A Quiet Place to See Yourself In Prayer or Reflection
In the readings for today's liturgy we come upon the longest psalm in the Book of Psalms. King David incorporated 176 verses in this particular "prayer." Perhaps you might need a bench like the one in the picture so that you can sit and read this psalm in its entirety. In the New Jerome Biblical Commentary, the author points out that we need to know how David and many biblical writers used the word "understanding." Of course there is the intellectual sense of the word. However, David's use of the word, the biblical sense of the word, is to be understood as the "ability to see how all things in God's creation work together, and specifically how his commandments bring 'life,' the goal of all human striving."
Throughout the 176 verses, David's desire is to bring his hearers to know their relationship to God and his decrees, that we are to follow those commandments "with all [our] heart" to use the command issued in the Book of Deuteronomy. He attempts to show that neither age, nor level of education, nor social status is the source of true wisdom. Rather that gift comes from adherence to the divine commandments.
As you read through Psalm 119, you should realize at the outset that there is much to be understood in this lengthy prayer. While it is not necessary to read the entire psalm, surely there is a taste of victory when it has been read!
This thought comes to mind: today who would proclaim about God "how great Thou art," and, at the same time, have in mind the understanding that God's decrees for us are a part of his greatness? We do live in an historical time when decrees by our Church and our civil governments are so often challenged. Freedom of expression so often means freedom for everything. David challenges his hearers and us who read his writings, especially this psalm, to "fear" the Lord, that is, not to "dread" him as a hostile being but rather to stand in "awe" before God and his decrees.
Once you have read the psalm in its entirety or just several of the verses, prayer time might be spent in speaking with God, and listening, too, about how Church decrees and the Commandments impact your life? "God, you have given so much to me that I truly stand before in great awe. How do I react or deal with the 10 Commandments or the teachings of our Church that are more like laws than not? How does my inborn sense of freedom deal with this?
