Sexigesima
“Bring me out of prison, that I may give thanks unto your Name. When you show me your loving-kindness, then shall the righteous gather around me.”
The great painter of the Dutch golden age, Willem de Poorter, depicts David’s confrontation with Saul at En Gedi, described in 1 Samuel 24. According to the psalm’s superscription, this incident also forms the background for this week’s selection from the Psalter, the 142nd Psalm. David had the advantage over his adversary in that moment: it seemed indeed that the Lord had delivered Saul into his hands. And yet, David knew that — besides violating the commandments of God — taking the advantage would undermine his own rule, and plunge the tribes of Israel into the terrible darkness of civil war.
There is an obvious moral to David’s self-restraint, and it is a valuable lesson to a culture that — in cultivating the battle cry of “liberty” — would seem to have come to a point when David’s decision to wait and to pray rather than seize on the opportunity to usurp by his own power would seem more foolish than honorable. But lesson here goes deeper than good advice. True power is invested, not the the crown of the king and the armor of the potentate, but the humbler cloths of the one waiting in secret; indeed, Christ too — according to some traditions — was born in a cave. God writes history, not according to the whims of the mighty, but by the mystery of his Cross.
Though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them.
— The Apostle Paul (1 Cor 9:19)
Two Sundays before Lent - Sexagesima
Texts for this Week
Prayer
O Lord, our heavenly Father, keep your household the Church continually in your true religion, that we who trust in the hope of your heavenly grace may always be defended by your mighty power; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, now and for ever.
Our Help is in the Name of the Lord
The Hillbilly Thomists offer a bluegrass interpretation of the verses of Psalm 69: the cry for divine assistance that so often informs the call and response used in blessings, and at the beginnings of the offices of prayer. This is a track on their new album, released just a couple of weeks ago — Living for the Other Side.
