Tenebrae/16 - Psalm 21

Today, rather than my own thoughts, I want to offer for your consideration the wonderful instruction on Psalm 21, the second psalm of Good Friday Tenebrae, offered by the now retired Pope Benedict XVI at a General Audience of 14 September 2011:

"In the Catechesis today I would like to apply myself to a Psalm with strong Christological implications which continually surface in accounts of Jesus' passion, with its twofold dimension of humiliation and glory, of death and life. It is Psalm 22 according to the Hebrew tradition and Psalm 21 according to the Graeco-Latin tradition, a heartfelt, moving prayer with a human density and theological richness that make it one of the most frequently prayed and studied Psalms in the entire Psalter. It is a long poetic composition and we shall reflect in particular on its first part, centred on the lament, in order to examine in depth certain important dimensions of the prayer of supplication to God.

This Psalm presents the figure of an innocent man, persecuted and surrounded by adversaries who clamour for his death; and he turns to God with a sorrowful lament which, in the certainty of his faith, opens mysteriously to praise. The anguishing reality of the present and the consoling memory of the past alternate in his prayer in an agonized awareness of his own desperate situation in which, however, he does not want to give up hope. His initial cry is an appeal addressed to a God who appears remote, who does not answer and seems to have abandoned him: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer; and by night, but find no rest” (vv. 3-4).

God is silent and this silence pierces the soul of the person praying, who ceaselessly calls but receives no answer. Day and night succeed one another in an unflagging quest for a word, for help that does not come, God seems so distant, so forgetful, so absent. The prayer asks to be heard, to be answered, it begs for contact, seeks a relationship that can give comfort and salvation. But if God fails to respond, the cry of help is lost in the void and loneliness becomes unbearable.

Yet, in his cry, the praying man of our Psalm calls the Lord “my” God at least three times, in an extreme act of trust and faith. In spite of all appearances, the Psalmist cannot believe that his link with the Lord is totally broken and while he asks the reason for a presumed incomprehensible abandonment, he says that “his” God cannot forsake him.

As is well known, the initial cry of the Psalm, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”, is recorded by the Gospels of Matthew and Mark as the cry uttered by Jesus dying on the Cross (cf. Mt 27:46, Mk 15:34). It expresses all the desolation of the Messiah, Son of God, who is facing the drama of death, a reality totally opposed to the Lord of life. Forsaken by almost all his followers, betrayed and denied by the disciples, surrounded by people who insult him, Jesus is under the crushing weight of a mission that was to pass through humiliation and annihilation. This is why he cried out to the Father, and his suffering took up the sorrowful words of the Psalm. But his is not a desperate cry, nor was that of the Psalmist who, in his supplication, takes a tormented path which nevertheless opens out at last into a perspective of praise, into trust in the divine victory.

And since in the Jewish custom citing the beginning of a Psalm implied a reference to the whole poem, although Jesus’ anguished prayer retains its burden of unspeakable suffering, it unfolds to the certainty of glory. “Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?”, the Risen Christ was to say to the disciples at Emmaus (Lk 24:26). In his passion, in obedience to the Father, the Lord Jesus passes through abandonment and death to reach life and to give it to all believers.

This initial cry of supplication in our Psalm 22[21] is followed in sorrowful contrast by the memory of the past, “In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you did deliver them. To you they cried, and were saved; in you they trusted, and were not disappointed” (vv. 5-6).

The God who appears today to be so remote to the Psalmist, is nonetheless the merciful Lord whom Israel experienced throughout its history. The People to whom the praying person belongs is the object of God’s love and can witness to his fidelity to him. Starting with the Patriarchs, then in Egypt and on the long pilgrimage through the wilderness, in the stay in the promised land in contact with aggressive and hostile peoples, to the night of the exile, the whole of biblical history is a history of a cry for help on the part of the People and of saving answers on the part of God.

And the Psalmist refers to the steadfast faith of his ancestors who “trusted” — this word is repeated three times — without ever being disappointed. Then, however, it seems that this chain of trusting invocations and divine answers has been broken; the Psalmist’s situation seems to deny the entire history of salvation, making the present reality even more painful.

God, however, cannot deny himself so here the prayer returns to describing the distressing plight of the praying person, to induce the Lord to have pity on him and to intervene, as he always had done in the past. The Psalmist describes himself as “a worm, and no man”, scorned by men, and despised by the people” (v. 7). He was mocked, people made grimaces at him, (cf. v. 8), and wounded in his faith itself. “He committed his cause to the Lord; let him deliver him, let him rescue him, for he delights in him!” (v. 9), they said.

Under the jeering blows of irony and contempt, it almost seems as though the persecuted man loses his own human features, like the suffering servant outlined in the Book of Isaiah (cf. 52:14; 53:2b-3). And like the oppressed righteous man in the Book of Wisdom (cf. 2:12-20), like Jesus on Calvary (cf. Mt 27:39-43), the Psalmist saw his own relationship with the Lord called into question in the cruel and sarcastic emphasis of what is causing him to suffer: God’s silence, his apparent absence. And yet God was present with an indisputable tenderness in the life of the person praying. The Psalmist reminds the Lord of this: “Yet you are he who took me from the womb; you did keep me safe upon my mother’s breasts. Upon you was I cast from my birth” (vv. 10-11a).

The Lord is the God of life who brings the newborn child into the world and cares for him with a father’s affection. And though the memory of God’s fidelity in the history of the people has first been recalled, the praying person now re-evokes his own personal history of relations with the Lord, going back to the particularly significant moment of the beginning of his life. And here, despite the desolation of the present, the Psalmist recognizes a closeness and a divine love so radical that he can now exclaim, in a confession full of faith and generating hope: “and since my mother bore me you have been my God” (v. 11b).

The lament then becomes a heartfelt plea: “Be not far from me, for trouble is near and there is none to help” (v. 12). The only closeness that the Psalmist can perceive and that fills him with fear was that of his enemies. It is therefore necessary for God to make himself close and to help him, because enemies surround the praying man, they encircle him and were like strong bulls, like ravening and roaring lions (cf. vv. 13-14). Anguish alters his perception of the danger, magnifying it. The adversaries seem invincible, they become ferocious, dangerous animals, while the Psalmist is like a small worm, powerless and defenceless.

Yet these images used in the Psalm also serve to describe that when man becomes brutal and attacks his brother, something brutal within him takes the upper hand, he seems to lose any human likeness; violence always has something bestial about it and only God’s saving intervention can restore humanity to human beings.

Now, it seems to the Psalmist, the object of so much ferocious aggression, that he no longer has any way out and death begins to take possession of him: “I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint… my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaves to my jaws… they divide my garments among them, and for my raiment they cast lots” (vv. 15, 16, 19).

The disintegration of the body of the condemned man is described with the dramatic images that we encounter in the accounts of Christ’s passion, the unbearable parching thirst that torments the dying man that is echoed in Jesus’ request “I thirst” (cf. Jn 19:28), until we reach the definitive act of his tormentors, who, like the soldiers at the foot of the cross divide the clothes of the victim whom they consider already dead (cf. Mt 27:35; Mk 15:24; Lk 23:34; Jn 19:23-24).

Here then, impelling, once again comes the request for help: “But you, O Lord, be not far off! O you my help, hasten to my aid!... Save me” (vv. 20; 22a). This is a cry that opens the Heavens, because it proclaims a faith, a certainty that goes beyond all doubt, all darkness and all desolation. And the lament is transformed, it gives way to praise in the acceptance of salvation: “He has heard... I will tell of your name to my brethren; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you” (vv. 22c-23).

In this way the Psalm opens to thanksgiving, to the great final hymn that sweeps up the whole people, the Lord’s faithful, the liturgical assembly, the generations to come (cf. vv. 24-32). The Lord went to the rescue, he saved the poor man and showed his merciful face. Death and life are interwoven in an inseparable mystery and life triumphs, the God of salvation shows himself to be the undisputed Lord whom all the ends of the earth will praise and before whom all the families of the nations will bow down. It is the victory of faith which can transform death into the gift of life, the abyss of sorrow into a source of hope.

Dear brothers and sisters, this Psalm has taken us to Golgotha, to the foot of the cross of Jesus, to relive his passion and to share the fruitful joy of the resurrection. Let us therefore allow ourselves to be invaded by the light of the paschal mystery even in God’s apparent absence, even in God’s silence, and, like the disciples of Emmaus, let us learn to discern the true reality beyond appearances, recognizing humiliation itself as the way to exaltation, and the cross as the full manifestation of life in earth. Thus, replacing in God the Father all our trust and hope, in every anxiety we will be able to pray to him with faith, and our cry of help will be transformed into a hymn of praise."

Psalm 21

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
In finem, pro susceptione matutina. Psalmus David.	Unto the end, for the morning protection, a psalm for David.
1 Deus, Deus meus, réspice in me: quare me dereliquísti? * longe a salúte mea verba delictórum meórum.	God my God, look upon me: why have you forsaken me? Far from my salvation are the words of my sins.
2  Deus meus, clamábo per diem, et non exáudies: * et nocte, et non ad insipiéntiam mihi.	3 O my God, I shall cry by day, and you will not hear: and by night, and it shall not be reputed as folly in me.
3  Tu autem in sancto hábitas: * laus Israël.	4 But you dwell in the holy place, the praise of Israel.
4  In te speravérunt patres nostri: * speravérunt, et liberásti eos.	5 In you have our fathers hoped: they have hoped, and you have delivered them
5  Ad te clamavérunt, et salvi facti sunt: * in te speravérunt, et non sunt confúsi.	6 They cried to you, and they were saved: they trusted in you, and were not confounded.
6  Ego autem sum vermis, et non homo: * oppróbrium hóminum, et abjéctio plebis.	7 But I am a worm, and no man: the reproach of men, and the outcast of the people.
7  Omnes vidéntes me derisérunt me: * locúti sunt lábiis, et movérunt caput.	8 All they that saw me have laughed me to scorn: they have spoken with the lips, and wagged the head.
8  Sperávit in Dómino, erípiat eum: * salvum fáciat eum, quóniam vult eum.	9 He hoped in the Lord, let him deliver him: let him save him, seeing he delights in him.
9  Quóniam tu es, qui extraxísti me de ventre: * spes mea ab ubéribus matris meæ.	10 For you are he that have drawn me out of the womb: my hope from the breasts of my mother.
10  In te projéctus sum ex útero: de ventre matris meæ Deus meus es tu, * ne discésseris a me :	11 I was cast upon you from the womb. From my mother's womb you are my God,
11  Quóniam tribulátio próxima est: * quóniam non est qui ádjuvet.	12 depart not from me. For tribulation is very near: for there is none to help me.
12  Circumdedérunt me vítuli multi: * tauri pingues obsedérunt me.	13 Many calves have surrounded me: fat bulls have besieged me.
13  Aperuérunt super me os suum: * sicut leo rápiens et rúgiens.	14 They have opened their mouths against me, as a lion ravening and roaring.
14  Sicut aqua effúsus sum: * et dispérsa sunt ómnia ossa mea.	15 I am poured out like water; and all my bones are scattered.
15  Factum est cor meum tamquam cera liquéscens: * in médio ventris mei.	My heart has become like wax melting in the midst of my bowels.
16  Aruit tamquam testa virtus mea, et lingua mea adhæsit fáucibus meis: * et in púlverem mortis deduxísti me.	16 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue has cleaved to my jaws: and you have brought me down into the dust of death.
17  Quóniam circumdedérunt me canes multi: * concílium malignántium obsédit me.	17 For many dogs have encompassed me: the council of the malignant has besieged me.
18  Fodérunt manus meas et pedes meos: * dinumeravérunt ómnia ossa mea.	They have dug my hands and feet. 18 They have numbered all my bones.
19  Ipsi vero consíderavérunt et inspexérunt me: * divisérunt sibi vestiménta mea, et super vestem meam misérunt sortem.	And they have looked and stared upon me. 19 They parted my garments amongst them; and upon my vesture they cast lots.
20  Tu autem, Dómine, ne elongáveris auxílium tuum a me: * ad defensiónem meam cónspice.	20 But you, O Lord, remove not your help to a distance from me; look towards my defence.
21  Erue a frámea, Deus, ánimam meam: * et de manu canis únicam meam.	21 Deliver, O God, my soul from the sword: my only one from the hand of the dog.
22  Salva me ex ore leónis: * et a córnibus unicórnium humilitátem meam.	22 Save me from the lion's mouth; and my lowness from the horns of the unicorns.
23  Narrábo nomen tuum frátribus meis: * in médio Ecclésiæ laudábo te.	23 I will declare your name to my brethren: in the midst of the church will I praise you.
24  Qui timétis Dóminum, laudáte eum: * univérsum semen Jacob, glorificáte eum.	24 You that fear the Lord, praise him: all you the seed of Jacob, glorify him.
25  Tímeat eum omne semen Israël: * quóniam non sprevit, neque despéxit deprecatiónem páuperis :	25 Let all the seed of Israel fear him: because he has not slighted nor despised the supplication of the poor man.
26  Nec avértit fáciem suam a me: * et cum clamárem ad eum, exaudívit me.	Neither has he turned away his face from me: and when I cried to him he heard me.
27  Apud te laus mea in ecclésia magna: * vota mea reddam in conspéctu timéntium eum.	26 With you is my praise in a great church: I will pay my vows in the sight of them that fear him.
28  Edent páuperes, et saturabúntur: et laudábunt Dóminum qui requírunt eum: * vivent corda eórum in sæculum sæculi.	27 The poor shall eat and shall be filled: and they shall praise the Lord that seek him: their hearts shall live for ever and ever.
29  Reminiscéntur et converténtur ad Dóminum * univérsi fines terræ :	28 All the ends of the earth shall remember, and shall be converted to the Lord:
30  Et adorábunt in conspéctu ejus * univérsæ famíliæ Géntium.	And all the kindreds of the Gentiles shall adore in his sight.
31  Quóniam Dómini est regnum: * et ipse dominábitur Géntium.	29 For the kingdom is the Lord's; and he shall have dominion over the nations.
32  Manducavérunt et adoravérunt omnes pingues terræ: * in conspéctu ejus cadent omnes qui descéndunt in terram.	30 All the fat ones of the earth have eaten and have adored: all they that go down to the earth shall fall before him.
33  Et ánima mea illi vivet: * et semen meum sérviet ipsi.	31 And to him my soul shall live: and my seed shall serve him.
34  Annuntiábitur Dómino generátio ventúra: * et annuntiábunt cæli justítiam ejus pópulo qui nascétur, quem fecit Dóminus.	32 There shall be declared to the Lord a generation to come: and the heavens shall show forth his justice to a people that shall be born, which the Lord has made.

Tenebrae of Good Friday

Nocturn I: Psalms 2, 21, 26

Nocturn II: Psalms 37, 39, 53*

Nocturn III: Psalms 58, 87*, 93

Lauds: 50*, 142, 84, [Hab], 147

Liturgical and Scriptural uses of the psalm

NT references	Mt 27:46, Mk 15:34 (1); Romans 9:33 (5); Mt 27:39, Mk 15:29, Lk 23:35 (v7); Mt 27:43 (v8); 1 Pet 5:8 (13); Mt 27:35, Mk 15:24, Lk 23:34, Jn 19:24 (19); 2 Tim 4:17 (22); Heb 2:12 (23); Rev 19:5 (v24); Rev 11:15 (v31); Eph 2: 7(v34)
RB cursus	Sunday M I, 2;
Monastic/(Roman) feasts etc	Good Friday Tenebrae, I, 2
Responsories	Easter 4&5 v23
Roman pre 1911	Friday Prime
Roman post 1911	1911-62: Prime Friday . 1970:
Mass propers (EF)	Stripping of the Altar on Maundy Thursday, Psalm Sunday IN (1, 20, 22), TR (1-8, 18-19, 21, 24, 34);

And notes on the next psalm in the series can be found here.

Tenebrae/15 - Psalm 2: Why do the nations rage?

Today we have reached the start of the psalms of Tenebrae for Good Friday, and today's psalm, Psalm 2, sets the scene for the day's events, with its verses on the plotting of princes against the King of the world, most famous in its setting by Handel:



Why do the nations rage?

The New Testament repeatedly makes it clear that Psalm 2’s plotting Kings and raging peoples refers to Pilate and Herod and all those who plotted against and persecuted Our Lord.

In particular, in Acts 4, St Peter cites the psalm and then says:

“…for truly in this city there were gathered together against thy holy servant Jesus, whom thou didst anoint, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever thy hand and thy plan had predestined to take place.”

But the psalm can surely also be given a more contemporary meaning: the peoples plotting together are those advocating the secularist and new aggressive-atheistic rejection of the authority of God in society.  It is a rejection of God that pretends that sodomy is something praiseworthy rather than the perversion of our sexuality; that the great gift of life is something to be extinguished at our whim; and that the pursuit of self-indulgent pleasure is the highest ideal in our empty lives.

The bonds of God's love and homosexuality

In his commentary on verse 3 St Thomas Aquinas explains the rationale for the strong condemnations of atheism in the psalms.  He explains that atheism involves a specific rejection of God, the desire to ‘break the bonds’ of the natural law written on men's hearts, and the divine law taught to us by Christ.

Just how literally secularists and pretend-Christians take this desire to 'break their bonds asunder' is illustrated by a piece in the Australian Jesuit rag Eureka Street earlier this week, in an article that paints fidelity to Church teaching on homosexuality as a form of slavery, a form of bondage that needs to be broken!

What Scripture actually teaches us, though, is nicely summarized in the latter half of this psalm.

In verse 11 we are told to serve the Lord with fear and trembling. Verse 12 tells us to accept instruction, correction and discipline.  Finally, we are told to trust in God.

Like Our Lord, we may find ourselves suffering temptations and persecuted, but if we put our trust in God, we will reach the happy end he promises.

Psalm 2

Psalm 2: Quare fremuérunt Gentes

Vulgate	Douay Rheims
Quare fremuérunt Gentes: * et pópuli meditáti sunt inánia?	Why have the Gentiles raged, and the people devised vain things?
2  Astitérunt reges terræ, et príncipes convenérunt in unum * advérsus Dóminum, et advérsus Christum ejus.	The kings of the earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord, and against his Christ.
3  Dirumpámus víncula eórum: * et projiciámus a nobis jugum ipsórum.	Let us break their bonds asunder: and let us cast away their yoke from us.
4. Qui hábitat in cælis, irridébit eos: * et Dóminus subsannábit eos.	He that dwells in heaven shall laugh at them: and the Lord shall deride them.
5  Tunc loquétur ad eos in ira sua, * et in furóre suo conturbábit eos.	Then shall he speak to them in his anger, and trouble them in his rage.
6  Ego autem constitútus sum Rex ab eo super Sion montem sanctum ejus, * prædicans præcéptum ejus.	But I am appointed king by him over Sion, his holy mountain, preaching his commandment.
7  Dóminus dixit ad me: * Fílius meus es tu, ego hódie génui te.	The Lord has said to me: You are my son, this day have I begotten you.
8  Póstula a me, et dábo tibi Gentes hereditátem tuam, * et possessiónem tuam términos terræ.	Ask of me, and I will give you the Gentiles for your inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for your possession
9  Reges eos in virga férrea, * et tamquam vas fíguli confrínges eos.	You shall rule them with a rod of iron, and shall break them in pieces like a potter's vessel.
10  Et nunc, reges, intellígite: * erudímini, qui judicátis terram.	And now, O you kings, understand: receive instruction, you that judge the earth.
11  Servíte Dómino in timóre: * et exsultáte ei cum tremóre.	Serve the Lord with fear: and rejoice unto him with trembling.
12  Apprehéndite disciplínam, nequándo irascátur Dóminus, * et pereátis de via justa.	Embrace discipline, lest at any time the Lord be angry, and you perish from the just way.
13  Cum exárserit in brevi ira ejus: * beáti omnes qui confídunt in eo.	When his wrath shall be kindled in a short time, blessed are all they that trust in him.

Tenebrae of Good Friday

Nocturn I: Psalms 2, 21, 26

Nocturn II: Psalms 37, 39, 53*

Nocturn III: Psalms 58, 87*, 93

Lauds: 50*, 142, 84, [Hab], 147

Notes on the next psalm can be found here.

Tenebrae/14 - Psalm 146 (147a): On building up the Church

Codex Egberti, c980-993

Tenebrae for Maundy Thursday ends, so far as the psalms go, on a rather upbeat note that reminds us that everything will come out all right in the end!

In the Hebrew Masoretic Text Psalm 146 becomes the first half of Psalm 147, but that doesn't make a whole lot of sense, for the two are clearly quite distinct psalms.

