere 3  to snatch away, to rescue, deliver.

glorifico, avi, atum, are  to praise, glorify, exalt

This verse continues the list of promises God makes to the person who trusts in him.  Word by word:

 Clamábit (he will call) ad (to) me (me), et (and) ego (I) exáudiam (I will hear) eum (him): cum (when/with) ipso (he himself) sum (I am) in (in) tribulatióne (trouble/distress): erípiam (I will rescue) eum (him) et (and) glorificábo (I will glorify) eum (him).

The key translation issue is how to render ‘glorificabo’.  Applied to Christ, the Douay-Rheims’ version, ‘I will glorify’ makes perfect sense; but other translations perhaps strive to give it a more general application by rendering it ‘I will honour him’ or ‘bring him to honour’.

Douay-Rheims	He shall cry to me, and I will hear him: I am with him in tribulation, I will deliver him, and I will glorify him.
Monastic Diurnal	He will call upon Me and I will hear him, I will be with him in need, I will rescue him and bring him to honour.
Brenton	He shall call upon me, and I will hearken to him: I am with him in affliction; and I will deliver him, and glorify him.
RSV	When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will rescue him and honor him.
Coverdale	He shall call upon me, and I will hear him. Yea, I am with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and bring him to honour.
Knox	when he calls upon me, I will listen, in affliction I am at his side, to bring him safety and honour.
Grail	When he calls I shall answer: "I am with you," I will save him in distress and give him glory.

The sacred Triduum

This verse sets out four promises or prophesies, which can be read as specific references to the events of the Sacred Triduum: he will call on me; I will hear him; I will save him; and I will glorify him.

St Robert Bellarmine saw these as fulfilled in the days of the Sacred Triduum and Easter Sunday:

“…the Friday on which the Lord, hanging on his cross, was in his greatest tribulation; the Saturday on which he rested in peace from all his troubles; and the Sunday on which, by rising from the dead, he had a most glorious triumph.”

He then points to the importance of this motif in our lives on this earth and in heaven, a message arguably reflected in the little Triduum effected in the Benedictine Office each week:

All the just and the elect have three such days before them; for, with Christ, we must all go through our own tribulations on Friday, that is, in this life, which is the shortest, and is counted but as one day; we must rest in the sepulchre on the Saturday; and, finally, rise on Sunday, and be glorified with Christ.

God’s enduring protection of his Church

Yet the Passion of Christ goes beyond those three days: rather it reopens the way to heaven for his people, and has several practical effects. 

The first commitment is that God will hear our prayer, a promise echoed in many other places in Scripture.

though certain conditions are necessary to have our prayer heard, the principal one is that which is expressed here, when he says, "he shall cry to me;" which implies a vehement desire, springing from confidence and love.

St Cassidorus linked the commitment to deliver us to the promise Christ made on the protection of his Church:

He says: I am with him in tribulation, with reference to this world where devoted hearts are afflicted with more searing hardships; so Christ Himself says in the gospel: Behold, I am with you even to the consummation of the world.

He also saw the verse as pointing to our ultimate end:

The just man is accordingly to be delivered from this world and glorified when he is set in blessedness where affliction will no longer have a place.

The sleeping Christ and sleeping in Christ

The reminder of our ultimate end is of course, particularly apt for Compline in the traditional Benedictine form, certainly seeks to remind us that sleep is a little death, and thus before we sleep we should remind ourselves and entrust ourselves to God in the hope of heaven.

But St Augustine put this verse in a context particularly apt to its use at Compline for those dealing with problems in the here and now, reminding us of the Gospel story of Christ sleeping in the boat while it was tossed about by a storm.  If we are in trouble, he instructs, awake Christ and ask for his help:

Fear not when you are in trouble, as if the Lord were not with you. Let faith be with you, and God is with you in your trouble. There are waves on the sea, and you are tossed in your bark, because Christ sleeps. Christ slept in the ship, while the men were perishing. If your faith sleep in your heart, Christ is as it were sleeping in your ship: because Christ dwells in you through faith, when you begin to be tossed, awake Christ sleeping: rouse up your faith, and you shall be assured that He deserts you not. But you think you are forsaken, because He rescues you not when you yourself dost wish. He delivered the Three Children from the fire? Did He, who did this, desert the Maccabees? God forbid! He delivered both of these: the first bodily, that the faithless might be confounded; the last spiritually, that the faithful might imitate them. I will deliver him, and bring him to honour.

Psalm 90: Qui habitat 

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
Laus cantici David.	The praise of a canticle for David
Qui hábitat in adjutório Altíssimi, * in protectióne Dei cæli commorábitur.	He that dwells in the aid of the most High, shall abide under the protection of the God of Jacob.
2  Dicet Dómino : Suscéptor meus es tu, et refúgium meum: * Deus meus sperábo in eum.	He shall say to the Lord: You are my protector, and my refuge: my God, in him will I trust.
3 Quóniam ipse liberávit me de láqueo venántium, * et a verbo áspero.	For he has delivered me from the snare of the hunters: and from the sharp word.
4  Scápulis suis obumbrábit tibi: * et sub pennis ejus sperábis.	He will overshadow you with his shoulders: and under his wings you shall trust.
5  Scuto circúmdabit te véritas ejus: * non timébis a timóre noctúrno.	His truth shall compass you with a shield: you shall not be afraid of the terror of the night.
6  A sagítta volánte in die, a negótio perambulánte in ténebris: * ab incúrsu et dæmónio meridiáno.	Of the arrow that flies in the day, of the business that walks about in the dark: of invasion, or of the noonday devil.
7  Cadent a látere tuo mille, et decem míllia a dextris tuis: * ad te autem non appropinquábit.	A thousand shall fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand: but it shall not come near you.
8  Verúmtamen óculis tuis considerábis: * et retributiónem peccatórum vidébis.	But you shall consider with your eyes: and shall see the reward of the wicked.
9  Quóniam tu es, Dómine, spes mea: * Altíssimum posuísti refúgium tuum.	Because you, O Lord, are my hope: you have made the most High your refuge.
10  Non accédet ad te malum: * et flagéllum non appropinquábit tabernáculo tuo.	There shall no evil come to you: nor shall the scourge come near your dwelling.
11  Quóniam Angelis suis mandávit de te: * ut custódiant te in ómnibus viis tuis.	For he has given his angels charge over you; to keep you in all your ways.
12  In mánibus portábunt te: * ne forte offéndas ad lápidem pedem tuum.	In their hands they shall bear you up: lest you dash your foot against a stone.
13  Super áspidem et basilíscum ambulábis: * et conculcábis leónem et dracónem.	You shall walk upon the asp and the basilisk: and you shall trample under foot the lion and the dragon.
14  Quóniam in me sperávit, liberábo eum: * prótegam eum quóniam cognóvit nomen meum.	Because he hoped in me I will deliver him: I will protect him because he has known my name.
15  Clamábit ad me, et ego exáudiam eum : * cum ipso sum in tribulatióne : erípiam eum et glorificábo eum.	He shall cry to me, and I will hear him: I am with him in tribulation, I will deliver him, and I will glorify him.
16  Longitúdine diérum replébo eum: * et osténdam illi salutáre meum.	I will fill him with length of days; and I will show him my salvation.

And you can find the next part of this series here.