Thursday, November 17, 2011

Psalm 114/8 - Accept your eternal reward



Today’s verse of Psalm 114 points to the end of the struggle to live this earthly life, and tells the dying soul that it is now alright to look for deliverance and relief in heaven. It is:

Convértere, ánima mea, in réquiem tuam: quia Dóminus benefécit tibi.
Turn, O my soul, into your rest: for the Lord has been bountiful to you.

St John Chrysostom tells us that:

“The literal meaning has to do with an awesome liberation, some kind of relief and deliverance. If you were to take it in an anagogical sense, however, you would be able to speak of departure from this life as redemption, and call it rest. It is, in fact, release from all unexpected troubles, and he is subject no longer to uncertainty, a victim of insecurity, having now taken his departure with solid hope.”

Looking at the Latin

Convértere = turn/return/turn again (imperative)

converto, verti, versum, ere 3, to turn, change, alter, bring back; quicken, refresh; bring back; convert, turn from sin;

ánima mea = my soul

in réquiem tuam = to your rest

requies, ei, f., rest; a resting-place.

Turning the soul to its rest can be taken as meaning either literally, acceptance that the end of this life has come, or more generally turning away from the death of the soul that comes from sin. Cassiodorus, for example, suggests that

“The soul which is alienated from the Lord should sing this in company with the prophet; the sheep which had wandered and had merited a return to the pens, borne on the shoulders of the Protector, should also sing it. So should the son who was dead and has come to life again, who had been lost and was found. So should the devoted people who have been redeemed by His precious blood, and have through the Lord's generosity gained the attainment of the rest for which they longed. So the prophet urges his soul to turn to the Lord, from whom come to him both peaceful rest and the removal of sins.”

quia Dóminus benefécit tibi = for the Lord has dealt kindly with/dealt bountifully with/rewarded with you

benefacio, feci, factum, ere 3, to do well; to do good to, to deal kindly with, to deal bountifully

The reward spoken of can take two forms: God’s delivering him from heath through healing of his illnesses; or the reward of heaven.

I have fought the good fight…

St Basil comments:

“The brave contestant applies to himself the consoling words, very much like to Paul, when he says: 'I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. For the rest, there is laid up for me a crown of justice. These things the prophet also says to himself: Since you have fulfilled sufficiently the course of this life, turn henceforth into thy rest, 'for the Lord has been bountiful to thee.' For, eternal rest lies before those who have struggled through the present life observant of the laws, a rest not given in payment for a debt owed for their works, but provided as a grace of the munificent God for those who have hoped in Him. Then, before he describes the good things there, telling in detail the escape from the troubles of the world, he gives thanks for them to the Liberator of souls, who has delivered him from the varied and inexorable slavery of the passions.”

Psalm 114

Diléxi, quóniam exáudiet dóminus vocem oratiónis meæ.
Quia inclinávit aurem suam mihi: et in diébus meis invocábo.
Circumdedérunt me dolóres mortis: et perícula inférni invenérunt me.
Tribulatiónem et dolórem invéni: et nomen Dómini invocávi.
O Dómine, líbera ánimam meam: miséricors Dóminus, et justus, et Deus noster miserétur.
Custódiens párvulos Dóminus: humiliátus sum, et liberávit me.
Convértere, ánima mea, in réquiem tuam: quia Dóminus benefécit tibi.
Quia erípuit ánimam meam de morte: óculos meos a lácrimis, pedes meos a lapsu.
Placébo Dómino in regióne vivórum.

And please do continue on to the final part of this mini-series.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Psalm 114/7 - Towards a truly adult faith!



Today’s verse of Psalm 114 (116) calls to mind the Gospel injunction that ‘unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven’ (Mt 18:3).  Here it is:

Custódiens párvulos Dóminus: humiliátus sum, et liberávit me.
The Lord is the keeper of little ones: I was humbled, and he delivered me.

