Liturgy of the Hours 
Psalm 110(109): “Sit on my right: your foes I will put beneath your feet”(0)
1. Continuing an ancient tradition, Psalm 110[109] which has just been proclaimed constitutes the primary component of Sunday Vespers. It is proposed in all four of the weeks into which the Liturgy of the Hours is divided. Its brevity is further accentuated by the exclusion in Christian liturgical usage of verse 6, which contains a curse. This [...]
Psalm 119(118):145-152: Praise God for His Gift of Law
1. What the liturgy of Lauds for Saturday of the first week offers us is a single strophe of Ps 118[119], (the verses 145-152), in the monumental prayer of 22 strophes or stanzas, that correspond to the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Each strophe begins with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet and the [...]
Magnificat: “My soul glorifies the Lord”
The Commentaries on Psalm 119(118) are interrupted this first week of May as we honor Mary during her month. The following Commentary was offered by Pope Benedict XVI as part of the Commentaries on the Liturgy of the Hours on February 16, 2006. 1. We have now arrived at the final destination of the long [...]
Psalm 119(118): v. 145-152: let Christ be light of day
1. In our already long journey through the Psalms that the Liturgy of Lauds presents, we come to one strophe – to be precise, the 19th – of the longest prayer of the Psalter, Psalm 118[119]. It is a part of an immense alphabetical hymn. In a play on style, the Psalmist divides his work into 22 [...]