Psalm 128 (129): Let them be turned back and confounded!

The final psalm of Monday Vespers is Psalm 128, one of the Gradual psalms, that group of fifteen psalms thought to represent the ascent of the steps of the Temple.  It presents us something of a puzzle: why did St Benedict choose to move away from the running cursus of psalms in order to jump to this cursing psalm to end Monday Vespers with?

Scriptural and liturgical context

It is clear that the placement of this psalm on Monday was a very deliberate choice by St Benedict.

In the Roman Office, Vespers uses Psalms 109 -147, including the Gradual Psalms (Psalms 119-132, with 133 said at Compline each day) in numerical order.   St Benedict, however, shifts most of the gradual psalms (Ps 119-127) to Terce to None from Tuesday, and places the remainder (Ps 129-132) - save for this one - at Tuesday Vespers. The net result is that on Tuesday everyone of the Gradual psalm is said in sequence, except for this one.

It would have been easy for St Benedict to have kept the numerical sequence, or at least to have kept the saying of the Gradual psalms together on Tuesday.  Monday Vespers, after all, is the second longest of the week while Tuesday is the second shortest, so placing Psalm 128 on Tuesday would have evened up the balance.  St Benedict could still have preserved the four psalm sections (unlike the Roman Office, St Benedict divides psalms on several days at Vespers) structure of the hour either by splitting Psalm 113 in two (as in the Hebrew Bible), or by treating Psalm 116 as a separate psalm on Monday and joining Psalm 132 (the second shortest psalm in the psalter) to its predecessor on Tuesday.

Why didn't St Benedict do this?  There are perhaps several reasons.

First, Psalm 128 is a cursing psalm, and perhaps St Benedict didn't see this fitting well with the generally rather upbeat nature of Tuesday’s psalms.

Secondly, it does arguably fit well with St Benedict’s Monday theme of the promises associated with the Incarnation, particularly the idea that through the Incarnation the enemy will be confounded, and the proud humbled.  Verse 4 in particular uses the phrase ‘convertantur et revereantur’, echoing a number of the psalms set for Matins (and other hours, such as Psalm 6 at Prime) on Monday.  My take on the programmatic focus for the day is that in this psalm, we have reached the end of Satan's temptations of Christ: he has been confounded and turned back, as will all be who do his work in the world:

"Then Jesus said to him, Away with thee, Satan; it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and serve none but him. Then the devil left him alone; and thereupon angels came and ministered to him." (Mt 4: 10-11)

But perhaps there is one other reason at work here, and that is to provide a warning note for us.

Although one level of the programmatic focus for the Office I've been suggesting is the life of Christ, the other is its imitation by us.  And I've suggested previously that one of the recurring themes of the day is our promises and vows to God, with many of the psalms of the day forming an extended meditation on monastic profession.  This psalm is perhaps one final part of that design.

The Suscipe verse sung in the profession ceremony begs that we not be confounded in our hope.  St Benedict's discussion of the profession ceremony in his Rule though, also sounds a note of warning to those who would walk away from their vows, and are confounded.  In Chapter 58 of the Rule he says:

Then, having deliberated with himself, if he promises to keep it in its entirety and to observe everything that is commanded, let him be received into the community. But let him understand that, according to the law of the Rule, from that day forward he may not leave the monastery nor withdraw her neck from under the yoke of the Rule which she was free to refuse or to accept during that prolonged deliberation...This promise he shall make before God and His Saints, so that if he should ever act otherwise,he may know that she will be condemned by Him whom he mocks...Then if he should ever listen to the persuasions of the devil and decide to leave the monastery (which God forbid), he may be divested of the monastic clothes and cast out. 

St Benedict would surely have viewed such defectors as deserving the excommunication described in this psalm, and the warning of the consequences as important to the topic of the day's Office.

And in fact St Augustine's commentary on the final verse of the psalm, which St Benedict quotes from a number of times in his Rule, is particularly apposite on this:  because they are the friends of the bridegroom, they refuse to be adulterers of the bride.

The psalm

Psalm 128 (129) – Saepe expugnaverunt me

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
Canticum graduum.	A gradual canticle.
1 Sæpe expugnavérunt me a juventúte mea, * dicat nunc Israël:	Often have they fought against me from my youth, let Israel now say.
2  Sæpe expugnavérunt me a juventúte mea: * étenim non potuérunt mihi.	2 Often have they fought against me from my youth: but they could not prevail over me.
3  Supra dorsum meum fabricavérunt peccatóres: * prolongavérunt iniquitátem suam.	3 The wicked have wrought upon my back: they have lengthened their iniquity.
4  Dóminus justus concídit cervíces peccatórum: * confundántur et convertántur retrórsum omnes, qui odérunt Sion.	4 The Lord who is just will cut the necks of sinners: 5 Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Sion.
5  Fiant sicut fœnum tectórum: * quod priúsquam evellátur exáruit:	6 Let them be as grass upon the tops of houses: which withers before it be plucked up:
6  De quo non implévit manum suam qui metit: * et sinum suum qui manípulos cólligit.	7 Who with the mower fills not his hand: nor he that gathers sheaves his bosom.
7  Et non dixérunt qui præteríbant: Benedíctio Dómini super vos: * benedíximus vobis in nómine Dómini.	8 And they that passed by have not said: The blessing of the Lord be upon you: we have blessed you in the name of the Lord.

Here is the rather more poetic Knox translation of it:

Sore have they beset me even from my youth (let this be Israel’s boast); sore have they beset me even from my youth, but never once outmatched me. I bent my back to the oppressor, and long was the furrow ere the plough turned; but the Lord proved faithful, and cut the bonds of tyranny asunder. Let them be dismayed and routed, all these enemies of Sion. Let them be like the stalks on a house-top, that wither there unharvested; never will they be grasped in the reaper’s hand, or fill the binder’s bosom, no passer-by will say, The Lord’s blessing on you; we bless you in the name of the Lord.

Scriptural and liturgical uses of the psalm

NT references	2 Cor 4:8-10 (v2)
RB cursus	Monday V
Monastic feasts etc	-
Responsories	-
Roman pre 1911	Wed V
Roman post 1911	1911-62: Wed V . 1970:
Mass propers (EF)	Passion I, TR (1-4)

For more on this psalm:

Introduction to Psalm 128 (Saepe expugnaverunt me) (2017 updated version)
Ps 128 v1-2
Psalm 128 v3
Psalm 128 v4
Ps 128 v5-6
Ps 128 v7

Notes on the psalm notes

The psalm notes on this blog generally include an overview of each psalm, particularly with a mind to praying it in the context of St Benedict's schema for his Office.

In addition, there are some posts on particular psalms in other liturgical contexts, such as the Office for the Dead, or the Mass.

The verse by verse commentaries are intended to provide a basis for the deeper penetration of the meaning of the psalm through lectio divina on them based on the commentaries of the Fathers and Theologians.

Praying the Office with St Benedict

The first focus for the notes on this blog is to encourage those using the Benedictine Office to consider the deeper structure of that Office.

St Benedict devotes almost a third of his Rule to specifying the particular order of the psalms to be said in the form of the Divine Office to be followed by his monks.  And it is clear that he exercised great care and deliberation in selecting the pattern of repetitions and particular groupings he specified for each hour and day.

It is true that St Benedict does give permission for other (weekly) orderings of the psalter to be adopted.  Yet for centuries - up until the most recent one in fact - the overwhelming majority of his monks and nuns treasured the patrimony handed to them, and allowed themselves to be formed by the distinctive Office St Benedict bequeathed to them.

It is often suggested by modern liturgists that there is no underlying programmatic content to St Benedict's Office.  It is true of course, that liturgy - at least when it is the product of a process of organic development over centuries - rarely runs in clear straight lines.  Instead, as the theologian Catherine Pitstock argued in After Writing, it stutters and stops, re-beginnings and repeats in patterns borne of its cultural context.  Nonetheless, I believe that there is considerable internal and external evidence that St Benedict did in fact seek impose a particular implicit program on his Office.

It is generally agreed that St Benedict's starting point was the old Roman Office of his time.  He made many changes to it, however, and I would argue that those changes are spurred by three objectives: to give greater shape the nature of the particular hours; to emphasize particular aspects of his spirituality through repetition; and above all, a desire to give greater emphasis each day to the themes set out in the traditional (ferial) Office canticles set for Lauds each day.

In approaching this task, St Benedict, I would suggest, takes advantage of some of the distinctive sub-groupings of psalms as they appear in Scripture in order to give a more thematic feel to his Office.

Some of these linkages are horizontal, giving a thematic unity to particular hours of a particular day, or across the psalms of Prime and Vespers for example.

