Seeds of Meditation and Study: Psalm 1

Please note this is just a test copy of what will be a much longer work.

First, some important preliminaries:

1. The modern Divine Office (also called The Roman Breviary or The Liturgy of the Hours) uses
the Grail Translation of the Psalms and Canticles and is under copyright, as a consequence of
this I will be using public domain translations or, on occasion, my own translation.
2. The Antiphons, headings, and sentences (see #5 below) are also under copyright, therefore I
can only refer to their substance rather than quote them directly. Needless to say, it is best if
you have a copy of the Office before you.
3. The full Divine Office consists of four large and rather expensive volumes, and may not be
suitable for everyone. I personally use a large, one volume version entitled CHRISTIAN
PRAYER: THE LITURGY OF THE HOURS, published by The Daughters of St Paul. This
work is extremely popular among lay Catholics who wish to pray the office. It currently sells
for $31.95, far less expensive than the complete edition. A large print edition is available, but it
will not contain the Office of Readings. Those who desire the complete four volumes can find
them HERE.
4. This paper-and others which will follow-is not intended as an in-depth commentary on the
Psalms and Canticles, rather, I'm looking only to provide food for thought and meditation, and
also themes you may wish to study further. Whenever possible I will give a link to some online
commentary on the Psalm/Canticle being treated of.
5. Definitions:
a. Heading: Not part of the Scripture text itself, unlike some of the titles found in the
Psalms (e.g., Ps 3:1). A Heading serves the same basic function as the title of a chapter
in a book; for example, the heading to Psalm 1 in the Douay-Rheims translation reads:
“The happiness of the just and the evil state of the wicked.”

b. Sentence: Usually taken from or based upon a Scripture text, though it is sometimes
taken from or based upon a Church Father. The sentence appears below the Heading and
often helps to “Christianize” it.

c. Antiphon: The Antiphon is often taken from or based upon the Psalm or Canticle
being prayed and is designed to help highlight a theme. It is usual when praying the
office in private to repeat the antiphon only at the beginning and end of the
Psalm/Canticle. During public recitation by a group is is usual to also repeat the
Antiphon after each verse.

Sunday-Week 1
Psalm 1 (My Translation):

Vs 1 Happy the man who walks not according to the direction of the wicked, stands not on the
path with sinners, sits not in the assembly of scorners
Vs 2 But in the instruction of the Lord is his delight, upon this teaching he ponders day and
night.

Vs 3 He is like a tree well-planted by steams of water, which gives forth its fruit in its season; its
leaves do not wither. Whatsoever he does, he prospers.

Vs 4 But not so are the wicked! They are like chaff driven on by the wind

Vs 5 For this reason the wicked will not withstand the judgment, nor sinners stand in the
assembly of the righteous.

Vs 6 The Lord watches over the way of the just, but the way of the wicked perishes.

As the heading of the Psalm indicates, the purpose of the text is to show that ultimately, man has only
two directions to travel: one towards God, and the other away from Him. As the ancient Christian
document called the Didache (late 1st -early 2nd century puts it: “There are two ways, one which leads
to life, the other which leads to death; and great is the difference between the two ways.” (see
Deu_30:15, Deu_30:19; Jer_21:8; Mat_7:13, Mat_7:14).

The Antiphon is from an unknown second century author who compares the Cross of our Blessed Lord
to the fruitful tree rooted in life giving waters (see verse 3). comparing the Cross to the Tree of Life
was commonplace in the ancient Church and is still so today. It is based upon the Adam/Christ parallel
found in St Paul and St John. Concerning the former see Romans 5:12-21 and 1 Corinthians 15:20-23.
Concerning the second consider that St John wrote: “Now there was in the place where he was crucified
a garden: and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein no man yet had been laid” (19:41). Later, when
Mary Magdalene first sees our Lord she mistakes him for the gardener (20:15).

Adam was placed inside a garden and told to guard and keep it, but he failed to do so. He lost access to
the tree of life, was banished from the garden and died outside it. But Christ, dying on a tree outside of
a garden, came to new life in that garden, having lost none of those the Father had given him to guard
(see Jn 17: 12).

The Cross and the Tree of Life:

It may help for us to consider that in both Scripture and Tradition the Cross is often called “the tree.”
On Good Friday, in fact, we sing an ancient song on this theme:
“Faithful Cross! Above all other,
One and only noble tree!
None in foliage, none in blossom,
None in fruit thy peer may be.
(Pange Lingua, St Venantius Fortunatus, 6th cent.)

When we trace the use of the word “tree” through the Scriptures, we find three main images that all
join up in a wondrous way to explain the meaning the Cross has for us.
The first tree is the “Tree of Life.” This was placed in the Garden of Eden together with the “Tree of
the Knowledge of Good and Evil,” from which Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. After this first
sin, God hastened to evict Adam and Eve from the Garden – not as a punishment, but because he feared
“lest the man put forth his hand and take also of the Tree of Life, and eat, and live for ever.” (Gen 3:22)
The effect of this would have been to make sinners (and thus also sin) immortal. For it is a fact that
death, while being the result of sin, is also the limit that brings an end to sin.
The second tree is the Cross of Christ. The New Testament often uses “tree” rather than “cross” (eg.
Acts 10:39 “they put him to death by hanging him on a tree.”) Saint Paul reminds us that the ancient
Jewish law declared: “Cursed be anyone who is hanged on a tree.” (Gal 3:13) Jesus thus came under
this curse. Yet, Saint Peter explains more clearly what was involved: “He himself bore our sins in his
body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.” (1 Peter 2:24) Jesus accepted the
“curse” we should have received, and underwent death in our place – precisely so that we might not die
but live.
The third tree is also called the “Tree of Life”, and it is reported by John, who saw it in the heavenly
Jerusalem in the Book of Revelation. This Tree is so full of life that it bears fruit once every month, and
“the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.” (Rev 22:2) All who have “conquered” in
faith (Rev 2:7) and who have “washed their robes” in baptism (Rev 22:14) may enter the heavenly city
and eat from the Tree of Life.
The Triumph of the Cross is therefore the expulsion from Eden reversed! Through the Tree of the
Cross, sin is forgiven, death is defeated, and life is restored, as the Preface from the Mass of the day
proclaims:
“Father…you decreed that man should be saved through the wood of the cross. The tree of man’s
defeat became his tree of victory; where life was lost, there life has been restored.”
So for us, the Cross is the Tree of Life, the very source of life itself. Why then do so many today still
reject the Cross as a thing of shame and horror? At the handing over of the World Youth Day Cross to
the Australian pilgrims on Palm Sunday this year, Pope Benedict attempted to articulate this modern
rejection of the Cross:
“[It is] said, the Cross is the sign of the denial of life. Instead, we want life in its entirety,
without restrictions and without sacrifices. We want to live, all we want is to live.” He goes
on: “The Cross itself is the true Tree of Life. We do not find life by possessing it, but by
giving it. Love is a gift of oneself, and for this reason it is the way of true life symbolised by
the Cross." (Denis J. Hart, Archbishop of Melbourne. Source)

For Your Consideration and Further Study;

1. General observation: The first verse of the Psalm opens with the word “happy” (Heb. 'ashre'),
which in Hebrew begins with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The last verse ends with
the word “perish,” which word begins with the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet. As far
removed as “Z” is from “A”, this is how far removed the wicked will be from the righteous when
God's judgment comes.

2. On Verse 1: The fact that this Psalm opens by defining what the just man is not (vs 1), indicates
how important it is to avoid evil. Only the one who can honestly pray thus: I have not sat with
the council of vanity: neither will I go in with the doers of unjust things. I have hated the
assembly of the malignant; and with the wicked I will not sit will escape God's punishment.

3. On Verse 2: Taking delight in the Lord's instruction brings many benefits, as Psalm 112 shows.
Recall also that our Blessed Lord rejoiced in the Father's Revelation given to us: In that same
hour, he rejoiced in the Holy Ghost and said: I confess to thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and
earth, because thou hast hidden these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed
them to little ones. Yea, Father, for so it hath seemed good in thy sight. All things are
delivered to me by my Father. And no one knoweth who the Son is, but the Father: and who
the Father is, but the Son and to whom the Son will reveal him. In this we are more blessed
than the Psalmist and Prophets of old: And turning to his disciples, he said: Blessed are the
eyes that see the things which you see. For I say to you that many prophets and kings have
desired to see the things that you see and have not seen them; and to hear the things that you
hear and have not heard them (see Luke 10:21-24).
Pondering or meditating on the teaching of the Lord stands in marked contrast to following the
counsel of the wicked (see vs 1). As I point out in my Notes On Psalm 1 the Hebrew word for
“ponder/meditate” implies the subtle, nearly silent recitation of words, the act of scoffers
implies childish, irrational mimicking.

4. On Verse 3: A fruitful tree does not have life in and of itself, rather, it gets its life from good
soil and water. We have our spiritual life from a source other than ourselves; it is the Lord who
has planted us (Jer 11:17). Aquinas writes: For planting, one needs earth moistened by the
waters, otherwise the tree dries up, and so he says: which is planted near running waters, that
is, nest to streams of grace...And he who has roots next to water will bear fruit in doing good
works; and this is what follows: which shall bring forth its fruit, for in Galatians 5:22 we read:
the fruit of the Spirit is charity, joy, peace, and patience, long-suffering, goodness, benignity,
ect.”

5. On Verse 4: The opening of this verse is emphatic in Hebrew: But not so are the wicked!,
indicating one more way by which the author of the Psalm tries to highlight the contrast
between the righteous and the unrighteous.

In stark contrast to verse 3 the wicked are here described as useless chaff. Chaff refers to the
outer shell or husks from which grain was taken. Light, dry, sterile, it was utterly useless. It was
fit only to burn, but even in this it was useless, since it burned so quickly it wasn’t even
adequate for use as kindling. Most people simply left it on the ground to be driven away by the
wind. It is hard to imagine an image of rootlessness and bareness more fitting than this. (see
the prayer against enemies in Psalm 35:5) The winnowing of chaff is used, throughout the
Bible, as a image of God’s judgment (see Hosea 13:2-3 and Matt 3:12). I have seen those who
work iniquity, and sow sorrows, and reap them, Perishing by the blast of God, and consumed
by the spirit of his wrath(Job 4:8-9).

6. On Verse 5: Not being rooted in grace means the unrighteous will not stand when God
judges. In the morning I will stand before thee, and I will see: because thou art not a God
that willest iniquity. Neither shall the wicked stand near thee: nor shall the unjust abide
before thy eyes. Thou hatest all the workers of iniquity: thou wilt destroy all that speak a lie.
The bloody and the deceitful man the Lord will abhor (Psalm 5:4-6). And they say to the
mountains and the rocks: Fall upon us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth upon the
throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of their wrath is come. And who
shall be able to stand? (Rev 6:16-17).

7. On Verse 6: God keeps His eye on and protects those who seek after righteousness. May he
not suffer thy foot to be moved: neither let him slumber that keepeth thee. Behold he shall
neither slumber nor sleep, that keepeth Israel. The Lord is thy keeper, the Lord is thy
protection upon thy right hand. The sun shall not burn thee by day: nor the moon by night.
The Lord keepeth thee from all evil: may the Lord keep thy soul. May the Lord keep thy
coming in and thy going out; from henceforth now and for ever (Ps 121:3-8).