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Ordinary Time · Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time · Year B

Psalm 146:7, 8-9a, 9b-10 (1b)

Praise the Lord, O My Soul

Christ Healing the Blind, El Greco
Christ Healing the Blind, El Greco, c. 1570Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
An early Venetian-period work, set in a deep classical perspective with the healing happening at the front and an argument already breaking out behind.The Lord sets the prisoners free; the Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous.El GrecoA Cretan icon painter who trained in Venice and settled in Toledo, where he stretched his figures into something no other century has imitated successfully.Metropolitan Museum of Art, New YorkThe largest art museum in the Americas, founded in 1870 by a group of New Yorkers who wanted one and had no collection to start from.Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Overview & Insights

“The Lord executes justice for the oppressed, and gives food to the hungry.” (Psalm 146:7)

The liturgical nature of this hymn is apparent from the combination of commands addressed to a group (vv. 1a, 3, 10b), namely Zion personified (v. 10), and the testimony of a liturgist (“I” in v. 2). Thus the psalm opens with a call to praise (v. 1a), followed by the liturgist’s proclamation of praise (vv. 1b–2) and his instruction to the congregation (vv. 3–9), particularly in the form of a blessing (v. 5) and praises to Yahweh (vv. 6–9). It then closes with a summary addressed to Zion and a concluding call to praise (v. 10).

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Take it further: Psalm 146:7, 8-9a, 9b-10 (1b)

Commentary

Background & Word Study

The Church Fathers

Questions preachers ask

What is Psalm 146?

A hymn urging trust in the Lord rather than princes, for he made heaven and earth and keeps faith forever, lifting the bowed down and watching over the stranger, the widow, and the orphan.

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