Psalm 146: 1b-2, 3-4, 5-6ab
Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob.
Praise the LORD, O my soul;
I will praise the LORD all my life;
I will sing praise to my God while I live.
Put not your trust in princes,
in the sons of men, in whom there is no salvation.
When his spirit departs he returns to his earth;
on that day his plans perish.
Blessed he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD, his God.
Who made heaven and earth,
the sea and all that is in them.
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
A God of Relationship
The psalms, and much of the Old Testament frequently refer to God not just as “God,” but as “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
The ancient Israelites were very aware of their history; they understood it as sacred. In fact, whereas we tend to think of our future as being before us and our past as behind us, they saw it the other way around. They understand themselves moving through time with their faces towards the past and their backs toward the future. What a difference!
This focus on the past meant that they were always mindful of how God had dealt with their ancestors. God was not just God. He was the God of a specific people with whom he had a very long relationship history.
How might this impact our own conception of God? When praying this psalm, Blessed be the God of Jacob, consider adding the names of your own grandparents or ancestors, whom God was faithful to.
Blessed be the God of Joe, Doris, and Catherine!
—Billy Critchley-Menor, SJ, is a Jesuit of the Midwest Province; he writes on Substack at From Every Side and is the author of As It Is: Poems. He currently studies at Boston College.
Prayer
Blessed be God.
Blessed be His Holy Name.
Blessed be Jesus Christ, true God and true Man.
Blessed be the Name of Jesus.
Blessed be His Most Sacred Heart.
Blessed be His Most Precious Blood.
Blessed be Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.
Blessed be the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete.
Blessed be the great Mother of God, Mary most Holy.
Blessed be her Holy and Immaculate Conception.
Blessed be her Glorious Assumption.
Blessed be the name of Mary, Virgin and Mother.
Blessed be St. Joseph, her most chaste spouse.
Blessed be God in His Angels and in His Saints.
—The Divine Praises