Benedictine Ordo for the 2019-20 liturgical year

Just to let you know that the Ordo for the upcoming liturgical year is now available from Lulu in PDF (ebook) or hardcopy format.

The Ordo provides detailed notes on the variants for feasts and seasons for those saying the Office according to the 1962 rubrics and General Calendar for the Benedictine Order.

The Ordo provides short summary guides, with page numbers to the Farnborough editions of the Monastic Diurnal, for Lauds to Vespers of the the ferial Office.

It also provides instructions for each day of the liturgical year on what changes should be made for seasons and feasts for all of the hours from Matins to Compline

Guides to the Office during each of the liturgical seasons of the year have also been included.

The schedule of dates for feasts, and instructions that go with them, can be can be used in conjunction with any older breviary or Diurnal for the Benedictine Office, although the older the book, the more feasts and other texts that may be missing.

The Ordo itself provides page number references for the Monastic Diurnal (Farnborough editions) and Antiphonale Monasticum (1934), as well as other key chant books such as the Liber Responsorialis for Matins.

Psalm 88 Overview

In the Benedictine Office, Psalm 88 is usually said at Matins on Fridays, divided into two parts as shown below.

It is also used, however, in whole, on the feasts of the Nativity and the Transfiguration.

St Alphonsus Liguori commented on it that:

St. Jerome divides this psalm into three parts. The first recalls the promise, several times repeated, which God made to David to maintain always royalty in the family. The second teaches us that this promise was not entirely fulfilled in the sons according to the flesh, nor in the temporal kingdom of David. The third shows us the prophet sighing for the coming of the Messias, in whom all was to be fully realized, since he alone was to put an end to the tribulations of his people. This is the reason why the Church recites this psalm in the Office of Christmas.

The text of the psalm

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
Intellectus Ethan Ezrahitæ.	Of understanding, for Ethan the Ezrahite.
1 Misericórdias Dómini * in ætérnum cantábo.	The mercies of the Lord I will sing for ever.
2  In generatiónem et generatiónem * annuntiábo veritátem tuam in ore meo.	I will show forth your truth with my mouth to generation and generation.
3  Quóniam dixísti : In ætérnum misericórdia ædificábitur in cælis: * præparábitur véritas tua in eis.	3 For you have said: Mercy shall be built up for ever in the heavens: your truth shall be prepared in them.
4  Dispósui testaméntum eléctis meis, jurávi David, servo meo: * Usque in ætérnum præparábo semen tuum.	4 I have made a covenant with my elect: I have sworn to David my servant: 5 Your seed will I settle for ever.
5  Et ædificábo in generatiónem et generatiónem * sedem tuam.	And I will build up your throne unto generation and generation.
6  Confitebúntur cæli mirabília tua, Dómine, * étenim veritátem tuam in ecclésia sanctórum.	6 The heavens shall confess your wonders, O Lord: and your truth in the church of the saints.
7  Quóniam quis in núbibus æquábitur Dómino: * símilis erit Dómino in fíliis Dei?	7 For who in the clouds can be compared to the Lord: or who among the sons of God shall be like to God?
8  Deus, qui glorificátur in consílio sanctórum: * magnus et terríbilis super omnes qui in circúitu ejus sunt.	8 God, who is glorified in the assembly of the saints: great and terrible above all them that are about him.
9  Dómine, Deus virtútum, quis símilis tibi? * potens es, Dómine, et véritas tua in circúitu tuo.	9 O Lord God of hosts, who is like to you? You are mighty, O Lord, and your truth is round about you.
10  Tu domináris potestáti maris: * motum autem flúctuum ejus tu mítigas.	10 You rule the power of the sea: and appease the motion of the waves thereof.
11  Tu humiliásti sicut vulnerátum, supérbum: * in bráchio virtútis tuæ dispersísti inimícos tuos.	11 You have humbled the proud one, as one that is slain: with the arm of your strength you have scattered your enemies.
12  Tui sunt cæli, et tua est terra, orbem terræ et plenitúdinem ejus tu fundásti: * aquilónem, et mare tu creásti.	12 Yours are the heavens, and yours is the earth: the world and the fullness thereof you have founded: 13 The north and the sea you have created.
13  Thabor et Hermon in nómine tuo exsultábunt: * tuum bráchium cum poténtia.	Thabor and Hermon shall rejoice in your name: 14 Your arm is with might.
14  Firmétur manus tua, et exaltétur déxtera tua: * justítia et judícium præparátio sedis tuæ.	Let your hand be strengthened and your right hand exalted: 15 Justice and judgment are the preparation of your throne.
15  Misericórdia et véritas præcédent fáciem tuam: * beátus pópulus, qui scit jubilatiónem.	Mercy and truth shall go before your face: 16 Blessed is the people that knows jubilation.
16  Dómine, in lúmine vultus tui ambulábunt, et in nómine tuo exsultábunt tota die: * et in justítia tua exaltabúntur.	They shall walk, O Lord, in the light of your countenance: 17 And in your name they shall rejoice all the day, and in your justice they shall be exalted.
17  Quóniam glória virtútis eórum tu es: * et in beneplácito tuo exaltábitur cornu nostrum.	18 For you are the glory of their strength: and in your good pleasure shall our horn be exalted.
18  Quia Dómini est assúmptio nostra, * et Sancti Israël, regis nostri.	19 For our protection is of the Lord, and of our king the holy one of Israel.

 (divisio) 

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
19 Tunc locútus es in visióne sanctis tuis, et dixísti: * Pósui adjutórium in poténte : et exaltávi eléctum de plebe mea.	20 Then you spoke in a vision to your saints, and said: I have laid help upon one that is mighty, and have exalted one chosen out of my people.
20  Invéni David, servum meum: * óleo sancto meo unxi eum.	21 I have found David my servant: with my holy oil I have anointed him.
21  Manus enim mea auxiliábitur ei: * et bráchium meum confortábit eum.	22 For my hand shall help him: and my arm shall strengthen him.
22  Nihil profíciet inimícus in eo: * et fílius iniquitátis non appónet nocére ei.	23 The enemy shall have no advantage over him: nor the son of iniquity have power to hurt him.
23  Et concídam a fácie ipsíus inimícos ejus: * et odiéntes eum in fugam convértam.	24 And I will cut down his enemies before his face; and them that hate him I will put to flight.
24  Et véritas mea, et misericórdia mea cum ipso: * et in nómine meo exaltábitur cornu ejus.	25 And my truth and my mercy shall be with him: and in my name shall his horn be exalted.
25  Et ponam in mari manum ejus: * et in flumínibus déxteram ejus.	26 And I will set his hand in the sea; and his right hand in the rivers.
26  Ipse invocábit me: Pater meus es tu: * Deus meus, et suscéptor salútis meæ.	27 He shall cry out to me: You are my father: my God, and the support of my salvation.
27  Et ego primogénitum ponam illum: * excélsum præ régibus terræ.	28 And I will make him my firstborn, high above the kings of the earth.
28  In ætérnum servábo illi misericórdiam meam: * et testaméntum meum fidéle ipsi.	29 I will keep my mercy for him for ever: and my covenant faithful to him.
29  Et ponam in sæculum sæculi semen ejus: * et thronum ejus sicut dies cæli.	30 And I will make his seed to endure for evermore: and his throne as the days of heaven.
30  Si autem derelíquerint fílii ejus legem meam: * et in judíciis meis non ambuláverint.	31 And if his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments: 32 If they profane my justices: and keep not my commandments:
31  Si justítias meas profanáverint: * et mandáta mea non custodíerint :	31 And if his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments: 32 If they profane my justices: and keep not my commandments:
32  Visitábo in virga iniquitátes eórum: * et in verbéribus peccáta eórum.	33 I will visit their iniquities with a rod and their sins with stripes.
33  Misericórdiam autem meam non dispérgam ab eo: * neque nocébo in veritáte mea :	34 But my mercy I will not take away from him: nor will I suffer my truth to fail.
34  Neque profanábo testaméntum meum: * et quæ procédunt de lábiis meis, non fáciam írrita.	35 Neither will I profane my covenant: and the words that proceed from my mouth I will not make void.
35  Semel jurávi in sancto meo: Si David méntiar: * semen ejus in ætérnum manébit.	36 Once have I sworn by my holiness: I will not lie unto David: 37 His seed shall endure for ever.
36  Et thronus ejus sicut sol in conspéctu meo, * et sicut luna perfécta in ætérnum : et testis in cælo fidélis.	38 And his throne as the sun before me: and as the moon perfect for ever, and a faithful witness in heaven.
37  Tu vero repulísti et despexísti: * distulísti Christum tuum.	39 But you have rejected and despised: you have been angry with my anointed.
38  Evertísti testaméntum servi tui: * profanásti in terra Sanctuárium ejus.	40 You have overthrown the covenant of your servant: you have profaned his sanctuary on the earth.
39  Destruxísti omnes sepes ejus: * posuísti firmaméntum ejus formídinem.	41 You have broken down all his hedges: you have made his strength fear.
40  Diripuérunt eum omnes transeúntes viam: * factus est oppróbrium vicínis suis.	42 All that pass by the way have robbed him: he has become a reproach to his neighbours.
41  Exaltásti déxteram depriméntium eum: * lætificásti omnes inimícos ejus.	43 You have set up the right hand of them that oppress him: you have made all his enemies to rejoice.
42  Avertísti adjutórium gládii ejus: * et non es auxiliátus ei in bello.	44 You have turned away the help of his sword; and have not assisted him in battle.
43  Destruxísti eum ab emundatióne: * et sedem ejus in terram collisísti.	45 You have made his purification to cease: and you have cast his throne down to the ground.
44  Minorásti dies témporis ejus: * perfudísti eum confusióne.	46 You have shortened the days of his time: you have covered him with confusion.
45 Usquequo, Dómine, avértis in finem: * exardéscet sicut ignis ira tua?	47 How long, O Lord, will you turn away unto the end? Shall your anger burn like fire?
46  Memoráre quæ mea substántia: * numquid enim vane constituísti omnes fílios hóminum?	48 Remember what my substance is: for have you made all the children of men in vain?
47  Quis est homo, qui vivet, et non vidébit mortem: * éruet ánimam suam de manu ínferi?	49 Who is the man that shall live, and not see death: that shall deliver his soul from the hand of hell?
48  Ubi sunt misericórdiæ tuæ antíquæ, Dómine: * sicut jurásti David in veritáte tua?	50 Lord, where are your ancient mercies, according to what you swore to David in your truth?
49  Memor esto, Dómine, oppróbrii servórum tuórum: * (quod contínui in sinu meo) multárum Géntium.	51 Be mindful, O Lord, of the reproach of your servants (which I have held in my bosom) of many nations:
50  Quod exprobravérunt inimíci tui, Dómine, * quod exprobravérunt commutatiónem Christi tui.	52 Wherewith your enemies have reproached, O Lord; wherewith they have reproached the change of your anointed.
51  Benedíctus Dóminus in ætérnum: * fiat, fiat.	53 Blessed be the Lord for evermore. So be it. So be it.

St Augustine in the City of God

St Augustine provided an extended commentary on this psalm in his City of God (Bk 9).  The first chapter of it is set out below:

Chapter 9.— How Like the Prophecy About Christ in the 88th Psalm is to the Things Promised in Nathan's Prophecy in the Books of Samuel.

Wherefore also in the 88th Psalm, of which the title is, An instruction for himself by Ethan the Israelite, mention is made of the promises God made to king David, and some things are there added similar to those found in the Book of Samuel, such as this, I have sworn to David my servant that I will prepare his seed for ever. And again, Then you spoke in vision to your sons, and said, I have laid help upon the mighty One, and have exalted the chosen One out of my people. I have found David my servant, and with my holy oil I have anointed him. For mine hand shall help him, and mine arm shall strengthen him. The enemy shall not prevail against him, and the son of iniquity shall harm him no more. And I will beat down his foes from before his face, and those that hate him will I put to flight. And my truth and my mercy shall be with him, and in my name shall his horn be exalted. I will set his hand also in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers. He shall cry unto me, You are my Father, my God, and the undertaker of my salvation. Also I will make him my first-born, high among the kings of the earth. My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall be faithful (sure) with him. His seed also will I set for ever and ever, and his throne as the days of heaven. Which words, when rightly understood, are all understood to be about the Lord Jesus Christ, under the name of David, on account of the form of a servant, which the same Mediator assumed from the virgin of the seed of David. For immediately something is said about the sins of his children, such as is set down in the Book of Samuel, and is more readily taken as if of Solomon. For there, that is, in the Book of Samuel, he says, And if he commit iniquity I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the sons of men; but my mercy will I not take away from him, meaning by stripes the strokes of correction. Hence that saying, Touch ye not my christs. For what else is that than, Do not harm them? But in the psalm, when speaking as if of David, He says something of the same kind there too. If his children, says He, forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; if they profane my righteousnesses, and keep not my commandments; I will visit their iniquities with the rod, and their faults with stripes: but my mercy I will not make void from him. He did not say from them, although He spoke of his children, not of himself; but he said from him, which means the same thing if rightly understood. For of Christ Himself, who is the head of the Church, there could not be found any sins which required to be divinely restrained by human correction, mercy being still continued; but they are found in His body and members, which is His people. Therefore in the Book of Samuel it is said, iniquity of Him, but in the psalm, of His children, that we may understand that what is said of His body is in some way said of Himself. Wherefore also, when Saul persecuted His body, that is, His believing people, He Himself says from heaven, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? Then in the following words of the psalm He says, Neither will I hurt in my truth, nor profane my covenant, and the things that proceed from my lips I will not disallow. Once have I sworn by my holiness, if I lie unto David, — that is, I will in no wise lie unto David; for Scripture is wont to speak thus. But what that is in which He will not lie, He adds, saying, His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me, and as the moon perfected for ever, and a faithful witness in heaven.

Scriptural and liturgical uses of the psalm

NT references	Lk1:50 (2); Jn 7:42, Acts 2:30 (4); Mt 8:23-27 (10);Col 1:15-18, Hebrews 1:6, Rev 1:5  (27);
RB cursus	Friday Matins I, 3&4
Monastic/(Roman)   feasts etc	Nativity; Transfiguration
Roman pre 1911	Friday Matins
Roman post 1911	1911-62: Friday None . 1970: Wednesday Readings, wk 3
Mass propers (EF)	Precious Blood, IN (1-2)

Psalm 78: Overview

Psalm 78 is used in the Common of Several Martyrs, presumably because of the aptness of its second and third verses in particular:

They have given the dead bodies of your servants to be meat for the fowls of the air: the flesh of your saints for the beasts of the earth. They have poured out their blood as water, round about Jerusalem and there was none to bury them.

The text of the psalm 

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
Psalmus Asaph.	A psalm for Asaph.
1 Deus, venérunt Gentes in hereditátem tuam, polluérunt templum sanctum tuum: * posuérunt Jerúsalem in pomórum custódiam.	O God the heathens have come into your inheritance, they have defiled your holy temple: they have made Jerusalem as a place to keep fruit.
2  Posuérunt morticína servórum tuórum, escas volatílibus cæli: * carnes sanctórum tuórum béstiis terræ.	2 They have given the dead bodies of your servants to be meat for the fowls of the air: the flesh of your saints for the beasts of the earth.
3  Effudérunt sánguinem eórum tamquam aquam in circúitu Jerúsalem: * et non erat qui sepelíret.	3 They have poured out their blood as water, round about Jerusalem and there was none to bury them.
4  Facti sumus oppróbrium vicínis nostris: * subsannátio et illúsio his, qui in circúitu nostro sunt.	4 We have become a reproach to our neighbours: a scorn and derision to them that are round about us.
5  Usquequo, Dómine, irascéris in finem: * accendétur velut ignis zelus tuus?	5 How long, O Lord, will you be angry for ever: shall your zeal be kindled like a fire?
6  Effúnde iram tuam in Gentes, quæ te non novérunt: * et in regna quæ nomen tuum non invocavérunt:	6 Pour out your wrath upon the nations that have not known you: and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon your name.
7  Quia comedérunt Jacob: * et locum ejus desolavérunt.	7 Because they have devoured Jacob; and have laid waste his place.
8  Ne memíneris iniquitátum nostrárum antiquárum, cito antícipent nos misericórdiæ tuæ: * quia páuperes facti sumus nimis.	8 Remember not our former iniquities: let your mercies speedily prevent us, for we have become exceeding poor.
9  Adjuva nos, Deus, salutáris noster: et propter glóriam nóminis tui, Dómine, líbera nos: * et propítius esto peccátis nostris, propter nomen tuum:	9 Help us, O God, our saviour: and for the glory of your name, O Lord, deliver us: and forgive us our sins for your name's sake:
10 Ne forte dicant in Géntibus: Ubi est Deus eórum? * et innotéscat in natiónibus coram óculis nostris.	10 Lest they should say among the Gentiles: Where is their God? And let him be made known among the nations before our eyes,
11  Ultio sánguinis servórum tuórum, qui effúsus est: * intróeat in conspéctu tuo gémitus compeditórum.	By the revenging the blood of your servants, which has been shed: 11 Let the sighing of the prisoners come in before you.
12  Secúndum magnitúdinem bráchii tui, * pósside fílios mortificatórum.	According to the greatness of your arm, take possession of the children of them that have been put to death.
13  Et redde vicínis nostris séptuplum in sinu eórum: * impropérium ipsórum, quod exprobravérunt tibi, Dómine.	12 And render to our neighbours sevenfold in their bosom: the reproach wherewith they have reproached you, O Lord.
14 Nos autem pópulus tuus, et oves páscuæ tuæ, * confitébimur tibi in sæculum.	13 But we your people, and the sheep of your pasture, will give thanks to you for ever.
15  In generatiónem et generatiónem * annuntiábimus laudem tuam	We will show forth your praise, unto generation and generation.

Scriptural and liturgical uses of the psalm

While this psalm could arguably refer to any of the several destructions of the Temple, St Alphonsus Liguori pointed out that Macabees cites it as referring to that time:

This psalm shows us the miserable state of the Jewish people during the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes, in the time of the Machabees. This at least is to be inferred from the first book of the Machabees, chapter vii, verse 17, in which the author cites the second verse of our psalm as a prophecy realized in his presence.

It obviously has a wider application though.  St Augustine for example saw it as referring to the persecutions of the early Christians under assorted pagan empires, while more recent commentators such as Fr Pius Pasch applied it to the liturgical wreckovators of the twentieth century: 

This Psalm depicts one of the saddest episodes of Jewish history:  Jerusalem and the temple are destroyed, the Gentiles loot and kill, Israel is sunk in deepest shame―a punishment for the infidelity of the chosen people. The destruction of the sanctuary is at the same time a reminder of the modern-day destruction of the modernists, with their man-oriented liturgies.  In the latter half of the Psalm we plead for the destruction of the enemies of the Church, not with any malice or thoughts of vengeance, but for the manifestation of God's divine justice upon those who would desecrate his holy places. Finally, this destruction of the sanctuary can be seen as an image of Christ's death:  "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" (John 2:19).  We think about the temple of the soul, violated by sin, and in the Church's name we pray for the conversion of sinners.

Other Scriptural and liturgical uses of the psalm

NT references	Rev 16:6 (3); Rev 6:10 (5); Lk 6:38 (13)
RB cursus	Matins Thursday I, 6;
Monastic/(Roman) feasts etc	Common of several martyrs
Roman pre 1911	Thursday Matins
Roman post 1911	1911-62: Friday Matins . 1970: Week 3: Thursday DP omitting 6-7, 12
Mass propers (EF)	Ash Wednesday TR (8-9), Lent Ember Saturday, GR (9-10); Lent 2 Thursday Thursday GR (9-10); September Ember Saturday GR (9-10); PP 4 GR (9-10)

Psalm 46: Overview

At the literal level, St Alphonsus Liguori tells us, this psalm has two obvious meanings:

In the first, it refers to the triumph of the Ark when it was carried to Mount Sion (2 Kings, vi. 15); in the second sense, it is applied, according to the opinion of several of the holy Fathers, to the glorious Ascension of Jesus Christ into heaven.

The Fathers though, went rather further in their interpretation of the spiritual meanings of the psalm.

The title of the psalm

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
In finem, pro filiis Core. Psalmus	Unto the end, for the sons of Core

The title of the psalm is an important starting point for  our interpretation.

Modern interpreters of the psalms tend to regard the titles attached to the psalms as unscriptural, and if they do pay any attention to them, interpret them very literally.

The Fathers by contrast, tended to devote a substantial amount of commentary to the Spiritual interpretation of the titles, and their implications for the meaning of the psalm.  St Cassiodorus for example, commented in his introduction to this one that:

All the words in this heading have been explained and are stored in our minds. But you, eager reader, must always ensure that you understand the meanings attached to the incidences of these expressions in the psalms. If you examine the text of psalms more carefully, you will realise that not one word of them can be idle. So it happens that at one place variation in headings and at another similarity both appear to denote the Lord Saviour. When they vary, it relieves the tedium; when identical, they strengthen the eyes of our understanding with unwavering stability. So both are clearly issued for the salvation of all, and are acknowledged to be beneficial. In this psalm again the sons of Core, whom mother Church signs with the emblem of the cross, are the spokesmen.

Patristic interpretations of the titles are particularly important because they often explain in part, the liturgical uses of the psalm, such as the use of this one on many feasts of the Lord at Matins.

In particular, St Augustine commented on Psalm 46 that:

The title of the Psalm goes thus. To the end: for the sons of Korah: a Psalm of David himself. These sons of Korah have the title also of some other Psalms, and indicate a sweet mystery, insinuate a great Sacrament: wherein let us willingly understand ourselves, and let us acknowledge in the title us who hear, and read, and as in a glass set before us behold who we are. The sons of Korah, who are they?. ..Haply the sons of the Bridegroom. 

For the Bridegroom was crucified in the place of Calvary. Recollect the Gospel, where they crucified the Lord, and you will find Him crucified in the place of Calvary. Furthermore, they who deride His Cross, by devils, as by beasts, are devoured. For this also a certain Scripture signified. 

When God's Prophet Elisha was going up, children called after him mocking, Go up thou bald head, Go up thou bald head: but he, not so much in cruelty as in mystery, made those children to be devoured by bears out of the wood. If those children had not been devoured, would they have lived even till now? Or could they not, being born mortal, have been taken off by a fever? But so in them had no mystery been shown, whereby posterity might be put in fear. Let none then mock the Cross of Christ.

The Jews were possessed by devils, and devoured; for in the place of Calvary, crucifying Christ, and lifting on the Cross, they said as it were with childish sense, not understanding what they said, Go up, thou bald head. For what is, Go up? Crucify Him, Crucify Him. 

For childhood is set before us to imitate humility, and childhood is set before us to beware of foolishness. To imitate humility, childhood was set before us by the Lord, when He called children to Him, and because they were kept from Him, He said, Suffer them to come unto Me, for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven. The example of childhood is set before us to beware of foolishness by the Apostle, Brethren, be not children in understanding: and again he proposes it to imitate, Howbeit in malice be ye children, that in understanding ye may be men. 

For the sons of Korah the Psalm is sung; for Christians then is it sung. Let us hear it as sons of the Bridegroom, whom senseless children crucified in the place of Calvary. For they earned to be devoured by beasts; we to be crowned by Angels. For we acknowledge the humility of our Lord, and of it are not ashamed. We are not ashamed of Him called in mystery the bald (Calvus), from the place of Calvary. For on the very Cross whereon He was insulted, He permitted not our forehead to be bald; for with His own Cross He marked it. Finally, that you may know that these things are said to us, see what is said

The text of the psalm

Psalm 46

Omnes gentes, pláudite mánibus: * iubiláte Deo in voce exsultatiónis!	O clap your hands, all you nations: shout unto God with the voice of joy,
Quóniam Dóminus excélsus, terríbilis: * Rex magnus super omnem terram.	For the Lord is high, terrible: a great king over all the earth.
Subiécit pópulos nobis: * et gentes sub pédibus nostris.	He has subdued the people under us; and the nations under our feet.
Elégit nobis hereditátem suam : * spéciem Iacob, quam diléxit.	He has chosen for us his inheritance, the beauty of Jacob which he has love.
Ascéndit Deus in iúbilo: * et Dóminus in voce tubæ.	God is ascended with jubilee, and the Lord with the sound of trumpet.
Psállite Deo nostro, psállite: * psállite Regi nostro, psállite!	Sing praises to our God; sing. Sing praises to our king; sing.
Quóniam Rex omnis terræ Deus: * psállite sapiénter!	For God is the king of all the earth: sing wisely.
Regnábit Deus super gentes: * Deus sedet super sedem sanctam suam.	God shall reign over the nations: God sits on his holy throne.
Príncipes populórum congregáti sunt cum Deo Abraham: * quóniam dii fortes terræ veheménter eleváti sunt.	The princes of the people are gathered together, with the God of Abraham: for the strong gods of the earth are exceedingly exalted.
Glória Patri, et Fílio, * et Spirítui Sancto.	Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.
Sicut erat in princípio, et nunc, et semper, * et in sǽcula sæculórum. Amen.	As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

 Scriptural and liturgical uses of the psalm

In the Benedictine Office this psalm is part of a set of the 'psalms of Sion' said at Tuesday Matins.

The use of the psalm in the Common of Apostles is presumably due to the reference to the princes of the people in the last verse.

NT references	1 Pet 4(4)
RB cursus	Tuesday Matins
Monastic/(Roman) feasts etc	Epiphany, Ascension, Pentecost, Trinity, Sacred Heart, Transfiguration, Christ the King; Common of Apostles
Roman pre 1911	Tuesday Matins
Roman post 1911	1911-62: Monday Lauds  . 1970:
Mass propers (EF)	Palm Sunday Blessing of Psalms; Ascension, AL (5), OF (5); Sunday after Ascension, AL (8), OF (5); PP 7, IN (1-2), AL (1)

The psalm was the subject of a General Audience by Pope St John Paul II in 2001:

1. "The Lord, the most high, is a great King over all the earth!". This initial acclamation is repeated in different tones in Psalm 46 (47), which we just prayed. It is designed as a hymn to the sovereign Lord of the universe and of history:  "God is king over all the earth ... God rules over all nations" (vv. 8-9).
Like other similar compositions in the Psalter (cf. Ps 92; 95-98), this hymn to the Lord, the king of the world and of mankind presumes an atmosphere of liturgical celebration. For that reason, we are at the heart of the spiritual praise of Israel, which rises to heaven from the Temple, the place where the infinite and eternal God reveals himself and meets his people.

2. We will follow this canticle of joyful praise in its fundamental moments like two waves of the sea coming toward the shore. They differ in the way they consider the relationship between Israel and the nations. In the first part of the psalm, the relationship is one of domination:  God "has subdued the peoples under us, he has put the nations under our feet" (v. 4); in the second part, instead, the relationship is one of association:  "the princes of the peoples are gathered with the people of the God of Abraham" (v. 10). One can notice great progress.

In the first part (cf. vv. 2-6) it says, "All you peoples clap your hands, shout to God with joyful cries!" (v. 2). The centre of this festive applause is the grandiose figure of the supreme Lord, to whom the psalm attributes three glorious titles:  "most high, great and terrible" (v. 3). They exalt the divine transcendence, the absolute primacy of being, omnipotence. The Risen Christ will also exclaim:  "All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me" (Mt 28,18).

3. In the universal lordship of God over all the peoples of the earth (cf. v. 4) the psalmist stresses his particular presence in Israel, the people of divine election, "the favourite", the most precious and dear inheritance (cf. v. 5). Israel is the object of a particular love of God which is manifested with the victory over hostile nations. During the battle, the presence of the Ark of the Covenant with the troops of Israel assured them of God's help; after the victory, the Ark was returned to Mount Zion (cf. Ps 67 [68],19) and all proclaimed, "God mounts his throne amid shouts of joy, the Lord amid trumpet blasts" (Ps 46 [47],6).

4. The second part of the Psalm (cf. vv. 7-10) opens with another wave of praise and festive chant:  "Sing praise to God, sing praise; sing praise to our king, sing praises ... sing hymns of praise!" (vv. 7-8). Even now one sings to the Lord seated on his throne in the fullness of his sovereignty (cf. v. 9). The royal seat is defined as "holy", because it is unapproachable by the finite and sinful human being. But the Ark of the Covenant present in the most sacred part of the Temple of Zion is also a heavenly throne. In this way the distant and transcendent God, holy and infinite, draws near to his creatures, adapting himself to space and time (cf. I Kgs 8,27.30).

5. The psalm finishes on a surprising note of universalist openness:  "the princes of the peoples are gathered with the people of the God of Abraham" (v. 10). One goes back to Abraham the patriarch who is at the root, not only of Israel but also of other nations. To the chosen people who are his descendents, is entrusted the mission of making converge towards the Lord all nations and all cultures, because he is the God of all mankind. From East to West they will gather on Zion to meet the king of peace and love, of unity and brotherhood (cf. Mt 8,11). As the prophet Isaiah hoped, the peoples who are hostile to one another, will receive the invitation to lay down their arms and to live together under the divine sovereignty, under a government of justice and peace (Is 2,2-5). The eyes of all are fixed on the new Jerusalem where the Lord "ascends" to be revealed in the glory of his divinity. It will be "an immense multitude, which no one can count, from every nation, race, people and tongue ... they (all) cried out with a loud voice:  Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on his throne and to the Lamb" (Apoc 7,9.10).

6. The Letter to the Ephesians sees the realization of this prophecy in the mystery of Christ the Redeemer when it affirms, addressing Christians who did not come from Judaism:  "Remember, that one time you pagans by birth,... were without Christ, excluded from the citizenship of Israel, extraneous to the covenant of the promise, without hope and without God in this world. Now instead, in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off have been brought near thanks to the blood of Christ. In fact, he is our peace, he who made of the two one people, destroying the dividing wall of enmity" (Eph 2,1-14).

In Christ then, the kingship of God, sung by our psalm, is realized on earth in the meeting of all people. This is the way an anonymous 8th century homily commented on this mystery:  "Until the coming of the Messiah, hope of the nations, the Gentiles did not adore God and did not know who he is. Until the Messiah redeemed them, God did not reign over the nations through their obedience and their worship. Now instead, with his Word and his Spirit, God reigns over them because he saved them from deception and made them his friends" (Anonymous Palestinian, Arab-Christian Homily of the Eighth Century, Rome 1994, p. 100).