Stories Seldom Heard
248th Edition March 1, 2020
Psalm I
Welcome to Stories Seldom Heard. I would especially
like to welcome the members of San Carlos Cathedral, Monterey, CA.
and the Sisters of Notre Dame, Ipswitch, MA.
One of my friends is a professor at University of California,
Berkeley. She, like other professors, teaches, meets with students,
prepares study materials for their department meetings, as well as
writing articles and books for publication. The book she is
presently writing is almost completed. However, as she says, the
first chapter needs to be tweaked. Not a surprise. Many of us know
the first chapter of a book or the beginning paragraph of an essay
is often rewritten many times before publication. Even the best of
writers has to rework the first chapter because in the writing of
the book the topic develops and often unfolds in unexpected ways.
The introductory chapter needs to be clearly presented so that the
expectations that are raised will be met in the following chapters.
This is also true of the Book of Psalms. The psalms are a
collection of independent poems, writings and mediations that
weren’t put into one book, the Book of Psalms, until about the 5th
Century BCE. In fact, the editors who arranged the placement of
each poem/prayer carefully divided the 150 psalms into five
different sections to model the Pentateuch – the five books of the
Torah.
Psalm 1 only became Psalm 1 after the book was constructed. In
other words, it isn’t the oldest of the poems, prayers or
meditations, rather it was chosen as the first psalm –- of all the
other 150 psalms -- for the same reason an author would design the
first chapter of a book. It was chosen because it captures, in a
few sentences, the spirit of what all the psalms are saying about
love, hope and trust in God. Psalm 1 focuses us. It sets us off in
a direction, so to speak, so that we might be prepared to hear its
unfolding wisdom and understand all of the psalms better.
In this way, it’s similar to the Beatitudes in Matthew’s Gospel: the
Gospel we are using this year for our Sunday liturgies. It’s
impossible to understand the richness of the Beatitudes without
reading the whole of Matthew’s Gospel. Many people say that the
Beatitudes act as an index or a table of contents for Matthew’s
Gospel. Psalm 1 does the same thing for the psalms. It’s an
abbreviated form: one prayer-psalm that is only fully understood by
reading and meditating on the other psalms.
Psalm 1, in other words, sets the stage by turning our minds and
hearts towards true wisdom. Wisdom in biblical language is a big
word. What I mean by that is Wisdom has many meanings. First of
all, it is a name for God, which we explored in a prior article
(1). Second, true wisdom in biblical language
is more than just human knowledge. It’s the ability to ponder the
great mysteries of life and death, joy and sorrow. Wisdom’s goal is
not to answer the mysteries that are unfathomable, but to open our
hearts and minds to the Divine: the One who is beyond all knowing
and has loved us into being. True wisdom comes as we offer God time
and space to speak to us in the silence of our minds and hearts. As
we sit in awe or reflect on our daily experiences and the situations
in which we find ourselves involved, Wisdom offers us insights. In
trust, we allow God to guide us in discerning what is of God and
what is not.
We hear this pondering in the Book of Job which is wisdom
literature. Job doesn’t answer the question as to why good people
suffer. Rather Job’s conversations passionately invite us to think
deeply about the problem of evil and suffering, and to rid ourselves
of any easy answers. The questioning and discussion of serious
situations and events are important. As Job’s questioners grew more
intense, Job relied on his experience. Psalm I echoes Job’s faith
and trust in God. “You, O God, guide the path of the faithful.”
Those who seek wisdom are rooted in the love of God: a love that
springs from a holy yearning: a thirst that is unquenchable. Some
writers imagine this deep desire for God as a “God size hole in our
hearts:” In other words, even though God has created us and blessed
us, we recognize our incompleteness and our limitations. We yearn
for a wholeness, a completeness that only God can fulfill. Within
each of us is a deep, holy yearning to know and experience the love
of God more intimately.
Psalm 1 invites us into this stance of a seeker, as one who longs to
meet God who is Love and Mercy. That is why we pray, go to Mass,
meditate. We listen and invite God to open our minds and hearts so
that we might feel and know God’s presence in our lives. In Psalm
I, this yearning comes from an older person’s perspective who is
firmly rooted. We can hear it in the psalm. The one who wrote this
psalm, like us, has come to understand that, “A wise person who
seeks God doesn’t nourish illusions.” They keep their “hearts open,
day and night.”
Wise people have a spiritual maturity that comes with thoughtful
living, trials and errors, successes and failures, which are always
accompanied by deep humility. One of our sisters who is 101 years
old states our experience clearly, “Becoming wise is a life-time
process that can’t be rushed because were not in charge.”
The Wisdom that the psalmist speaks of is a grace, many small
insights that have come with time and experience. I guess we could
call this grace, a winter grace; a winter grace that comes as the
fruit of years of striving to live life well; a winter grace that
give us courage to live without illusions and to accept our own
limitations and blessings; a winter grace that enables us to be
surprised and relish in the good works we have done. All is “grace”
from a God who created us out of love.
Our winter graces also give us a way of viewing the world and the
limitations of others as we struggle with personal relationships,
horrendous natural and man-made disasters that break our hearts
every day, betrayals illustrated by the Vatican’s investigations of
Women Religious congregations and the devastation that has come from
clergy abuse. All of these try our faith. Each of these drains our
energies and tempts us to give up or give in just a little bit to
the status quo. But no matter what happens or how long it takes,
our winter faith is firmly rooted. Our faith will not be shaken
because our roots have sunk deeply into the life-giving waters that
began long before the oceans and seas and rivers existed, as Genesis
poetically says. Our grounding is secure because our Source of life
is full and unquenchable. It’s this Divine Wisdom that we rely on
each day and night, as the psalmist says, so that our hearts might
stay open.
These are trying times that can darken our hopes and question the
power of God’s promises to “guide the faithful and denounce the way
of oppression.” Yet, in spite of the evidence, we say we will not
be moved because as we have crossed deserts and climbed mountains we
have met and trusted the Spirit – the Wisdom of God. God, Holy
Wisdom has and continues to work in our lives. That’s why we can
stand straight and strong – unmoved in our trust in the Divine. The
Spirit, Wisdom, is holding us in place. Raising us up, enlightening
our path; keeping us strong and faithful.
Like the psalmist, as we look at our own personal histories, we can
“delight in the way things are” not because everything has been easy
or perfect, or because we put on a happy face, but because we live
without illusions. It is God who is the source of our life and
strength every day. It is God on whom we depend.
In some ways it’s a blessing to be older, not the daily aches and
pains or the trauma of disease, but we have a history with God. We
can look back and give thanks for we, too, have grown beyond greed,
and hatred to yet another place of grace.
Psalm 1 calls us to an openness today. A reflective time that draws
from our years of silence and care for others, years of hopes and
joys and sufferings as well.
As we pray this psalm today, Wisdom invites us to listen well so
that we might delight in God’s ever-present molding and fashioning
of our lives.
1.
Stories Seldom Heard,
Sister Patricia Bruno, O.P., Lady Wisdom, #240, July,
2019
"Stories Seldom Heard" is a monthly article written by Sister
Patricia Bruno, O.P. Sister is a Dominican Sister of San Rafael,
California. This service is offered to the Christian community to
enrich one's personal and spiritual life. The articles can be used
for individual or group reflection. If you would like to support
this ministry, please send your contributions to: Dominican Sisters
of San Rafael, c/o Sister Patricia Bruno, O.P., 2517 Pine Street,
San Francisco, CA 94115
Special thanks to Mary Ellen Green, and Maria Hetherton who have
helped in editing this article. To make changes or remove your name
from “Stories Seldom Heard” mailing list, please contact me at
robert.mcgrath@mgrc.com.
Thank you. Bob McGrath.
