Showing posts with label Ps 112. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ps 112. Show all posts

Monday, January 20, 2014

St Benedict's psalter and the election of the Gentiles**


This is a cross-post from my Saints Will Arise Blog.

There is a very interesting series over at the always excellent Fr Hunwicke's Mutual Enrichment blog, which I strongly recommend reading, on what is known as 'two covenants theory', the idea that Judaism is not superseded by the New Covenant.

The situation of modern Jews when it comes to the Church is sensitive territory these days, for many in the Church, swayed by the desire to promote inter-religious unity, advocate ideas that are at odds with both Scripture and tradition.  Fr Hunwicke does a fairly comprehensive demolition on these erroneous theories in the light of the tradition, what Vatican II's Nostra Aetate actually says, and other evidence.

Fr Hunwicke's posts (as on some many other issues) have been rather helpful for my own understanding of this touchy subject, so I thought it might be timely to share some of my speculations on St Benedict's ordering of his psalm cursus that may reflect his understanding of this topic by way of a minor footnote.

The traditional understanding of the Old and New covenants

Fr Hunwicke provides a very carefully nuanced articulation of the tradition on this topic; let me provide the un-nuanced version for the sake of debate.

I would suggest that the hardline version of the traditionalist position is that modern-day Jews are no longer the chosen people: for God's promise to Abraham is fulfilled in the Church, which was founded by the faithful remnant of the Jewish people that he preserved, consisting of the apostles and disciples and their subsequent converts.  Catholics, in other words, are the new Jews.

In this view, instead of the whole Jewish people being granted a privileged place in ongoing salvation history (or at least are still the inheritors of an eschatological promise of reconciliation), they have been dispossessed just as the Canaanites were in their time, and their inheritance given to the new Israel, the Church, which is open to gentiles and Jews alike; Rabbinic Judaism, in other words, is not the Judaism of Our Lord's time.

Fr Hunwicke demolishes some of the obviously erroneous liberal views on this subject, but many traditionalists still struggle with the suggestion made by modern theologians, including Pope Benedict XVI, to the effect that while the Mosaic Covenant has been closed, modern Jews still have a privileged place in salvation history by virtue of the covenant with Abraham.

Fr Hunwicke suggests that Pope Benedict's rewrite of the (EF) Good Friday prayer, which reflects St Paul's words on the subject, arguably reflects an eschatological explanation for this view of the continuing covenant, while leaving the traditional view, that Jewish worship and practices have no salvific value, intact.

I want to draw your attention to five insights on this issue that can, I think, be gained from St Benedict's version of the Divine Office, which I think helps support the eschatological promise approach advocated by Pope Benedict and others.

1.  The old sacrifices have been superseded: Psalm 91 (92) on Friday

In the traditional version of the Roman Office, Psalm 91 (Bonum est confiteri Domino) is said on Saturday, perhaps because the title given to in Scripture is 'For (or 'on the day of' in the Vulgate) the Sabbath'.

St Benedict, however, places it on Friday at Lauds.  It is a change that contemporary liturgical scholar Paul Bradshaw, for one, finds puzzling (Daily Prayer in the Early Church, p147).

Ex-Trappist turned Orthodox scholar Patrick Reardon, in his book Christ in the Psalms, though offers a very elegant and plausible rationale for this change, for he notes that as well as the Sabbath, Jewish commentaries state that it was sung daily as an accompaniment to the morning sacrifice of a lamb.  Reardon, accordingly, sees the shift of the psalm to Friday Lauds as a testimony to the idea that Friday is "our true the true Pascha and Atonement Day, on which the Lamb of God took away the sins of the world."(p181)

Reardon sees Psalm 91 as a reminder that the Old Covenant, which merely foreshadowed what was to come, has ended, and the New has replaced it:

"Prayed on Friday mornings, as the ancient Western monastic rule prescribed, this psalm reminds the Church why it is no longer necessary to make the daily offering of lambs in the temple, for those sacrifices had only "a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things" (Heb. 10:1). With respect to those quotidian lambs offered of old, we are told that "every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins" (10:11). But, with respect to the Lamb in the midst of the Throne, we are told that "this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God . . . For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified" (10:12-14). This is the true Lamb to whom we chant: "You are worthy to take the scroll, / And to open its seals; / For You were slain, / And have redeemed us to God by Your blood" (Rev. 5:9)." (p181)

2.  Psalm 118: the new testament is superior to the old

In the Roman Office, Psalm 118 is sung over the course of Sunday from Prime to None (and in the older form of the Office, daily at these hours).  St Benedict, by contrast, splits the longest psalm in the psalter between Sunday (Prime to None) and Monday (Terce to None).   And he organises the split so as to end Sunday Nones with a stanza where the psalmist claims to have outshone his teachers and those of old in his understanding:

"Through your commandment, you have made me wiser than my enemies: for it is ever with me. I have understood more than all my teachers: because your testimonies are my meditation. I have had understanding above ancients: because I have sought your commandment." (verses 98-100)

It could of course just be how things fell out.  But St Benedict's contemporary Cassiodorus (author of easily the most popular commentary on the psalms amongst medieval monks) certainly understood these verses as affirming the new covenant over the Old:

“Certainly the new people had better understanding than the older Jewish people, for they happily accepted the Lord Christ who the Jews with mortal damage to themselves believed was to be despised.”

Cassiodorus actually sees the reference in another verse of the stanza, verse 103, which refers to the law being sweeter than honey, as another allusion to this same idea:

“Honey has particular reference to the Old Testament, the comb to the New; for though both are sweet, the taste of the comb is sweeter because it is enhanced by the greater attraction of its newness. Additionally, honey can be understood as the explicit teaching of wisdom, whereas the comb can represent that known to be stored in the depth, so to say, of the cells. Undoubtedly both are found in the divine Scriptures.”

3.  The canticle of Hannah and younger sons

Over at Fr Hunwicke's blog, commenters have noted that the recent tendency to refer to Jews as our 'older brother' is something of a mixed message given the fate of so many older brothers in the Bible!   Indeed, St Paul uses just this typology in one of his discussions on the status of the Jews, in Galatians 4:

"21 Tell me, you who are so eager to have the law for your master, have you never read the law? 22 You will find it written there, that Abraham had two sons; one had a slave for his mother, and one a free woman. 23 The child of the slave was born in the course of nature; the free woman’s, by the power of God’s promise. 24 All that is an allegory; the two women stand for the two dispensations. Agar stands for the old dispensation, which brings up its children to bondage, the dispensation which comes to us from mount Sinai.25 Mount Sinai, in Arabia, has the same meaning in the allegory as Jerusalem, the Jerusalem which exists here and now; an enslaved city, whose children are slaves. 26 Whereas our mother is the heavenly Jerusalem, a city of freedom. 27 So it is that we read, Rejoice, thou barren woman that hast never borne child, break out into song and cry aloud, thou that hast never known travail; the deserted one has more children than she whose husband is with her. 28 It is we, brethren, that are children of the promise, as Isaac was. 29 Now, as then, the son who was born in the course of nature persecutes the son whose birth is a spiritual birth. 30 But what does our passage in scripture say? Rid thyself of the slave and her son; it cannot be that the son of a slave should divide the inheritance with the son of a free woman."

Wednesday, in the Christian week, is traditionally associated with the betrayal of Judas.  That's the reason that Wednesday was a fast day in the early Church as it is in the Benedictine Rule, and in the Office, this is reflected, inter alia, in the choice of Psalm 63 at Lauds.  The variable (ferial) canticle of the day, though, is the Canticle of Hannah (I Kings [1 Sam] 2:1-10), a song of rejoicing at her pregnancy (with the prophet Samuel) that put paid to the taunts of her husband's fecund other wife.  We today tend to interpret this canticle as foreshadowing the Magnificat, which it certainly does.  But one of the earliest Benedictine monastic commentaries on the Office Canticles, by Rabanus Maurus (780-856), also interprets that typology in the light of St Paul's Galatians typology, saying by way of summary:

"But on Wednesday the Canticle of Anna the prophetess is sung, in which the expulsion of the perfidious Jews is set out, and the election of the Church of the gentiles is demonstrated."

And indeed St Benedict's psalm selections for this day come back to the theme of God's choice of peoples several times, most notably in Psalms 134 and 135.

4.  The redemption triptych (Psalms 113, 129 and 134/5) - redemption comes only through Christ

In the Benedictine Office, Psalm 113 (In exitu Israel) is said at Vespers on Monday rather than Sunday as it is in the Roman Office.  In part I think that is because it provides a type of baptism, in the parting of the Red Sea and the Jordan (especially in verse 3: Mare vidit, et fugit: Jordánis convérsus est retrórsum), one of the themes Maurus identifies in the Monday Lauds canticle (along with the Incarnation).  But it also, I think, sets up a nice triptych of opening psalms at Vespers on the first three days of the week around our redemption through Christ.

The two outer panels are provided by Psalms 113 on Monday and 134 and 135 (known as the Great Hallel in Jewish liturgy) on Wednesday.  These three psalms share both common themes and several verses between them, and take us through God's power compared to empty idols, manifested through the creation of the universe, and intervention in history to lead his people out of Egypt,and into the Promised Land.

If he were being consistent, St Benedict would have placed Psalm 128 as the first Psalm at Vespers on Tuesday, for on that day all of the other Gradual psalms are said from Terce through Vespers.  But St Benedict actually places Psalm 128 (where it arguably fits well for other reasons) on Monday, and instead, in the middle of the triptych sits Psalm 129 (De Profundis), with its promise of Christ's redeeming action ('For with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption: he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquity').  Dom Gueranger, in his Liturgical Year, notes that this psalm above all, was often interpreted by medieval commentators, as a prophecy of that final reconciliation of the Jews.

5. The Hallel psalms reversed: The first shall be last?

St Benedict’s arrangement of the Sunday Office at both Lauds and Vespers is significantly different to the old Roman he is assumed to have started from.  Two key changes he makes are to start the variable psalmody  at Lauds with Psalm 117 (it was in Prime in the old Roman Office), and to end it with Psalm 112, at Vespers (moving Psalm 113 to Monday in order to do so).  These are, of course, the last and first respectively of the ‘Hallel’ psalms, the psalms sung at the three major Jewish festivals each year.

The more prominent St Benedict accords to Psalm 117 is easily explained: it is one of the most quoted psalms in the New Testament, important in particular for the verses directly prophesying the Resurrection, and pointing to Christ as the stone the builders rejected.

Is it possible, though, that the ending of Vespers on Psalm 112 was also meant to provide a subtle reference to the idea that the first shall come last in relation to St Paul's prophesy in Romans that  'all Israel shall come in'?

St Benedict (485-547) may very well have been familiar with the Bishop of Ravenna, St Peter Chrysologus' (380-450) teaching to just this effect (now used in the readings of the Liturgy of Hours as Fr Hunwicke notes).  And it is certainly nicely consistent with Pope Benedict's rewrite of the Good Friday prayer:

"Let us also pray for the Jews: That our God and Lord may illuminate their hearts, that they acknowledge Jesus Christ is the Savior of all men. (Let us pray. Kneel. Rise.) Almighty and eternal God, who want that all men be saved and come to the recognition of the truth, propitiously grant that even as the fullness of the peoples enters Thy Church, all Israel be saved. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen"

So, is this all too much of a stretch?  Do let me know what you think.

Friday, June 21, 2013

Psalm 112, verse 8: Making disciples through his Church

Hannah and Samuel

The last verse of Psalm 112 gives us the image of the barren woman granted the children she desperately desires, a typology that is repeated for us several times in Scripture, for it prefigures for us the spiritual children granted to the Church:

Qui habitare facit sterilem in domo, matrem filiorum lætantem
Who makes a barren woman to dwell in a house, the joyful mother of children

Lectio

Qui (who) habitare (to live)  facit (he makes) sterilem (the barren [woman]) in (in) domo (the house)
matrem (the mother) filiorum (of sons/children) lætantem (rejoicing) 

Note: laetantem is the part sg pres fem acc of laetor, to rejoice

sterilis, e  unfruitful, barren.
domus, us, f. a house, structure; a house, abode, dwelling place; Temple; ;a race, people, nation; the priesthood.
mater, tris, f.  mother.
filius, ii, m. a son, child
laetor, atus sum, ari,  to rejoice, be joyful, take delight in

Meditatio

These days, many, instead of trusting God, seek to defy him through the use of immoral reproductive technologies.  Yet this verse reminds us of God's miraculous cure of the sterility of many women in Scripture who put their trust in him, including Hannah, Sara, Rebecca, Rachel and Elizabeth. 

But there is also a less literal meaning of this verse, St Robert Bellarmine points out, for their fertility prefigures the establishment of the Church:

"With mankind a low and contemptible position is consid­ered a misfortune, while barrenness is looked upon in the same light by womankind; but, as God looks down on the humble man so as to raise him from the lowest to the highest position, he also looks down on the humble woman, thereby changing her barrenness into fertility. This is quite applicable to several females, such as Sara, Rebecca, Rachel, Anne, and others; but it applies, in a higher sense, to the Church gathered from the Gentiles, that remained barren a long time, but ultimately begot many children, as the apostle has it, "Rejoice thou barren, that bearest not; break forth and cry out, thou that travailest not: for many are the children of the desolate, more than that of her that hath a husband."

Oratio

Lord through your death and resurrection you invite us to be your sons and daughters, to become members of the spiritual family you have called to yourself; for this great grace we praise your name forever.

Make us, too spiritual mothers and fathers of many, working to bring all into your kingdom.

Contemplatio (Psalm 112)

1 Laudate, pueri, Dominum; laudate nomen Domini.
2 Sit nomen Domini benedictum ex hoc nunc et usque in sæculum.
3 A solis ortu usque ad occasum laudabile nomen Domini.
4 Excelsus super omnes gentes Dominus, et super cælos gloria ejus.
 5 Quis sicut Dominus Deus noster, qui in altis habitat, et humilia respicit in cælo et in terra?
6 Suscitans a terra inopem, et de stercore erigens pauperem:  
7 ut collocet eum cum principibus, cum principibus populi sui.
8 Qui habitare facit sterilem in domo, matrem filiorum lætantem.

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Psalm 112, verses 6-7: Strive to become great saints

Job on the dungheap
The next two verses of Psalm 112 remind us of God's promises of what he will do for those who believe in him:

6 Suscitans a terra inopem, et de stercore erigens pauperem:
Raising up the needy from the earth, and lifting up the poor out of the dunghill:

7 ut collocet eum cum principibus, cum principibus populi sui.
That he may place him with princes, with the princes of his people.

Lectio

Suscitans( lifting up/reviving/raising up) a (from) terra (the earth)  inopem (the needy)
et (and) de (from) stercore (the dung heap) erigens (lifting up) pauperem (the poor)

ut (in order to) collocet (place/set) eum (him) cum (with) principibus (princes) cum (with)  principibus (the princes) populi (of the people) sui (his)

suscito, avi, atum, are, to raise up, set up; to raise up, revive; to raise up, exalt.
inops, opis, without means or resources; poor, needy, indigent, destitute
stercus, oris, n., dung, the dunghill as a symbol of destitution and miser; dust, mire, filth.
erigo, rexi, rectum, ere 3  to raise, lift or set up, raise, place upright.
pauper, eris, adj., poor, needy, indigent, helpless, destitute, wretched.
colloco, avi, atum, are  to set, place, put; to lie down, to rest.
princeps, cipis, m.  prince, ruler, sovereign.
populus, i, people.  the chosen people; a heathen nation

Meditatio

These verses have both a literal and metaphorical meaning. It points us first especially to the poor and lowly; those God raises up from the lowest to the highest of positions - figures such as David and Mary.  Indeed, the words are echoed in 1 Kings 2, the Song of Hannah, and of course in the Magnificat.

Yet they potentially apply to us all, as Cassiodorus explains:

"Those in need and want should not claim this benefit solely for themselves, for anyone who through God's grace is raised from this blemished body, is exalted from the dunghill and from pov­erty. In fact, even a king in this world is empty of God's gifts and rolls in the dung, for vices of the flesh are his master. So the Lord raises up those of any rank or age when He bestows the gifts of His mercy."

The dung heap, St Robert Bellarmine explains, is the mire of original sin; the 'princes of the people' are not earthly princes, but rather the citizens of heaven:

".. our Savior said, "Fear not, little flock, for it hath pleased your Father to give you a kingdom." Now, mankind lay prostrate on the earth, wallowing on the dunghill of original sin, and its consequent evils, and yet God, who is seated in heaven, looked down on the earth, and raised up the needy, that is, the man despoiled by the robbers, who was lying on the dunghill of misery, to "place him with princes;" not in the general acceptation of the word; but with "the princes of his people," the possessors of the heavenly Jerusalem, the citizens of the kingdom of heaven...the ele­vation from a state of sin and death to that of glory and immortality, to an equality with the angels, to share in that happiness that forms a part of God's own happiness, that, indeed, is the true, the truly great, and the most to be sought for elevation."

Oratio

Look upon us with mercy O Lord and free us from our mire of our sin.  Grant that through your Son we may put off this earthly raiment and be worthy of the white robes of salvation.

Contemplatio

How are we to be worthy of this honour?  We must strive to be great saints, working to make disciples of all men.  Cassiodorus explains:

"But you are not to believe that the preeminence mentioned here is the distinc­tion sought by human aspirations; rather, it is the preeminence granted by the Lord's generosity which is lofty in humility, certain in faith, unflinching in mental strength. As for the addition: Of his people, it points to the Catholic Church spread through the whole world."

The psalm so far

1 Laudate, pueri, Dominum; laudate nomen Domini.
2 Sit nomen Domini benedictum ex hoc nunc et usque in sæculum.
3 A solis ortu usque ad occasum laudabile nomen Domini.
4 Excelsus super omnes gentes Dominus, et super cælos gloria ejus.
 5 Quis sicut Dominus Deus noster, qui in altis habitat, et humilia respicit in cælo et in terra?
6 Suscitans a terra inopem, et de stercore erigens pauperem:  
7 ut collocet eum cum principibus, cum principibus populi sui.



You can find the final post in this series of notes on Psalm 112 here.

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Psalm 112, verses 4-5: Between God and man


The next section of Psalm 112 emphasizes the chasm between God and man, yet reminds us to that God bridges it, for he cares about us:

4 Excelsus super omnes gentes Dominus, et super cælos gloria ejus. 
The Lord is high above all nations; and his glory above the heavens. 

5 Quis sicut Dominus Deus noster, qui in altis habitatet humilia respicit in cælo et in terra?
 Who is as the Lord our God, who dwells on high: And looks down on the low things in heaven and in earth? 

Lectio

Excelsus (high) super (above) omnes (all) gentes (nations/peoples) Dominus (the Lord)

et (and ) super (above) cælos (the heavens) gloria (glory) ejus (his) =and his glory above the heavens

Quis (who) sicut ( [is] like) Dominus (the Lord) Deus (God) noster (our), qui (who) in (in) altis (the heights)  habitat (he lives)


et (and) humilia (the humble) respicit (he takes thought for/looks down on) in cælo (in heaven) et (and) in terra (on earth)?   

excelsus, a, um  high, august, sublime, towering aloft ; uplifted; heights, high places; billows, high waves
gens, gentis, f  sing., people, nation, the chosen
caelum, i, n., or caeli, orum, m.  heaven, the abode of God; the heavens as opposed to the earth; the air;
gloria, ae, f. glory, honor, majesty
quis, quid, interrog, pron., who? which? what? why? wherefore?
sicut, adv., as, just as, like.
altus deep,  high
habito, avi, atum, are  to dwell, abide, live.
humiliathe lowly, God's people and their affairs.
respicio, spexi, spectum, ere 3  to look upon, behold, consider; take thought for, heed, have regard to;  

Meditatio

Many of the psalms emphasize the immense distance that stands between man and God: and it is an important point, for the root of original sin is man's attempt to make himself into a god.  True humility starts from the realisation that between God and man lies an immense chasm.

Indeed, the chasm extends even to heaven, for it too is part of creation, and God therefore stands outside and above it and the angels too, as St Robert Bellarmine points out in his commentary on the verse:

"Matter for God's praise is to be found not only through the length and breadth, but even through the height of the world; for, though there may be many great kings and power­ful princes therein, God far out-tops them all, and he lords it over, not only "all the nations," but even over all the angels, for "his glory is above the heavens," and all who dwell therein."

Oratio

Lord help us to serve you in fear, to cultivate respectful humility always, that our prayers may be worthy and ascend to you.

Through your son you have sent down that ladder of humility, that we might climb out of the chasm and be transformed in you, and so arrive at that heavenly exaltation you have promised.

How wonderful you are Lord, above all the earth.

Contemplatio

Who is like God, in his divinity so high above us?  And yet he is not in fact a distant God, but one who cares: and cares not for the great, but the humble and lowly!

In Christ he humbled himself, in Christ he shares with us a nature, and infuses our humanity with his divinity, lifting all humanity up to him.

The Psalm so far

1 Laudate, pueri, Dominum; laudate nomen Domini.
2 Sit nomen Domini benedictum ex hoc nunc et usque in sæculum.
3 A solis ortu usque ad occasum laudabile nomen Domini.
4 Excelsus super omnes gentes Dominus, et super cælos gloria ejus. 
5 Quis sicut Dominus Deus noster, qui in altis habitat



You can find the next set of notes on this Psalm here.

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Psalm 112 verses 2-3: the holy names of God



Continuing this series on Psalm 112, today a look at two verses that focus on the never-ending song of praise of the name of God:

2 Sit nomen Domini benedictum ex hoc nunc et usque in sæculum. 
Blessed be the name of the Lord, from henceforth now and for ever. 

3 A solis ortu usque ad occasum laudabile nomen Domini. 
3 From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same, the name of the Lord is worthy of praise.

 Lectio

I've moved these verses around out of order in the discussion below, in order to show more clearly the linkage in ideas between them. 

First the injunctions and instruction given to us concerning the name of the Lord, revealed to us in Jesus Christ:

laudate (praise) nomen (the name) Domini (of the Lord)

Sit (let it be) nomen (the name) Domini (of the Lord) benedictum (blessed)
...laudabile (praiseworthy) nomen (the name) Domini (of the Lord)

nomen, mis, n. name; God himself; the perfections of God, His glory, majesty, wisdom, power, goodness,
laudabilis -e praiseworthy, commendable, estimable, laudable,

ex (from) hoc (this) nunc (now) et (and) usque (henceforward) in sæculum (forever)
...A (from) solis (of the sun) ortu (rising) usque (until) ad (to) occasum (the setting)

The second group of phrases remind us that the duty of worship of God is eternal: it is the work of heaven.  But it is also our task here and now: our daily round of praise has particular high points in the created world, recognised by the Church in the 'hinges' of the Office, namely dawn (Lauds) and the setting of the sun (Vespers), that remind us that all creation resounds with the praise of God, it is our duty to join in it.

ortus, us, m. ,, a rising of the heavenly bodies;  the east. From the rising of the sun unto its setting.
sol, solis, m., the sun.
occasus, us, m. prop., the going down or setting of the sun, stars, etc; the quarter of the heavens in which the sun sets: the west, sunset.

Meditatio

Why do we praise the name of God? 

The catechism instructs: "Among all the words of Revelation, there is one which is unique: the revealed name of God. God confides his name to those who believe in him; he reveals himself to them in his personal mystery. The gift of a name belongs to the order of trust and intimacy. "The Lord's name is holy." For this reason man must not abuse it. He must keep it in mind in silent, loving adoration. He will not introduce it into his own speech except to bless, praise, and glorify it."

Oratio

How wonderful your name in all the earth, O Lord, how great a power to defend us.

To the people of old your name was ever hidden from view, symbol of the separation of man from heaven.

But for us you have opened the door by taking on our flesh, and taking on a human form and name.  You invite us to call you friend and brother; to call God Father.

How wonderful your name in all the universe O Lord, the name that by confessing we are saved.

Contemplatio

How fitting it is that we praise the name of God from the rising of the sun to the setting thereof each Sunday when we celebrate the Resurrection.

The psalm so far

1 Laudate, pueri, Dominum; laudate nomen Domini.
2 Sit nomen Domini benedictum ex hoc nunc et usque in sæculum.
3 A solis ortu usque ad occasum laudabile nomen Domini. 



You can find the next post in this series of notes on Psalm 112 here.

Monday, June 17, 2013

Psalm 112 verse 1: Reject the quest for an 'adult' faith!


In the last post I provided a general introduction to Psalm 112.  Now some lectio divina notes on the first verse.

We often hear, these days, about the need to develop an 'adult' faith.  Too often it is code for rejecting the teaching of the Church in favour of our own desires.

Scripture, on the other hand, tends to emphasize the need to cultivate a child-like attitude of trust, as the first verse of Psalm 112 suggests:

Laudate, pueri, Dominum; laudate nomen Domini.
Praise the Lord, you children: praise the name of the Lord.

Lectio

Laudate (Praise, imperative), pueri (O children/servants (vocative), Dominum (the Lord)

The allusion to children here is interpreted by the Fathers as reflecting the Gospel injunction (and numerous Old Testament allusions) to the need to be childlike in our openness to the faith: Christ, after all, instructs us to pray to God as 'Our Father'.  It is an injunction to cultivate the purity of heart necessary for worship.

It is true, of coures, that in both Greek and Latin the same word can be used to mean both 'servants' and 'children'.  Yet given the line of continuity in the patristic commentaries, as well as the Our Lord's own emphasis on cultivating a childlike faith, the change of the Latin in the Neo-Vulgate to servi seems a poor choice.

laudo, avi, atum, are  to praise, glorify, to boast, glory, rejoice.
puer, eri, m. lit., a boy, child; a servant.

 Meditatio

What does a childlike faith entail?

The Fathers variously suggest purity and piety as key components of this state.  But there are other dimensions we need to consider.  First, St Augustine teaches that it lies not in the rejection of an adult understanding of the faith, but rather in the rejection of pride:

"For it is pride that, presuming in false greatness, suffers not man to walk along the narrow path, and to enter by the narrow gate; but the child easily enters through the narrow entrance; and thus no man, save as a child, enters into the kingdom of heaven."


St Robert Bellarmine adds the duty of obedience to the mix, providing a helpful reconciliation of the two possible meanings of pueri, suggesting that the key duty of both children and servants is to obey the will of God:

"Children, here, represent the servants of the Lord who worship him in all sincerity. That is clear from the Hebrew for children. Children and servants, however, are so clearly allied that the term may be applied indiscriminately to both, for ser­vants should be as obedient to their masters as children are to their parents. Hence, St. Paul says, "As long as the heir is a child he differeth nothing from a servant." We are, therefore, reminded by the term "children," that we should be the pure and simple servants of God, and be directed by his will, with­out raising any question whatever about it. "Praise the Lord, ye children; praise ye the name of the Lord." Let it be your principal study, all you who claim to be servants of God, to reflect with a pure mind on the greatness of your Lord, and with all the affections of your heart to praise his infinite name. A similar exhortation is to be found in Psalm 133, "Behold now bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord;" and in Psalm 134, "Praise ye the name of the Lord: O you his ser­vants, praise the Lord."

Oratio

Teach us Lord to do your will.

To obey your commandments, and accept and do all that your holy Church teaches and instructs us to.

To take up the tasks you have given us at this moment and always to advance your kingdom.

Contemplatio

Cassiodorus' commentary reminds us of the fundamental dignity of the child that commends this childlike state to us:

"The label children is known to be applied to the simplest and purest, for the Lord himself is called a Child, as in the passage: Unto us a child is born. Clearly this period of life was chosen by the Lord for its innocence, for He says to His disciples: Suffer little children to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven."



You can find the next part in this set of notes on Psalm 112 here.

Sunday, June 16, 2013

The psalms of Sunday Vespers; Psalm 112



Quite a while back I started a series on the psalms of Sunday Vespers, which I interrupted for Lent.

Today I want to resume that series, with a look at the final psalm for Sunday Vespers in the Benedictine Office, Psalm 112.

You can find the previous posts in this series as follows:
The text of the psalm

Vulgate
Douay-Rheims
Alleluja.

1 Laudáte, púeri, Dóminum: * laudáte nomen Dómini.
Praise the Lord, you children: praise the name of the Lord
2  Sit nomen Dómini benedíctum, * ex hoc nunc, et usque in sæculum.
2 Blessed be the name of the Lord, from henceforth now and for ever.
3  A solis ortu usque ad occásum, * laudábile nomen Dómini.
3 From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same, the name of the Lord is worthy of praise.
4  Excélsus super omnes gentes Dóminus, * et super cælos glória ejus.
4 The Lord is high above all nations; and his glory above the heavens.
5  Quis sicut Dóminus, Deus noster, qui in altis hábitat, * et humília réspicit in cælo et in terra?
5 Who is as the Lord our God, who dwells on high: 6 And looks down on the low things in heaven and in earth?
6  Súscitans a terra ínopem, * et de stércore érigens páuperem:
7 Raising up the needy from the earth, and lifting up the poor out of the dunghill:
7  Ut cóllocet eum cum princípibus, * cum princípibus pópuli sui.
8 That he may place him with princes, with the princes of his people.
8  Qui habitáre facit stérilem in domo, * matrem filiórum lætántem.
9 Who makes a barren woman to dwell in a house, the joyful mother of children.


Psalm 112 in the Benedictine Psalter

The Benedictine version of Sunday Vespers is one psalm shorter than the Roman, and that is I think a very deliberate decision on St Benedict's part, for their is an important symmetry at play.

At Lauds, the first of the variable psalms is Psalm 117, the last of the Hallel Psalms, the set of psalms used at the Paschal liturgy.  And now here at Vespers the Office ends on the first of the set, Psalm 112.

How fitting for the day when, above all, we celebrate once again the Paschal mystery and the sacrifice of Christ, our Paschal lamb!

There is more to it than that though, I think, for in Psalm 117, we are told that Christ, the stone that the builders rejected', has become the cornerstone of the New Testament, the founder of the Church.

Psalm 112 brings us back to that theme very clearly, particularly in its final verse which speaks of the barren woman bearing many children, an image interpreted as referring to the Church.

Each verse of the psalm takes on new light when interpreted Christologically, and I'll look at the verses in more detail in subsequent parts of this mini-series.

First though by way of an overview, here are some comments on the psalm by Pope Benedict XVI from a General Audience he gave on it in 2005.

Pope Benedict XVI on Psalm 112

"We have just heard, in its simplicity and beauty, Psalm 113[112], a true introduction into a small group of Psalms that go from 113[112] to 118[117], commonly known as the "Egyptian Hallel". It is the Alleluia, or song of praise, that exalts the liberation from Pharaoh's slavery and the joy of Israel to serve the Lord freely in the Promised Land (cf. Ps 114[113]). 

