Psalm 16:1

everyone wants to be heard

The prayer of David. Hear, O Lord, my justice: attend to my supplication. Give ear unto my prayer, which proceedeth not from deceitful lips. (Psalm 16:1 DR)

Of all the things which separate man from the animals, perhaps the most notable is our use of speech. For while the brutes have their calls and grunts and signals, the difference between my dog’s whining for food and my ability to speak to my wife is not merely of degree but of kind. The two are actually nothing alike, and it is only by projecting upon my dog’s “communication” that they might even seem to have any similarity.

For the non-rational animal, the sounds and calls and such that they may make arise from their instincts and appetites. They are communicating only in a very analogous sense, because their communication doesn’t arise from a thought, but rather from a desire. There is not a mind nor an internal word being spoken or expressed, and not merely for lack of the ability to speak words. A parrot can speak some words, but the parrot has no more meaning behind them than my dog marking a fire hydrant. And thus while I can deduce from various sounds and behaviors what my dog wants, that desire goes no deeper than the material realities of which he is comprised. I may as well say that a plant is telling me it wants sunlight when it leans towards an open window.

But when I speak to my wife, we are actually communicating, because behind the symbols with which we communicate are minds which have already formed the thought or word to be expressed. And when we do speak, we are using those symbolic elements to convey the interior meaning, and thus our speech or communication serve as mediums for us to know what the other knows.

This is our mode of knowing as embodied creatures. For unlike the angels who intuitively understand the essences they perceive as far as their nature allows, we humans come to know things discursively, and it is through the created things we perceive with our senses that we come to know things as they are. Thus words and speech and other such means of communication serve as symbols of the immaterial reality of our minds.

Due to this reality, there is sometimes a disjunction between our speaking and our being heard. We have all no doubt had the experience of talking to someone who is listening but is not hearing. That is, they hear the words but either do not understand the meaning or—even worse—is either uninterested or intentionally ignoring or misunderstanding.

Some people enjoy talking more than others, but even for those who do not wish to speak much, there is nothing worse than speaking and realizing one is not being heard. This reality is probably no more acutely felt than when it comes to prayer, for prayer is difficult enough as it is, but what does one do when it seems like God is not listening?

St. James tackles this question forthrightly:

[You] have not, because you ask not. You ask, and receive not; because you ask amiss: that you may consume it on your concupiscences. (James 4:2-3 DR)

And if we are honest with ourselves, this is likely the cause of much of our grief in prayer, for even if we presume to have good motives when we come to prayer—especially when it comes to things that we deem really important—how often are our requests from a pure heart that desires God’s will? But this perhaps may seem glib, for surely it is one thing to ask God for wealth or a new car or a new job, and another to ask Him to cure your family member of cancer. How does one reconcile this?

As the Psalmist opens Psalm 16, he inscribes this as The Prayer of David. Some of the Old Latin versions have in finem, oratio ipsi David, meaning unto the end, a prayer of David himself. Both the phrase unto the end and David himself point to Christ as the subject of this Psalm, and by extension His Body the Holy Catholic Church. St. Augustine explicitly states that this prayer is assigned to the Person of the Lord with the addition of His Body, the Church, and St. Gregory of Nyssa expounds upon the inscription of David himself:

That which truly gives praise to God transcends our human efforts. “Praise of David” to us means anything which alone befits God. This seems to consist of our knowledge about prayer as contained in the inscription “Prayer of David.” Our life must be in accord with this inscription, “Prayer of a poor man when discouraged; he pours out his entreaty to the Lord” (Ps 101). We certainly need to rise up to God in order to comprehend our deficiencies, and we will not desire truly beneficial things unless we grasp our own lack of them. Our intensity of prayer will be animated and spontaneous when we recognize our poverty and our indifference about persisting in our desires. Thus we will pour out our petition with tears instead of with words. (St. Gregory of Nyssa, On the Inscriptions of the Psalms, Book 2, Chapter 3.)