Looking at the Latin

Custódiens párvulos Dóminus = the Lord keeping/protecting/guarding the little ones/children/the guileless/simple = the Lord is the keeper of little ones = The Lord protects/keeps little ones

Brenton’s translation from the Septuagint makes this “The Lord preserves the simple”; the Collegeville translation is “The Lord protecteth little ones”.

humiliátus sum = I was humbled/brought low

et liberávit me = and he has freed/delivered me

Note that the neo-Vulgate changes this last phrase to use ‘salvum facere’ – to save, or preserve from harm. I’m not entirely sure that I see what this adds but…

Key words:

custodio, ivi or li, itum, ire to guard, watch, keep; to maintain, to hold steadfastly.
parvulus, a, um , small, little. Of age: little, youthful, young. children, little ones, the simple, the guileless,
humilio, avi, atum, are to humble, bring low.
libero, avi, atum, are to free, set free, deliver

An adult faith and becoming like little children

All too often these days we hear of the need for Catholics to develop an “adult faith”, which seems to be code for a supposed right of dissent from the Church’s teachings. Yet in reality, a truly adult faith is the exact reverse of this: a truly adult faith is sufficiently robust to accept the ‘hard sayings’ of the faith with docility; it is one that is fed on the meat of orthodoxy, not the sour milk of modernist-liberalism.

And this verse stands as a reminder of the path to such an adult faith: we must be humble, so that we realize our total dependence on God, and shed the illusion that we can control our lives and our world. St John Chrysostom comments:

“…'It is good for me that you brought me low so that I might learn your right judgements’. The grounds for thanks here are twofold: he allowed him to fall into danger, and he did not abandon him once fallen. Each is in some fashion a kind of favor, and the former not less than the latter but even greater, strange to say: while one rescued him from danger, the other imbued his soul with sounder values.”

Similarly, St Augustine gives the image of the father correcting a son, and the surgeon:

“For how should not The Lord, who keeps little ones, scourge those whom, when of mature age, He seeks to be heirs; for what son is he whom the father chastens not? Hebrews 12:6-7 : I was in misery, and He helped me. He helped me, because I was in misery; for the pain which the physician causes by his knife is not penal, but salutary.”

Only once we have been through this process of purification through hardship can we accept the means God uses to free us from the delusions, false doctrines, and temptations that surround us. As St Basil the Great comments:

“When I was turned and became as a little child and received the kingdom of heaven as a child and through innocence brought myself down to the humility of children, the Lord, the keeper of little ones, since I was humbled, he delivered me.”

Psalm 114

Diléxi, quóniam exáudiet dóminus vocem oratiónis meæ.
I have loved, because the Lord will hear the voice of my prayer.
Quia inclinávit aurem suam mihi: et in diébus meis invocábo.
Because he has inclined his ear unto me: and in my days I will call upon him.
Circumdedérunt me dolóres mortis: et perícula inférni invenérunt me.
The sorrows of death have compassed me: and the perils of hell have found me.
Tribulatiónem et dolórem invéni: et nomen Dómini invocávi.
I met with trouble and sorrow: And I called upon the name of the Lord.
O Dómine, líbera ánimam meam: miséricors Dóminus, et justus, et Deus noster miserétur.
O Lord, deliver my soul. The Lord is merciful and just, and our God shows mercy.
Custódiens párvulos Dóminus: humiliátus sum, et liberávit me.
The Lord is the keeper of little ones: I was humbled, and he delivered me.
Convértere, ánima mea, in réquiem tuam: quia Dóminus benefécit tibi.
Quia erípuit ánimam meam de morte: óculos meos a lácrimis, pedes meos a lapsu.
Placébo Dómino in regióne vivórum.

You can find the next part in this series on Psalm 114 here.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Psalm 114/6: On God's mercy



Continuing our look at Psalm 114 (116), here is today’s verse:

O Dómine, líbera ánimam meam: miséricors Dóminus, et justus, et Deus noster miserétur.
O Lord, deliver my soul. The Lord is merciful and just, and our God shows mercy.

Today’s verse, St Robert Bellarmine suggests, is a call to repentance:

To show what good hope he had in God, he assigns a reason for having had such hope, because "The Lord is merciful and just, and our God showeth mercy;" the Lord is merciful, because he goes before sinners, and inspires them with the idea of penance and prayer, "For he first loved us," as the apostle says. He is also just, for he lets no one go unchastised, as St. Paul says, "He scourgeth every son whom he receiveth," and he pardons those who do not pardon themselves, and not only forgives their sins, but makes them his heirs.