Building up the Church

The emphasis of this (part of the) psalm is on all the things we should praise God for in the hear and now - particularly his work of Creation; his ongoing providential care of his creation; and especially his care for the downtrodden and brokenhearted.

Above all, this psalm reminds us of the purpose of Christ's mission and that of the Church in this period following the Resurrection: though the body of his Temple is about to be destroyed, yet "The Lord builds up Jerusalem: he will gather together the dispersed of Israel."

In the previous Canticle, the Eucharist was presented as the key to this task.  This psalm points to the things that flow from it, necessary to bring the message of hope and God's mercy to all.

We are all called to lend our hands to God for this task in our own way.  We can help buildup the Church through our prayers and offerings, and especially participation in the liturgy; through our works of charity in aiding the downtrodden; and through our preaching and teaching conveyed both in words, and more importantly action.

Psalm 146

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
Alleluia
Laudáte Dóminum quóniam bonus est psalmus: * Deo nostro sit jucúnda, decóraque laudátio.	Praise the Lord, because psalm is good: to our God be joyful and comely praise.
2  Ædíficans Jerúsalem Dóminus: * dispersiónes Israël congregábit.	2 The Lord builds up Jerusalem: he will gather together the dispersed of Israel.
3  Qui sanat contrítos corde: * et álligat contritiónes eórum.	3 Who heals the broken of heart, and binds up their bruises.
4  Qui númerat multitúdinem stellárum: * et ómnibus eis nómina vocat.	4 Who tells the number of the stars: and calls them all by their names.
5  Magnus Dóminus noster, et magna virtus ejus: * et sapiéntiæ ejus non est númerus.	5 Great is our Lord, and great is his power: and of his wisdom there is no number
6  Suscípiens mansuétos Dóminus: * humílians autem peccatóres usque ad terram.	6 The Lord lifts up the meek, and brings the wicked down even to the ground.
7  Præcínite Dómino in confessióne: * psállite Deo nostro in cíthara.	7 Sing to the Lord with praise: sing to our God upon the harp.
8  Qui óperit cælum núbibus: * et parat terræ plúviam.	8 Who covers the heaven with clouds, and prepares rain for the earth.
9  Qui prodúcit in móntibus fœnum: * et herbam servitúti hóminum.	Who makes grass to grow on the mountains, and herbs for the service of men.
10  Qui dat juméntis escam ipsórum: * et pullis corvórum invocántibus eum.	9 Who gives to beasts their food: and to the young ravens that call upon him.
11  Non in fortitúdine equi voluntátem habébit: * nec in tíbiis viri beneplácitum erit ei.	10 He shall not delight in the strength of the horse: nor take pleasure in the legs of a man.
12  Beneplácitum est Dómino super timéntes eum: * et in eis, qui sperant super misericórdia ejus.	11 The Lord takes pleasure in them that fear him: and in them that hope in his mercy.

Tenebrae of Holy Thursday

Nocturn I: Psalms 68, 69, 70

Nocturn II: Psalms 71, 72, 73

Nocturn III: Psalms 74, 75, 76

Lauds: 50, 89, 35, [Ex 15], 146

And you can find the next part in this series, on the psalms of Tenebrae for Good Friday, here.

Scriptural and liturgical uses of the psalm

NT references	Acts 14:17 (8); Mt 6:26, Lk 12:24 (10);
RB cursus	Sat Vespers+AN 2148
Monastic feasts etc	Maundy Thurs Tenebrae Lauds AN 1297(2), 2962 (5); 5066 (11)
Responsories	7119, 7121 (Magnus Dominus noster, v5-6, H) 7117 (Trinity no 7)
Roman pre 1911	Sat Vespers
Roman post 1911	1911-62: Thurs Lauds . 1970:
Mass propers (EF)	-

Tenebrae/13 - Exodus 15

We come today to one of the 'psalms', or  Office canticles, not actually from the book of psalms, but rather from Exodus 15:1-19.

Up until now the psalms of Tenebrae have largely focused on Our Lord's prayer in the Garden, and his arrest.  This canticle, though, takes us back to the Last Supper as the ninth century commentator Hrabanus Maurus tells us in his commentary on the Office canticles:

 “For on Thursday justly is sung the song of the Israelites, which they sung after the pasch celebrating being freed from Egypt and conveyed through the Red Sea dry foot.  For on the same day our saviour figuratively celebrating the pasch with his disciples, he offered the paschal mystery continuing in the sacrament of his body and blood and in this immolation of the lamb, who takes away the sins of the world.”

A psalm of victory

The whole canticle is actually a rather joyously upbeat hymn of victory.

But why then a victory psalm for Maundy Thursday?

We have become accustomed, I think, to dwelling, perhaps unduly, on the sufferings of Christ in considering the Triduum.

By contrast, the Fathers often tended to see the events of Easter more as the triumphant fulfillment of God’s promise of redemption to his people, foreshadowed in these Old Testament events.

Scriptural context

The Scriptural context around this Canticle is important.

Before the Canticle, in Exodus Chapter 12-13, we read of the people of Israel celebrating that first Pasch, marking the doors of their houses with the blood of the lamb to protect them against the avenging angels who slew the first-born of Israel.  Moses then leads the people out of Egypt, but the Egyptians pursue.  The people are terrified, wishing that they had not followed Moses (Exodus 14) – until he miraculously parts the Red Sea to let them cross, and then lets the waters flow back drowning the pursuing Egyptians.

