The Friday after the Ascension, June 3, 2022

Psalm 103, 1-2, 11-12, 19-20

Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all my being, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.

For as the heavens are high above the earth, so surpassing is his kindness toward those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has he put our transgressions from us.

The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all. Bless the Lord, all you his angels, you mighty in strength, who do his bidding. 

The Responsorial Psalm for today’s Mass is the lovely Psalm 103, which altogether consists of twenty-two verses.  It can be understand as the prayer of the Holy Church to God in his praise and in thanksgiving for the Redemption he has granted us.  It can be understood also as the praise and thanksgiving of the individual believer.

“Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all my being, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.”  We might wonder how we can “bless” the Lord, for this means a conferral of grace.  Usually it is the higher that blesses the lower.  However, we can “bless” the Lord with our good works offered for him and with our living testimony to his greatness.  We thus bless God with all our being.  We “bless his holy name”, that is, his identity as the infinite God, in the same way, proving with our sanctity the perfect sanctity of God.  And by remembering all his benefits, we especially bring to mind that he created us, that he sustains us in our every breath, that he has sent his Son to redeem us, and that his will and for us to join him in heaven one day.

“For as the heavens are high above the earth, so surpassing is his kindness toward those who fear him.”  The Hebrews did not understand the nature of the sky, but thought that it went straight up to the stars, which were fixed in it.  The height of the stars above the earth, in the Hebrew mind, is shown by its comparison to the surpassing kindness that God shows towards those who obey his commandments.  The Psalmist portrays God’s kindness in terms of the vertical because it originates in heaven and comes down upon us on earth.  “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he put our transgressions from us.”  The forgiveness of our sins is portrayed in terms of the horizontal because there is no sin in heaven, only on earth.  Our sins are put far from us, as far as the most eastern land is to the most western land.  We note that our sins are not said to disappear — for their atonement andour Redemption would still be hundreds of years in the future from the time of the Psalmist.  We also note here the use of both the vertical and horizontal.  When we place them together — the Lord’s loving kindness and the putting away of our sins — we see the Cross of Jesus Christ.

“The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all.”  The Lord has made firm his royal dignity and authority in heaven, far above us in terms of distance, taken literally, and in holiness.  He is infinite, without limit, and we are mortal.  Everything on earth crumbles away, even as we look upon it.  Everything in heaven remains forever.  Yet he deigns to “rule over all”, involving himself in our lives, governing us for our good.  “Bless the Lord, all you his angels, you mighty in strength, who do his bidding.”  We call upon the angels to bless the Lord as well, that is, we ask the angels to allow us to join their endless praise of God, for they already see him face to face, as we hope to do one day.