But there is also, in my view, a vertical unity, for I think that, taking its cue from the Lauds Canticles, the Benedictine Office is deeply Christological in character, tracing the life of Christ  - and its implications for us - in each day of the week.  In particular:

• Monday covers the Incarnation to his baptism (Vespers) and the Temptation in the Desert, with a    particular focus for the nun or monk on the renewal of monastic vows;
• Tuesday reflects on the public mission of Jesus, whereby he teaches us how to live the Christian life and thus ascend the steps towards the heavenly Temple (reflected in the use of the Gradual Psalms from Terce to Vespers);
• Wednesday focuses on his betrayal;
• Thursday to Saturday provides recapitulates the events of the Triduum; and
• Sunday celebrates the Resurrection.

Whether or not you agree with the arguments I develop for the existence of this particular mystical seven days of the remaking of the world in the notes provided herein, I hope you will nonetheless find meditation on the life of Christ in the context of the psalms worthwhile.

Praying the Office in Latin

The notes are also intended to assist those who wish to learn to pray the Office in Latin, particularly since there is no officially approved English version of the traditional Benedictine Office, and the translations that are included for study purposes in editions such as the Farnborough Monastic Diurnal do not always mirror the Latin Vulgate.

In general, the English translations provided (unless otherwise indicated) are from an updated version of the Douay-Rheims (previously on the New Advent site), since this is generally the most literal translation from the Latin Vulgate.  Text comments will often focus on the reasons for variations in the translations most commonly used for reference purposes for those saying the Office, viz Coverdale and the early twentieth century Collegeville translation used in the Farnborough edition of the Monastic Diurnal, as well as variations adopted by the 1979 Neo-Vulgate (used in the Novus Ordo Divine Office).

The vocabulary lists are generally derived from Dom Matthew Britt, A Dictionary of the Psalter (Preserving Christian Publications 2007 reprint of Benziger Brothers, 1928), supplemented by others sources such as Cassell's Latin Dictionary and Lewis and Short.

Where other translations are provided (note that the selection is limited by copyright considerations), the abbreviations used are as follows:

V            =Vulgate (available on the New Advent website)
NV         =Neo-Vulgate (available on the Vatican website)
JH          =St Jerome's translation from the Hebrew
Sept       =Septuagint (available on the New Advent website)
DR         =Douay-Rheims (generally the version previously on the New Advent website)
MD        =Monastic Diurnal published by Farnborough Abbey (Collegeville translation)
Brenton  =Sir Lancelot Brenton's translation from the Septuagint
NETS    =New English Translation from the Septuagint, available here
RSV       =Revised Standard Edition
Cover    =Coverdale
Knox      =Ronald Knox's translation available from the New Advent site
Grail      =Grail Psalter

The Hebrew, with links to Strong's Concordance, can be found (along with numerous other translations) at Blue Letter Bible.

The word by word translations, text notes and commentary are my own, but draw heavily on the commentaries of the Fathers and Theologians (on whom overview notes can be found elsewhere on this blog), Magisterial teaching, and other psalm commentaries.  As well as these, the next notes draw heavily on the following sources:

TE Bird, A Commentary on the Psalms 2 vols, (London: Burns, Oates and Washbourne, 1927)
Msgr Patrick Boylan, A Study of the Vulgate Psalter in the Light of the Hebrew Text, 2 vols (Dublin: M H Gill and Son, 2nd ed 1921)
David  J Ladouceur, The Latin Psalter Introduction, Selected Text and Commentary (London: Bristol Classical Press, 2005)

Suggestions, comments and queries

Comments, questions or suggestions on the content or presentation of these notes are always welcome.

In terms of content and layout, I've tried out several different formats in these notes and am currently moving to a slightly different one, and I'm always keen to get any feedback on issues such as whether the commentary notes are too long or not (I'm planning on shortening them henceforth) and so forth.

I'm also open to requests to look at particular psalms as a priority.

Monday (feria secunda) in the Benedictine Office, masterpost

Monday in the Benedictine Office

Monday for us today represents the start of the working week; liturgically however, it is labelled 'feria secunda', for Sunday is both the first day of creation, and, for Christians, the eighth day, or day of the Resurrection.   That inherent tension between beginnings and endings is certainly reflected in St Benedict's Office.

The start of the week?

