Psalms
Chapter 63
O God, You Are My God, I Seek You Early
O God, you are my God, it is you I seek; for you, my body longs and my soul thirsts, as a dry and weary land without water.
Thus have I gazed upon you in the Sanctuary, to see your power and your glory.
Your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.
I will praise you as long as I live, lift up my hands and call on your name.
As with the richest food, my soul will feast; my mouth will praise you with joyful lips.
When I remember you on my bed, I think of you all through the night,
for you have been my help; I sing in the shadow of your wings.
My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.
In vain, they are after my life; they will go down to the depths of the earth;
they will be delivered to the sword, and become the prey of jackals.
The king will rejoice in God. All who swear by God’s name will boast: “At last, slanderers’ tongues have been silenced.”
Commentaries
63
We grow weary of everything. No human love is completely satisfying, for the shadow of separation or death hangs over it. Only the one who is the source of living water, not a cracked cistern, can satisfy human thirst. Saint Augustine expressed this well: ‘You have created us for yourself, Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.’ Our works matter more to God than our words, but in some ways, our desires are even more important. They reveal a space for God within us, waiting for the moment he chooses to make us rich. Jesus and Mary, in her Magnificat, declare blessed those who hunger and thirst for God and unhappy those who are satisfied.
Happy are we if, at certain moments in our lives—while meditating on the word of God, praying, or responding generously to God’s call—we experience God through feelings that reveal him: peace, joy, security, inner conviction, fullness… Then, we can inspire others to love and thirst for God.