Tag: Psalter
Psalm 139(138): “The wonder of my being”
1. At this General Audience on Wednesday of the Octave of Christmas, the liturgical Feast of the Holy Innocents, let us resume our meditation on Psalm 139[138], proposed in the Liturgy of Vespers in two distinct stages. After contemplating in the first part (cf. vv. 1-12) the omniscient and omnipotent God, the Lord of being… Read More ›
Irish worker discovers ancient manuscript that links Irish church to Egypt
The conservator called the finding miraculous: “We never before had to deal with a manuscript recovered from a bog.” In 2006 an Irish worker discovered an amazing find while digging in a bog with his backhoe at Fadden More. Sticking out of the earth was an ancient manuscript, miraculously intact after more than a thousand… Read More ›
Psalm 51(50): Have mercy on me, O God!
1. For the fourth time during our reflections on the Liturgy of Lauds, we hear proclaimed Psalm 51[50], the famous Miserere. Indeed, it is presented anew to us on the Friday of every week, so that it may become an oasis of meditation in which we can discover the evil that lurks in the conscience and beg the Lord… Read More ›
Psalms 141(140) and 142(141)
With this evening liturgy, we begin the itinerary of a new liturgical year, entering into the first of its seasons: Advent. In the biblical reading that we have just heard, taken from the First Letter to the Thessalonians, the Apostle Paul uses precisely this word: “coming”, which in Greek is parusia andadventus in Latin (1 Thes 5: 23). According… Read More ›
Psalm 51(50): Where sin abounded, grace was more abundant!
1. Every week, in the Liturgy of Lauds for Friday, we pray Psalm 50, the Miserere, the pentitential Psalm, that is so much beloved, sung and meditated upon. It is a hymn raised to the merciful God by the repentant sinner. We have already had the chance in a previous catechesis to give a general overview of this great… Read More ›
Psalm 51(50): Take not your Holy Spirit from me
1. Every week the Liturgy of Lauds repeats Psalm 50[51], the famous Miserere. We have already reflected on sections of it on other occasions. Now also, we will reflect in a particular way on a section of this grandiose plea for forgiveness: verses 12-16. First of all, it is important to note that in the original Hebrew the word… Read More ›
Psalm 141(140): “Prayer in danger”
1. In previous catecheses, we gave an overall look at the structure and value of the Liturgy of Vespers, the great ecclesiastical prayer of the evening. We now journey into its interior. It will be like making a pilgrimage to that “holy land” made up of the Psalms and Canticles. One by one we will reflect on each… Read More ›
Psalm 51(50): God’s Spirit Purifies
Psalm 51 in which the Psalmist, repentant after his serious sin, implores God’s mercy and asks the Lord: “Do not deprive me of your holy spirit” (v. 13). The Psalm is the Miserere, a very well-known psalm which is often repeated in the liturgy, as well as in the devotion and penitential practices of Christian… Read More ›
Psalm 63(62): My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord
Psalm of mystical love, which celebrates total adherence to God based on an almost physical yearning and reaching its fullness in a close and everlasting embrace. Prayer becomes longing, thirst and hunger, because it involves the soul and the body. As St Teresa of Avila wrote: “Thirst, I think, means the desire for something very necessary… Read More ›
Psalm 62(61): In God alone be at rest!
1. The gentle words of Psalm 62[61] have just resounded; it is a hymn of trust that opens with what appears to be an antiphon, repeated halfway through the text. It is like a peaceful and strong ejaculatory prayer, an invocation that also becomes a programme of life: “In God alone is my soul at… Read More ›