From the Organ Bench

Psalm 112: 4-5;6-7;8-9

Psalm 112 is a wisdom psalm. The beginning of true wisdom is a respect and
fear of the Lord. It has also been described as a psalm of torah piety, as is evident in
the opening verse:
Hallelujah (translation: Praise the LORD)
Blessed is the man who fears the LORD,
Who greatly delights in his commandments!
Again the tension between fear and joy depends on unconditional trust in the
Almighty. The remaining verses describe, in some way, the perfect man. In verse
two, the LXX reads:
His seed shall be mighty in the earth;
The generations of the upright shall be blessed.
The blessings are not limited to his descendants. Verse three states that his moral
quality is not only enduring but he is also blessed with:
Wealth and riches are in his house;
The perfect man is also a light that shines in darkness;
He is merciful, gracious and righteous (v.4).
It is well for the man who is gracious and lends,
Who conducts his affairs with justice (v.5).
Praise of this perfect man is forthcoming and heaped up for another three verses. I
was having trouble relating this psalm as my prayer. Only in the final verse did I
seem to see a description of the emotion I was feeling:
The sinner shall see and be angry;
he shall gnash is teeth and consume away;
the desire of the sinner shall perish.
As a struggling, independent woman, who loves the Church, it is sometimes
difficult to wrap around and snuggle up to biblical images. Juggling medical
challenges; wondering if whenever I start the car, I’ll get to the appointed
destination; trying to apply Wall Street creativity to household finances within the
perimeters of a widow’s mite; the last thing I need, or want for that matter, is to
come to Mass and hear about the perfect man.
I must be missing something. After consulting six commentaries, all written by
very learned men, every scholar wrote about this particular man of the psalm in
masculine tones. One scholar had the nerve to say that Psalm 112 was an example
of how the psalms reflected the spirituality of personal pilgrimage. I could not help
but speculate what the women focused on for meaningful spirituality in biblical
times. No wonder Jesus was such a big hit among the ladies in Galilee. At last,
somebody was talking to them.
Two of the scholars identified Psalm 112 as a companion piece with Psalm 111.
Read as “a couple”, Psalm 112 has an entirely different feel. As theologians are
fond of inserting Christ into the psalms, and interpreting the Psalter in light of
Christ, I thought it might be interesting to apply St. Paul’s logic (I Cor. Chapter 12)
to Psalm 112.
Hallelujah!
Blessed is the woman who fears the Lord,
Who greatly delights in the Lord’s commandments!
Her descendants will be mighty in the land;
The generation of the godly will be blessed.
Wealth and riches are in her house;
And her righteousness endures for ever.
To those who fear God, she is like a light that shines in the darkness;
She is merciful, gracious and righteous.
It is well with the woman who is merciful and lends;
She conducts her affairs with justice,
For she will never be moved;
The righteous will be remembered forever.
She is not afraid of evil rumors;
Her heart is firm, trusting in the Lord.
Her heart is confident,
She is afraid of nothing,
She can calmly watch her enemies.
She has given generously to the poor;
Her righteousness is established for ever;
Her fullness of strength is exalted in honor.
The wicked woman sees it and is angry;
She is dismayed and gnashes her teeth;
But the desire of the wicked comes to naught.

If Psalm 112 is universal in scope and typical in that sense, then women do not
have to have permission to read ourselves into it so that it becomes “typical” for us
and a source of centering for our spiritual pilgrimage with the Lord. In the coming
months, we will be hearing about the implementation of the Roman Missal 3rd
Typical Edition. The translation of the prayers from the Latin may be accurate to
the original Latin most of the time, but it is a far cry from being “typical” or
“universal”. Women are not included, not even generically, in the new translation.

Delma Rouleau

5th Sunday in Ordinary Time

6 February 2011