They Eat Up My People – Psalm 14

At Midday Prayer the psalms are a little shorter and – for me, anyway – distractions weigh a little longer. Today the third psalm at midday was Psalm 14, which teaches on the foolishness of sinners – which means the foolishness of all of us.

I am unhappy with myself just now for many reasons – all of them just – and though I’ve read the psalm many times, today it struck me. Every line struck me; every line felt like it was meant for me.

I should tell you that often when I read the psalms of the Liturgy of the Hours, I will use the clear edge of a small prayer card to read one line at a time – to really try to eliminate distraction and read the word closely by using the transparent edge to hone in on the prayer’s meaning. That might have something to do with how powerfully these words hit me.

Or it just might be that these are the words I need to dwell on today – for myself and for the world.

Yesterday at Evening Prayer, which I read at Adoration, there was a sense of Christ’s mercy covering everything and everyone, of Christ gathering all in to Himself. Today is the reminder that we continue, every day, to hold ourselves back – even if we think we do not want to – because of our frail, faulty humanity, our egos, our broken-ness, our fickle hearts.

No wonder each day we must begin anew. No wonder each day we have a new mass, a new communion. We need it.

I need it.

Try it line-by-line yourself. I’ll help by spacing them apart.

The fool has said in his heart:

“There is no God above.”

Their deeds are corrupt, depraved;

not a good man is left.

From heaven the Lord looks down

on the sons of men

to see if any are wise,

if any seek God.

All have left the right path,

depraved, every one;

there is not a good man left,

no, not even one.

Will the evil-doers not understand?

They eat up my people

as though they were eating bread:

they never pray to the Lord.

See how they tremble with fear

without cause for fear:

for God is with the just.

You may mock the poor man’s hope,

but his refuge is the Lord.

O that Israel’s salvation might come from Zion!

When the Lord delivers his people from bondage,

then Jacob will be glad and Israel rejoice.

“They eat up my people, as though they were eating bread…” How terribly we use and use-up each other, every day – thoughtlessly – whether we intend to or not.

How often we sin by simply, brusquely trodding over the humanity of the stranger, or the person we love, because we are so intent on whatever has captured our mind of a moment. We “eat each other up, like bread” which we consume carelessly and voraciously. We “throw each other away,” and not only in those big ways – abortion, euthanasia, or in “shutting away” the sick or inconvenient, but in the small ways, too. We ignore each other. We push aside. We pounce. We pressure. We scold. We think of other people as things, or as means to an end. We render each other meaningless, into ghosts and shadows, and we do it all day long.

I do it. All day long.

Psalm-prayer:
God of wisdom and truth, without you neither truth nor holiness can survive. Safeguard the Church you have gathered into one and make us glad in proclaiming you.

Reading: Proverbs 3:13-15
Happy the man who finds wisdom,
the man who gains understanding!
Fo her profit is better than profit in silver
and better than gold is her revenue;
She is more precious than corals,
and none of your choice possessions can compare with her.

Response:
Lord, all you ask of me is truth.
– In the depths of my heart you have taught me wisdom

Prayer:
Lord God,
you made known to Peter
your desire to bring all nations into salvation.
Let all our work give you praise
and carry out your loving plan.
Grant this through Christ our Lord.

The Liturgy of the Hours, even if you can only catch them once in a while, throughout the week…yes, they can sanctify time, and draw your mind back to what is holy, throughout the day.

But sometimes they just stop you dead in your tracks, and brutally.

This writer sees this particular psalm as a sort of explanation for this casual menacing.