Phrase by phrase:

O Dómine = O Lord

líbera ánimam meam = free/deliver (imperative) my soul

miséricors Dóminus et justus =the Lord is merciful and just

et Deus noster miserétur = and our God has pity (note the deponent)

The Revised Standard Version translates the verse as "O LORD, I beseech thee, save my life!" Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; our God is merciful.

Key vocab:

libero, avi, atum, are to free, set free, deliver
misericors, cordis merciful, abounding in mercy.
justus, a, um just
misereor, sertus sum, eri 2 to pity, have mercy on.

God’s mercy

The concept of God’s mercy dealt with by this verse is a rich one. St Basil the Great comments:

“Everywhere Scripture joins justice with the mercy of God, teaching us, that neither the mercy of God is without judgment nor His judgment without mercy. Even while He pities, He measures out His mercies judiciously to the worthy; and while judging, He brings forth the judgment, having regard to our weakness, repaying us with kindness rather than with equal reciprocal measurement…Mercy is an emotion experienced toward those who have been reduced beyond their desert, and which arises in those sympathetically disposed. We pity the man who has fallen from great riches into the uttermost poverty, him who has been overthrown from the peak of vigor of body to extreme weakness, him who gloried in the beauty and grace of body and who has been destroyed by most shameful passions. Though we at one time were held in glory, living in paradise, yet, we have become inglorious and humble because of our banishment; 'our God showeth mercy’ seeing what sort of men we have become from what we were. For this reason He summoned Adam with a voice of mercy, saying: 'Adam, where are you?' He who knows all things was not seeking to be informed, but He wished to perceive what sort he had become from what he had been. 'Where are you?' instead of 'to what sort of a ruin have you descended from so great a height?'

Psalm 114

Diléxi, quóniam exáudiet dóminus vocem oratiónis meæ.
Quia inclinávit aurem suam mihi: et in diébus meis invocábo.
Circumdedérunt me dolóres mortis: et perícula inférni invenérunt me.
Tribulatiónem et dolórem invéni: et nomen Dómini invocávi.
O Dómine, líbera ánimam meam: miséricors Dóminus, et justus, et Deus noster miserétur.
Custódiens párvulos Dóminus: humiliátus sum, et liberávit me.
Convértere, ánima mea, in réquiem tuam: quia Dóminus benefécit tibi.
Quia erípuit ánimam meam de morte: óculos meos a lácrimis, pedes meos a lapsu.
Placébo Dómino in regióne vivórum.

You can find notes on the next verse here.

Monday, November 14, 2011

Psalm 114/5: When shipwrecked, call for help...


Joseph Vernet 1763
Continuing on with this study of Psalm 114 (116), the first psalm of Vespers in the Office of the Dead (and otherwise said at Monday Vespers), here is the complete psalm again with today’s verse highlighted:

Diléxi, quóniam exáudiet dóminus vocem oratiónis meæ.
I have loved, because the Lord will hear the voice of my prayer.

Quia inclinávit aurem suam mihi: et in diébus meis invocábo.
Because he has inclined his ear unto me: and in my days I will call upon him.

Circumdedérunt me dolóres mortis: et perícula inférni invenérunt me.
The sorrows of death have compassed me: and the perils of hell have found me.

Tribulatiónem et dolórem invéni: et nomen Dómini invocávi.
O Dómine, líbera ánimam meam: miséricors Dóminus, et justus, et Deus noster miserétur.
Custódiens párvulos Dóminus: humiliátus sum, et liberávit me.
Convértere, ánima mea, in réquiem tuam: quia Dóminus benefécit tibi.
Quia erípuit ánimam meam de morte: óculos meos a lácrimis, pedes meos a lapsu.
Placébo Dómino in regióne vivórum.

Looking at the Latin

The Douay-Rheims translates ‘Tribulatiónem et dolórem invéni: et nomen Dómini invocávi’ as 'I met with trouble and sorrow: And I called upon the name of the Lord'.

Breaking down the Latin:

Tribulatiónem =anguish/trouble/distress (accusative)

et dolórem =and sorrow

invéni = I have found

et nomen Dómini = and the name of the Lord

invocávi = I have invoked

A slightly looser translation from the Revised Standard Version makes it ‘I suffered distress and anguish: then I called upon the name of the Lord’.

