King David had used trickery and deceit to send Uriah the Hittite to his death.  He had, in fact, murdered his loyal soldier in order to hide his own adultery.  Tradition tells us that David composed Psalm 51 as an expression of sorrow and repentance for the wicked deed. We often refer to the psalm as the Miserere (“Have mercy”) because that’s its first word in the Latin Vulgate Bible.

Allegorically, as St. Paul tells us, the Rock represents Jesus. Jesus himself tells us in the passage from John that the “water” he provides is, in fact, eternal life. The moral meaning of the Moses story is that, even when things look hopeless, God will provide. Anagogically, that only Jesus can provide true life, eternal life.

In the ancient world actors such as Philemon used to wear masks . . . but the Lord can see through any act: there are no masks before the throne of God.

Here the urgent, dramatic orchestration pulls us down into King David’s turbulent emotions as he comes to acknowledge his sinfulness and his need for God’s mercy.  

One of the things that the lives of the saints show us is how important each one of us is to God, however insignificant we may seem in the eyes of the world: there are no insignificant saints. In fact, the lives of the saints often show us in various ways that “the wisdom of this world is folly with God.” (1 Corinthians 3:19) One of today’s saints, St. Agnes of Bohemia (also known as St. Agnes of Prague) provides a good example of just how foolish the “wisdom” of the world can be.

We can see today’s readings as encouragement to stay the course, to persevere. This applies not only to the disciplines of the next few weeks. It also applies more broadly to the course of entire life.

The trials of Lent, and by extension of our earthly life, are the necessary road between the two. What better to contemplate in our last waking moments of the day in this penitential season than the Glory at the end of the journey?

Today’s Music Monday For the 1st week of Lent features Allegri’s Miserere, a beautiful and moving composition that also has an interesting history.