Psalm 41:2

As the hart panteth after the fountains of water; so my soul panteth after thee, O God. (Psalm 41:2 DR)

As the Psalmist intones this Psalm “for understanding,” the “sons of Core” that he previously mentioned are now fleshed out as this Psalm begins. For as “sons of the bridegroom,” Christians pass through the laver of Baptism, which intensifies their desire for the Lord and their heavenly home. This infusion into the soul of divine charity by the Holy Ghost (cf. Romans 5:5) is the eradication of sin and the bestowal of life and justice; not simply a declaration of righteousness but its actual infusion whereby the justified sinner is deemed righteous by means of actual righteousness within his soul. The Council of Trent beautifully describes this in a lengthy yet doctrinally rich elaboration:

Of this Justification the causes are these: the final cause indeed is the glory of God and of Jesus Christ, and life everlasting; while the efficient cause is a merciful God who washes and sanctifies gratuitously, signing, and anointing with the holy Spirit of promise, who is the pledge of our inheritance; but the meritorious cause is His most beloved only-begotten, our Lord Jesus Christ, who, when we were enemies, for the exceeding charity wherewith he loved us, merited Justification for us by His most holy Passion on the wood of the cross, and made satisfaction for us unto God the Father; the instrumental cause is the sacrament of baptism, which is the sacrament of faith, without which (faith) no man was ever justified; lastly, the alone formal cause is the justice of God, not that whereby He Himself is just, but that whereby He maketh us just, that, to wit, with which we being endowed by Him, are renewed in the spirit of our mind, and we are not only reputed, but are truly called, and are, just, receiving justice within us, each one according to his own measure, which the Holy Ghost distributes to every one as He wills, and according to each one's proper disposition and co-operation. For, although no one can be just, but he to whom the merits of the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ are communicated, yet is this done in the said justification of the impious, when by the merit of that same most holy Passion, the charity of God is poured forth, by the Holy Spirit, in the hearts of those that are justified, and is inherent therein: whence, man, through Jesus Christ, in whom he is ingrafted, receives, in the said justification, together with the remission of sins, all these (gifts) infused at once, faith, hope, and charity. (Council of Trent, Session VI, Chapter 7.)

The gift of charity which is infused allows us to love God; this is the desire of which the Psalmist speaks, comparing it to the hart which pants after water. This poignant metaphor is appropriate for the Baptized Christian, as this initiation into life and translation from the kingdom of death is the first step on this sojourning to the heavenly kingdom. Of the baptized St. Augustine says:

Nevertheless, it appears to me, my brethren, that such a longing is not fully satisfied even in the faithful in Baptism: but that haply, if they know where they are sojourning, and whither they have to remove from hence, their longing is kindled in even greater intensity. (St. Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms, 41, 1.)

And like the hart which is deeply desirous of water from the fountain, so the soul which has been cleansed of sin and brought into friendship with God now longs for Him; elsewhere the Psalmist states:

My soul longeth and fainteth for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh have rejoiced in the living God. (Psalm 83:3 DR)

Of course, many animals pant for the water, yet the hart is used by the Psalmist as a metaphor for the soul which deeply longs for God. It would thus not be in vain to consider more fully the hart and its characteristics, to more fully understand (as the superscription of this Psalm enjoins) what this longing for God is like unto.

St. Augustine adduces three different characteristics that he understands to be applicable to the hart. The first is probably the most obvious, which is its relative swiftness. Harts are creatures which have very little about them that is useful for defensive purposes; their main defenses lie in the safety of the herd and then finally of their speed. They cannot run quickly for long distances, but they are swift to avoid predators or hunters. The swiftness of the hart is thus well-suited to the soul which seeks after God:

Run to the fountain; long for the fountain; but do it not anyhow, be not satisfied with running like any ordinary animal; run thou like the hart. What is meant by like the hart? Let there be no sloth in your running; run with all your might: long for the fountain with all your might. For we find in the hart an emblem of swiftness. (St. Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms, 41, 1.)

St. Bellarmine adds to this that the hart or stag will use its swiftness to not only run away, but to retreat into the heights of the mountains, where those hunting it cannot follow as easily. The hart is more sure-footed on the heights, which entails that it is accustomed to higher things, much like the soul which delights in contemplation of divine things.

Another aspect which was a common trope in ancient times is that the hart was seen as a natural enemy to serpents. It thus was seen as actively going on the offensive against this enemy, not content to merely run away. St. Augustine likens this to the battle with sin and vices, for to be indulgent with our vices is to choose to be bitten by them, rather than crushing them underfoot before they can strike the mortal blow:

It destroys serpents, and after the killing of serpents, it is inflamed with thirst yet more violent; having destroyed serpents, it runs to the water-brooks, with thirst more keen than before. The serpents are your vices, destroy the serpents of iniquity; then will you long yet more for the Fountain of Truth. Perhaps avarice whispers in your ear some dark counsel, hisses against the word of God, hisses against the commandment of God. And since it is said to you, Disregard this or that thing, if you prefer working iniquity to despising some temporal good, you choose to be bitten by a serpent, rather than destroy it. Whilst, therefore, you are yet indulgent to your vice, your covetousness or your appetite, when am I to find in you a longing such as this, that might make you run to the water-brooks? (St. Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms, 41, 3.)

Cassiodorus takes this even further:

[The hart] attracts snakes with its nostrils; when it has devoured them, the seething poison impels it to hasten with all speed to the water-fountain, for it loves to get its fill of the purest sweet water. The beautiful comparison with this animal fires our desire with longing, so that when we imbibe the poisons of the ancient serpent, and we are feverish through his torches, we may there and then hasten to the fount of mercy. Thus the sickness contracted by the venom of sin is overcome by the purity of this most sweet drink. (Cassiodorus, Explanation of the Psalms, 41, 2, Ancient Christian Writers.)

The allusion to the sacrament of Penance is of course unmistakable, and thus this Psalm serves as both an image of Baptism and Penance, both of which bring the soul into friendship with God and bring grace into the soul.

The third characteristic that St. Augustine notes is that he reports that harts within herds will often support one another, which he describes as a line of harts each resting its head on the one in front, and then switching from front to back. In this manner:

[B]y thus supporting what is burdensome, each in turn, they both accomplish their journey, and do not abandon each other. Are they not a kind of harts that the Apostle addresses, saying, “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the Law of Christ?” (St. Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms, 41, 3.)

St. Bellarmine adds a final characteristic, in that after performing either one of these things aforementioned, the hart will seek after water and cannot be deterred or lured away by anything else. This singleness of vision of its desired end in the fountains of water he sees as the perfect illustration of the soul that desires only God, that longs for the Beatific Vision of which Baptism and incorporation into the Body of Christ is a foretaste:

Such is a most perfect idea of the true lover of God. He has to wage a continued war against the serpents of his evil desires. When he is nigh overcome by temptation, or by persecutions, he flies away to the mount of contemplation, bears his neighbor’s infirmities with the greatest patience, and, above all, thirsts ardently for God, from whom he will not be held back by any earthly happiness or trouble. Such was David, though a soldier; so was Paul, Peter, and the other Apostles and martyrs; such were all who felt they were, while here below, in exile, and, through good and evil days, never lost sight of that country, the supreme object of their wishes. (St. Robert Bellarmine, A Commentary on the Book of the Psalms, 41, 1.)

The soul that longs for God does not generate this longing out of itself. The hart which longs for the fountains of the waters does so by its very nature, and those who have passed through the laver of Baptism have become new creations (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:17), with the righteousness and charity of Christ infused into their souls (cf,. Romans 5:5). This self-same charity with which God loved us is poured into our souls so that we may love Him in return, offering Him back, as it were, the very gifts that He bestows upon us. In this manner the longing for God becomes “natural” to the Baptized, so that this longing for the Fountain of Life springs up within us (cf. John 4:14), for God Himself draws us in thirst to the waters which, if we drink, we will never thirst again. The “thirst” itself becomes a prayer, a longing for that final union with God in our heavenly home, which in our sojourning here draws us to the heights in prayer:

“You pray often,” says St. Augustine, “if you often have a desire to pay homage to God by your actions: you pray always if you always have this desire, no matter how you may be otherwise employed.” Need we be surprised that St. Augustine often assures us that the whole Christian life is but one long, continual tending of our hearts towards that eternal justice for which we sigh here below? Our only happiness consists in ever thirsting for it, and this thirst is in itself a prayer; consequently if we always desire this justice, we pray always. Do not think it necessary to pronounce a great many words and to struggle much with one’s self in order to pray. To pray is to ask God that his will may be done, to form some good desire, to raise the heart to God, to long for the riches he promises us, to sigh over our miseries and the danger we are in of displeasing him by violating His holy law. (Light and Peace, R.P. Quadrupani, First Part, Chapter 3, 14.)

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For this animation I found a nice vintage illustration of a hart head and isolated it in Photoshop. In After Effects I brought in a window frame a created a matte from a shape layer to keep an object inside that window frame. I found a couple images of water and used loopFlow on each (with different parameters) to create the “flowing” water, and matted one of them to inside the frame. I also used Stretch on the framed version to give it a bit more contrast and movement from the background.

I applied some wiggle hold to the position of the hart and then added in some color correction and noise.

Enjoy.

View a higher quality version of this gif here: