January 1st : Feast of Mary, Mother of God

graphic (c) Netta Ewing

Psalm 66

Commentary by Dr Noel Donnelly

Psalm 66 is short, cheery and profound. 

It starts with a prayer for God’s continuing blessing. Firstly the singer asks this blessing for the people making the plea, but then the prayer extends to one that recognises God’s face shining on “all the earth”. This is a psalm that reaches out beyond Israel’s boundaries, especially beyond any narrow mindset that has an exclusive understanding of God’s favour, seeing this love as narrowly focussed on Israel. We might call Psalm 66 an ecumenical psalm. It calls for a joining together of “all nations” in prayer to God who has provided a good harvest. 

But verse 3 tells us that God’s rule is one that seeks fairness, and so this is a guide for our fair approach to food for all the earth. 

In this psalm we are constantly reminded … at least twelve times … that God’s face shines beyond my particular religious group or denomination. 

There’s also an interesting structure to this psalm for those of us who are accustomed  to antiphonal singing. The psalm has a sung response or chorus after verses 3 and 5: “Let ALL the nations praise you, O Lord; let ALL the peoples praise you!” In this case the praise is for a good harvest. It makes me think: is this praise something I might easily forget in my trips to the busy supermarkets? I could do well to remember there’s more to the food harvesting than science and economics behind everything here. Behind everything there’s the face of the Lord calling for a fair and just sharing. 

On the solemn feast of Mary, Mother of God, our psalm which asks for a blessing, follows the beautiful blessing in the first reading and prepares us for the Gospel scene of the Shepherds glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen.

       If John Lennon had written his song “Imagine” today, I guess he may have had a line “Imagine there’s no foodbanks! I hope some day you’ll join us.” After singing psalm 66 in this Christmas season, we can do more than just imagine.

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 settings

1: May he bless us and keep us, may he give us his peace.

Words (c) The Grail, England. Music (c) Gerry Fitzpatrick. Recorded by The St Mungo Singers

2: Let the peoples praise you, O Lord, let the peoples praise.
Let the peoples praise you, O Lord, let the peoples praise.

Words (c) The Grail, England. Music (c) Gerry Fitzpatrick. Recorded by Catriona Glen and The St Mungo Singers

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To welcome the Gospel

At various times in the past and in various different ways
God spoke to our ancestors,
God spoke through the prophets.
Now in our time he has spoken through his Son.

GV At various Organ – Full Score

Music Gerry Fitzpatrick (c) Kevin Mayhew.  Recorded by The St Mungo Singers