The people rejoice, and this canticle (and the attribution formula suggests that it was actually Miriam, sister of Aaron rather than Moses) is then sung (Chapter 15).

Yet no sooner is this song sung than Exodus records that the people are once more murmuring against Moses, this time complaining at the lack of food and water, foreshadowing perhaps those dark and desolate days of Good Friday and Holy Saturday when the Mass is not celebrated.  But then in Chapter 16, the miracle of the manna in the desert, that second foreshadowing of the Eucharist, of the Resurrection, is recorded.

The Lord is a man of war

This canticle perhaps points us to consider a slightly different emphasis to our meditations on the Cross for the moment.  It should remind us that the sufferings of Christ are part of the eternal battle against sin and its effects; against those whose hearts have been so hardened that they plot against God and his people.

It should be a reminder that our own sins put Christ on the Cross, and that we must war against them, led by the God who is a man of war, yet paradoxically also the Prince of Peace; and strengthened by the Paschal sacrifice he offers for us.

Exodus 15:1-19

Cantémus Dómino: glorióse enim magnificátus est, * equum et ascensórem dejécit in mare.
Fortitúdo mea, et laus mea Dóminus, * et factus est mihi in salútem.
Iste Deus meus, et glorificábo eum: * Deus patris mei, et exaltábo eum.
Dóminus quasi vir pugnátor, Omnípotens nomen ejus. * Currus Pharaónis et exércitum ejus projécit in mare.
Elécti príncipes ejus submérsi sunt in mari Rubro: * abyssi operuérunt eos, descendérunt in profúndum quasi lapis.
Déxtera tua, Dómine, magnificáta est in fortitúdine: déxtera tua, Dómine, percússit inimícum. * Et in multitúdine glóriæ tuæ deposuísti adversários meos.
Misísti iram tuam, quæ devorávit eos sicut stípulam. * Et in spíritu furóris tui congregátæ sunt aquæ:
Stetit unda fluens, * congregátæ sunt abyssi in médio mari.
Dixit inimícus: Pérsequar et comprehéndam, * dívidam spólia, implébitur ánima mea:
Evaginábo gládium meum, * interfíciet eos manus mea.
Flavit spíritus tuus, et opéruit eos mare: * submérsi sunt quasi plumbum in aquis veheméntibus.
Quis símilis tui in fórtibus, Dómine? * quis símilis tui, magníficus in sanctitáte, terríbilis atque laudábilis, fáciens mirabília?
Extendísti manum tuam, et devorávit eos terra. * Dux fuísti in misericórdia tua pópulo quem redemísti:
Et portásti eum in fortitúdine tua, * ad habitáculum sanctum tuum.
Ascendérunt pópuli, et iráti sunt: * dolóres obtinuérunt habitatóres Philísthiim.
Tunc conturbáti sunt príncipes Edom, robústos Moab obtínuit tremor: * obriguérunt omnes habitatóres Chánaan.
Irruat super eos formído et pavor, * in magnitúdine bráchii tui:
Fiant immóbiles quasi lapis, donec pertránseat pópulus tuus, Dómine, * donec pertránseat pópulus tuus iste, quem possedísti.
Introdúces eos, et plantábis in monte hereditátis tuæ, * firmíssimo habitáculo tuo quod operátus es, Dómine.
Sanctuárium tuum, Dómine, quod firmavérunt manus tuæ. * Dóminus regnábit in ætérnum et ultra.
Ingréssus est enim eques Phárao cum cúrribus et equítibus ejus in mare: * et redúxit super eos Dóminus aquas maris:
Fílii autem Israël ambulavérunt per siccum * in médio ejus.

And the translation:

Let us sing to the Lord: for he is gloriously magnified, the horse and the rider he has thrown into the sea.
The Lord is my strength and my praise, and he has become salvation to me: he is my God, and I will glorify him: the God of my father, and I will exalt him.
The Lord is as a man of war, Almighty is his name.
Pharao's chariots and his army he has cast into the sea: his chosen captains are drowned in the Red Sea.
The depths have covered them, they are sunk to the bottom like a stone.
Your right hand, O Lord, is magnified in strength: your right hand, O Lord, has slain the enemy.
And in the multitude of your glory you have put down your adversaries: you have sent your wrath, which has devoured them like stubble.
And with the blast of your anger the waters were gathered together: the flowing water stood, the depths were gathered together in the midst of the sea.
The enemy said: I will pursue and overtake, I will divide the spoils, my soul shall have its fill: I will draw my sword, my hand shall slay them.
Your wind blew and the sea covered them: they sunk as lead in the mighty waters.
Who is like to you, among the strong, O Lord? Who is like to you, glorious in holiness, terrible and praise-worthy, doing wonders?
You stretched forth your hand, and the earth swallowed them. In your mercy you have been a leader to the people which you have redeemed: and in your strength you have carried them to your holy habitation.
Nations rose up, and were angry: sorrows took hold on the inhabitants of Philisthiim.
Then were the princes of Edom troubled, trembling seized on the stout men of Moab: all the inhabitants of Chanaan became stiff.
Let fear and dread fall upon them, in the greatness of your arm: let them become immoveable as a stone, until your people, O Lord, pass by: until this your people pass by, which you have possessed.
You shall bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of your inheritance, in your most firm habitation, which you have made, O Lord;
your sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established. The Lord shall reign for ever and ever.
For Pharao went in on horseback with his chariots and horsemen into the sea: and the Lord brought back upon them the waters of the sea:
but the children of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst thereof

Tenebrae of Holy Thursday

Nocturn I: Psalms 68, 69, 70

Nocturn II: Psalms 71, 72, 73

Nocturn III: Psalms 74, 75, 76

Lauds: 50, 89, 35, [Ex 15], 146

And for the next part in this series go here.