Liturgically, Sunday represents the start of the week in many ways: a new collect is allocated to the week from the Sunday Mass for example.  St Benedict's structuring of his Office in part reflects this new start too, by commencing the recitation of that great foundational psalm of the law, Psalm 118 on that day.

Yet in many ways, it is Monday that really represents the start of the liturgical week in the Benedictine Office.

My contention is that St Benedict made a number of judicious changes to the structure of the Office he started from, namely the old Roman one, in order to provide a more thematic approach to the Office.  In fact, I want to suggest, taking his cue from the customary (ferial) Office canticles, each day in the Benedictine Office traces the journey of Christ's life, from the Incarnation, public ministry, through his crucifixion, death and up to the Resurrection.

The beginnings of our salvation: from the Incarnation to the Temptation in the Desert

That early medieval monks understood his Office this way is, I think, suggested nicely captured by the summations of the message of these canticles provided by the Hrabanus Maurus (780-856).  In the case of Monday, Maurus argues that the canticle for Lauds focuses on those events of Christ's life prior to the start of his public ministry:

On Monday [feria secunda], truly the second day, the canticle of Isaiah, in which the coming of the Saviour and the sacrament of baptism is preached, is decreed to be said, because these are the beginning of our salvation.” Hrabanus Maurus, Commentary on the Canticles

Many of the psalms of the day, and particularly the changes St Benedict made to the ordering of the day work well to fit this focus.

At Matins, many of the psalms of the day contain phrases that were incorporated in the New Testament Benedictus and Magnificat canticles, or are redolent of its promises.

Prime contains the two psalms that are generally regarded as both an introduction to the entire psalter and a summation of it, in Psalms 1 and 2.  Psalm 1 presents the picture of Christ, the perfect man, and the choice we must all make between walking in his way, or the way of evil.  Psalm 2 chronicles the history of his coming, particularly  with the verse used in the Introit of Christmas Day: the Lord said to me: you are my son, this day have I begotten thee (Dóminus dixit ad me: fílius meus es tu, ego hódie génui te).

At Vespers, one can perhaps see the psalms as a meditation on the baptism of Christ, his forty days of fasting and prayer in the desert, and his temptation by Satan.

A call to conversion of life

All of these events have deep implications in the life of the Christian.

The Incarnation is not just the coming of God to earth, not just the birth of a baby, but the fulfillment of specific promises made to our forefathers in faith that affect us in the here and now.  One of the most important of these promises is that God will raise up the poor and humble, and confound the proud.  The day's hours constantly come back to this theme, with each of the hours concluding the variable psalms with a reiteration of or plea for this promise to be fulfilled: at Lauds, Psalm 35; Prime, Psalm 6; at Vespers Psalm 128 (which can also be seen as echoing Jesus' final dismissal of Satan after his temptation in the desert).

There is a call to action implicit in this for us to, for Christ's baptism in the Jordan by St John comes with the message that we must all repent and be converted anew: we all have past sins to be ashamed of our past sins, and need to be washed anew in the waters of baptism so that we can be reborn with Christ.  Accordingly, the whole day constitutes an invitation 'turn away from evil and do good' (Ps 33 at Matins), to open ourselves to grace, to taste and see that the Lord is good.  And, as we shall see, the psalms of Vespers in particular provide an opportunity for us to renew our baptismal promises: to affirm that God is our creator and saviour, and reject Satan and all his works.

The Benedictine Office though, is above all a Monastic Office, intended to be said by monks and nuns who have deepened their baptismal promises through the vows made at solemn profession.  St Benedict's ordering of the Office, I think, provides a weekly opportunity for the religious to renew those vows afresh.  At Lauds the psalms summon us to a preparatory examination of conscience, and many of the other psalms of the day could be used to prompt meditation on commitment to the Benedictine way of life.

The high point of the day for the monk, though, is surely the recitation of the Suscipe verse (of Ps 118) used in the profession ceremony at Terce, for if the birth of Christ and our rebirth in him are key focuses for the day, the concrete realisation of our own baptismal promises is, for the monk, nun or oblate, the living out of the Benedictine Rule.

THE PSALMS OF THE DAY

Matins

(Psalm 3 &Psalm 94 said daily)

Psalm 32
Psalm 33
Psalm 34
Psalm 36 (divided)
Psalm 37 (in the context of Tenebrae)

Psalm 38
Psalm 39 (in context of Tenebrae)
Introduction to Psalm 40 (in the Office of the Dead)
Introduction to Psalm 41(in the Office of the Dead)
Psalm 43
Psalm 44

Lauds

(Psalms 66, 50 and 148-150 are said daily)

Introduction to Psalm 5
Ps 5:v1-4a
Ps 5:v4b-7a
Ps 5: v7b-9
Ps 5: v10-12
Ps 5:v 13-15

Introduction to Psalm 35  (see also Ps 35 in the context of Tenebrae of Holy Thursday)

Ferial Canticle: Isaiah 12 (Confitebor tibi Domine) (Introduction)

or Festal Canticle: Canticle of David (1 Chron 29: 10-13)

Prime

Introduction to Psalm 1 (see also  Commentary of St Basil on Psalm 1)
Introduction to Psalm 2 (see also Psalm 2 in the context of Tenebrae for Good Friday)
Psalm 6 (Series with introduction and verse by verse notes)

Terce

Psalm 118 (Nun)
Psalm 118 (Samech) and Part 2
Psalm 118 (Ayin)

Sext

Psalm 118 (Phe)
Psalm 118 (Sade)
Psalm 118 (Coph)

None

Psalm 118 (Res)
Psalm 118 (Sin)
Psalm 118 (Tau)

Vespers

Monday at Vespers (overview notes)

Psalm 113 (In exitu) Introduction and series providing verse by verse notes.
Psalm 114 (Dilexi) Introduction and series providing verse by verse notes.
Psalm 115 (Credidi) Introduction and series providing verse by verse notes.
Psalm 116 (Laudate Dominum)
Psalm 128 (Saepe expugnaverunt)

Compline (same psalms said daily)

Psalm 4 (in the context of Tenebrae)
Psalm 90
Psalm 133

Psalm 116 - Laudate Dominum

Psalm 116 is the shortest in the psalter, so short that St Benedict doesn't even treat it as a separate psalm in his ordering of the psalter, but adds it the end of Psalm 115 under the same Gloria.

Laudáte Dóminum, omnes Gentes: * laudáte eum, omnes pópuli :
Quóniam confirmáta est super nos misericórdia ejus: * et véritas Dómini manet in ætérnum.

or 

Praise the Lord, all you nations: praise him, all you people. 
For his mercy is confirmed upon us: and the truth of the Lord remains for ever.

Laudáte (praise) dóminum (the Lord), omnes (all) gentes (peoples): * laudáte (praise) eum (Him), omnes (all) pópuli (peoples)

Quóniam (for) confirmáta est (it is confirmed/established) super (upon/over) nos (us) misericórdia (mercy) ejus (his): * et (and) véritas (the truth) dómini (of the Lord) manet (it remains/endures) in ætérnum (forever)

Why is this psalm so suitable for Monday Vespers, and why is it joined to Psalm 115?  

Firstly, like Psalm 115, this psalm links us back to Psalm 2, as St Robert Bellarmine comments:

He addresses the whole Church and exhorts it to praise God.  “All ye nations” is directed to the converted Gentiles, who are named first by reason of their being in the majority, and the people nearer those of the Jews who had been converted to the faith; and the apostles themselves, in alluding to a similar expression in the second Psalms, “Why have the Gentiles raged, and the people meditated vain things," apply the former to the Gentiles, and the latter to the Jews.

Secondly, it brings us back, once more, to our response to the salvation offered through the Incarnation and Christ's public ministry, as Cassiodorus points out:

The reason is given why the Lord must be praised throughout the world: it is because He has fulfilled His promises made through the holy prophets by His coming to us. His mercy towards the Christian people is confirmed and will not be moved for ever, for He who granted it, as we justly believe, protects us with His pity. He added: And the truth of the Lord remaineth for ever. The truth of the Lord here means the Son; as He Himself says: I am the way, the truth and the life? 

In the notes on verse 7 of Psalm 115, I quoted Pope Benedict on the importance of the 'sacrifice of praise' offered by religious for the world as testimony.  In the context of this Psalm, though, it is worth considering Pope Benedict's other comments on the reasons for this offering:

Monks pray first and foremost not for any specific intention, but simply because God is worthy of being praised. “Confitemini Domino, quoniam bonus! – Praise the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy is eternal!”: so we are urged by a number of Psalms (e.g. Ps 106:1). Such prayer for its own sake, intended as pure divine service, is rightly called officium. It is “service” par excellence, the “sacred service” of monks. It is offered to the triune God who, above all else, is worthy “to receive glory, honour and power” (Rev 4:11), because he wondrously created the world and even more wondrously renewed it. (Speech at Heiligenkreuz Abbey, 2007)

