Psalms
Chapter 146
Trust in God Alone
Alleluia! Praise the Lord, my soul!
I will sing to the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to God while I live.
Do not put your trust in princes, in a great one, who cannot save.
No sooner his spirit has left, that he goes back to the earth; on that very day, any plan comes to nothing.
Blessed are they whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God,
maker of heaven and earth, the sea and all they contain. The Lord is forever faithful;
he gives justice to the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free.
8aThe Lord gives sight to the blind; The Lord straightens the bent.
The Lord protects the stranger; sustains the widow and the orphan.
8bThe Lord loves the virtuous; but he brings to ruin the way of the wicked.
The Lord will reign forever, your God, O Zion, from generation to generation. Alleluia!
Commentaries
146
The Almighty God is at our service—the All-Mighty, the Only-Mighty; we cannot rely on second insurance—we must depend solely on him, casting all our cares on the Lord, for He cares for us.
God demonstrates faithfulness through his love for all who are weak and inclined to seek salvation in the powerful. Also, those who are disadvantaged because of others (oppressed, hungry, or captive), due- to illness (blind or fainting), or other life circumstances (migrants, orphans, widows) benefit from God’s loving faithfulness. The programmatic discourse of Jesus, in the synagogue of Nazareth: ‘He has sent me to give Good News to the poor, to announce freedom to prisoners…’ (cf. Lk 4:17-22), renews the theme of this psalm. Human projects can be ambitious and challenging; however, they will not override the divine plan. We can pray with this psalm if we trust God and truly believe in Him. God is the one who frees the poor. The more we believe this, the more we seek to share the Lord’s thoughts, dedicating our lives to serving the marginalized, the hungry, and the humiliated.