psalm 34: the Lord's jumentum - 32nd week Tuesday 2017

Today we reflect on Psalm 34. In the first stanza we hear the exhortation of the psalmist which says, “Let my soul glory in the LORD; the lowly will hear me and be glad.”  In other versions of the bible this line is translated as My soul shall make its boast in the Lord.  St. Augustine in explaining the text uses a beautiful metaphor.  He says, “Gentle cattle would the Lord have; be thou the Lord’s jumentum (be thou the Lord’s beast of burden); that is, be thou humble. He sits upon you, He rules you: fear not lest you stumble, and fall headlong: that indeed is your infirmity; but consider Who sits upon you.” In the Philippine context we can say we are the Lord’s carabao.  After the field has been plowed well and thoroughly does the carabao shove the farmer aside so that it can receive all the praise and adulation for a job well done?  Does the carabao insist on its right to be rewarded and praised and recognized for his work?  No. If there is boasting on the part of the carabao the boasting is in the Lord, if there is glory to be had, it is glorying in the Master.

St. Augustine recalls the humble colt of an ass on which the Lord rode while entering triumphantly in Jerusalem – people were shouting hosanna, waving branches and putting garments on the road on which Jesus passed.  Did the colt of an ass ever thought that the adulation and the welcome was for him?  Did it even for one instance claim that the praise, and the branches and the carpets and the singing was for him?  St. Augustine reminds us, “Consider who sits upon you!”

And so say to yourself, carabao ako sang Ginoo – if there is boasting I can only boast in the Lord.