Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Congratulations with the feasts of the Resurrection of the Lord and of the Holy Fathers of the first six Ecumenical Councils!

Last week we discussed the most sorrowful of psalms, the 87th (88), in which the author, as some commentators of Holy Scripture surmise, wrote about the spiritual state of King David at the most difficult moment of his life. In this psalm, as we noted, there is not hope that the Lord will hear the cry of the suffering one and protect him. As a counterweight to this sorrowful lament, the compilers of the Church’s liturgical rubrics appointed the joyful and hopeful 102nd (103) psalm, ‘Bless the Lord, O my soul,’ to be read immediately after the 87th during the ‘Six Psalms.’ Psalm 102 is likewise sung in an abbreviated manner at almost very Divine Liturgy.

This most beautiful and understandable hymn concludes with the same words with which it begins, “Bless the Lord, O my soul!” In such a way, the Holy Psalmist King David indicates to us that the most important task of our life is to bless, or glorify, our Creator from the first moments of our existence to our last. We are not obliged to do this with words or singing, for it is impossible for a person to continually be at divine services in church or to stand on his knees before the icons at home. Instead of this, David admonishes us to bless the Lord with everything that is within us, that is, with our spiritual powers. The saints, especially the righteous monks, show that it is possible for us to always remember God and to constantly turn our spiritual thoughts to Him, even in those moments when we are busy with ordinary, everyday concerns. The entire text that is in between the imperative to bless the Lord at the beginning and the end of this psalm clarifies why we should act thus.

One of the reasons why people should glorify their Creator is that He “is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide: neither will He keep His anger for ever. He hath not dealt with (people according to their) sins; nor rewarded (them) according to (their) iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him.” These wonderful and beautiful words can be understood as an attempt by the author to express that inexpressible love and mercy which our Creator has for His creation. Of course, the Lord does not simply forgive our sins, but has taken specific measures to give each of us the opportunity to turn away from the sins we have committed. He descended from heaven to earth, became a man, and suffered for us on the cross. Thus, perhaps we can understand the words about the heights of the heavens above the earth and God's mercy not simply as a sign of God's willingness to forgive us, but as a prophecy of God's incarnation.

Dear brothers and sisters, today and going forward, let us try to remember that the purpose of our life is to continually glorify with our spiritual powers God, Who loves us so much that He came down to earth from heaven to remove our sins far from us.

Priest Alexis