Justin Appel

Dear Friends,

Today’s readings incorporate the first few segments of Psalm 119. When I was a kid, my parents had me memorize a portion of this psalm. I think I may have internalized a certain message from it, namely, “Be good!” The almost continuous mention of God’s law (statues, testimonies, precepts, etc.) throughout could be read this way: God has done so much for you, so, you must follow God’s law.

Of course, this thought process isn’t entirely wrong, and I may not have articulated it this clearly as a youth. However, it did have an effect, and that was not entirely productive. This legalistic (for lack of a better word) reading likely produced, understandably, a certain ambivalence about this and other psalms that waxed eloquent about God’s law. In a sense, this psalm could be read as a critique of all the ways I have every failed to live like a child of God.

While not backing away from that potential critique entirely, my understanding has shifted, especially as I learn more about the Church’s traditional theology, liturgical practice, and spirituality. There are forms of prayer that repeat the phraseology of this psalm with an almost ecstatic quality:

“Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your statues.
Blessed are you, O Master; make me understand your statues.
Blessed are you, O Holy One; enlighten me with your statues.”

Imagine accompanying each of these phrases with repeated physical expressions like crossing and metanoia (bows). The physical action imbues these words with a very different meaning from that expressed above. Instead of a judicious statement of intent, the prayer expresses a solemn yet mystical desire for unity with God, while blessing one’s very self with the “precious and life-giving Cross of the Lord.”

We ask God to help us know and understand and follow his statutes because that is the natural pathway to union with the God who made us and who loves us, a union which is our natural destiny as creatures.

Yours in Christ,

—Justin