Psalm 33: 4-5, 18-20, 22

Our responsorial this week comes from Psalm 33, which praises the Lord whose word is trustworthy and whose works are faithful.

This posture of confident trust mirrors the call of Abram in the first reading and prepares us for the Gospel, where the disciples glimpse Christ’s glory and are invited to place their hope in the One who leads them toward the fullness of God’s promise.

Upright is the word of the LORD, and all his works are trustworthy. He loves justice and right; of the kindness of the Lord the earth is full.

The psalm begins with the foundation of Israel’s faith: God’s word is upright, his works are faithful, his judgments are just, and his love endures. These are not abstract qualities but lived realities revealed in creation and in covenant. The stability and order of the created world testify to the reliability of its Creator. The One who sustains the cosmos in fidelity can be trusted in his promises.

The “kindness” that fills the earth is the Hebrew hesed: God’s steadfast covenant love. This is not a flowery, sentimental love but faithful, enduring mercy.

The firmness of God’s word mirrors the constancy of his covenant; his creative power and his saving love flow from the same faithful heart.

See, the eyes of the LORD are upon those who fear him, upon those who hope for his kindness, to deliver them from death and preserve them in spite of famine.

The focus shifts from creation to providence. God’s attentive gaze rests upon those who “fear” him; i.e., those who stand in reverent awe and trust. In the Wisdom tradition, fear of the Lord is not servile terror but filial reverence, the proper posture of creatures before their Creator.

To hope in God’s hesed is to entrust oneself to his covenant fidelity. The promise of deliverance from death and famine does not deny earthly suffering; rather, it affirms that life ultimately rests in God’s hands.

The suggestion is that anyone with the requisite disposition toward God will be gathered under his providence and protection.

Our soul waits for the LORD, who is our help and our shield.

The community now responds in faith.

Having proclaimed God’s reliability, they place themselves in patient trust. Waiting is not passivity but confident expectation grounded in God’s past fidelity.

May your kindness, O LORD, be upon us who have put our hope in you.

The psalm ends with a return to the theme of covenant kindness (hesed).

The God who formed the world in wisdom governs it in mercy, and those who hope in him rest securely in both.