Interprete Maria

Last Saturday was the memoria of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. I was blessed to be able to pray the Matins for this memoria at the Jumonville Retreat Center in western Pennsylvania. So I was meditating on the mystery of Mary's immaculate heart when I read psalm 131(132), and I was struck by the psalm's antiphon, "Deus meus, in simplicitate cordis mei, laetus obtuli universa," which translated means, "My God, joyful I have offered all things in the simplicity of my heart."

Keep in mind that this psalm is not proper to this memoria. It was just a happy accident. If it had been intended to be a reference to Mary, the subject of the antiphon would have been "laeta" and not "laetus." Nevertheless, the parallel to Mary struck me, and I did something I had never done before nor heard of anyone doing. I prayed the psalm through Mary's voice.

The Latin text of the psalm can be found here. You no doubt have an English translation of this psalm within easy reach, but indulge me to retranslate it for you from the Latin, because in Latin, the words for "ark," "Sion," and "lantern" are feminine, which make it far more evocative of the Mother of our Lord.

1 Remember, O Lord, David
and all his meekness,
2 for he has sworn to the Lord,
a vow he swore to the Mighty One of Jacob:

3 "I shall not enter into the tent of my house,
I shall not climb into the bed of my cover,
4 I shall not give slumber to my eyes
and to my eyelids dormition,
5 until I find a place for the Lord,
a tabernacle for the Mighty One of Jacob."

6 Behold we have heard that she was in Ephrata,
we found her in the plains of Jaar.
7 Let us walk into his tent,
May we worship at the footstool of his feet.

8 Rise, O Lord, into thy rest,
Thou and the ark of thy strength.
9 Let thy priests wear justice,
and may thy saints jump up and down.
10 Because of David thy servant
mayest thou not avert the face of thy christ.

11 The Lord has sworn truth to David
and will not withdraw from her:
"One from the fruit of thy womb
will I place upon thy chair.
12 If thy children will keep my covenant
and my testimonies, which I will teach them,
their children into the age
shall sit upon thy chair."

13 For the Lord has chosen Sion,
he has desired her as a dwelling for himself:
14 "She shall be my rest into the age of an age;
here shall I dwell, for I have desired her.

15 Her fare I who bless will bless,
her paupers I will fill with bread.
16 Her priests I will clothe with salvation,
and her saints will jump up and down in exultation.

17 There I will make the horn of David sprout,
I will prepare a lantern for my christ.
18 Her enemies I shall clothe with confusion,
upon him, however, her crown shall bloom."

What must Mary have felt when she prayed this psalm? How would she have reacted to these words, knowing what she knew? Although an in-depth study of this question would require a knowledge of Hebrew (something, alas, that I still lack), I can't quite help but think that the Latin provides us with a clearer window into the world of highly inflected language that English alone is hard-pressed to open to us.