Jesus references this psalm when he is on the Cross.
‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.’
It is possible to read this utterance of the psalm as an act of despair.
Certainly we might know of Jesus’ agony as he was crucified.
We can only wonder at Jesus’ agony on the Cross. There are so many possible layers of the meaning here. At once, this utterance might seem to us an action of despair, or perhaps better of nullity, and at the same time an action of triumph, as the psalm moves to reaffirm and reinforces faith in God.
The psalmist is abject. In a sense, he complains against God. He speaks of trust, and yet says that God does not answer.
The psalmist considers his state – as a worm, scorned by men, mocked by men – the cause of God seems broken and lost.
There is a deep and prolonged itemization of the physical poverty of the psalmist. Truly, this is a person at the most abject. Starving, dogs are set to prey on him.
This is truth: the affirmation thereby of God-fear and God-love.
This is Jesus.
Jesus speaks to teach us how to pray through the psalms.
This is a most important text – chosen by Jesus upon the Cross.
We cannot assume irony. We cannot say that Jesus on the Cross recited this psalm as if having given up on his mission. We can only say that Jesus’s recitation of this psalm was perfect and that it was intended to express perfection.
This is Christian prayer at the utmost. So much is fused. Jesus calls upon the Father – on the Cross. SO much of Jewish history is included and resolved. Jesus took so much upon himself. Jesus became the subject of these psalms. That is scary and that is triumph.
There is a sense in which this should be Christian prayer.
Saint Catherine records a divine address from God the Father, expressing the logic and tenderness of divine providence. The text presents a theological anthropology — an account of what it means to be human in relation to God — rooted in creation, memory, intellect, and will. Each faculty corresponds to a mode of divine communication: memory preserves awareness of God’s goodness, intellect apprehends divine truth through the Son, and will loves the good revealed by the Holy Spirit [ … ]
‘Domine, non sum dignus, ut intres sub tectum meum, sed tantum dic verbo, et sanabitur anima mea.’ ‘Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.’ With these words, so many of us will seek to rid ourselves of bad thoughts before receiving communion. We have recollected ourselves in silent time to examine our consciences, we have confessed, we have listened to readings from Scripture – and even in that short time following there has been time to sin anew, as also there is heightened awareness of our sins, and too of inherent sinfulness [ … ]
Chapter 18 of Matthew’s Gospel records Jesus’ Discourse on the Church, or Discourse of the Community. This is Jesus’ teachings regarding how his Church is to be administered, how Christian communities are to conduct themselves. Jesus emphasises the humility that is necessary for Christian life, this in response to his disciples’ imperfect attitude, as they seek to know from Jesus who will be greatest in the Kingdom of heaven. This attitude, of pride and egotism, is completely contrary to life in Jesus. We are not called to try to be more important than other people, but to give ourselves in a spirit of poverty to a life of service [ … ]
