Every once in a while I get to cantor the Responsorial Psalms at Mass. Almost every time the psalm has some special message for my life at the present moment. This Sunday's Psalm is no exception. Last night's vigil Mass was the culmination of a marriage conference and included the renewal of our wedding vows. Yea!! To my pleasant surprise, my psalm was the same one we had at our wedding Mass.
Three years ago we selected this psalm after marriage prep using Christopher West's Theology of the Body series. His specific mention of this psalm spoke of God's way of using tactile things for us to get closer to Him (e.g., water for baptism). Three years later, I see a different side of this psalm, especially the line, "when the afflicted man called out the Lord heard..." Infertility feels quite afflicting, so the psalm is a reminder that God does hear such prayers.
Psalm 34
Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
I will bless the LORD at all times;
his praise shall be ever in my mouth.
Let my soul glory in the LORD;
the lowly will hear me and be glad.
Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Glorify the LORD with me,
Let us together extol his name.
I sought the LORD, and he answered me
And delivered me from all my fears.
Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Look to him that you may be radiant with joy.
And your faces may not blush with shame.
When the afflicted man called out, the LORD heard,
And from all his distress he saved him.
Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
The angel of the LORD encamps
around those who fear him and delivers them.
Taste and see how good the LORD is;
blessed the man who takes refuge in him.
6 comments:
I love Psalm 34 too. We sang it at mass today too...right after communion. Do you have marriag.e encounte.r weekends in your area? We went on one and it ended with mass and a renewal of marriag.e vows. Blessings.
Guess what? I was lector at Sunday's Mass and read this psalm. It was truly beautiful!
I love having the same psalms/readings/songs that we chose at our wedding, too! We had our Communion Song from our wedding yesterday, "Behold the Lamb."
Very true about Psalm 34 and its significance for IF.
The Mass was actually part of the Familia national marriage conference. My husband and I plan to attend a Marriage Encounter sometime. :) TCIE, beautiful song for a wedding; reminds me of the book of Revelation.
Yep, Psalm 34 is definitely a gem!!
(one of my deacon friends tried to post the following and emailed it instead:)
What I was trying to share with you and those who did follow up comments... The thing about that Psalm is that it is really unusual... it teaches us something if we consider it in the right way... It says, "Taste and See..." -- how do we normally come to enjoy things? We see... and then we are attracted to taste... we enjoy after we've seen something...
With God... we taste... and in tasting we see... Trust in God... trust in Him and then we will see.
Wow!! I love that, thanks for sharing! And thank your deacon friend :)
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