My Favorite Psalm

Ask someone which is their favorite psalm most will answer Psalm 23.  For me, Psalm 34 fills the bill for me.  Its appeal dates back to a personal experience which is still very vivid in my memory.  Over twenty years ago, several friars of my Province asked me to be the cantor at their Solemn Profession Mass.  Psalm 34 had been chosen as the responsorial for the Liturgy of the Word.  Previous to this liturgy, I had not noticed the message of the psalm even though I had prayed it many times.

My life had recently changed.  I had been diagnosed with Meniere’s Disease and was in danger of losing my hearing.  I was a high school teacher at the time and was becoming aware of the fact that my ability to handle a classroom was becoming increasingly more difficult.  I was feeling emotionally fragile as I contemplated the future. 

Psalm 34 is a long psalm, twenty-three verses long.  After the usual first verse describing the situation under which it was written, the next twenty-two verses unfold as each successive verse begins with the letters of the Hebrew alphabet.  Because of this rather constraining form, the psalm does not boast a well-developed thought structure.  Instead, each successive verse takes the form of a wisdom saying which could easily become a mantra.  As is usually the case, the responsorial psalm for the Solemn Profession liturgy simply chose some of the wisdom sayings rather than all of them.

As I was singing, I came upon several verses which made quite an impression upon me:

I sought the LORD, and he answered me, delivered me from all my fears.  (Psalm 34:5)
The righteous cry out, the LORD hears and he rescues them from all their afflictions.  (Psalm 34:7)
The eyes of the LORD are directed toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry.  (Psalm 34:16)
The righteous cry out, the LORD hears and he rescues them from all their afflictions.   
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted, saves those whose spirit is crushed.   
Many are the troubles of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him from them all.  (Psalm 34:18-20)

One of the most important things to remember when studying the lamentation psalms is the sense of inner movement in each lament.  While Psalm 34 is classified as a “wisdom psalm,” many of the verses reflect the struggle that is so often the subject of a lamentation.  The verses that attracted me bear that kind of struggle.  The psalmist is experiencing some difficulty.  It is not necessary for us to know what that difficulty is as we can use his experience in our own times of difficulty.  These verses move the psalmist from complain to praise, from doubt to confidence, from problem to solution, from weakness to strength.  Notice that the psalmist does NOT say that the problem goes away.  Rather, the psalm teaches us that in the midst of struggle, God is with us.  We are not alone.

Ever since this experience of Psalm 34, I have found myself turning to its wisdom with some frequency.  As my disabilities have increased, the wisdom of the psalm teaches me that with God any difficulty can be surmounted.  My human nature makes it important for me to return to the words over and over again as I continue to struggle with my weaknesses and limitations.  God is my rescuer and is close to me in the struggle.

Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator