Mark 10:46-52. Blind beggar ....
Thomas Merton
Psalms Are Our Prayer
Above
all, Psalm 1I8, the longest of them all, is a litany of praises extolling the peace that
is found in the will of God. This Psalm, which might at first seem dull and
"juridical" -since it praises the Torah from beginning to end-turns
out, on long acquaintance, to be one of the most contemplative of them all. St.
Ambrose, indeed, commented on it in terms appropriate to the Canticle of Canticles. It is a song of the
soul that rejoices in perfect self-surrender to God.
Pointing
out that in this Psalm 1I8, as well as in the various sapiential books, moral and mystical meanings
are mingled together, St. Ambrose describes how the
Church welcomes the
coming of Christ In this Psalm:-
Holy Church, who in the beginning of the
world was espoused to God in paradise, who was prefigured in the deluge,
announced by the Law, called by the prophets, has long awaited the redemption
of men and the beauty of the Gospel. She now runs, impatient of delay, to kiss
the Spouse, exclaiming: "Let Him kiss me with the kiss of His mouth."
In Psalmum CXVlII. MPL 15 :1.201.
Chanting
the numerous verses of this long hymn to the will of God, we learn to recognize,
in God's will for us, the fulfilment of the Mystery of Christ in our own lives,
and we hasten to co-operate with the action of the Holy Spirit, who, in all
that He does, strives to unite the sons of the Church more closely in the unity
of the Mystical Christ.
When we are fully
and whole-heartedly united with the will of God and striving to bear one
another's burdens and build the mystical City of God on this earth, we find our
peace-filled hearts spontaneously overflowing with that praise of God which is
the joy of the poor whom He has deigned to call to the riches of divine
sonship. Rectos decet
colladatio! (Praise is fitting in those who are sincere with God.)
Sunday, 25 October 2015
25/10/2015 Ambrose Ps. 118:151
Sunday, 27 October 2013
Psalm 118 by Saint Ambrose
Monastic Office of Vigils.
St. Ambrose Ps. 118
....... He penetrates the soul,
then, and illuminates it as with the brightness of eternal light. But although
his virtue is poured out among all and into all and over all, since he was born
of the Virgin for the sake of all, both good and bad, just as he commands his
sun to rise over good and bad, nevertheless he warms only those who come near
to him. For just as people shut out the sun's brightness when they close the
windows of their houses and choose to live in darkness, so those who turn their
backs on the Sun of Righteousness cannot see its splendor. They walk in
darkness, and it is plain to everyone that they themselves are the cause of
their blindness. Open your windows, then, so that your whole house shines with
the brightness of the true Sun; open your eyes so that you can see the Sun of
Righteousness rising for you.
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