PSALM 52

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily  for this 22 Wednesday in Ordinary Time is, “Psalm 52”.

That’s the Psalm that is used today between the First reading and today’s Gospel. I only heard of one priest in my whole life, Father Pat McGarrity, who preached on the Psalms. I heard that he preached on the Psalm in between the readings for a whole year in his parish up in Pennsylvania. Interesting.

In the past three years I’ve been preaching more on the First Reading during the week - just to be challenged - and to learn more and be enriched more. The Psalms are sitting there waiting. I’ve given about 10 retreats on the Psalms - and I’ve often had the thought, “Why not offer a program here in the parish on the psalms - say for an hour - like Deacon Norcio gave on Saint Paul?” Time, laziness, lots of other jobs and the question: would people show up?

The title of my homily for today is, “Psalm 52.”

And today we’re only getting 2 verses of the Psalm - the last two verses 10 and 11, so the whole first section of the Psalm is not heard. That often happens in the liturgy. They simply want to use something from the Psalms as an interlude - especially a musical interlude. The early tradition was the Psalm was sung and the crowd sang the response - as we do here in most Sunday Masses.

BACKGROUND AND  CONTEXT

Let me take a moment to give the whole context of the Psalm. So I would like to say a few words about the Psalm and then recite the whole Psalm.

The two verses we heard, the last two verses, are very positive.

The whole Psalm up to verse 10 is quite nasty and negative.

The Psalm gives us a choice. Do I rely on God or do I rely on myself and use my tongue to get at and deal with other people that annoy me or I don’t care for?

The Psalm uses David as a central character. People are attacking him with words - making fun of him with choice comments. How does he respond?

He responds that he relies on God - and as a result he’s like an olive tree that is flourishing in God’s temple. He responds by saying that he is praising God - because God helps those who trust in him.

That’s the Psalm in a nutshell. So we have a choice to rely on God or on ourselves alone and our tongue - to fight, to cut, to stab back.

TWO TRANSLATIONS

Let me give two translations of Psalm 52. The first is the published and close to the Hebrew translation. I better add that I tweaked it a bit - based on various translations of it - so as to make it as clear as possible. I have a theory that the Psalms got their prestige because of the tune and sound - like our popular music - more than their words - so if they are not sung - I want to help them a bit with the best translation. The second will be my translation - more free flowing - because I like to do that as a hobby from time to time. I think I’ve done about 17 of the 150 Psalms so far.


                                      PSALM 52

                   Why do you boast of evil, O hero?
                   God’s kindness is all day long,
                   so why does your tongue devise                          disasters?


                   Your tongue is like a well-                                sharpened razor,
                   ready for deceit.


                   You love evil better than good,
                   a lie more than telling the truth.


                  You love all destructive words
                  from your tongue of deceit.


                 God surely will smash you forever,
                 sweep you up and pull you out of                      your tent,
                 root your children from the land of                    the living.


                And the righteous will see this and                   be in dread
                and laugh over you and say,
               “Look at the man who does not make
                God his stronghold,
               who trusts in his great wealth,
               who should be strong, but he’s a                        disaster!


               I, for my part, I am like a verdant                      olive tree
               in the house of our God.
               I trust in God’s kindness forevermore.
               I shall praise You forever,
               for You have acted and I have hoped                  in Your name,
               for you have been so good to your                      faithful ones.


                              PSALM 52

               Why are you so full of yourself,
               you who think yourself so perfect.


              Think of your tongue. It’s a sword
               and your mouth is its scabbard.


             You pull it out - sharpen it -
             making it razor sharp
             and then you slice people up
             with your razor sharp words.


            Your tongue is all lies.
            No truth comes out of your mouth.


           But don’t look now, you’re going
           to lose all those around you -
           especially your own children
           and those of your own house.


           People will be scared of you,
           but they will also be laughing at you
           behind your back.


           So you have a choice - to trust in                      yourself,
           in what you think are riches and                        valuable
           or you can trust in the mercy and                      goodness of God -
           and if you do, you’ll flourish
           like an olive tree in God’s temple.