Psalm 95:12

The fields and all things that are in them shall be joyful. Then shall all the trees of the woods rejoice (Psalm 95:12 DR)

Lest any of creation be left out of the praises of the Lord, the Psalmist moves from the higher order elements of the physical world—such as the heavens, the earth and the seas—and drills down to a more granular level, as it were, to encompass the fields and the woods.

Both of these regions are to share in the joy of the Lord’s reign as was seen in verse ten, but there is a distinction to be made between them.

The “fields” are those areas that are not yet cultivated but are suitable for growing. The Latin word for “field” or “plain” here is campi, from campus, meaning flat and level ground, often a naturally occurring field. These campi are places where things already naturally grow, and thus excellent for agriculture.

St. Augustine reads the “fields” in this manner and figuratively applies them to those in whom virtue grows:

“The plains shall be joyful, and all things that are in them.” All the meek, all the gentle, all the righteous, are the “plains” of God. (St. Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms, 95, 13.)

What gives these people the quality of “plains” is that—like the natural plains or fields—they are suitable for cultivation. The virtues that he lists (as well as others) dispose the soul to fully cooperate with God’s grace, and thus they are able to bring forth a harvest of righteousness and justice. Our Lord’s Parable of the Sower is of course likely in the background here:

But he that received the seed upon good ground, is he that heareth the word, and understandeth, and beareth fruit, and yieldeth the one an hundredfold, and another sixty, and another thirty. (Matthew 13:23 DR)

St. Paul takes up this language and expands upon it, demonstrating how willing generosity will be met by an abundant increase in righteousness:

And God is able to make all grace abound in you; that ye always, having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work, as it is written: He hath dispersed abroad, he hath given to the poor: his justice remaineth for ever. And he that ministereth seed to the sower, will both give you bread to eat, and will multiply your seed, and increase the growth of the fruits of your justice: That being enriched in all things, you may abound unto all simplicity, which worketh through us thanksgiving to God. (2 Corinthians 9:8-11 DR)

The key to the reception of the good seed, and the harvest which then comes forth, is humility, which in a way is the root of all virtues, since in humility we humble ourselves before God to receive—like the fields—the grace that He will sow into them. As St. James says:

But he giveth greater grace. Wherefore he saith: God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. (James 4:6 DR)

The “woods,” on the other hand, are less suitable for such an undertaking, as all the trees of these woods render impossible any sort of cultivation. The Latin here is ligna silvarum for “trees of the woods” or “trees of the forests.” Silva generally means woods in the sense of a forest, although it can be used in respect to an orchard. It can also take on the figurative sense of something being crowded. Woods—as being crowded with trees—were in this sense synonymous with the wilderness, for it took concerted efforts to clear them out and prepare the land to be useful. There was no romanticized notion of the forest, for the ancients were not tourists in respect to nature. To venture into the woods unprepared could itself be a death sentence, as food was scarce and danger prevalent.

There is a fascinating potential parallel here between the Old Latin reading of Psalm 95:10—“the Lord hath reigned from the tree”—and the trees of the woods rejoicing. Earlier in his exposition St. Augustine had observed that when mankind was in captivity to idolatry, he was in this sense woody, and thus unable to bring forth the harvest of righteousness or to be built into the house of God. However, once these woods of idolatry were cleared away by the Lord who reigns from the tree, they are then able to be built into the house of God. This passage now expands upon this thought, for now these former woods are said to rejoice:

“Then shall all the trees of the woods rejoice.” The trees of the woods are the heathen. Why do they rejoice? Because they were cut off from the wild olive, and engraffed into the good olive. [Romans 11:17] “Then shall all the trees of the woods rejoice:” because huge cedars and cypresses have been cut down, and undecaying timbers have been bought for the building of the house. They were trees of the woods; but before they were sent to the building: they were trees of the woods, but before they produced the olive. (St. Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms, 95, 13.)

St. Augustine ties together the metaphors of the plains and the woods here by means of St. Paul’s discussion of the Gentiles being grafted into Christ. This corresponds to the clearing away of the woodiness of their former idolatry, for they were naturally outside of the Covenant but through Christ have been brought in:

For if thou wert cut out of the wild olive tree, which is natural to thee; and, contrary to nature, were grafted into the good olive tree; how much more shall they that are the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? (Romans 11:24 DR)

Christ is of course the source of the entire tree, the root of Jesse and Branch of David, both metaphors which speak to the coming King Who will reign from the tree, for by His death upon the cross He has broken down the wall of separation between Jews and Gentiles (cf. Ephesians 2:14) and made them one in Him. By clearing away the woodiness of sin and error He has brought those who are members of His mystical Body the Church into the fruitfulness of righteousness, as the branches bloom when united to the vine (cf. John 15:4-5).

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I wanted to get at this idea of fruitfulness, and I found this excellent vintage illustration of a sunflower and decided to go with it. I also found in the course of the same search a vintage floral pattern that I thought would work nicely.

I set up a precomp with the floral pattern, and since it wasn’t a perfectly repeating pattern I had to use some creative masking to make it so. I then animated it to seamlessly loop.

Back in the main comp I added some quick wiggle hold animation to the sunflower and duplicated it, adding the duplicate below in the layer stack and applying Shadow Studio 3 to it. I placed the text and added a bit of motion to it and then added in some color correction and extra noise.

Enjoy.

View a higher quality version of this gif here: