Ps 32 with Commentary by Dr Noel Donnelly
The whole of Psalm 32 is a great joyful song of thanks for the gift of creation. The selected verses for this weekend’s liturgy concentrate on the love of God in all of this wonderful creative act. But this love may now seem hidden behind the trials that are now afflicting the community in its experiences of famine and the threatening circumstances of imminent death. The hearers are encouraged to look around in hope for signs of God’s faithful love to rescue them and keep them all alive. The psalmist is certain of the coming of God’s saving actions as he or she waits and exclaims, “The Lord is our help and our shield!” This cry is taken up by the congregation as it waits: “May your love be upon us O Lord!”
This follows the first reading from Isaiah, the fourth of the Suffering Servant Songs in Isaiah. We don’t know who this person was; perhaps the prophet who had given his life for the people, or even it refers to the suffering people of Israel in holding on to the faith in their exile in Babylon. The psalmist honours the struggles of the ancestors, as we may do in honouring the faith of our fathers and mothers before us.
The hymn ends in 20-22 with renewed hope in the faithful ongoing love of the Lord: “May your love be upon us O Lord, as we place all our hope in you!”.
On the 29th Sunday of Year B our psalm leads forward in this same theme as it speaks in Mark about Jesus, the Son of Man who came to serve and give his life as a ransom for many. Jesus adds for us too, “Anyone who wants to be first among you must be a slave to all, for the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many”
The psalmist encourages us surely to wait for the Lord’s return, but in the meantime to do so remembering that “the Lord is our help and our shield!”
The full psalm starts with an instruction for the singers: they are encouraged to play skilfully and to remember they are playing “for the Lord” and not for their own satisfaction. “Give thanks to the Lord upon the harp; with ten-stringed lute sing God’s praises. Sing and play loudly with all your skill! We might remember the zeal of Louis Armstrong as he sang, “What a wonderful world!”
Our psalm concludes with a prayer for hope: “May your love be upon us O Lord, as we place all our hope in you!”. With this love may you love long and prosper!
Words (c) The Grail, England. Music Gerry Fitzpatrick (c)Kevin Mayhew. Recorded by Helen Healy. Graphic (c) Netta Ewing.
Words and music Noel Donnelly (c) Kevin Mayhew. Recorded by Noel Donnelly.
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