Scriptural and liturgical uses of the psalm

NT references	Rom 15:11 (v1);
RB cursus	Mon V
Monastic feasts etc	-        (NB in Roman feasts, Vespers)
Roman pre 1911	Monday Vespers
Responsories	7078 (v1, Romanum; cf Sept, for Judith)
Roman post 1911	1911-62: Monday Vespers . 1970:
Mass propers (EF)	Lent, Pent & Sept Ember Sat TR 1-2; Easter Vigil AL (1-2),

And you can find notes on the final psalm of Monday Vespers Psalm 128, here.

Psalm 115: Verse 7 - Let us break our bonds asunder!

The first phrase of the second last verse of Psalm 115 takes us back to the sentiments of Psalm 2 (made famous by Handel's setting of it in the Messiah), said at Prime ('Let us break our bonds asunder'):

Dirupísti víncula mea: * tibi sacrificábo hóstiam laudis, et nomen Dómini invocábo.
You have broken my bonds:  I will sacrifice to you the sacrifice of praise, and I will call upon the name of the Lord.

Read

Dirupísti (you have broken) víncula (the bonds/chains) mea (my)

dirumpo, riupi, ruptum, ere 3,  to rend, burst, break or dash to pieces; to cleave

vinculum, i, n. a bond, fetter, chain.

tibi (to you) sacrificábo (I will sacrifice) hóstiam (the gift/offering/victim) laudis (of praise)

sacrifico, avi, atum, are to offer something to God in atonement for sin, to procure favors, to sacrifice.

hostia, ae, f., a victim, sacrifice, offering, gift.

laus, laudis, f., praise.

et (and) nomen (the name) Dómini (of the Lord) invocábo (I will call upon)

Study

Christ came to break for us for the bonds of sin, as St John Chrysostom comments:

And Isaiah spoke of Christ: "I have given you as a covenant of the nations, saying to those in bonds, Come out." Consequently, he broke these bonds, not just released them: the former is more decisive than the latter. If, however, you wanted to take this also in a spiritual sense, saying they are the bonds of sins, you would not miss the proper meaning; it has all to do with his old self. 

What is the sacrifice of praise offered?  For monk or nun, perhaps, above all their special calling to offer the Opus Dei, the Divine Office.

Meditation

Pope Benedict XVI, at his visit to the monastery of Heiligenkreuz in 2007 commented:

"...in a monastery of Benedictine spirit, the praise of God, which the monks sing as a solemn choral prayer, always has priority. Monks are certainly – thank God! – not the only people who pray; others also pray: children, the young and the old, men and women, the married and the single – all Christians pray, or at least, they should!

In the life of monks, however, prayer takes on a particular importance: it is the heart of their calling. Their vocation is to be men of prayer. In the patristic period the monastic life was likened to the life of the angels. It was considered the essential mark of the angels that they are worshippers. Their very life is worship. This should hold true also for monks... 

At the same time, the officium of consecrated persons is also a sacred service to men and women, a testimony offered to them. All people have deep within their hearts, whether they know it or not, a yearning for definitive fulfilment, for supreme happiness, and thus, ultimately, for God. A monastery, in which the community gathers several times a day for the praise of God, testifies to the fact that this primordial human longing does not go unfulfilled: God the Creator has not placed us in a fearful darkness where, groping our way in despair, we seek some ultimate meaning (cf. Acts 17:27); God has not abandoned us in a desert void, bereft of meaning, where in the end only death awaits us. No! God has shone forth in our darkness with his light, with his Son Jesus Christ. In him, God has entered our world in all his “fullness” (cf. Col 1:19); in him all truth, the truth for which we yearn, has its source and summit."

The text

1 Crédidi, propter quod locútus sum: * ego autem humiliátus sum nimis.
2  Ego dixi in excéssu meo: * Omnis homo mendax.
3  Quid retríbuam Dómino, * pro ómnibus, quæ retríbuit mihi?
4  Cálicem salutáris accípiam: * et nomen Dómini invocábo.
5  Vota mea Dómino reddam coram omni pópulo ejus: * pretiósa in conspéctu Dómini mors sanctórum ejus:
6  O Dómine, quia ego servus tuus: * ego servus tuus, et fílius ancíllæ tuæ.
7  Dirupísti víncula mea: * tibi sacrificábo hóstiam laudis, et nomen Dómini invocábo.
8  Vota mea Dómino reddam in conspéctu omnis pópuli ejus: * in átriis domus Dómini, in médio tui, Jerúsalem.



