Friday, March 27, 2015

Reading: Psalm 31:9-16

"Into your hand I commend my spirit:
you have redeemed me, O LORD God of truth."   (Psalm 31:5)

The antiphon chosen for the psalm on the approaching Sunday of the Passion is from verse 5, not from among the verses chosen for chanting on this day. But we sing this phrase from Psalm 31:5 every time we use the office of Compline, or Prayer At the Close of Day. It is a beautiful prayer to use to end the day, before lying down to rest: "Into your hand, O LORD, I commend my spirit." Only in the Gospel of Luke do we hear these words from Jesus on the cross at the end of his life, contrary to what composites like the Seven Last Words would lead us to think. In the passion account according to Mark, which we will hear in two days' time, Jesus cries out using words from Psalm 22, as he does also in Matthew's account. Why, we could wonder, did Luke choose Psalm 31:5?

Merciful God, into your hands we commend our spirits Amen

• EAT NO MEAT OR OIL TODAY.