visible rhetoric

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 to become the Lord's jumentum means to become 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 praises and adulation for a job well done?   Does the carabao insist on its right to be rewarded and praised and recognize...

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...

We have met this psalm, psalm 139, many times over, and yet its wisdom is inexhaustible, it continues to teach us.  The psalmist is moved by God’s knowledge of him – his past, his present, his thoughts, his ways, and even, his still hidden future.   The word knowledge in scriptures is not just intellectual learning or understanding but intimacy and communion.   God knows us through and through, a knowledge that begun when God already lovingly gazed upon us while we were yet an embryo in our mother’s womb.   And what was the psalmist’s reaction about this depth of God’s knowledge of him, how did the psalmist react to God’s knowledge about him?   The psalmist said, “ Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know the whole of it.   Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; too lofty for me to attain.”   The greatness of what God knows about me amazes me and fills me with wonder, it is too lofty even for me. When you look at the mir...