Here is the key vocab:

tribulatio, onis, /. , trouble, distress, anguish, affliction, tribulation
dolor, oris, m. , pain whether of body or of mind, grief, sorrow, affliction, sin
invenio, veni, ventum, ire, to find
invoco, avi, atum, are, to invoke, call upon (God); to put trust in
nomen, mis, n. name

In suffering and trouble we should flee to God

St John Chrysostom uses this verse to offer a brief sermon on why God allows us to be subject to distress at times in order to encourage us to look for him, and on the right dispositions needs to have our prayers heard:

“Now, what he means is this: For me it sufficed for freedom from the encircling evils to call on God. Why, then, does it often occur that we call and are not freed from problems? Because we do not call as we ought call. I mean, for proof that he is always ready to provide, listen to what he says in the Gospels: "Surely there is no one of you who, if their son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?

Now, if you, wicked as you are, know how to give good gifts to those who ask you, much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those asking him." Do you see how great is his goodness, when our wickedness is brought to light in comparison with it? Since, then, our Lord is like that, let us have recourse to him and call upon him alone as our helper, and we shall find him ready to save.

After all, if those who fall victim to shipwreck and cling to a plank immediately call upon people at a distance and persuade them to treat them with humanity, though admittedly having nothing in common with them but simply apprised of their calamity, much more will the loving God, whose goodness is natural to him, rescue those in trouble if only they are prepared to have recourse to him and call upon him with a sincere intention, forsaking human hopes.

Accordingly, whenever you fall into some unexpected trouble, do not despair, but at once lift your spirits, and direct your journey to that storm-free haven, that unassailable tower, help from God. This was the reason, you see, that he allowed you to fall victim, that you might call upon him. But that is particularly the time for most people to become despondent and lose their customary reverence, when they should do the opposite: it is because he loves us deeply that he allows us to suffer distress, so that we may be united to him more diligently. For mothers, too, induce their recalcitrant children to fly to their arms by frightening them with various masks, not wanting to cause them pain, but devising these means of encouraging their approach. God, too, in like manner, always anxious to unite us with himself, like some ardent lover - or, rather, being more ardent than any lover - allows you to be brought to such states of need so as to be exercised constantly in prayer, constantly call on him and be concerned with his affairs by letting go of the others.” (St John Chrysostom Commentary on the Psalms Volume 2,  trans Robert Charles Hill, Holy Cross Orthodox Press, MA 1998, pp94).

You can find notes on the next verse here

Friday, November 11, 2011

Psalms verse by verse - Psalm 114/4 - The pains of death



Today at look at verse 3 of Psalm 114 (116), which tells us that the speaker is in peril of his life, suffering from the pain of dying.

Here are the verses we have looked at so far, plus today’s:

1. Diléxi, quóniam exáudiet Dóminus vocem oratiónis meæ.
I have loved, because the Lord will hear the voice of my prayer.

2. Quia inclinávit aurem suam mihi: et in diébus meis invocábo.
Because he has inclined his ear unto me: and in my days I will call upon him.

3. Circumdedérunt me dolóres mortis: et perícula inférni invenérunt me.
The sorrows of death have compassed me: and the perils of hell have found me

The sentiments are very similar to those of Psalm 17:5-7, which says:

The sorrows of death surrounded me: and the torrents of iniquity troubled me.
The sorrows of hell encompassed me: and the snares of death prevented me
In my affliction I called upon the Lord, and I cried to my God

Phrase by phrase

First a look at the Latin:

circumdedérunt me = They have surround/compass me

dolóres mortis = the pains/sorrows of death

The neo-Vulgate changes this to 'the cords of death’ (funes mortis), giving the image of someone being pulled down to hell.

et perícula inférni = the perils/dangers of hell

Again the neo-Vulgate makes a change here, from pericula (dangers or perils) to angustia (want, scarcity or distress).

invenérunt me = they have found me/seized upon me/overtaken me

In other words, ‘The sorrows of death have surrounded me: and the dangers of hell have found me’. Perhaps the most vivid translation of this verse remains that of Coverdale:

“The snares of death compassed me round about, and the pains of hell got hold upon me.”