The Jewish tradition intentionally connected this series of Psalms to the Paschal liturgy. The celebration of that event, according to its historical-social and, more especially, spiritual dimensions, was perceived as a sign of liberation from the multifaceted forms of evil. Psalm 113[112] is a brief hymn that in its original Hebrew consists of only 60 or so words, all imbued with sentiments of trust, praise and joy. 

The first strophe (cf. Ps 113[112]: 1-3) praises "the name of the Lord" who, as is known, indicates in Biblical language the person of God himself, his presence, living and working in human history. Three times, with impassioned insistence, the "name of the Lord" resounds at the centre of the prayer of adoration. All being and all time - "from the rising of the sun to its setting", as the Psalmist says (v. 3) - are involved in a single action of grace. It is as if a ceaseless breath were rising from earth to heaven to praise the Lord, Creator of the universe and King of history. 

Precisely by means of this ascending movement, the Psalm leads us to the divine mystery. Indeed, the second part (cf. vv. 4-6) celebrates the Lord's transcendence, described with vertical images that go beyond the mere human horizon. It is proclaimed: the Lord is "sublime", "enthroned on high", and no one is equal; also, to look at the heavens he must "stoop", since "above the heavens is his glory" (v. 4).
The divine gaze watches over all realities, over all beings, earthly and heavenly.  However, his eyes are not arrogant and distant, like that of a cold emperor. The Lord, the Psalmist says, "stoops... to look" (v. 6). 

In this way, we pass to the last part of the Psalm (cf. vv. 7-9), which moves the attention from the heights of the heavens to our earthly horizon. The Lord attentively stoops down towards our littleness and poverty, which drives us to withdraw in fear. He looks directly, with his loving gaze and his real concern, upon the world's lowly and poor: "From the dust he lifts up the lowly, from his misery he raises the poor" (v. 7). 

God bends down, therefore, to console the needy and those who suffer; this word finds its ultimate wealth, its ultimate meaning in the moment in which God bends over to the point of bending down, of becoming one of us, one of the world's poor. He bestows the greatest honour on the poor, that of sitting "in the company of princes, yes, with the princes of his people" (v. 8). 

To the abandoned and childless woman, humiliated by ancient society as if she were a worthless, dead branch, God gives the honour and the immense joy of many children (cf. v. 9). And so, the Psalmist praises a God who is very different from us in his grandeur, but at the same time very close to his suffering creatures. 

It is easy to draw from these final verses of Psalm 113[112] the prefiguration of the words of Mary in the Magnificat, the Canticle of God's chosen one, who "looked with favour on his lowly servant". More radically than our Psalm, Mary proclaims that God "casts down the mighty from their thrones and lifts up the lowly" (cf. Lk 1: 48, 52; Ps 113 [112]: 6-8). 

A very ancient "Hymn of Vespers", preserved in the so-called Apostolic Constitutions (VII, 48), takes up once more and develops the joyful introduction to our Psalm. We recall it here, at the end of our reflection, to highlight the customary "Christian" re-reading of the Psalms done by the early community: "Praise the Lord, O children, praise the name of the Lord. We worship you, we sing to you, we praise you for your immense glory. Lord King, Father of Christ, spotless Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. To you all praise, to you our song, to you the glory, to God the Father through the Son in the Spirit, for ever and ever. Amen" (S. Pricoco M. Simonetti, La preghiera dei cristiani, Milan, 2000, p. 97)." 


 Scriptural and liturgical uses of the psalm

NT references
Lk 1:52 (6)
RB cursus
Sunday Vespers+AN (4971), v2
Monastic feasts etc
Full psalm V
Christmas, Epiphany, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost,
Trinity, Transfiguration, Holy Cross;
1 Vespers of all male saints;
Dedication of a Church;
2 V of Apostles, Several martyrs, Common of Our Lady&female saints
St Joseph, St Benedict, Nativity of St JB;
AN: 3588 (v1); 2774, 2775 (v4); 1854 (v8)
Responsories
7045 (v, 3 in H, AD4); 6005, (v3&4), 6692 (v4)
Roman pre 1911
Sunday Vespers
Roman post 1911
1911-62: Sunday Vespers . 1970:
Mass propers (EF)
Easter Sat AL (1);
Sept Ember Wed, GR (5-6);
IN (triplex 5322) v2, 9



You can find lectio divina notes for each verse in a series starting here.