A New Song
On a post below I quoted from Pope Benedict’s Easter Vigil Homily. Kathy grumbled (gently and politely) that I had not quoted the final section of the homily in which the Pope speaks of “song.” So I thought to go back to one of the sources of Benedict’s theology and homiletic art: Saint Augustine. Here is a segment from Augustine’s exposition of Psalm 95:
Sing a new song to the Lord, sing to the Lord, all the earth.
If all the earth is singing a new song, it is being built up even as it sings, for to sing is to build – provided, that is, that its song is not the old one. The desires of the flesh sing an old song, but the charity of God sings a song that is new.
If your song springs from earthly lust, you are singing an old tune; and even if the words in your mouth are those of the new song, praise is unseemly in the mouth of a sinner. It is better to be a new person and keep quiet than to sing that old ditty, because if you are new in yourself, then even if you remain silent and human ears catch no sound from you, your heart is not silent. The new song your heart is singing reaches the ears of God who made you a new person.
You love and are silent, but your love is itself a voice that sings to God; your love itself is the new song. Do you want proof of this? The Lord tells us, A new commandment I give you: that you love one another (Jn 13:34).
One scholar has said that the Enarrationes in Psalmos is the longest and least read of Augustine’s major works. Thanks to Maria Boulding, O.S.B.’s fine translation in the New City Press volumes of the Expositons on the Psalms that lack may be remedied.
Thank you, Father.
“A new commandment I give you, that you Love one another. As I have Loved you, so you also should Love one another.”
“Follow Me”…IAM the Light, the Way, and the Truth of Love.”
To Love someone in the fullness of the Truth, is to desire Salvation for them.
“IAM Truth.”-Christ
“Follow Me”…IAM the Light, the Way, and the Truth of Love.”
“IAM Truth.”-Christ
Nancy,
Could you identify these quotations? Are they from the Bible? If so, what translation?
This is great–thanks, Fr. Imbelli. But alas, what would Sr. Maria Boulding, OSB, or any good Benedictine, have to say about my grumbling?http://www.conception.edu/news/159-oblates-blog-no-word-or-sign-of-the-evil-of-grumbling-sept-30-2008
I love the metaphor of singing as cooperation with the Holy Spirit, which is what I think St. Augustine is talking about here, as elsewhere. If I could study one theological question, it would be this mystery: how do God and the soul work together for good? Overwhelmingly, the Holy Spirit is the actor. And yet the cooperation is real. What could possibly be the human faculty where these two powers meet?
David, the Bible I use is the New Revised Standard Version, with the seal of The University of Notre Dame on the cover.
As I am sure you are aware, Jesus has supplied us with the answer to the question of the Light, the Way, and the Truth of Love repeatedly, including His affirmation of who, He, (IAM) is in John 14:6.
Now we all know that God is Love. Based on the astute logic of Stephen Colbert in his “duck” argument, Jesus is the Son of Love. Here is some additional proof:
“But He was silent and did not answer. Again the high priest asked Him, ‘Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?’ Jesus said, ‘IAM’. (Mark 14:61-63)
Nancy,
My copy of the NRSV renders John 14:6 as
That’s rather different from what you said.
I don’t find “IAM” in the NRSV in the verses you cite from John or Mark.
I do not pretend to be an expert on the Gospel of John, but I think “I am truth” and “I am the truth” are not equivalent statements.
David, with all due respect, “I Am Truth” and “I Am The Truth” are equivalent statements if you are God.
Nancy
“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
The word order is not to be changed. The chief question for exegetes is whether the sense is (1) “I am the way that leads to truth and (eternal) life” or (2) “I am the way and the truth that leads to (eternal) life”. The follow up statement “No one comes to the Father except through me” tends to point to (1) as preferable. My source is Raymon Brown’s commentary.
Raymond Brown, that is.
Joseph, Jesus is the the Light of Love, the Way of Love, the Truth of Love and the Life of Love, simultaneously. He is the Living Word of Love, God. Only His Life, His Passion, His Death on the Cross, has the power before God, The Blessed Trinity, to lead us to Salvation.
P.S., excellent source of Catholic information:
http://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism/ccc_toc.htm
Peace.
Nancy,
The point is not what you are saying about Jesus. The point is that you are attributing to him something he did not say. Jesus did not say, “IAM the Light, the Way, and the Truth of Love.” You cite the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible as your source, but these quotes are not in it. You can’t just make up quotes and attribute them to Jesus.
David, I have not done a good job of explaining what I mean by simultaneously. Perhaps I can draw a parallel to Revelation 22:13, where Jesus says:
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end, simultaneously.
This could only be true if Jesus is God, Perfect Love. We know this is true because Scripture tells us there is no lie in Him, He is Truth. Nothing can be added nor anything subtracted.
If you begin with The Truth of Perfect Love, God, Who is a Relationship of Love, The Blessed Trinity, you end with Perfect Truth, unless you add a false assumption.
The Good News is, He Has Risen, and because of His Death on The Cross, we can all Sing a New Song. It has always been, from the beginning, about a Relationship of Love.
This quote from St. Augustine is very interesting. Every sentence seems worthy of consideration and comment.
First of all is the notion that we build a new earth when we sing a new song. I would say that it isn’t immediately intuitive that this is so; but if we think of instances in which many voices have been united in song – perhaps at a Christmas mass – are we indeed building a new world, in a sense?
Second is the point that the song of charity is a new song. Our natural song, our same-old, same-old song, is the earthly song of earthly things. We must somehow shed those old clothes and put on Christ to sing the new song.
Then there is he insistence that even the silent person with love his her heart is actually singing God’s praise. That is not a sentiment that is welcome to most liturgical musicians!