August 23 — Psalm 114

“When Israel went out from Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language, Judah became God’s sanctuary, Israel his dominion. The sea looked and fled; Jordan turned back. The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs. Why is it, O sea, that you flee? O Jordan, that you turn back? O mountains, that you skip like rams? O hills, like lambs? Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the LORD, at the presence of the God of Jacob, who turns the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a spring of water.”

Psalm 114 is still sung with Psalm 113 prior to the Jewish Passover meal — it is a song about the power of G-d in delivering the Israelites from Egypt, bringing them into the Promised Land and preserving them in the wilderness in between.

We read in this Psalm: “Why is it, O sea, that you flee?

O Jordan, that you turn back? O mountains, that you skip like rams? O hills, like lambs? Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the LORD…”

We might wonder why the sea, the mountains, and the earth trembles and skips at the presence of G-d…until we remember that all that is was created by G-d. All things should tremble at the presence of the Lord.

St. Thomas Aquinas, in his analysis of the five ways G-d’s existence can be explained, says in his first way:

The First Way: Argument from Motion

1. Our senses prove that some things are in motion.

2. Things move when potential motion becomes actual motion.

3. Only an actual motion can convert a potential motion into an actual motion.

4. Nothing can be at once in both actuality and potentiality in the same respect (i.e., if both actual and potential, it is actual in one respect and potential in another).

5. Therefore nothing can move itself.

6. Therefore each thing in motion is moved by something else.

7. The sequence of motion cannot extend ad infinitum.

8. Therefore it is necessary to arrive at a first mover, put in motion by no other; and this everyone understands to be God.

It is in this argument that St. Thomas Aquinas reminds us that something had to set everything in motion — that motion was the creation — that creator was G-d. Since the deliverance of the Israelites from the Egyptians, and then their covenantal relationship with G-d, Israel has been writing praises to G-d — and we continue to give thanks for all that G-d has, is, and will do in our lives.

Let us pray:

Mighty God, by your power you led your people out of slavery in Egypt, and raised Christ from the dead. Deliver us continually by your power from slavery to freedom and from death to life, for the glory of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

Amen.

August 22 — Psalm 113

“Praise the LORD! Praise, O servants of the LORD; praise the name of the LORD. Blessed be the name of the LORD from this time on and forevermore. From the rising of the sun to its setting the name of the LORD is to be praised. The LORD is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens. Who is like the LORD our God, who is seated on high, who looks far down on the heavens and the earth? He raises the poor from the dust, and lifts the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes, with the princes of his people. He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children. Praise the LORD!”

Ps 113:2-3 tell us that we have some responsibilities. “Blessed be the name of the LORD from this time on and forevermore. From the rising of the sun to its setting the name of the LORD is to be praised.”

So, what do we determine is our responsibility? First, we are to praise G-d. Every day we should awake with words of praise on our lips and in our hearts. Praise G-d when you have to get up in the morning. Praise G-d when you’re tired at the end of the day — during the day for the good things that happen — and for the difficult things.

Someone once said they feel sorry for atheists and agnostics because when they want to be thankful, they have no one to talk to. How can a person really enjoy a beautiful sunrise or a sunset, a beautiful spring day or even a beautiful winter day, if he can’t thank the One who creates these things? G-d deserves our praise.

We also should praise G-d all over the world. What are we doing about those who do not know the Lord, the many who have never heard about Jesus Christ? Let’s begin by witnessing right where we are. Let’s pray and give — of our time, our love and our abundance. You never run out of reasons to praise the Lord.

As the childhood song goes:

Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelujah, Praise ye the Lord.

Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelujah, Praise ye the Lord, Praise ye the Lord.

Praise ye the Lord, Hallelujah, Praise ye the Lord, Hallelujah, Praise ye the Lord!

Let us pray:

Lord Jesus, surrendering the brightness of your glory, you were born of an earthly mother so that we might be raised from the dust to share your very being. May the children of God always bless your name from the rising of the sun to its going down, for you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and forever.

Amen.