And next...

As we have already looked at the final verse of this psalm, this is the final part of this series on Psalm 115.  In the Office, however, this psalm is said under the same Gloria as Psalm 116, and indeed Pope Benedict's commentary on prayer in the life of the monk is extremely pertinent to it, as we shall see in the next post in this series on Monday Vespers.

Psalm 115: Verse 6 - The son of your handmaid

Verse 6 of Psalm 115 reads:

O Dómine, quia ego servus tuus: * ego servus tuus, et fílius ancíllæ tuæ.
O Lord, for I am your servant: I am your servant, and the son of your handmaid.

Lectio

O Dómine (O Lord), quia (for/because) ego (I) [am] servus (servant/slave) tuus (yours) ego (I) servus (servant) tuus (yours), et (and) fílius (the son) ancíllæ (of the handmaid) tuæ (your) – I (am) your servant and the son of your handmaid

quia, conj. for, because, that. truly, surely, indeed

ancilla, ae, f, a handmaid, maidservant. 

Study

This verse can, like many others, be interpreted literally, in its historical context, spiritually, as it applies to us, and Christologically.

First, what does it mean to be God's slave or servant in this context?  The expression 'son of your handmaid' literally indicates one who has been born in the master's own household.  But in the Old Testament context, it means a Jew born of Jews, and is accordingly a mark of honour.  Indeed, Chrysostom says:

He is referring not to ordinary slavery but to that in keeping with a warm disposition and affection, aflame with desire, which is the highest crown, and more illustrious than any diadem. Hence God also cites it as equivalent to the highest honor in the words, "Moses my servant has died."

The Fathers of course interpreted this as meaning within the Church, as does Cassiodorus:

Son of thy handmaid seems to have been appended to denote the Catholic Church in all its forms, for she is a handmaid in her service and a bride in her marriage. So we fittingly observe that there is no martyrdom except that gained by a servant of the Lord and a son of the Catholic Church. 

Meditation

We can though also apply it to Christ, for Mary is indeed the handmaid of the Lord, and Christ came to serve, taking on a lowly human nature to do so: though equal to God in his divine nature, for a time he was 'a little lower than the angels' in his human nature.  This verse and the next then, provide a link back to the psalms of the morning which focus on the mystery Incarnation, reminding us of what it is we are responding to with our vows, promises and sacrifices.

Contemplation

St Augustine instructs us on how we should respond to this verse:

Let therefore the slave purchased at so great a price confess his condition, and say, Behold, O Lord, how that I am Your servant: I am Your servant, and the son of Your handmaid ....This, therefore, is the son of the heavenly Jerusalem, which is above, the free mother of us all (Galatians 4:26) And free indeed from sin she is, but the handmaid of righteousness; to whose sons still pilgrims it is said, You have been called unto liberty (Galatians 5:13) and again he makes them servants, when he says, but by love serve one another....

The text

1 Crédidi, propter quod locútus sum: * ego autem humiliátus sum nimis.
2  Ego dixi in excéssu meo: * Omnis homo mendax.
3  Quid retríbuam Dómino, * pro ómnibus, quæ retríbuit mihi?
4  Cálicem salutáris accípiam: * et nomen Dómini invocábo.
5  Vota mea Dómino reddam coram omni pópulo ejus: * pretiósa in conspéctu Dómini mors sanctórum ejus:
6  O Dómine, quia ego servus tuus: * ego servus tuus, et fílius ancíllæ tuæ.
7  Dirupísti víncula mea: * tibi sacrificábo hóstiam laudis, et nomen Dómini invocábo.
8  Vota mea Dómino reddam in conspéctu omnis pópuli ejus: * in átriis domus Dómini, in médio tui, Jerúsalem.

You can find notes on the next verse of this psalm here.

Psalm 115: verses 5&8 - The white martyrdom of public vows and promises

Verses 5&8 of Psalm 115 are worth considering together since they echo each other:

Vota mea Dómino reddam coram omni pópulo ejus: * pretiósa in conspéctu Dómini mors sanctórum ejus:
I will pay my vows to the Lord before all his people: Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints...
Vota mea Dómino reddam in conspéctu omnis pópuli ejus: * in átriis domus Dómini, in médio tui, Jerúsalem.
 I will pay my vows to the Lord in the sight of all his people:  In the courts of the house of the Lord, in the midst of you, O Jerusalem.

Lectio

5a: Vota (Vows) mea (my) Dómino (to the Lord) reddam (I will render) coram (in the hearing/presence) omni (of all) pópulo (the people) ejus (his)

8a: Vota (Vows) mea (my) Dómino (to the Lord) reddam (I will pay/render) in conspéctu (in the presence) omnis (of all) pópuli (the people) ejus (his)

votum, i, n. a vow

reddo, didi, ditum, ere. to restore, return, give back; to requite, repay, reward, render;

coram prep, with abl., in the presence of, before the face of, before.

5b: pretiósa (precious) in conspéctu (in the sight) Dómini (of the Lord) mors (the death) sanctórum (of the saints) ejus (his)

pretiosus, a, um  precious, of great value. of great concern or importance.

conspectus, us, m. sight, presence

mors, mortis, f, death

8b: in átriis (in the courtyard) domus (of the house) Dómini (of the Lord) in médio (in the midst) tui (of you), Jerúsalem 

atrium, ii, n., a court, often pi., courts; esp. the open courts surrounding the Tabernacle and Temple

Study

What are the vows or promises referred to here?  The second phrase of verse 5 points to the self-offering to the point of martyrdom so precious to God.  Monastic profession is above all a form of martyrdom in this sense, for the monk or nun surrenders, as St Benedict points out, even control of their own body. But we can think of this as a reference also to all of the promises and commitments we have made to God: our baptismal promises, marriage and more.

The second phrase of each of these two verses though, make it clear that we are talking about public commitments, made in and through the Church.  Bellarmine comments on Verse 8:

This is a repetition of verse 5, with the addition of, "In the courts of the house of the Lord;" to give us to understand that the servant of God should offer his vows, his confession, and himself to God, in the Church, indicated by Jerusalem; for they who work outside the Church derive nothing from it.

Meditation 

These two verses are a call to public witness.  Verse 5 points to the testimony of the martyrs, whose blood is the seed of the Church:

Being prepared to drink the chalice of suffering, he says with great confidence, I will offer the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to the Lord, not alone in nooks and chambers, but openly and publicly before all the people, enemies included, and even though I may be satisfied of my death being the consequence; for "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints;" that is, God sets great value on the death of the saints, when suffered for his honor and glory; just as valuable gems, such as those worn in the crowns of monarchs, and which are of great value, are highly prized by mankind. See, says St. Basil, what glory is in store for the martyrs, whose souls are not only crowned in heaven, but even whose relics are highly valued on earth. Formerly, anyone touching a dead body was looked upon as unclean, but at present, anyone touching the bones of the martyrs is supposed to acquire fresh sanctification. (Bellarmine)

In this, we imitate the witness that Christ was about to embark on in his preaching and miracles, for as Cassiodorus explains:

Notice his information here about the house of the Lord which he mentioned in the previous short verse: it is in the sight of all his people, for it is right that He who deigned to suffer for the salvation of all should receive public praise. The Lord is most perfectly aware of it even if it is performed in the recess of the heart. This contributes to the edification of the people, if a good confession is absorbed by the ears of the community at large. As Christ says in the gospel: He who confesses before men, I will also confess him before my Father who is in heaven. He added: In the midst of thee, Jerusalem, where the Lord's peace resides, and where the unity of the holy people rejoices in contemplation of the Lord.

Psalm 115 

1 Crédidi, propter quod locútus sum: * ego autem humiliátus sum nimis.
2  Ego dixi in excéssu meo: * Omnis homo mendax.
3  Quid retríbuam Dómino, * pro ómnibus, quæ retríbuit mihi?
4  Cálicem salutáris accípiam: * et nomen Dómini invocábo.
5  Vota mea Dómino reddam coram omni pópulo ejus: * pretiósa in conspéctu Dómini mors sanctórum ejus:
6  O Dómine, quia ego servus tuus: * ego servus tuus, et fílius ancíllæ tuæ.
7  Dirupísti víncula mea: * tibi sacrificábo hóstiam laudis, et nomen Dómini invocábo.
8  Vota mea Dómino reddam in conspéctu omnis pópuli ejus: * in átriis domus Dómini, in médio tui, Jerúsalem.

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