Ps 103 with commentary

Ps 103 with Commentary for Pentecost by Dr Noel Donnelly

Psalm 103 is such a beautiful song. It is used in years A, B and C in the church’s Sunday liturgies and elsewhere of course, particularly in the Easter Vigil where it follows the first reading on the Genesis story on Creation. Now at Pentecost we sing it again, asking God, “Send forth your Spirit, O Lord! Renew the face of the earth!” This weekend we sing 5 of the 35 verses of the whole psalm.

It is a wonderful song of praise to God for the gifts of love and for the beauty of creation. “Sing praise to God, O my soul! Lord God how great is your love! Your riches fill the universe!” That’s what we sing as we celebrate today the offered outpouring of the Spirit throughout the universe. This universal outpouring, first given at Creation, then renewed, firstly through the prophets and on to devout disciples in the Upper Room in Jerusalem, and then more generously to the tribes gathered for the feast from all round the mediterranean coastline; and they hear the gift of the Spirit in many different languages, reversing the confusion of the Tower of Babel. The powerful wind and tongues of fire empower the original hearers in chapter two of Acts to go out to the whole world, and ultimately to each one of us today .

The complete psalm will mirror the Genesis Creation story. The psalmist sings, “God lays the beams of his upper chambers on the waters. He makes the clouds his chariot and rides on the wings of the wind”. What a grand picture! Our psalmist continues similarly, “You walk on the wings of the wind; you make the wind your messengers!” Wind and Spirit have the same word in several languages and can be fused together in our understanding. Jesus will speak about the freedom involved: “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound,but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit!” (Jn 3.8). In our psalm we ask this freely-blowing Spirit to renew the face of the earth all around us.

As is usual in our liturgical settings, our psalm bridges the first reading with the chosen Gospel passage. It reaches back to the Acts of the Apostles reading about the mighty wind and the Spirit’s tongues of fire settling on the gathering of disciples.

The Gospel that follows reminds us of the promise of Jesus that the Advocate, the Spirit of truth, would come and give witness to Jesus so that the hearers might in turn bear witness to him.

On that pilgrim journey of witness, we pray for light and strength: “Send forth your Spirit O Lord! Renew the face of the earth”. Here and now !

And, on our part, may we never deface the beauty of God’s gift of creation!

Psalm 103 ND – Full Score