Psalm 86:6

The Lord shall tell in his writings of peoples and of princes, of them that have been in her. (Psalm 86:6 DR)

Writing in the Apocalypse, St. John has a vision of judgment before the great white throne in which the books are opened, containing the deeds of those who are to be judged:

And I saw a great white throne, and one sitting upon it, from whose face the earth and heaven fled away, and there was no place found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing in the presence of the throne, and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged by those things which were written in the books, according to their works. (Apocalypse 20:11-12 DR)

This figure of the book of life is not unique to the Apocalypse but occurs in both Testaments, such as the following:

• Let them be blotted out of the book of the living; and with the just let them not be written. (Psalm 68:29 DR)

• But at that time shall Michael rise up, the great prince, who standeth for the children of thy people: and a time shall come such as never was from the time that nations began even until that time. And at that time shall thy people be saved, every one that shall be found written in the book. (Daniel 12:1 DR)

• And the Lord answered him: He that hath sinned against me, him will I strike out of my book: (Exodus 32:33 DR)

• Then they that feared the Lord spoke every one with his neighbour: and the Lord gave ear, and heard it: and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that fear the Lord, and think on his name. (Malachi 3:16 DR)

• But yet rejoice not in this, that spirits are subject unto you; but rejoice in this, that your names are written in heaven. (Luke 10:20 DR)

• And I entreat thee also, my sincere companion, help those women who have laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement and the rest of my fellow labourers, whose names are in the book of life. (Philippians 4:3 DR)

More references could be adduced, including many more allusions, but it is sufficient to see that the notion of the “book of life” as a figure for God’s remembrance of His elect is replete throughout the Scriptures. As we saw in the previous passage, the Psalmist was declaring that the One Who would be born in the holy city is the self-same One Who founded her. This theme is now carried over into the current passage, where—if there were any doubt—the Psalmist now explicitly reveals this One to be the Lord, God Himself.

The founding of the city of Sion—that is, of the Holy Catholic Church—is guaranteed by the Lord publishing the names of those who will be in the Church; as the Psalmist describes, He will “tell in his writings of peoples and of princes.” St. Robert Bellarmine directly links this to the book of life:

“The Lord shall tell;” will announce that in Sion one has been born who is the very founder of the city of Sion; and he will tell it “in his writings of peoples and of princes;” in the rolls of those people and princes who have been regenerated in the city, for he who is the head of them all, is also the founder of the city; and will, therefore, be written in the head of the book. That book will be published on the day of judgment, for then the books will be opened with another book, the book of life, of which our Savior says, “Rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” (St. Robert Bellarmine, A Commentary on the Book of the Psalms, 86, 6.)

The Septuagint potentially draws out a fitting parallel with the previous passage and the One Who was born in Mother Sion. The Vulgate renders the phrase “have been” using “fuerunt,” which in Latin is a 3rd person form of “to be.” The Septuagint, however, uses γεγενημένων, which can mean “have been” but also allows of the sense of “were born.” This same word is used for “born” in the previous passage, and this causes some versions of the Old Latin to use “facti” rather than “fuerunt.” St. Augustine follows this reading:

“The Lord shall declare, when He writes up the people, and their princes.” What princes? “Those who were born in her;” those princes who, born within her walls, became therein princes: for before they could become princes in her, God chose the despised things of the world to confound the strong. Was the fisherman, the publican, a prince? They were indeed princes: but because they became such in her. (St. Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms, 86, 7.)

In this manner those who are brought into the Church are “born” into her, which is accomplished because our Lord Himself was first “born” into her, literally by means of the Incarnation. St. Paul draws out this connection between our Lord and those whom He makes to be children of God:

For both he that sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified, are all of one. For which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying: I will declare thy name to my brethren; in the midst of the church will I praise thee. And again: I will put my trust in him. And again: Behold I and my children, whom God hath given me. Therefore because the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself in like manner hath been partaker of the same: that, through death, he might destroy him who had the empire of death, that is to say, the devil: And might deliver them, who through the fear of death were all their lifetime subject to servitude. (Hebrews 2:11-15 DR)

This parallel is thus not simply a fine literary device but the entire logic of salvation, as St. Paul expressed above. It is precisely because those who will born into the Church are flesh and blood that our Lord himself became flesh (cf. John 1:14). There is a mystical union between our Lord and His Body the Church, for He became a partaker of our flesh and blood—et Verbum caro factum est—so that we might partake of the divine nature (cf. 2 Peter 1:4).

The Lord will thus “tell in his writing of peoples and of princes,” describing not only the Church generically (i.e., of peoples), but also its hierarchical structure as built upon the apostles (i.e., of princes), as the previous passages have already elaborated. The entire edifice of the Church is also spoken of in the New Testament as built upon Christ as the foundation (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:11), with the apostles similarly as foundations (cf. Ephesians 2:20). These passages thus flesh out what the Psalmist is prophesying here, for the holy city is built upon the Lord who is born in her, and the Lord will tell of the peoples and of the princes who are born in her.

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In this animation I had more an idea of what I wanted to do rather than how it would relate, and so I found a bunch of leafy image and precomped them and then animated a series of animated mattes to get the growing effect inside of the frame. I composited a bunch of textures and added some color correction and that was that.

Enjoy.

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