Psalm 116:1
bringing it all together
O praise the Lord, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people. (Psalm 116:1 DR)
Psalm 116 is the shortest Psalm in all the Psalter and because of this can be easily passed over. Yet its source in the same inspiration—which pervades throughout the rest of Scripture—precludes this action:
Though it has only two verses, the full honor of a title is given to it, so that we may understand that even a few words in the praises of the Lord are always most complete. For who could doubt that something should not be called meager when from it the supreme magnificence can be praised? (Cassiodorus, Explanation of the Psalms, 116, Introduction)
On the surface its meaning is relatively straightforward, for the praise of God by the nations is set forth in familiar terms replete throughout the Psalter. Yet it contains prophetic import that goes far deeper, setting forth the establishment and triumph of the Church in our Lord Jesus Christ.
St. Paul employs this passage as a prophetic underpinning for the incorporation of the Gentiles into the Church. For while our Lord Jesus Christ made good on the promises made to the children of Israel in the Old Covenant, He also fulfills the promise made to Abraham that he would be the father of many nations, and fulfills the prophecies of the Gentiles being brought to praise the Lord:
For I say that Christ Jesus was minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers. But that the Gentiles are to glorify God for his mercy, as it is written: Therefore will I confess to thee, O Lord, among the Gentiles, and will sing to thy name. And again he saith: Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people. And again: Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; and magnify him, all ye people. And again Isaias saith: There shall be a root of Jesse; and he that shall rise up to rule the Gentiles, in him the Gentiles shall hope. (Romans 15:8-12 DR)
Within the Old Covenant the Gentiles were outside of God’s promises and strangers to Him and His law, but in the New Covenant they are grafted into Christ within His Holy Catholic Church. The Gentiles could “praise” the Lord in the manner in which they praised their false gods, but they could not offer the pure oblation that God foretold would be offered in every nation:
For from the rising of the sun even to the going down, my name is great among the Gentiles, and in every place there is sacrifice, and there is offered to my name a clean oblation: for my name is great among the Gentiles, saith the Lord of hosts. (Malachi 1:11 DR)
This clean oblation is nothing other than the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which is offered in every place where the Church exists, among all the nations. The prophecy of Malachi is not merely about songs and praises being offered to God (although it does not exclude them), for even in the time of Malachi there were Gentiles who came to believe in the One God and made themselves subject to His law. Rather, Malachi speaks of sacrifice and a clean oblation. The sacrifice under the Old Covenant could only be offered by the sons of Aaron within the temple in Jerusalem; it could by its very nature have no extension beyond the people and nation of Israel. But the sacrifice of the New Covenant is offered by our Lord Jesus Christ, the High Priest in the order of Melchizedek, whose priesthood preceded that of Aaron’s. The priests who participate in our Lord’s priesthood through the sacrament of holy orders thus re-present that same sacrifice that our Lord offered of His own Body and Blood, and in this manner God’s promise is fulfilled to the Gentiles and to His people Israel, that the sacrifice and clean oblation will be offered in every nation.
Thus the sacrifice offered within the New Covenant becomes the praise of all nations and all peoples now that salvation has come to them all:
The nations would never have experienced such a change, he says, unless the mercy of God had been stronger than our sins… Therefore, since the God of all has fulfilled the promises, and has given the salvation he promised, and has opened the fountains of mercy to all—both you who came from the Jews and you who have believed from among the Gentiles—by mixing together harmonious hymns, give back a reward to the benefactor. (Pseudo-Athanasius, Psalm 116, 1, 2)
Within the parallelism of this passage there is the juxtaposition of nations in the first clause with people in the second. People in the Latin is populi, which the Douay-Rheims archaically renders as people. Populi is plural and thus would probably be more clear to modern ears as peoples, more or less corresponding to the plurality of nations in the first clause. The idea is that all nations and all peoples are the ones who are incorporated into the praise of the Lord, and their diversity of cultures and boundaries and histories are subsumed to the unity that is found in the praise of God, the very sacrifice and clean oblation spoken of by the prophet and confirmed by St. Paul.
This is further elaborated in some versions of the Old Latin which read: conlaudate eum omnes populi—praise Him together all ye peoples. The various nations and peoples who praise the Lord are not simply doing so simultaneously or each in their own way and manner, but rather have become a nation and a people—
But you are a chosen generation, a kingly priesthood, a holy nation, a purchased people: that you may declare his virtues, who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: Who in time past were not a people: but are now the people of God. Who had not obtained mercy; but now have obtained mercy. (1 Peter 2:9-10 DR)
Those who are brought into the Holy Catholic Church through the washing of regeneration in the sacrament of Baptism are brought into that kingly priesthood in which they can now render to God the offering of themselves as living sacrifices in union with our Lord’s one perfect Sacrifice in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, as administered by the ministerial and sacramental priesthood. The ordained priests offering the Mass in persona Christi allows the faithful to fulfill their own distinct priestly ministry, for without this distinction they could not offer to God the sacrifice of their lives in union with Christ’s One Sacrifice of Himself. It is within the Church that the nations are made into a holy nation, and the peoples into a purchased people; they can now finally and truly sursum corda—lift up your hearts—as is said prior to the Preface of the Canon in the Holy Mass, fulfilling the Psalmist’s prophetic view of the nations and peoples praising the Lord together:
It continues, “and praise him together, all peoples.” “Praise together” is the praise of all the faithful gathered into one. For this is recognized as fitting for the Catholic Church, which is gathered from different parts of the world. (Cassiodorus, Explanation of the Psalms, 116, 1)
I used VideoCopilot Orb to create the earth sphere and some satellite maps to map the surface texture onto the orb. I then rotated it in a dizzying speed—for those on the surface at least!
Next I applied Mad Painter to create the impressionist animation and finally applied some color correction and noise and other effects.
Enjoy.
O praise the Lord, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people.
(Psalm 116:1 DR)
View a higher quality version of this gif here: