DE PROFUNDIS:

PSALM 130

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “De Profundis: Psalm 130.”

Today – this First Sunday of Advent – Year B – the year we look at the Gospel of Mark mainly – the themes of watching and waiting - jumped off the page for me.

As I reflected on that – in hopes of coming up with a helpful homily for today – Psalm 130 - also jumped out at me.

It’s not today’s psalm – but as I read today’s three readings and today’s psalm – number 80 -  Psalm 130 arrived at my door - in my mind.

Various surveys of what people want from a homily - list spirituality as # 1 - and mention of money # 1 billion 687 thousand – and 36.

Reading a psalm – just one psalm - say at night – as a family – or with one’s spouse – or with oneself – certainly can help.

There are 150 Psalms in the Bible. It's a song book. Nor every psalm will grab you - buy if you bite into them bit by bit - some will become famous to you.

We priests and religious read the Divine Office each day – and they feature 3 Psalms for each prayer session: Morning, Evening, mid-day prayer, Night and Matins – some prayers for during the night or early morning.

In priest and nun’s retreats,  I often say, “If you’re rushing your prayers – don’t say them all – just say one psalm slowly and peacefully. Take your time. Chew your food. Savor the taste."  

I’d say the same of the rosary. Instead of a mindless babble of words  - say a decade of the rosary slowly or just one Hail Mary – savoring it.

I learned that mainly from Thich Nhat Hnan [pronounced "TIK NYAT HAWN"]. He's the 88 year old Buddhist Monk from Vietham. He's the Buddist monk with the great smile. 

Right now he’s in a hospital in Bordeaux, France in a coma – suffering from a severe brain hemorrhage.

When talking about mindfulness he would say,  “When eating potato chips – don’t swallow the whole bag in one big gulp. Instead savor one potato chip at a time.”

PSALM 130

Let me read the psalm first:

¹ Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord;
²     Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive
    to my cry for mercy.

³ If you, Lord, kept a record of sins,
    Lord, who could stand?
⁴ But with you there is forgiveness,
    so that we can, with reverence, serve you.

⁵ I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits,
    and in his word I put my hope.
⁶ I wait for the Lord
    more than watchmen wait for the morning,
    more than watchmen wait for the morning.

⁷ Israel, put your hope in the Lord,
    for with the Lord is unfailing love
    and with him is full redemption.
⁸ He himself will redeem Israel
    from all their sins.

IN HEBREW

The Hebrew transliteration of Psalm 130 is as follows:

     Shir hamaalot mima'amakim keraticha adonai /

     Adonai shimah vekoli tiyena oznecha kashuvot lekol            tachanunai /

     Im avonot tishmor ya adonai mi yaamod /

     Ki imcha haslicha lemaan tivare /

     kiviti adonai kivta nafshi velidvaro hochalti /

     Nafshi ladonai mishomrim laboker shomrim laboker /

     Yachel yisrael el adonai ki im adonai hachesed veharbeh      imo fedut /

     Vehu yifdeh et yisrael mikol avonotav.

TRANSLATIONS

I have about 10 different translations of the Bible into English.

When I get interested in a psalm or any text in the Bible, I like to read various translations – and fool around at times with the Hebrew or the Greek – the 2 languages the Old and New Testament are written in.

We had 4 years of Greek – but only 1 year of Hebrew – and to this day – K don’t know how I passed that course in Hebrew.

To me this is one way to savor a text – to taste it – to pray with it.

THE SCREAMS – THE PLEAS – IN PSALM 130

The person screaming Psalm 130 is in the pits.

He feels like he’s lost at sea. He feels like he’s in the pits. He feels like he’s been buried alive. He’s down. He’s depressed.

Ever feel that way.

Ever see the movie Kill Bill 2 – when Beatrix Kiddo is buried alive. She’s been put in a wooden casket. The box is sealed with nails. The banging of the hammer is tough for starters. Then the box is pushed down into a hole – a deep grave in a cemetery – and all becomes dark. The screen becomes dark. Totally dark. After what feels like 2 minutes of that – finally Quentin Tarantino switches to an earlier part of Beatrice’s life – where she learns how to punch her way – fist her way – with bloody, bloody knuckles through wood – and she pushes and climbs through the dirt to the top – to air – to salvation.

It’s the same scene in Shawshank Redemption when Andy Dufresne escapes from prison by going through this long, long pipe – sewer pipe – and you know what’s in and what smells in a sewer pipe – till he finally makes it to the other side – redemption – from Shawshank Prison. He belly flops into clear water on the others side. It’s a baptism. It’s freedom.

Psalm 130 screams all this out – when the song writer screams out to God – for rescue – for redemption – to be saved.

Like a watchman who waits for dawn…. Like anyone who is in the depths of despair – God is on the other end of the dark – God is the one on the other side of the casket and death – God is the one with stedfast love – who will redeem us.

BY THE WAY

By the way when we say the Apostles Creed – we say – he descended into hell.

That means Christ went down into the earth when he was buried that Good Friday  - and if you’ve been to Greek Churches – they often picture that moment much better than the Western Christian Churches – when Christ went into the depths, into Sheol, into where all those who have died were waiting, sometimes translated “Hell” – waiting for redeemption, salvation, freedom, heaven.

ADVENT

Advent means the vent – the pipeline – the arrival of salvation.

For us it’s Christmas once again – and once again – we go through the cycle, the wheel rolling us forwards to another year.

In Matthew and Luke – redemption and salvation starts with the baby.

A child will lead us to salvation – to the peacable Kingdom – as we see in those Peaceable Kingdom paintings by Benamin Hicks.

In Mark – redemption and salvation starts with the adult Christ – arriving at at doorstep – proclaiming, “The Kingdom of God has arrived. Repent and believe in the Good News.”

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily is, “De Profundis – Psalm 130.”

Psalm 130 has the great advent theme of watching and waiting and hoping for redemption.

Redemptorists serve here in this parish and our motto and our theme comes from Psalm 130: “Copiosa Apud Eum Redemptio” – with him there is plentiful redemption.

Slowly taste, savor those words, as you pray them – and cry them – this Advent, this Christmas – this new church year. Amen.