I thank you, Lord,
with all my heart; in the presence of the angels to you
I sing. I
bow low toward your holy temple; I praise your name
for your mercy and faithfulness. For
you have exalted over all your name and your promise. On the day I cried
out, you answered; you strengthened my spirit. Though
I walk in the midst of dangers, you guard my life when my enemies rage. You stretch out your hand; your right hand
saves me. The Lord is with me to the
end. Lord, your mercy endures forever. Never
forsake the work of your hands! (Ps 138:1-3, 7-8, NABRE)
Whenever I face obstacles, trials
and temptations, I have a knee-jerk reaction, and I focus my attention on
getting over or around the obstacle instead of stepping back, realizing that
God has allowed the difficulties for a purpose, pray regarding them, and then
approach them in the example of Christ.
It is easy to say, but difficult to do.
In order to make progress, whenever I do react in a knee-jerk fashion,
afterwards I need to be confessing to God regarding the reaction, and pray that
He brings the proper reaction into remembrance the next time. It will take lots of prayers and lots of
work. May this psalm be an aid in my
victory.
When I read the psalms, I try to
look at them from three perspectives: One, from Christ’s perspective; two, from
the Church’s, since it is the Body of Christ; and, three, from an individual’s
perspective. Because this is a psalm of
David—and David is a type of Christ—I see Jesus praying this psalm during the
time of His Passion and crucifixion.
From the Church’s perspective, I see the Church as the visible Christ;
and, what Christ went through, the Church must also go through. Therefore, this psalm applies to the Church
when she is being attacked, either from the outside or the inside. Once we ponder upon how it applies to Christ
and to the Church, then I can arrive at an appropriate conclusion as to how I
should face obstacles. I must prepare
myself before trials and temptations come in order for me to derive any
benefit. Therefore, I’m going to begin
with a perspective of Christ.
The version of Scripture which St.
Augustine is utilizing is probably the Vulgate.
I like the way he says it reads: “I will confess to You” or “we will confess
to You,” whereas the version I’m going by says, “I give You thanks.” It is the word “confess” that makes me pause
and think. When I read the words “I give
You thanks,” in my mind I am just saying, “Thank you, Lord.” Augustine correctly explains that this is a
confession of praise, not of sin.[1] But how do we “confess” praise to God? Through obedience. Realizing this, I can conclude that, whenever
Scripture speaks of thanking God, the most real way of thanking God is through
obedience. After, first, walking in
obedience, then I can appropriately thank Him, for I could not have been
obedient without His grace. My obedience
says, “You are God, worthy of obedience.
Thank you for giving me the wisdom and strength to do what is right.”
Now, Jesus, preparing to face His
Passion and Death, has absolutely walked in obedience, loving the will of the
Father, constantly in praise of Him. But
how is it possible to confess with the heart?
“From the fullness (abundance) of the heart the mouth speaks.”[2] Because Jesus loved the Father with all His
heart, mind, soul, and strength and His neighbor as Himself, He praised the Father
with His obedience; and, out of the fullness of His heart, His mouth spoke. Augustine gives us greater insight into the “mouth
speaks” when he explains: “What mouth, save my heart? For there (the heart) have we the voice which
God hears, which ear man knows not at all. We have then a mouth within. There do we ask … and, if we have prepared a
lodging or a house for God, there do we speak; there are we heard. ‘For He is not far from every one of us, for
in Him we live and move and have our being.’
Nothing makes you far off from God, save sin only. Cast down the middle wall of sin, and you are
with Him whom you ask.”[3]
In
the presence of the angels to you I sing. The question arises: Why would Jesus, who is
God, the Son, sing in the presence of the angels? This “singing” is not necessarily singing as
we perceive it, but it is the joy of revealing God’s love, grace, and mercy to
the angels and to those baptized in Him.
St. Augustine explains: “Not before men will I sing, but before the
Angels. My song is my joy; but my joy in
things below is before men, my joy in things above before the Angels. For the wicked knows not the joy of the just: ‘There
is no joy, says my God, to the wicked’.”[4]
What about I bow low toward your holy temple?
We know of three temples: Jesus’ body, the Church—it is the Body of
Christ—and our bodies, which are temples of the Holy Spirit. Jesus says that He and the Father are One;
therefor He is the Temple of God.
Augustine further explains: “What holy Temple? That where we shall dwell, where we shall
worship. For we hasten that we may
adore. Our heart is pregnant and comes
to the birth and seeks where it may bring forth. What is the place where God is to be
worshipped? … ‘The Temple of God is holy,’ says the Apostle, ‘which Temple you
are.’ But assuredly, as is manifest, God
dwells in the Angels. Therefore, when
our joy--being in spiritual things, not in earthly--takes up a song to God, to
sing before the Angels, that very assembly of Angels is the Temple of God; we
worship toward God’s Temple. There is a
Church below; there is a Church above also: the Church below, in all the
faithful; the Church above, in all the Angels. But the God of Angels came down to the Church
below, and Angels ministered to Him on earth while He ministered to us, for, ‘I
came not,’ says He, ‘to be ministered unto, but to minister.’ … The
Lord of Angels died for man. Therefore, ‘I will worship toward Thy holy Temple’--I
mean, not the temple made with hands, but that which You have made for Yourself.”[5]
I
praise your name for your mercy and faithfulness. Because Jesus was the Son of God and was
without sin, the question might arise: For what purpose did Jesus need
mercy? Jesus, the Son of God, condescended
to become wholly man. In His humanity,
Jesus relied upon the mercy of the Father.
Because we rely upon the mercy of God, it was necessary that Jesus had
to rely upon the Father also. “Therefore,
He had to become like His brothers in every way, that He might be a merciful
and faithful high priest before God to expiate the sins of the people. Because He himself was tested through what He
suffered, He is able to help those who are being tested.”[6]
On this, St. Augustine expounds: “These
also which You hast given to me, do I according to my power give to You in
return: mercy, in siding [with] others; truth, in judging. By these God aids us; by these, we win God’s favor.
Rightly, therefore, ‘All the ways of the
Lord are mercy and truth.’ No other ways
are there whereby He can come to us, no other [way] whereby we can come to Him.
‘For You have magnified Your holy Name over everything’.”[7]
On
the day I cried out, you answered; you strengthened my spirit. Though
I walk in the midst of dangers, you guard my life when my enemies rage. You stretch out your hand; your right hand
saves me. From the perspective of
sinful man, they would envision that the Father did not answer Jesus’ prayer or
that, if He did, He answered, no. When
Jesus cried out in the Garden and when He was on the Cross, the Father answered
His prayers by strengthening Him. During
His Passion, our Lord walked in the midst of dangers; and, while on the Cross,
He “walked” in the midst of dangers.
During these dangers, the Father guarded His life by guarding His soul when
His enemies raged. Although Jesus was
God, Divine, nevertheless He had to become weak and depend upon the Father
because He was also wholly man. This is
why Jesus could exclaim, “You stretch out your hand; your right hand saves me.” Although Jesus was dying on the Cross, the
Father still saved Him because of His Resurrection, albeit Jesus also rose of
His own power because He and the Father are One and He had the authority to do
it. Nonetheless, the Father still stretched
out His hand. His right hand (the power
of God) saved Him.
The
Lord is with me to the end. Lord, your mercy endures forever. Never forsake the work of your hands! Here, our Lord, who is also man, human, is
interceding for mankind. We are the work
of God’s hands. It is mankind who should
have been forsaken, but the Son of God became man so that we would not be
forsaken.
Because this applies to Jesus, this
also applies to the Church. The Church
suffers persecution just as Jesus, its Head, was persecuted. “Now Saul, still breathing murderous threats
against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for
letters to the synagogues in Damascus, that, if he should find any men or women
who belonged to the Way, he might bring them back to Jerusalem in chains. On
his journey, as he was nearing Damascus, a light from the sky suddenly flashed
around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul,
why are you persecuting me?’”[8] And, just as Jesus is always interceding for
us, the Church—because Jesus is its Head—is always interceding for us.
Understanding this, we realize that
all the obstacles we face have a purpose.
They are set before us for our salvation, for our sanctification, and
for the salvation and sanctification of others—because we are not the Body but
a part of the Body. Everything regarding
us is not only for our personal benefit but for the benefit of the entire
Church. In essence, Jesus is giving
thanks to the Father for His trials, for they were for the glory of God and for
our sake. He is praising God through His
obedience and trust. “For the sake of
the joy that lay before him he endured the cross, despising its shame, and has
taken his seat at the right of the throne of God. Consider how he endured such
opposition from sinners, in order that you may not grow weary and lose heart.”[9] The Church does likewise because its Head is
Christ. It is for this reason that we
need to face everything in obedience to God, for we are born of Him. In this way, we thank God by praising Him in
confession.
[1]
Augustine of Hippo, Saint Augustin:
Expositions on the Book of Psalms, 1888, 8, 633.
[2] New American Bible,
Revised Edition., (Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic
Bishops, 2011), Mt 12:34.
[3]
Augustine of Hippo, Saint Augustin:
Expositions on the Book of Psalms, 1888, 8, 633.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid.
[6] New American Bible,
Revised Edition., (Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic
Bishops, 2011), Heb 2:17–18.
[7]
Augustine of Hippo, Saint Augustin:
Expositions on the Book of Psalms, 1888, 8, 633.
[8] New American Bible,
Revised Edition., (Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic
Bishops, 2011), Ac 9:1–4.
[9] New American Bible,
Revised Edition., (Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic
Bishops, 2011), Heb 12:2–3.
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