My soul hath hoped in the Lord. (Psalm 129:5 DR)
The English translation of this passage contains a bit of an incongruity, but not in the actual translation. Rather, it is found in the division of the verses which is somewhat odd since the parallelism of this passage is clearly connected to the end of verse four and it therefore somewhat breaks up the poetic flow. And while the verse divisions were added relatively recently, they can sometimes create emphasis in different places and break up thoughts unintentionally.
In this case the poetic structure of the passage should carry from the end of verse four into verse five as such:
My soul hath relied on his word: My soul hath hoped in the Lord. (Psalm 129:4b-5 DR)
In this case the Psalmist’s soul hoping in the Lord is the expansion of the previous idea that he relies on the word of the Lord; there is thus a direct correspondence in the poetic structure between the promises of the Lord as found in His word and the hope that the Psalmist has in them and thus in the Lord. These promises are manifold in the Old Covenant, as St. Bellarmine explains:
[F]or God frequently, through Moses, in Deuteronomy, and in various other parts of the Scripture, promised pardon to those who do penance. “And when thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him; yet if thou seek him with all thy heart, and all the affliction of thy soul.” Hence David himself previously said, in Psalm 118, “Be thou mindful of thy word to thy servant, in which thou hast given me hope.” And he then repeats more clearly what he had just expressed rather obscurely, when he adds, “My soul hath hoped in the Lord,” that he would get the pardon he looked for. (St. Robert Bellarmine, A Commentary on the Book of the Psalms, 129, 4-5.)
This correspondence between the word of the Lord on which the Psalmist relies and the hope that he has in the Lord is fully revealed in the Word of the Father (cf. John 1:1, 17-18) , our Lord Jesus Christ Who—as St. Paul explains—is the final word:
God, who, at sundry times and in divers manners, spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, last of all, In these days hath spoken to us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the world. Who being the brightness of his glory, and the figure of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power, making purgation of sins, sitteth on the right hand of the majesty on high. (Hebrews 1:1-3 DR)
The prophet described this before the coming of our Lord in the flesh as the Wisdom of God Who is the perfect reflection of the Father’s eternal brightness:
For she is the brightness of eternal light, and the unspotted mirror of God's majesty, and the image of his goodness. And being but one, she can do all things: and remaining in herself the same, she reneweth all things, and through nations conveyeth herself into holy souls, she maketh the friends of God and prophets. (Wisdom 7:26-27 DR)
The hope that the Psalmist speaks of is thus not simply some nebulous wish for what might be but a tangible reality to which he looked forward; the very Incarnation of our Lord. Prior to our Lord’s coming this hope was—so to speak—external to man in being a promise awaiting its ultimate fulfillment, but now in Christ it is a living reality that is internal as the Blessed Trinity comes to dwell in the heart of man. This hope is thus not predicated on circumstances going well or a future yet to come but is here and now and cannot disappoint if we abide in Christ:
Being justified therefore by faith, let us have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access through faith into this grace, wherein we stand, and glory in the hope of the glory of the sons of God. And not only so; but we glory also in tribulations, knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience trial; and trial hope; and hope confoundeth not: because the charity of God is poured forth in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost, who is given to us. (Romans 5:1-5 DR)
As St. Paul notes here, our hope is not something generated out of ourselves or some sort of wish-casting on our parts, but is a theological virtue that arises out of the charity of God being poured into our hearts. We therefore cannot have this hope as something that we originate and it thus commensurately will not be based on our desires or wants. Instead—as St. John explains—this hope causes us to align our wills to God and increase in sanctification:
Behold what manner of charity the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called, and should be the sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth not us, because it knew not him. Dearly beloved, we are now the sons of God; and it hath not yet appeared what we shall be. We know, that, when he shall appear, we shall be like to him: because we shall see him as he is. And every one that hath this hope in him, sanctifieth himself, as he also is holy. (1 John 3:1-3 DR)
That this passage in the English rendering is broken out into its own passage is perhaps a fortuitous occurrence, as it provides opportunity to reflect on exactly where our hope is found, and precisely where or in Whom it should be found. The Psalmist’s hope was in the word of the Lord, not in the circumstances which surrounded him which form the basis of this Psalm. Even his own sins which formed one of the depths from which he cried could not obviate this hope, because the Lord’s promise to forgive the contrite in heart (cf. Psalm 50:19) is greater and deeper than even our most grievous sins:
David’s example ought to be of great value to us; for he was in the depth of misery, whether we regard his sins or what he suffered for them. His sins were most grievous; he had been guilty of adultery, took the life of a most faithful soldier; offended that God who had bestowed a kingdom on him, the gift of prophecy, strength, beauty, prudence, riches on him. He was also in the depths of misery when he was constantly persecuted by Saul, and in daily danger of his life; and yet, as he did not despair; but rather clung to hope, he was delivered. (St. Robert Bellarmine, A Commentary on the Book of the Psalms, 129, 4-5.)
I found this interesting image of the person holding onto this scaffolding or whatever it and looking forward into the distance, and I was intrigued. I also liked how the original was such that it was fairly easy to isolate the figure, and so I went with it.
I also wanted to keep it simple but really focus the eye towards the center. After precomping the figure in After Effects I added an instance of Trapcode Particular and set it up to have these streaks coming from the center, as if this person is looking off in hope towards the originating point of these streaks, which is the bright light in the center.
That was about it aside from glows and color correction. Simple but I liked how it turned out.
Enjoy.
My soul hath hoped in the Lord.
(Psalm 129:5 DR)
View a higher quality version of this gif here: