Psalm 131 celebrates the humility which leads to the true exaltation
which is holiness. To those
who cannot say
my heart is not proud
it offers a way to enter into the prayer of the meek and humble Jesus,
the great Lesser Brother on whom St. Francis patterned his life and
rooted his evangelical ideal.
This brief Song of Ascent is also a celebration of the
fruitfulness of good choices:
truly I have set my soul in silence and peace.
God is always waiting to speak to our hearts.
Jesus wants to make good on His word:
My peace I give to you.
Yet, we are the ones who have to ready our souls so that God can speak,
so that Jesus can bestow His gift of peace.
We have to choose, with the
hel of Gods grace, to
become like
little children
so that,
in
silence and peace,
we can nestle deep into the mystery of His merciful love.
It is then that we discover the joyful security of the “lesser
ones” who with humble, silent, trusting hearts can truly
hope in the Lord, both now and forever.
St. Francis of Assisi
does not quote Psalm 131 in any of his writings.
However, the virtues which Psalm 131 extols – humility,
simplicity, child-like trust, contentment in God – are clearly written
in the book of the Little Poor Man’s life.
The Seraphic Father’s
heart was not proud
because he kept it grounded in the truth of who he was and who God is.
Francis, who once sought the glory of knighthood, learned through
prayer, faith and struggle, how to
set
his soul in silence and peace,
so that he could rest in God, as content as the Babe of Bethlehem was in
the arms of Mary, His Virgin Mother
who made the Lord of
majesty our Brother.
But Psalm 131 resonates most perfectly on the lips of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Son of David who is also and above all the Son of the Most
High God. He who declared
that we should learn from Him because He
is meek and humble of
heart
(cf. Matt. 11:29),
is the only One who can say in all truth:
My Heart is not proud.
Jesus, who humbled Himself even to death on a Cross, can rightly
proclaim:
I have not gone after
things too great, nor marvels beyond me.
Old Testament scholars also hear in Psalm 131 the voice of the Chosen
People, humbled and humiliated, after the Exile.
Their hearts
[were] not proud
because they recognized their sinfulness and acknowledged their
infidelity as the reason for their current state.
This people, poor, oppressed and dispossessed, accepted God’s
punishment and set their souls
in silence and peace
as they awaited, in hope, their return to the Promised Land and the
restoration of the Temple.
The brevity of Psalm 131 bears witness to its theme: humility and
littleness before God. This
simple prayer has been described as both the song of a humble person and
the song of a humbled people.
Attributed to David, the man after God’s own (humble) heart, it
is not difficult to imagine the shepherd king offering to God this lowly
little hymn. Nor is it hard
to envision David, the humbled and repentant sinner, praying this psalm
to the merciful God in whom he found pardon, salvation and peace.
O Israel, hope in the Lord,
both now and forever!
Truly I have set my soul in silence and peace,
as a child has rest in its mother’s arms,
even so my soul.
O Lord, my heart is not proud,
nor haughty my eyes.
I have not gone after things too great,
nor marvels beyond me.
The Song of Our Lesser Brother
PART 29
