Psalm 41 — Prayer for Healing

When many are poor and needy and you wish to show pity for them, on the one hand acknowledging the generosity of some people, and urging others on to similar deeds of mercy, say Psalm 41.

Athanasius, On the Interpretation of the Psalms

This has been described as a liturgy for the sick. Deserted by even his closest friends, the psalmist comes to the temple for healing. After a few words from the priest, the psalmist asks for healing and for relief from the friends who abandoned him and now gloat while they wait for his death.

Jesus himself quoted this psalm during the last supper, expressing his own deep sorrow. 

I am not speaking of you all; I know whom I have chosen; it is so that the Scripture may be fulfilled, "He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me" (Jn 13:18).

I'm always knocked over when we see Jesus quoting scripture like this. And I'm not the only one. From early Christian times, this psalm has been studied as a prophecy of the plot against Christ.

We could hardly ask for a more appropriate psalm to consider as we approach Lent next week.

Tile panel with a verse from Psalm 40 (in the Vulgate), 1716,
by Policarpo de Oliveira Bernardes;
in the Igreja da Misericórdia, in Évora, Portugal.

Saint John Paul II has a meditation on this psalm as part of the series he did covering the prayers of the evening in the liturgy of the hours. Read the whole thing here if you like. I share this bit which points the way from gloom to a dawn of hope.

An Invitation to Meditate on the Saving Passion of Christ

Our bitterness is profound when it is the "friend" we trusted, literally in Hebrew: the "man of peace", who turns against us. We are reminded of Job's friends: from being his companions in life, they become indifferent and hostile presences (cf. Jb 19: 1-6). In our prayer resounds the voices of a crowd of people forgotten and humiliated in their sickness and weakness, even by those who should have stood by them.

Yet the prayer of Psalm 41[40] does not end in this gloomy setting. The person praying is sure that God will appear on his horizon, once again revealing his love (cf. vv. 11-14). He will offer his support and gather in his arms the sick person, who will once again be "in the presence" of his Lord (v. 13) or, to use biblical language, will relive the experience of the liturgy in the temple.

The Psalm, streaked by pain, thus ends in a glimpse of light and hope. In this perspective, we can understand how St Ambrose, commenting on the initial beatitude of the Psalm (cf. v. 2), saw in it prophetically an invitation to meditate on the saving passion of Christ that leads to the Resurrection.

Indeed, this Father of the Church suggests introducing into the reading of the Psalm: "Blessed are those who think of the wretchedness and poverty of Christ, who though he was rich made himself poor for us. Rich in his Kingdom, poor in the flesh, because he took this poor flesh upon himself.... So he did not suffer in his richness, but in our poverty.

An index of psalm posts is here.