Psalm 18 with commentary by Dr Noel Donnelly
Commentary by Dr Noel Donnelly for Sunday 26B
The biblical liturgist has selected 5 of the 14 verses of Psalm 18 for our celebration this weekend. He has cut out the section on creation (verses 1-7) and concentrated on those about the benefits of the Law of God: keeping this Law will bring about a way of living that is wise and trustworthy, yet quite simple, not nit-picking and overly scrupulous. Any hidden faults are quietly left to God’s rock-steady mercy.
Verse 15 beautifully links heart, mouth and mind in the execution of this psalm: “May the spoken words of my mouth, and the thoughts of my heart win favour in Your sight O Lord!” This “mouth and heart” combination suggests the attitude of what some call “praying with the body”; there is a wholeness here; it is not just my mind that is at work but there is motion added to the reciting of the prayer, a bodily action which is said to help, to deepen the pray-er’s relationship with God.
This wholeness of God’s action follows the first reading in which two strangers, Eldad and Medad, surprisingly receive God’s Spirit as well as the leader, Moses. The lesson there is that the Spirit of God is surely to be welcomed wherever it is to be found. This ecumenical insight helps us to reach beyond our parish or denomination. Verse 14 says, “From presumption restrain your servant and let it not rule over me!”
The same message continues in the Gospel where John is gently reprimanded when he tells Jesus that he tried to stop an outsider casting out devils in his name.
The final verse gives an ideal private prayer before any reader or cantor makes a sound: “May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart find favour in your sight, O Lord!” What a lovely and apt prayer!
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Psalm 18.8-15 Commentary for Sunday 3B
Have you ever consulted a Thesaurus when you’re looking for a different word for something? The writer of this psalm of course didn’t have a Thesaurus as we do but he seems highly chuffed in finding a variety of words to describe God’s Word or Law. He unites these discoveries in giving his first six lines the same pattern and rhythm. They are like rays bursting out from the Law, all giving honour and praise to the Word of God. For the psalmist God’s guiding Words do not consist in heavy impositions: “they revive the soul” and “give wisdom to the simple” in 8. “They gladden the heart and give light to the eyes” in verse 9; and “they are sweeter than honey fresh the comb” in verse 11. All very positive ways for stimulating the ways we relate to God.
But this psalm is not just about outward behaviour: it is an inner melody that goes on and is expressed as “the music of the heart” as verse 15 puts it. A lovely thought for cantors!
Psalm 18 is just perfect for this weekend when we celebrate “The Word of God Sunday!” In 2019 Pope Francis wrote in his apostolic letter Aperuit, “I hereby declare that the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time is to be devoted to the celebration, study and dissemination of the word of God.”
As usual, our psalm, which sings of the Law of God, links back to the first reading where Nehemiah presents the Law of God to the returning exiles; and it bridges forward to the Gospel where Jesus, a reader in the synagogue of Nazareth, tells the people that God’s Word, this time in Isaiah, has been fulfilled in him. He has been sent to give the Good News to the poor.
Today, when we sing, we’re acting as ministers of the Word for our congregation. In some places on The Word of God Sunday, the lectern is specially decorated and there is a blessing for all readers and cantors of the Word. In any case Pope Francis blesses us as he says in his apostolic letter Aperuit Illis, “May the Sunday of the Word of God help his people to grow in religious and intimate familiarity with the sacred Scriptures. For as the sacred author taught of old: ‘This word is very near to you: it is in your mouth and in your heart for your observance’” (Dt 30:14). On this, The Word of God Sunday, that psalm is a really stimulating call!
Settings by: Noel Donnelly. Francis. Duffy. Mary Dickie – others pending
Ps 18: words and music (c) Noel Donnelly. Recorded by Grace Buckley. Graphic (c) Netta Ewing.
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Ps 18: words (c) The Grail, England. Music Francis Duffy. Recorded by Helen Healy
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Ps 18: words (c) The Grail, England. Music (c) Mary Dickie. Recorded by The St Mungo Singers
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