Tenebrae Psalms/12 - Psalm 35

The opening lines of today's psalm, Psalm 35 (36) are words those in the Church whose past misdeeds are still to come fully to light, should especially ponder:

"Deep in his heart the sinner hears the whispering of evil, and loses sight of the fear of God; flatters himself with the thought that his misdoings go undiscovered, earn no reproof." (Knox translation)

Yet though those guilty of the most vile crimes should especially heed this lesson of this psalm, St Paul points out that we are all, to some degree, evil men at times, standing in need of grace through Christ's redeeming action to save us and help us persevere in the Christian life.

Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom

The reason for the psalm's inclusion in the post 1911 version of the hour is presumably that the psalm's discussion on the nature of evil can be seen as alluding to the arrest and coming Passion of Our Lord, but it obviously has a broad applicability.

Too often today, modern 'theology' confuses God's love for us with his approval of our actions, regardless of their actual merit.  By contrast this psalm reminds us that true evil occurs when man acts with malice aforethought: when we actively reject the truth, and refuse to turn away from the horror of what we are doing. Self-deception, the psalmist suggests, is all too easy.

Yet for such men, for all those Judas' in the Church, great and small, a time of reckoning will come:

"See what a fall awaits the wrong-doers, how they are cast down to earth, and can keep their feet no more!

The psalm goes on to point out that even in the face of man’s tendency to evil, God offers truth, justice and mercy to all, reaching down from the heavens.  Through Christ's sacrifice on the Cross we are offered the fountain of life, and access to the light.  The psalm ends with a plea to keep us humble, and to protect us from being led astray, knowing that evil doers come to nothing in the end.

Psalm 35

Dixit injustus ut delinquat in semetipso: non est timor Dei ante oculos ejus.  Quoniam dolose egit in conspectu ejus, ut inveniatur iniquitas ejus ad odium. Verba oris ejus iniquitas, et dolus; noluit intelligere ut bene ageret.
Iniquitatem meditatus est in cubili suo; astitit omni viæ non bonæ : malitiam autem non odivit.
Domine, in cælo misericordia tua, et veritas tua usque ad nubes.
Justitia tua sicut montes Dei; judicia tua abyssus multa.
Homines et jumenta salvabis, Domine, quemadmodum multiplicasti misericordiam tuam, Deus.
Filii autem hominum in tegmine alarum tuarum sperabunt.
Inebriabuntur ab ubertate domus tuæ, et torrente voluptatis tuæ potabis eos:  quoniam apud te est fons vitæ, et in lumine tuo videbimus lumen.
Prætende misericordiam tuam scientibus te, et justitiam tuam his qui recto sunt corde.
Non veniat mihi pes superbiæ, et manus peccatoris non moveat me.
Ibi ceciderunt qui operantur iniquitatem; expulsi sunt, nec potuerunt stare.

The unjust has said within himself, that he would sin: there is no fear of God before his eyes.
For in his sight he has done deceitfully, that his iniquity may be found unto hatred.
The words of his mouth are iniquity and guile: he would not understand that he might do well.
He has devised iniquity on his bed, he has set himself on every way that is not good: but evil he has not hated.
O Lord, your mercy is in heaven, and your truth reaches even to the clouds.  Your justice is as the mountains of God, your judgments are a great deep.
Men and beasts you will preserve, O Lord: O how have you multiplied your mercy, O God!
But the children of men shall put their trust under the covert of your wings.
They shall be inebriated with the plenty of your house; and you shall make them drink of the torrent of your pleasure.
For with you is the fountain of life; and in your light we shall see light.
Extend your mercy to them that know you, and your justice to them that are right in heart.
Let not the foot of pride come to me, and let not the hand of the sinner move me. There the workers of iniquity are fallen, they are cast out, and could not stand.

Tenebrae of Holy Thursday

Nocturn I: Psalms 68, 69, 70

Nocturn II: Psalms 71, 72, 73

Nocturn III: Psalms 74, 75, 76

Lauds: 50, 89, [35,] [Ex 15], 146

And for the next part in this series go here.

Tenebrae/11 - Psalm 89

The arrest of Jesus, c1500

Today we move to the Lauds proportion of Tenebrae for Maundy Thursday.  We've already looked at Psalm 50, the Miserere, that opens up this hour, so today a brief look at Psalm 89.

One could also see the psalm as recapitulating the purpose of the Passion and Resurrection, for there is a progression in what the psalmist is asking for here: first for God to relent in his punishment of mankind (v3-12); secondly, to reveal his power and teach us wisdom (v14); and finally to fill his people with grace and blessings (v14-17).

