Psalm 53 postscript

St Catherine's Monastery,c13th
Source: Wikipedia

At the beginning of this mini-series on Psalm 53 I noted that it is used intensively during the Triduum, said each day at Prime, but also at Tenebrae of Good Friday and Holy Saturday, so I thought I would conclude my notes on the psalm by coming back, briefly, to the reasons for its prominence in the older forms of the Roman Office.

The five wounds of Christ?

At first glance the five-fold appearance of the psalm during the Triduum might appear to be an accident: the psalm was, after all, said daily at Prime in the traditional version of the Roman Office and it is not altogether unusual for psalms to be said twice in a day in that form of the Office where it is appropriate to the feast or type of feast.

But if that was the case, why isn't it used at Tenebrae of Maundy Thursday, to which it is surely particularly appropriate?

My suggestion is that there is a bit of deliberate crafting here, meant to suggest the five wounds of Christ.

It is worth noting in this regard that St Hilary's commentary on the psalm notes that the psalm has a very deliberate structure, with each of the five key points of prayer matched to a result:

Petition	Result
Save me God by your name	I will give thanks unto Your name, O Lord, for it is good,
Judge me on your strength	And My eye has looked down upon Mine enemies
O God hear my prayer…	Behold God is My helper…
For strangers are risen up against Me and the violent have sought after My soul,	for You have delivered Me out of all affliction and the Lord is the upholder of My soul
they have not set God before their eyes	I will freely sacrifice to you

The Christological interpretation of the psalm

Whether or not the symbolism was deliberate, it is clear that the psalm's use during the Triduum does reflect the Christological interpretation of it suggested by St Hilary amongst others:

The suffering of the Prophet David is, according to the account we have given of the title, a type of the Passion of our God and Lord Jesus Christ. This is why his prayer also corresponds in sense with the prayer of Him Who being the Word was made flesh: in such wise that He Who suffered all things after the manner of man, in everything He said, spoke after the manner of man; and He who bore the infirmities and took on Him the sins of men approached God in prayer with the humility proper to men. 

This interpretation, even though we be unwilling and slow to receive it, is required by the meaning and force of the words, so that there can be no doubt that everything in the Psalm is uttered by David as His mouthpiece. For he says: Save me O God, by Your name. Thus prays in bodily humiliation, using the words of His own Prophet, the Only-begotten Son of God, Who at the same time was claiming again the glory which He had possessed before the ages. He asks to be saved by the Name of God whereby He was called and wherein He was begotten, in order that the Name of God which rightly belonged to His former nature and kind might avail to save Him in that body wherein He had been born.

At Prime

The Psalm use at Prime may also in part reflect this interpretation: Psalm 53 in a sense recapitulates the Triduum, with the psalm that follows, Psalm 118, taking us to the Resurrection, for its opening verse 'Beati immaculati' proclaims that the way to heaven has been reopened.

But the psalm can also be read as encouragement for the daily spiritual battle against those who reject God, in effect a summary of one of the key themes of the Benedictine version of the hour.

St Alphonsus Liguori, for example noted that:

This psalm may serve for all Christians that find themselves assailed by the temptations of the devil.  We may remark with Cardinal Bellarmine that the holy Church wishes to teach us how to arm ourselves with prayer against the tribulations and temptations that may assail us every day.

I want to conclude though with the ninth century commentator Amalarius of Metz, who suggested that:

Singing this Psalm at this point in the day is necessary for requesting divine protection through all the hours of the day against the machinations and subtleties of the devil's deceit, of which the psalmist speaks: "For strangers rise up against us who do not set God before their eyes" and also so that he may remove us from all our tribulations, and that our eye may look down upon our enemies, as David did in his time.

Coming up next

And for the last part of Lent, a quick look at the first six verses of Psalm 30, which was previously said at Compline each night in the (pre-1911) Roman Office, and concludes with the verse Christ used on the Cross, just before dying, when he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit'.