I've Got Song in My Heart....

In the Book of Psalms, there are 150 individual "songs of praise" of which the majority are attributed to King David whom Sacred Scripture refers to as the "sweet singer of Israel" (2 Kings 23:1).

The Book of Psalms is the most widely-read Book of the Bible and it is no wonder:  filled with intense cries to God, the Psalms express the vast horizon of human experience and emotions, from fear to joy, desolation to fulfillment, despair to hope, failure to success, wantonness to holiness, death to life. They were (and continue to be) used by The Church extensively in prayer and praise, as well as for instruction and understanding of The Lord.

Jesus Himself prayed the Psalms.  In fact, Scripture records that, of all of the Old Testament, it is the Psalms that Jesus quotes most often - 11 times (followed by Deuteronomy, Isaiah and Exodus, in that order); arguably, most notably and palpably from the Cross, He quotes (Douay Rheims) Psalm 21:1:  "My God, my God, why have Your forsaken me?"   It is the tradition of the Church that He cried out not only these words, but the entire Psalm as He endured His Most Sorrowful Passion. 

In those times, a rabbi was only as good as his teacher and as such, would refer to him when giving a lesson. It was never on his own authority that the teacher would speak.   However, when Jesus spoke the Word, He did so with such authority as had never been heard previously (see Luke 4:16-30 and Mark 1:21-28).  He referred to no other authority except His Father in Heaven. 

After all, Jesus is The Word Made Flesh. 

"In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God and the Word was God.

He was with God in the beginning.

Through Him, all things came into being; not one thing came into being except through Him.

What has come into being in Him was life, life that was the light of men,

And light shines in the darkness and darkness could not overpower it."  - John 1:1-5

It would do us well to meditate on the power and majesty of The Word Made Flesh reading/praying The Word!  It is no wonder the demons would tremble at the sight of Him; that the raging seas would calm; that the deaf would hear, the blind would see, the lame would walk.   

Of all of the Psalms, there is likely none more beloved than Psalm 22 (Douay-Rheims):

"The Lord is my Shepherd, there is nothing I shall want!

He makes me lie down in green meadows;

He leads be besides restful waters, He refreshes my soul.

He leads me along the path of righteousness for His name sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil

For you are beside me.

Your rod and staff comfort me.

You set a table before me in the sight of my foes,

You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows!

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life

And I shall dwell in the House of the Lord forever!"

It is no wonder why this Psalm is so beloved. Its rich and earthy imagery rises into a crescendo of faithful and trusting thanksgiving which both stirs and stills the soul...leading one to sing a song of praise!  Psalm 22 is often prayed in times of trouble for it reveals the saving Hand of God, The Good Shepherd who cares for His flock and will leave the 99 in search of the one lost sheep, the bounty of His love and intense interest and care for His little ones.

Though not recorded in Scripture, it is certain that our Lord prayed this Psalm.  Reflect for a moment on our Lord "singing" this Psalm during His Agony at Gethsemane...."You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows"  or as He bore the Cross unto Calvary..."Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.." or as He hung on the Cross..."You set a table before me in the sight of my foes..."   These very words written by Him and through Him as The Word, now prayed by Him as The Word Made Flesh, the God-man, both God and man....like us in every way, except sin and yet Divine, during His Passion.  Again, another point of contemplation and meditation.  

The reality of our Lord is beyond our comprehension and yet as the Baltimore Catechism tells us, we are given this wonderful gift of life "to "know, love and serve God."  To know Him is to love Him;  to love Him is to serve Him; to serve Him is to know and love Him.  In praying the prayers written by The Word, the songs of praise which He not only wrote but prayed and sang, we are given a most excellent way in coming to know Jesus Christ and when we pray, when we sing, we do so in unity as The Body of Christ, together in through and with Him and all who believe.  

Many inspired and lovely hymns have been written based upon the Psalms.  I include one selection here based on Psalm 22. 

The song of the lips is most lovely when it is first a song in the heart.  In praying the Psalms and hearing the Word of God, I pray that the music of your heart may be stirred, igniting the deep desire which has been placed within each of us for our Almighty and Eternal God. 

How awesome is it that the Creator of the human heart has also given us the words and means with which to stir and enflame it with love for Him, the Author of the human heart!

It just makes me want to sing!

The King of Love My Shepherd Is

Rolling in the Deep

We've all heard the expression, "Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans." I think it is attributed to John Lennon. Or was it, "We make plans and God laughs." Regardless, most of us go through our lives with a certain course charted, routines to follow, disciplines to maintain, jobs to do. And quite often, we go through the motions of our lives and often get so caught up in our routines that we could almost walk through the day blindfolded. Routines are not bad; they certainly serve a purpose and help to keep things in order. Yet so often, we keep doing the same things over and over again, that life can become like white noise; humming along, our awareness becomes dulled to possibilities.  I am sure it was no different for the disciples of Jesus Christ. 

Consider Peter and the others when Jesus came onto their boat and told them to try something different -  "Go cast your nets out into the deep."   Now, they were tired after having been out all day and probably not in the frame of mind to haul back out there onto the sea just to be disappointed. Let's not get our hopes up! The Scripture does not indicate it, but I imagine there was some pretty foul language  and grumbling coming out of Simon's mouth. After all, he was from Galilee (those from that region were not highly regarded) and a fisherman - a tired fisherman to boot! Think about how you feel at the end of a hard day. Do you really want to hear someone tell you that you did it wrong and need to go try it again, but this time, go out even farther? Do more?  Again? Poor Simon. I think he gets a bum rap. We hear that he is impetuous, impatient, arrogant and narrow-minded. Ok, that may be true, but despite this, he was open enought to feel that there was something to what Jesus said and he obeyed. Later in the Scripture, Simon  now Peter says, "Where else shall we go? You alone have the words of eternal life!" Despite all of Peter's flaws, he was well aware of himself and that Jesus was the Christ, even if he didn't fully understand. And so he obeyed, in spite of all his fisherman's knowledge and experience and his exhaustion and disappointment.  And his fledgling faith was rewarded:  his nets overflowed with fish to the point of nearly breaking. Imagine the joy, the wonder and the fear that came over him! He sees all this fish and he can hardly believe it, being no fool, but a seasoned fisherman. He knew those waters...how could this be?

Oh boy, now he was in trouble. Moments before he was cursing under his breath and giving Jesus a hard time,  and now he receives this gift, this generous underserved  and unexpected gift.  "Depart from me, Lord for I am a sinful man." Yes, albeit uneducated and narrow-minded, Simon got it right there and his fear was just for fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Simon knew who he was before the Lord and Jesus knew Simon - He knew that he would build His church on this rock. He also knew that this rock would betray Him at the moment of greatest need. By listening to Christ, by taking his boat out one more time to cast into the deep, Simon received his call: to be a disciple of Jesus, to be a fisher of men. Despite his knoweledge and experience, despite logic and commonsense telling him to end it for the day, despite his terribly tired body and weary mind, he listened and followed the word of Jesus and so the course of his life was completely altered. "I will make you fisher(s) of men." 

It makes me wonder how many calls I may have missed along the way. Caught up in what I know, my old familiar routines and time restrictions, have I missed opportunites to cast out into the deep and encounter the Living Christ? The spiritual life is replete with contradiction. It is when we have the least that we are expected to give. When we do this, we allow God's grace to flow through us to others. His strength is made perfect in our weakness.  Simon and the others were exhausted and I am certain, to say the least, incredulous. I imagine them saying in Aramaic "Who the heck does this guy thing he is?!" Yet they listened. There was something about Jesus. Was it the way He looked, the sound of His voice, the look in His eyes? I imagine it was all of those things: strong yet gentle; compelling yet comforting; commanding yet vulnerable. He was Love in the Flesh. Love is pretty hard to resist. Real Love, that is. This Love that went all the way to Calvary was present for all time, even before time and brought the world into being just by uttering the word. I imagine that Simon found it hard to resist this Jesus, but I think we need to point out that Simon saw something. He stopped and listened. He took a moment to observe and see what was going on. He slowed down for a moment to actually listen to this stranger was telling him what to do. That's the key. He stopped and listened. Impetuous, seasoned and tired Simon listened; he was open to allowing this man in, for some strange and wonderful reason. Jesus is the same today and tomorrow as He was yesterday and so if we are to know this man, our Savior, we must stop and listen; look for signs and direction particularly when we are at a less than best. Christ doesn't come when we are happy and on top of the world...He comes to the poor, the downtrodden, the tired and the lost for it is when we are empty that He comes to fill our nets and to bring us joy that is beyond that "on top of the world" feeling that we get every once in awhile. He meets us in the deepest, darkest places of our lives, of our hearts where we so rarely like to go. It is cold there and a bit scary. Yet that is where we meet Him....if we only stop and listen long enough.