He draws out an important aspect of this inscription in respect to prayer, that we cannot truly desire what is good unless we understand our lack of that which is good. This is not something we can generate out of ourselves through the exertion of our will. Rather, in our poverty of spirit and humility we must cooperate with God’s grace so that we can rise up to God, as he explains. St. James says that “God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble” (James 4:6 DR), and thus all prayer must begin with this humility, this recognition of our need before the Lord.

The prayer of David himself takes upon itself the humility of our Lord:

Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and in habit found as a man. He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross. (Philippians 2:6-8 DR)

It is thus in this humility that the Psalmist—speaking prophetically in the Person of our Lord—begins this prayer, that God would “hear my justice.” Justice is one of the characteristic qualities or attributes of God that the Psalmist often employs, for “the Lord is just, and hath loved justice: his countenance hath beheld righteousness” (Psalm 10:8 DR). It is our Lord’s love of justice itself which also forms the prophetic framework of His Incarnation:

Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a sceptre of uprightness. Thou hast loved justice, and hated iniquity: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. (Psalm 44:7-8; Hebrews 1:8-9 DR)

The soul that wishes to be heard by God is that which lives in that justice in imitation of our Lord:

“Hear, O God, my justice: look to my supplication.” It is certain that justice has a voice before God, who knows things unspoken through the power of His understanding. His prayer is perfect, for his cause and tongue, His deeds and words, His life and thoughts cry out: “Look to my supplication.” (Cassiodorus, Explanation of the Psalms, 16.1, ACCS.)

Cassiodorus draws out the implicit distinction between the perfect prayer and the imperfect prayer. The perfect prayer is that which is already known by God, for the thoughts of the heart are known to Him before the words are uttered. This perfect prayer lines up both the words and the deeds; that is, there is no disjunction between them.

He first prays that his just cause may be heard, for with a just judge, the cause is more regarded than the person; he asks then that his prayer may be attended to; for God not only loves justice, but also the just; and, as St. James has it, “The prayer of the just availeth much.” (St. Robert Bellarmine, A Commentary on the Book of the Psalms, 16, 1.)

When the just man comes before God in prayer, his life has already formed the prayer he will utter, as it were; or rather, his prayer becomes the expression of the humility of heart and purity of life that already exists. The will of the just man is already turned towards the will of the Lord, and thus when he prays it is already submissive to what the Lord desires:

He beseeches God through this prayer to be a hearer, not of his voice, nor of his words, but of the very virtue within him, which cries out, as it were, through the deeds of righteousness and implores the divine hearing. For no one who is conscious of his own wickedness would easily utter such a voice. And the phrase, “Attend to my supplication,” might be said by one who has been tested and who sends up fitting supplications to God in prayer, not for small and trivial requests, nor for mortal and human things, does he entreat God. For this, indeed, the Savior also taught, saying: “Ask for the great things, and the small things will be added to you.” (Eusebius of Caesarea, Commentary on the Psalms, 16, 1.)

The imperfect prayer, on the other hand, creates a disjunction between one’s life and one’s prayer, in the manner already articulated by St. James in that we end up asking that we might spend it on our concupiscence. Crucially, this can occur even if the request itself is not per se for one’s own base appetites or pleasures, since the quality of one’s life makes this to be the case. That is, there is a lack of humility and acquiescence to God’s will, for we live as we please and then expect God to hear us when we pray, and usually only when we have reached the end of ourselves or think we need something from God. This is the state of a heart that treats God as a vending machine or as a fire extinguisher, and while God is merciful and sometimes will answer our prayers even in spite of ourselves, it is ultimately with the goal of bringing us to humility so that we can rise to Him, acknowledging our dependence upon Him and submitting ourselves to His will. For if we come to Him in pride or think we can live as we please and that God somehow owes us a hearing, we will be sorely mistaken:

For often we utter solemn things and use words from the divine Scriptures with lips that are not purified. And already some, having indifferently used insults against certain people, or slanders, or falsehoods, or deceptions, or perjuries, or obscene speech, or some other improper utterances, suddenly changing, call upon God in prayer. But only the holy one purifies his tongue and his lips, and his very voice, and his common words, knowing it has been said: “For every idle word you will give an account on the day of judgment.” For God gives ear to a prayer that is not offered through deceitful lips, but through a purified tongue that is accustomed to meditating on the divine oracles. (Eusebius of Caesarea, Commentary on the Psalms, 16, 1.)

St. Bellarmine notes that the second half of this passage unites justice and prayer, for the prayer that is offered arises from or is based on justice. And since the Lord loves justice, and since the prayer of a just main availeth much, those who walk in justice can be assured that their prayers will always be heard:

The meaning then is, Lord, may justice move thee; may prayer, the prayer of the just, move thee. (St. Robert Bellarmine, A Commentary on the Book of the Psalms, 16, 1.)

Of course, the notion that one’s prayers will always be heard does not entail that one’s prayers will always be answered in the manner in which they are prayed. Even our Lord in the garden during His agony prayed that the cup would pass from Him, and even though He was perfectly just and therefore heard by God, His prayer was not answered in that manner. It was, however, heard and answered in accordance with justice, for He submitted to the will of the Father, saying “Not My will, but Thine be done.” St. Paul connects His being heard and His submission to the will of the Father:

Who in the days of his flesh, with a strong cry and tears, offering up prayers and supplications to him that was able to save him from death, was heard for his reverence. And whereas indeed he was the Son of God, he learned obedience by the things which he suffered: And being consummated, he became, to all that obey him, the cause of eternal salvation. (Hebrews 5:7-9 DR)

There may on the surface seem to be a contradiction here, for St. Paul says He was heard for His reverence, and this prayer that was heard was that He would be saved from death. Yet, as we know, He submitted to death on the cross. The consummation that St. Paul speaks of later in that passage provides the explanation, for He was saved from death through His resurrection, as the Psalmist prophesied:

Therefore my heart hath been glad, and my tongue hath rejoiced: moreover my flesh also shall rest in hope. Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; nor wilt then give thy holy one to see corruption. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life, thou shalt fill me with joy with thy countenance: at thy right hand are delights even to the end. (Psalm 15:9-11 DR)

In His perfect justice our Lord aligned the justice of His heart with that of His life without sin and ultimately with His submission to the will of the Father, this humility and submission being the cause of His glorification:

For which cause God also hath exalted him, and hath given him a name which is above all names: That in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth: And that every tongue should confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11 DR)

Our Lord provides the perfect example of prayer, and in the pattern of His own sufferings His Body the Church will also face trials and tribulations. She will likewise offer up her own prayers with a strong cry and tears in the time of her sojourning in this world, looking towards the things of heaven and her eternal reward. Prayer ultimately seeks the higher things, that which is within the will of God.

The deceitful heart wants God on its own terms and will come to prayer with deceitful lips, looking to fulfill its own desires, rather than in humility coming to prayer to seek what God desires. Our vision must be purified and fixed upon the Lord so that we seek first the kingdom of God and His justice, so that we can also walk in this justice and thus offer our prayers in accordance with His will.

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I found several stock images of some cutout collage style mouths, and thought it might be interesting to create something like a flip-book style animation using them, albeit without the flip-book. I created a precomp and sequenced the mouths in that precomp, and then in the main composition I applied Wide Time to give the transitions a little ghosting. Next I used a newer plugin called Pixel Galactic which creates pixel trails on motion.

I added in some vector shapes in the background and added some Turbulent Displacement to them. Next I created some shapes and had them rotate, and then applied Wave Warp to create the scalloped look. I finally added overall color correction and noise.

Enjoy.

View a higher quality version of this gif here:

*Special thanks to Richard McCambly, ocso, for making available a version of St. Gregory of Nyssa’s On the Inscriptions of the Psalms.

*The translations of Eusebius of Caesarea were machine generated from the Greek and Latin from Migne and compared against portions found in the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture.