Praying with Psalm 33: Reflections of a Roman Catholic Woman Priest

As Christians- Christ followers- we ponder on what “being a Christian” and “loving justice” means in our lives and we know that those who follow Judaism and other religions also seek to live just lives. In following the commandments of Jesus, “to love God with all of our beings “and “to love our neighbors as ourselves” (Matthew 22: 37-39) there are two critical themes. One is to attend to justice-that if we truly love our neighbors- all of them everywhere- we will work to make sure that all are treated with full equality and justice. And, we also need to open to loving all of God’s marvelous creation. For God’s love is for all of creation-all living things and the total beauty of the earth. And, this brings us great joy!

The Psalms are wonderful as they often capture all of the themes that guide our lives.

Psalm 33 begins:

“Sing out your joy to YHWH, you who love justice-praise is fitting for loyal hearts….Sing God a new song….everything God does can be trusted. YHWH loves justice and right and fills the earth with love” (The Inclusive Bible TIB: the First Egalitarian Translation) .

We note that the Hebrew people were hesitant to call God by any proper name as doing so is so powerful that it is a “God-perogative” to call by name. So some older translations say “the Lord”-“Rejoice in the Lord…” while the one I used above uses YHWH, the Hebrew acronym for God. Still another translation by Nan C. Merrill “Psalms for Praying: An Invitation to Wholeness”, 2008, Continuum) uses the word Beloved or Love for God: “Rejoice in the Beloved, O you holy ones!” I do prefer to call God Beloved and Love and I recommend Merrill’s book of Psalms to you. But the important thing is not the name but the essence of the God who loves us, and what this God asks of us.

As Psalm 33 says above: “YHWH” 0ur God, loves justice and right and fills the earth with love.” How wonderful is that! Yet, we look around and also see injustice and evil. The King James says instead of “fills the earth with love” “the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord”. Indeed, we can see and feel goodness and love all around us and all around the world. But we also can see and feel the evil and injustice everywhere. We see that most of the world’s resources are still lodged firmly in the hands of a very wealthy few who do not really share it. And we see the greed of those who have and yet want more, but not to share with those who do not have. We see the poor blamed for being poor so the wealthy can feel justified in hoarding most of the wealth. We see nations where this is the rule and people escaping to go to where they can make a living, yet are sometimes stopped at the doors and not let in. We see so-called Christians and religious others keeping the wealth to themselves and not really addressing how to spread it around so all may eat, all may have shelter and all may live.

Indeed the first church discussed in Acts shared all goods and “no one was poor”(Acts 2:44-45). Not so these days, at least in the major and dominant Christian churches. Now we emphasize belief and not actions. When we do teach and preach on actions it is a nice Sunday Sermon- for we still do little to share the resources that we have-as churches and as individuals who attend them. When we do this, as individuals we are at least on the road of creating the kingdom of God that Jesus preached about here on earth. So, indeed if we all lived this truly sharing kind of love it could make a difference.

Take Care of God’s People

Psalm 33:12 says “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord”(KJV) or “Happy is the nation whose God is YHWH (TIB), or “Blessed are all people who respond to Love’s Way”( Merrill translation). Indeed this Psalm reminds us that to be happy in God as nations and as individuals we need to love and revere our loving God and also “respond to Love’s Way”. We need to LIVE the commandments of love. We need to LIVE Jesus and to Live Love’s Way. That is to work to make sure everyone has what they need to live, especially the basics of food and shelter, and clothing, and love. We are clearly to welcome the poor person and the immigrant and praise God with and next to him or her. That is our job as those who hear the words of God in the Psalms, the Scriptures, Hebrew and Christian ,and the words and life of Jesus.

Take Care of God’s Creation- Of all Living things

And, we are to also take care of God’s beautiful creation. In Genesis we are put in charge of the earth: “”God blessed humankind and said “…Fill the earth and be responsible for it!…Watch over all living things on the earth….” (Genesis 1:28 TIB). Psalm 33:6-9 (TIB) says ” By your word, Yhwh, the heavens were made, by the breath of your mouth all the stars. You gather the seas together and control them, putting the Deep into its vault. Let all the earth revere YHWH…” and “Through Love Consciousness the heavens and earth were created….All creation, from the distant stars to the depth of the seas, Is held together by the Oneness of Love” (Merrill Translation). Indeed then, we are to thank our God of love for this world and do all we can to care for all of God’s people and creation. We are to ask God to teach us to love as God loves.

There is so much pollution and lack of care for the environment that climate is changing as it never has before. We must attend to our air, our water, our forests and our seas that are becoming full of plastics. There are so many species that are in danger of disappearing from the face of the earth because of our greed. Once again elephants are in danger as we plunder them for their ivory, for example. And our animal shelters here are full of abused and neglected and unwanted pets. Yes, some are there because people who loved them died or became ill but so many more are there because no body cares. One of my friends , Carol Schauf, volunteers in an animal shelter. It is a good one where animals are lovingly cared for until they are adopted. Yet, there are other shelters nearby where animals are killed for overcrowding and for the least thing that justifies the word “unadoptable”. The same pet if sent to the no-kill shelter would be adoptable until adopted. Recently a local government official suggested money be diverted from shelters to parks and recreation as pets the shelter could become a kill shelter and save money. I was heartened to see the uproar about this and the plan was shelved. Indeed, this was a good example of caring for God’s creation. My cousin Jackie Marion gives a good part of her life to publicizing animal issues in shelters- if she could all would be adopted and she fights for this. Another good example of caring for God’s creation- to care for those who can not speak for themselves, right here in the USA and world-wide. Below is Pippa, adopted by my friend and neighbor Doris from our local shelter.

So our beautiful Psalm today tells us about God’s love for God’s precious people and God’s creation and it asks us to do the same. Perhaps you can look around your world and see how you can do this . Our Psalm asks us to sing a new song and to sing to God with joy. God loves justice and fills the earth with love. Let us do the same with joy. Let that joy be the joy of helping those who do not have, both human and animal and caring for the earth itself -for this is Love’s Way.

Love and blessings Pastor Judy Lee,RCWP

Good shepherd Ministries, Fort Myers,

June 23, 2023