Here are the key words used in the verse:

circumdo, dedi, datum, are, to surround, beset, encompass with a hostile intent; to gather round
dolor, oris, m. , pain whether of body or of mind, grief, sorrow, affliction. Sin
mors, mortis, f., death
periculum, i, n., peril, danger.
infernus, i, m. hell, the nether world, the underworld, the grave, the kingdom of the dead,
invenio, veni, ventum, ire, to find

Death is not easy!

These days, many people feel that the best kind of death happens suddenly, quietly in our sleep. Indeed, we do our best to avoid pain of any kind, if necessary drugging someone to death to avoid the realities of death. This verse, though, does not shirk from seeing some nobility in suffering, as St Basil the Great points out:

“…the name of these pains to those which besiege the animal in the division of soul and body at death. He says that he has suffered nothing moderately, but that he has been tried even to the sorrows of death and has arrived at the peril of the descent into hell. Now, did he endure only these things for which he is exalted, or did he endure these things frequently and unwillingly? Nothing that is forced is praiseworthy. But, look at the nobility of nature of the athlete. When 'the sorrows of death compassed me, and the perils of hell found me’ I was so far from succumbing to these trials that I willingly proposed to myself even much greater trials than these.”

The dangers of death though, are not just physical but even more importantly, spiritual as St Robert Bellarmine argues:

“He now tells us on what his prayers turned; on the dangers and temptations in regard of his eternal salvation, the only subject worth the notice of a soul that truly loves God…When he says, then "The sorrows of death have compassed me," he means, I am tormented with such dreadful temptations that I am compelled to cry out with the apostle, "Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" He explains it more fully, when he adds, "The perils of hell have found me," for it is through fear of that peril the greatest of all perils, that those near death conceive the greatest fear and alarm. In the Hebrew the expression is, "The narrow ways of hell," giving us the idea of one walking on the edge of a precipice, in danger every moment of falling, and of being dashed to pieces, unless they tread with the greatest care and caution; and such is the way of salvation, difficult and narrow, so that they who walk without extreme caution run every risk of being precipitated into hell.”

Psalm 114

Diléxi, quóniam exáudiet dóminus vocem oratiónis meæ.
Quia inclinávit aurem suam mihi: et in diébus meis invocábo.
Circumdedérunt me dolóres mortis: et perícula inférni invenérunt me.
Tribulatiónem et dolórem invéni: et nomen Dómini invocávi.
O Dómine, líbera ánimam meam: miséricors Dóminus, et justus, et Deus noster miserétur.
Custódiens párvulos Dóminus: humiliátus sum, et liberávit me.
Convértere, ánima mea, in réquiem tuam: quia Dóminus benefécit tibi.
Quia erípuit ánimam meam de morte: óculos meos a lácrimis, pedes meos a lapsu.
Placébo Dómino in regióne vivórum.

This mini-series on Psalm 114 continues here.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Psalm 114/3: God hears our prayers


Folio 66v, Belles Heures of Jean de France
Metropolitan Museum of Art (metmuseum.org)
Today’s verse of Psalm 114 (116) features one of those delightful anthropomorphisms, with the psalmist giving us an image of God as an old man, bending towards us in order to hear what we are saying:

Quia inclinávit aurem suam mihi: et in diébus meis invocábo.
Because he has inclined his ear unto me: and in my days I will call upon him.

St Basil the Great points out that this is an image for our benefit, not to be taken too literally:

“He inclined, he said, not that you might take some corporeal notion about God having ears and inclining them to a gentle voice, as we do, putting our ear close to those who speak low, so that by the nearness we may perceive what is said, but he said, 'He inclined’ in order that he might point out to us his own weakness. Because through kindness He came down to me while I was lying on the ground, as if, when some sick man is not able to speak clearly because of his great weakness, a kind physician, bringing his ear close, should learn through the nearness what was necessary for the sick man. Therefore, 'He hath inclined his ear unto me’. The divine ear, indeed, does not need a voice for perception; it knows how to recognize in the movements of the heart what is sought.”

