Since we began planning our 3rd Annual Joe Catholic Men's Conference months ago, I have had Psalm 1 on my mind. I remember years ago seeing Jesse Romero quote the Psalm as the definition of a righteous man. He went on to explain that this is the way Sacred Scripture (Mt 1:18-19) describes St. Joseph. This reflection would plant the seed that would eventually grow into the Joe Catholic lay apostolate.
Today's Psalm reading is taken from Psalm 1. We normally only include the Navarre Bible commentary for the Gospel reading, but I thought I would include the Psalm because we referenced it at the Conference and this past weekend at our regular Workshop.
Psalm 1:1–4, 6
1 Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
3 He is like a tree
planted by streams of water,
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.
4 The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff which the wind drives away.
6 for the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.
Catholic Exegesis:
The Second Vatican Council teaches that if we are to derive the true meaning from the sacred texts, attention must be devoted “not only to their content but to the unity of the whole of Scripture, the living tradition of the entire Church, and the analogy of faith. […] Everything to do with the interpretation of Scripture is ultimately subject to the judgment of the Church, which exercises the divinely conferred communion and ministry of watching over and interpreting the Word of God” (Dei Verbum, 12).
St. John Paul II, when he promulgated the Catechism of the Catholic Church, explained that the Catechism "is a statement of the Church's faith and of catholic doctrine, attested to or illumined by Sacred Scripture, the Apostolic Tradition and the Church's Magisterium." He went on to "declare it to be a sure norm for teaching the faith and thus a valid and legitimate instrument for ecclesial communion" (Fidei Depositum).
Cited in the Catechism:
Passages from this reading are not cited in the Catechism.
Commentary:
Psalm 1. The first part of the psalm proclaims the good fortune of those who keep the Law of God (vv. 1–3); the second describes the failure met with by those who go the opposite way (vv. 4–6).
The words “Blessed is the man who …” or “Happy the man whom …” (v. 1) occur up to twenty-six times in the psalms, pointing out what a person needs to do to find happiness. Our Lord Jesus Christ will definitively proclaim who the happy or blessed man is—he who belongs to the Kingdom of heaven (cf. Mt 5:1–11; Lk 6:20–23).
1:1–3. What identifies a just or righteous man is his behaviour, which is very different from that of those who have no regard for the Law of God. The words “walk”, “stands not”, “sits not” indicate three successive stages in moving away from the right path (v. 1). The righteous man seeks and finds in the Law of God the standard to orient his life (v. 2). He will be happy because he will prosper (v. 3). The leafy tree symbolizes prosperity and well-being.
1:4–6. The well-rooted tree (v. 3) contrasts with the chaff scattered by the wind, which symbolizes the sinful life of the wicked (v. 4). They will fail to overcome the righteous (v. 5), for in the last analysis it is the Lord who will judge all (v. 6). Psalm 1 is a prayer inviting the reader to read the whole book; “in the Psalms we encounter the sentiments of praise, gratitude and veneration which the Chosen People is called to show towards God’s law, together with an exhortation to know it, and translate it into life” (St. John Paul II, Veritatis splendor, 44).
Source: The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries. Biblical text from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and by Scepter Publishers in the United States. We encourage readers to purchase The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers for details.
"Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ." St Jerome
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