Psalm 69: 14, 17, 30-31, 33-34, 36-37

The responsorial psalm for this week comes from Psalm 69, a lament that voices suffering while clinging to hope. Despite his trials, the psalmist trusts that God will act to set things right, echoing the assurance from our first reading that God’s word is near and responsive.

Unfortunately, lament is often unfamiliar to us as modern Christians. Some view it as irreverent to voice grief or complaint before God. But in truth, lament is a profound expression of faith — acknowledging God’s presence and power, and daring to hope that he will respond to those who cry out.

I pray to you, O LORD, for the time of your favor, O God! In your great kindness answer me with your constant help. Answer me, O LORD, for bounteous is your kindness; in your great mercy turn toward me.

This is the cry of the lament itself. The psalmist appeals to God by invoking covenant language, calling on God’s hesed (steadfast love), ěmet (faithfulness), yēsha (salvation), and rahămîm (tender mercy, akin to a mother’s love).

These are not generic pleas, but deeply personal invocations rooted in the enduring bond between God and his people. The psalmist approaches God not as a stranger, but as one bound to him through covenant: a member of the chosen people crying out for help in a time of anguish, trusting that God’s mercy will answer.

I am afflicted and in pain; let your saving help, O God, protect me. 

Here, the psalmist identifies as ’ānî, the afflicted or lowly, underscoring his vulnerability and dependence on divine aid.

This vulnerability is not weakness — it is the very posture that invites God’s intervention.

I will praise the name of God in song, and I will glorify him with thanksgiving. Turn to the Lord in your need, and you will live.

Even before deliverance arrives, the psalmist offers praise and thanksgiving, a sign of deep trust in God’s faithfulness.

His personal hope becomes a communal invitation: all who suffer are urged to seek the Lord and find life.

See, you lowly ones, and be glad; you who seek God, may your hearts revive! For the LORD hears the poor, and his own who are in bonds he spurns not.

The psalmist aligns himself with the poor and oppressed, affirming God’s attentiveness to those in need.

This reflects a central theme in covenant theology: God’s commitment to justice and the care of the vulnerable. Today, Catholic social teaching refers to this as “God’s preferential option for the poor.”

For God will save Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah. The descendants of his servants shall inherit it, and those who love his name shall inhabit it.

The psalm concludes with confident hope in God’s restorative power.

The specific imagery here recalls the period of restoration after the Babylonian exile. Although this expression is rooted in historic events, it also points to God’s ongoing work of renewal — both historically and spiritually —for those who love his name.