A psalm of Moses

Psalm 89 is the only psalm attributed to Moses in the psalter, and he is also the author of the canticle that forms part of this Lauds (from Exodus 15).  Some interpret this psalm as having been written at the end of Moses’ life, gazing into the Promised Land, yet not allowed to enter it himself, and begging for God to have mercy on the remnant that still survived of those who came out of Egypt.  Thus Moses stands on our behalf, begging Christ to save us through his Passion.

The psalm points first to the divinity of Christ, reminding us that: “Before the mountains were made, or the earth and the world was formed; from eternity and to eternity you are God.” (v2)  Thus, it reminds us of the two natures of the Christ, so critical to what is to come.

The next verse, at least in the Septuagint/Vulgate version (yet curiously reversed in meaning in the later Hebrew Masoretic Text!), continues the plea set up in the previous psalms for God not to abandon man: Turn not man away to be brought low (v3).  Certainly the Fathers saw the following plea for God to have pity and convert men, and v15’s ‘Return, O Lord, how long? And be entreated in favour of your servants’, in the context of the discussion on the shortness of man’s life, in verses 6-11, as allusions to the consequences of Adam’s sin: we too would be immortal but for it.

Have we made a difference?

One can also take the discussion on the shortness of man’s life in contrast to the eternity of God (vv 2, 4&5) as part of a kind of dialogue between the human and divine natures of the Saviour, pointing to the shortness of Christ’s life on earth, a time that he was obviously reluctant to cut short, the divine plan notwithstanding.

Some commentaries on this psalm see it as in part the lament of a man facing death and wondering whether he has really made a difference with his life.  That is obviously not an issue that faced Our Lord, but the psalm's emphasis on the transient nature, and shortness of human life on earth should serve as a reminder to keep our focus on eternity and what matters.

Christ's public ministry was short, and so far as the world viewed it, cut off ignominiously.  Yet the effects of his ministry resound to the ends of the universe.  In our own small way we too each have a mission to carry out, a difference to make in ways that may not be obvious to anyone, including ourselves.   So let us head the words of the psalm, ignore the perceptions of the world, and 'be converted'!

Psalm 89 (90)

Domine, refugium factus es nobis a generatione in generationem.
Priusquam montes fierent, aut formaretur terra et orbis, a sæculo et usque in sæculum tu es, Deus.
Ne avertas hominem in humilitatem : et dixisti : convertimini, filii hominum.
Quoniam mille anni ante oculos tuos tamquam dies hesterna quæ præteriit:
et custodia in nocte, quæ pro nihilo habentur, eorum anni erunt.
Mane sicut herba transeat; mane floreat, et transeat; vespere decidat, induret, et arescat.
Quia defecimus in ira tua, et in furore tuo turbati sumus.
Posuisti iniquitates nostras in conspectu tuo; sæculum nostrum in illuminatione vultus tui.
Quoniam omnes dies nostri defecerunt, et in ira tua defecimus.
Anni nostri sicut aranea meditabuntur; dies annorum nostrorum in ipsis septuaginta anni.
Si autem in potentatibus octoginta anni, et amplius eorum labor et dolor;
quoniam supervenit mansuetudo, et corripiemur.
Quis novit potestatem iræ tuæ, et præ timore tuo iram tuam dinumerare? Dexteram tuam sic notam fac, et eruditos corde in sapientia.
Convertere, Domine; usquequo? et deprecabilis esto super servos tuos.
Repleti sumus mane misericordia tua; et exsultavimus, et delectati sumus omnibus diebus nostris.
Lætati sumus pro diebus quibus nos humiliasti; annis quibus vidimus mala.
Respice in servos tuos et in opera tua, et dirige filios eorum.
Et sit splendor Domini Dei nostri super nos, et opera manuum nostrarum dirige super nos, et opus manuum nostrarum dirige.

And the translation:

Lord, you have been our refuge from generation to generation.
Before the mountains were made, or the earth and the world was formed; from eternity and to eternity you are God.
Turn not man away to be brought low: and you have said: Be converted, O you sons of men.
For a thousand years in your sight are as yesterday, which is past.
And as a watch in the night, things that are counted nothing, shall their years be.
In the morning man shall grow up like grass; in the morning he shall flourish and pass away: in the evening he shall fall, grow dry, and wither.
For in your wrath we have fainted away: and are troubled in your indignation.
You have set our iniquities before your eyes: our life in the light of your countenance.
For all our days are spent; and in your wrath we have fainted away. Our years shall be considered as a spider: The days of our years in them are threescore and ten years.
But if in the strong they be fourscore years: and what is more of them is labour and sorrow.
For mildness has come upon us: and we shall be corrected.
Who knows the power of your anger, and for your fear can number your wrath? So make your right hand known: and men learned in heart, in wisdom.
Return, O Lord, how long? And be entreated in favour of your servants.
We are filled in the morning with your mercy: and we have rejoiced, and are delighted all our days.
We have rejoiced for the days in which you have humbled us: for the years in which we have seen evils.
Look upon your servants and upon their works: and direct their children.
And let the brightness of the Lord our God be upon us: and direct the works of our hands over us; yea, the work of our hands do you direct.

Tenebrae of Holy Thursday

Nocturn I: Psalms 68, 69, 70

Nocturn II: Psalms 71, 72, 73

Nocturn III: Psalms 74, 75, 76

Lauds: 50, 89, 35, [Ex 15], 146

And for the next part in this series, go here.