Phrase by phrase

Quia inclinávit =for he has inclined/bent

quia, conj. for, because, that. truly, surely, indeed;
inclino, avi, atum, are, to bend, incline

aurem suam mihi = his ear to me

auris, is, /. the ear.
suus a um his
me, me, myself

That is to say, ‘For he listened to/heard me’.

et in diébus meis =and in my days [= while I live, or as long as I live]

dies, ei, m. and /.; fem. a day, the natural day

invocábo = I will call [upon him]

invoco, avi, atum, are, to invoke, call upon (God);to put trust in

Keep praying…

The key message of this verse, St Basil argues, is that we must keep praying, every day of our lives:

“If we have prayed on one day, or if in one hour for a brief time we were saddened by our sins, we are carefree as if we had already made some compensation for our wickedness. However, the holy man says that he is disclosing his confession which is measured by the whole time of his life, for he says: 'In all my days I will call upon him.' Then, in order that you may not think that he called upon God because he was fortunate in this life and because all his affairs were successful, he describes in detail the magnitude and difficulty of the circumstances in which, when he was involved, he did not forget the name of God. “

It is St Augustine, though, who perhaps puts this instruction into the context of praying for the dead, reminding us that this life is only an intermediate stage, and we must keep our eyes fastened on the ultimate reality:

“…And what are your days, since you have said, In my days I have called upon Him? Are they those perchance, in which the fullness of time came, and God sent His Son, Galatians 4:4 who had already said, In an acceptable time have I heard you, and in a day of salvation have I helped you? Isaiah 49:8 ...I may rather call my days the days of my misery, the days of my mortality, the days according to Adam, full of toil and sweat, the days according to the ancient corruption….

Psalm 114

Diléxi, quóniam exáudiet dóminus vocem oratiónis meæ.
I have loved, because the Lord will hear the voice of my prayer.
Quia inclinávit aurem suam mihi: et in diébus meis invocábo.
Because he has inclined his ear unto me: and in my days I will call upon him.
Circumdedérunt me dolóres mortis: et perícula inférni invenérunt me.
Tribulatiónem et dolórem invéni: et nomen Dómini invocávi.
O Dómine, líbera ánimam meam: miséricors Dóminus, et justus, et Deus noster miserétur.
Custódiens párvulos Dóminus: humiliátus sum, et liberávit me.
Convértere, ánima mea, in réquiem tuam: quia Dóminus benefécit tibi.
Quia erípuit ánimam meam de morte: óculos meos a lácrimis, pedes meos a lapsu.
Placébo Dómino in regióne vivórum

Notes on the next verse of the the psalm can be found here.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Psalm 114/2 - I have loved

Jean Fouquet, 1452-60

Today, a look at the first verse of Psalm 114. The literal translation of this verse is very straightforward. Penetrating its true meaning, however, takes a little more work.

The verse is, in the Vulgate:

Diléxi, quóniam exáudiet Dóminus vocem oratiónis meæ.

The Douay-Rheims translates it as ‘I have loved, because the Lord will hear the voice of my prayer’.

So just who is it that the speaker has loved – does he mean God or someone or something else? And does the verse really mean to suggest that this love really dependent on God hearing - and favourably answering - his prayer?

Phrase by phrase

Diléxi = I have loved

Dilexi comes from the verb third conjugation verb, diligo, dilexi, dilectum, diligere 3 to love, to be pleased.

quóniam exáudiet Dóminus = because the Lord will hear

The key words here are:

quoniam, for, because, since, seeing that, whereas.
exaudio, ivi, itum, ire, to hear, hearken to, listen to, give heed to; to regard, answer.

The neo-Vulgate actually changes the tense of the verb here, to ‘you have heard’ (exaudit).

vocem oratiónis meæ = the voice of my prayer

vox, vocis, f., the voice of a person, or, the sound of an instrument, thunder
oratio, onis, f prayer, supplication

I have loved the Lord?

From the breakdown above it can be seen that the Douay-Rheims translates the Latin fairly literally, and in this case that reflects both the Greek and the Latin. The Coverdale translation for example (from the Hebrew) makes it: ‘I am well pleased that the Lord hath heard the voice of my prayer’, while Brenton’s translation from the Greek renders the verse: ‘I am well pleased, because the Lord will hearken to the voice of my supplication’.

A number of other translations, however, give the verse a rather different emphasis, for example :

I love the LORD, because he has heard my voice and my supplications (RSV); and
I love the Lord because He hath heard the voice of my prayer (Collegeville, Monastic Diurnal).

In fact St Basil the Great’s sermon on the psalm suggests that in fact these are legitimate (if less than attentive to the actual text) interpretations.  He says:

“It is not in the power of everyone to say: 'I have loved,' but of him who is already perfect and beyond the fear of slavery, and who has been formed in the spirit of adoption as sons. He does not add to ‘have loved’ the word 'someone’ but we supply in thought 'the God of the universe’. For, that which is properly beloved is God, since they define 'beloved' as that at which all things aim. Now, God is a good, and the first and most perfect of good things. Therefore, I have loved God Himself who is the highest of objects to be desired, and I have received with joy sufferings for His sake.”

Similarly, St Robert Bellarmine comments that:

“His soul burning with desire for the Lord, absolutely says, "I have loved," and does not say whom, taking it for granted that all others are equally in love with one so deserving of love, and, therefore, that they know whom he means. In like manner, when Mary Magdalen, at the sepulchre, was asked, "Whom seekest thou?" she answered, "Sir, if thou hast taken him away, tell me," without saying for whom she was looking, or for whom she was weeping, supposing that everyone shared in her love as well as in her sorrow, and knew the object of both. And, in fact, when we all seek for happiness, which, without any sprinkling of evil, we can find in God alone, as St. John intimates, when he says, "God is light, and in him there is no darkness;" man should absolutely love God alone, and when they hear the expression, "I have loved," they ought to understand it as applying to the love of the supreme good alone.”

Because he heard my prayer?

The second part of the verse serves as a reminder of the basic dynamic of the Christian life: God’s love for us calls us to him, encouraging us to respond with our prayers; and in turn, he listens.

It is, first of all, a call for those who are far from God at the moment to return to him, as St Augustine argues:

“Let the soul that is sojourning in absence from the Lord sing thus, let that sheep which had strayed sing thus, let that son who had "died and returned to life," who had "been lost and was found;" let our soul sing thus, brethren, and most beloved sons. Let us be taught, and let us abide, and let us sing thus with the Saints: "I have loved: since the Lord will hear the voice of my prayer."

But it is the assurance that God is with us, is listening, and acting in our best interests (even if those interests might not be apparent to us at the moment) the Fathers argue, that can get us through the trials and tribulations of life. Cassiodorus, for example, comments:

“We know that the Lord's love comes to men under two heads. The first is when He is loved and praised even by the unfaithful for the benefits He has bestowed; as we read of the sinner in another psalm: He will praise thee when thou shall do well to him. The other is the most certain and perfect, when the mind of one devoted to Him is cast down by no adversity caused by the ills befalling him, but in his love of the Lord is ever fired in the course of his miseries by hope of what is to come. As Paul says: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation? Or distress? Or persecution? Or famine? Or nakedness? and the rest. So the prophet later explains the attitude of showing love in the midst of afflictions and hardships, because the tribulations and pains bestowed on him the merit of calling on the Lord. So David joyfully exults not in the breadth of his kingdom, and not in worldly happiness, which he knew would fade; but he rejoices that his prayer uttered in hardship has been heard by the most merciful Lord, and he realised that this was of enduring benefit to him….”

Psalm 114

Here is the complete psalm, with today’s verse highlighted:

Diléxi, quóniam exáudiet dóminus vocem oratiónis meæ.
I have loved, because the Lord will hear the voice of my prayer.
Quia inclinávit aurem suam mihi: et in diébus meis invocábo.
Circumdedérunt me dolóres mortis: et perícula inférni invenérunt me.
Tribulatiónem et dolórem invéni: et nomen Dómini invocávi.
O Dómine, líbera ánimam meam: miséricors Dóminus, et justus, et Deus noster miserétur.
Custódiens párvulos Dóminus: humiliátus sum, et liberávit me.
Convértere, ánima mea, in réquiem tuam: quia Dóminus benefécit tibi.
Quia erípuit ánimam meam de morte: óculos meos a lácrimis, pedes meos a lapsu.
Placébo Dómino * in regióne vivórum.

Notes on the next verse continue here.