 A butterfly at rest in Ivan's backyard (c)Mary Matasso, 2011
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| July 28, 2011
Dear Family of Mary! "Dear children! May this time be for you a time of prayer and silence. Rest your body and spirit, may they be in God's love. Permit me, little children, to lead you, open your hearts to the Holy Spirit so that all the good that is in you may blossom and bear fruit one hundred fold. Begin and end the day with prayer with the heart. Thank you for having responded to my call." (July 25, 2011)
Psalm 62 is a moving statement of faith. The psalmist proclaims that only in God is his trust and hope. There are many translations of the Bible, and so when I looked up Psalm 62, I checked several.
In my very old Liturgy of the Hours, I found this translation, apparently from "The Grail", a 1963 translation:
"In God alone is my soul at rest; For my hope comes from him." (Ps 62:1)
This one line says so much to us. Like a frightened bird or a fragile butterfly, our souls flutter in fear, anxiety and mistrust until they can come to rest in the Lord, who is all faithful, true and loving. Somehow we all know this. We will only rest when we are in God.
But I checked another translation, the Revised Standard Version, and found this:  Image via Wikipedia
"For God alone my soul waits in silence For my hope comes from him." (Ps 62:1)
"My souls waits in silence..." or "my soul is at rest". They seem very different. And yet, our Lady used both words in her message. She told us: "May this time be for you a time of prayer and silence. Rest your body and spirit, may they be in God's love." She is calling us to silence and to rest. Could it be that they are connected?
I think so. Silence, as we saw yesterday, is not the absence of sounds. It is an inner attitude of listening, of inner quiet that allows us to turn our attention to the other, in particular to God. Silence is a state of being open, of being receptive, of not having inner noise that keeps us focused on ourselves. Silence makes us available to God, to His voice, to His inspirations. So, the Psalmist is saying in Psalm 62 that he waits for God in silence, with inner quiet so that God can speak and act. This is a statement of faith and trust, of waiting with expectation.
In the same way, rest is also a state of quiet. It is the state of total trust and faith, a state of total abandonment to God. To say that only in God my soul is at rest is to say that only in God is my soul safe, at peace, abiding in trust. Only God can keep me safe, I can only trust Him.
Both translations teach us something beautiful. Our inner person, our soul is the very heart of who we are. We somehow know that we cannot entrust our inner self to anyone completely, and that we have to be ready to fly away quickly because we are vulnerable. But there is one exception. Our Creator God, our Lord. With Him and in Him, we are safe. We can dare to open our self to Him as we wait in silence. We can rest in Him because He is all love.
Both translations are beautiful! Here is Psalm 62: 5-8 in both. Let's let them speak to our hearts:
"In God alone be at rest, my soul; For my hope comes from him. He alone is my rock, my stronghold my fortress: I stand firm. In God is my safety and glory, the rock of my strength. Take refuge in God all you people. Trust him at all times, pour out your hearts before him for God is our refuge." (The Grail)
 Image via Wikipedia He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my deliverance and my honor; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us." (Revised Standard Version)
In Jesus and Mary! ©Mary TV 2011 |
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