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The prayer of Christ on the cross
2 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from me, from the sound of my groaning?
3 My God, I call by day, but you never answer; by night and I find no rest.
4 Yet you are enthroned the Holy One, the praise of Israel.
5 In you our fathers trusted, and you delivered them.
6 They cried to you and they were saved; they trusted in you and were not overcome.
7 But I am a worm and not human, scorned by everyone, despised by the people.
8 All who see me make a jest of me; they sneer and shake their heads.
9 “He put his trust in the Lord, let the Lord rescue him! If the Lord is his friend, let him help him!”
10 Yet it is you who drew me from the womb and kept me safe at my mother’s breasts.
11 I have been yours from birth; from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
12 Be not far from me for trouble is near, and there is no one to help me.
13 A herd of bulls surround me – strong bulls of Bashan closing in on me,
14 their mouths open, like lions roaring for their prey.
15 I am like water draining away; all my bones are out of joint, my heart melts away like wax.
16 My throat is dried up like a potsherd; my tongue clings to my palate. You have laid me down in the dust of death.
17 Round about me are vicious dogs, villainous rogues encircling me. They have tied up my hands and feet.
18 They can count all my bones, for they are looking and watching me,
19 dividing my garments among them and casting lots for my raiment.
20 O Lord, be not far from me! O my strength, come quickly to my help.
21 Deliver my soul from the sword, my life from the powerful grip of the dog.
22 Rescue me from the jaws of the lion, my soul from the horns of the wild bull.
23 I will proclaim your name to my brothers, I will praise you in the assembly,
24 “All you who fear the Lord, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him! All you sons of Israel, revere him!
25 For he has not scorned or loathed the afflicted in his misery. He has not hidden his face from me but has listened when I cried to him.”
26 I will praise you in the great assembly, fulfill my vows before all who revere you.
27 The lowly will eat and be satisfied. Those who seek the Lord will praise him. May your hearts live forever!
28 The whole earth will acknowledge and turn to the Lord; the families of nations will worship him.
29 For dominion belongs to the Lord and he reigns over the nations.
30 Before him all those who rest in the earth will bow down, all who go down to the dust.
My soul will live for him. 31 My descendants will serve him and proclaim the Lord to coming gene ra tions; 32 they will announce his salvation to a people yet unborn, “These are the things that he has done.”
This prayer is a passage from night to day. The first part is gloomy, the second is like a sunrise which gives new life and puts joy in the heart of humans. It is the long lament of the persecuted, who, on the edge of the abyss are given assurance and certitude.
From the beginning, Christian tradition has applied this psalm to Jesus himself. In fact, we find here the passion of Jesus: the bulls, the lions, the dogs are the enemies; only a worm, it is the humiliation of blows and the infamy of the cross; and his clothes were divided just as he said.
Jesus himself made this psalm his own when from the cross he uttered this cry: "My God, why have you forsaken me?" Jesus himself felt he had appealed to God in vain... And yet, in the midst of this terrible darkness, a light in the soul of Jesus does not waver. He knows that in spite of this silence, the Father is always with him and all the second part of the psalm is a song of trust which ends in a cry of triumph.
The Crucified of Good Friday is transformed to the Glorious Lord and his reign will be universal. Jesus had said: "When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all things to myself."
Christian life is a passage from death to life. What is marvelous is that through Jesus we can always bring good from evil, happiness from suffering and even from death.
I will fulfill my vows: it is a matter of sacrifices and of thanksgiving.
It is an allusion to the banquet that God has prepared for his elect: Is 25:6; Lk 22:30.
