Scripture
Psalms 7 · Psalms 26 · Psalms 30 · Psalms 33 · Psalms 51
Domine, Deus meus. David, trusting in the justice of his cause, prayeth for God’s help against his enemies.
1 The psalm of David, which he sung to the Lord, for the words of Chusi, the son of Jemini.
2 O Lord, my God, in thee have I put my trust; save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me.
3 Lest at any time he seize upon my soul like a lion, while there is no one to redeem me, nor to save.
4 O Lord, my God, if I have done this thing, if there be iniquity in my hands:
5 If I have rendered to them that repaid me evils, let me deservedly fall empty before my enemies.
6 Let the enemy pursue my soul, and take it, and tread down my life, on the earth, and bring down my glory to the dust.
7 Rise up, O Lord, in thy anger: and be thou exalted in the borders of my enemies. And arise, O Lord, my God, in the precept which thou hast commanded:
8 And a congregation of people shall surround thee. And for their sakes return thou on high.
9 The Lord judgeth the people. Judge me, O Lord, according to my justice, and according to my innocence in me.
10 The wickedness of sinners shall be brought to nought; and thou shalt direct the just: the searcher of hearts and reins is God.
11 Just is my help from the Lord; who saveth the upright of heart.
12 God is a just judge, strong and patient: is he angry every day?
13 Except you will be converted, he will brandish his sword; he hath bent his bow, and made it ready.
14 And in it he hath prepared the instruments of death, he hath made ready his arrows for them that burn.
15 Behold he hath been in labour with injustice: he hath conceived sorrow, and brought forth iniquity.
16 He hath opened a pit and dug it: and he is fallen into the hole he made.
17 His sorrow shall be turned on his own head: and his iniquity shall come down upon his crown.
18 I will give glory to the Lord according to his justice: and will sing to the name of the Lord the most high.
Dominus illuminatio. David’s faith and hope in God.
1 The psalm of David before he was anointed. The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the protector of my life: of whom shall I be afraid?
2 Whilst the wicked draw near against me, to eat my flesh. My enemies that trouble me, have themselves been weakened, and have fallen.
3 If armies in camp should stand together against me, my heart shall not fear. If a battle should rise up against me, in this will I be confident.
4 One thing I have asked of the Lord, this will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. That I may see the delight of the Lord, and may visit his temple.
5 For he hath hidden me in his tabernacle; in the day of evils, he hath protected me in the secret place of his tabernacle.
6 He hath exalted me upon a rock: and now he hath lifted up my head above my enemies. I have gone round, and have offered up in his tabernacle a sacrifice of jubilation: I will sing, and recite a psalm to the Lord.
7 Hear, O Lord, my voice, with which I have cried to thee: have mercy on me and hear me.
8 My heart hath said to thee: My face hath sought thee: thy face, O Lord, will I still seek.
9 Turn not away thy face from me; decline not in thy wrath from thy servant. Be thou my helper, forsake me not; do not thou despise me, O God my Saviour.
10 For my father and my mother have left me: but the Lord hath taken me up.
11 Set me, O Lord, a law in thy way, and guide me in the right path, because of my enemies.
12 Deliver me not over to the will of them that trouble me; for unjust witnesses have risen up against me; and iniquity hath lied to itself.
13 I believe to see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living.
14 Expect the Lord, do manfully, and let thy heart take courage, and wait thou for the Lord.
In te, Domine, speravi. A prayer of a just man under affliction.
1 Unto the end, a psalm for David, in an ecstasy.
2 In thee, O Lord, have I hoped, let me never be confounded: deliver me in thy justice.
3 Bow down thy ear to me: make haste to deliver me. Be thou unto me a God, a protector, and a house of refuge, to save me.
4 For thou art my strength and my refuge; and for thy name’s sake thou wilt lead me, and nourish me.
5 Thou wilt bring me out of this snare, which they have hidden for me: for thou art my protector.
6 Into thy hands I commend my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O Lord, the God of truth.
7 Thou hast hated them that regard vanities, to no purpose. But I have hoped in the Lord:
8 I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy. For thou hast regarded my humility, thou hast saved my soul out of distresses.
9 And thou hast not shut me up in the hands of the enemy: thou hast set my feet in a spacious place.
10 Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am afflicted: my eye is troubled with wrath, my soul, and my belly:
11 For my life is wasted with grief: and my years in sighs. My strength is weakened through poverty and my bones are disturbed.
12 I am become a reproach among all my enemies, and very much to my neighbours; and a fear to my acquaintance. They that saw me without fled from me.
13 I am forgotten as one dead from the heart. I am become as a vessel that is destroyed.
14 For I have heard the blame of many that dwell round about. While they assembled together against me, they consulted to take away my life.
15 But I have put my trust in thee, O Lord: I said: Thou art my God.
16 My lots are in thy hands. Deliver me out of the hands of my enemies; and from them that persecute me.
17 Make thy face to shine upon thy servant; save me in thy mercy.
18 Let me not be confounded, O Lord, for I have called upon thee. Let the wicked be ashamed, and be brought down to hell.
19 Let deceitful lips be made dumb. Which speak iniquity against the just, with pride and abuse.
20 O how great is the multitude of thy sweetness, O Lord, which thou hast hidden for them that fear thee! Which thou hast wrought for them that hope in thee, in the sight of the sons of men.
21 Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy face, from the disturbance of men. Thou shalt protect them in thy tabernacle from the contradiction of tongues.
22 Blessed be the Lord, for he hath shewn his wonderful mercy to me in a fortified city.
23 But I said in the excess of my mind: I am cast away from before thy eyes. Therefore thou hast heard the voice of my prayer, when I cried to thee.
24 O love the Lord, all ye his saints: for the Lord will require truth, and will repay them abundantly that act proudly.
25 Do ye manfully, and let your heart be strengthened, all ye that hope in the Lord.
Benedicam Dominum. An exhortation to the praise, and service of God.
1 For David, when he changed his countenance before Achimelech, who dismissed him, and he went his way. [1 Kings 21.]
2 I will bless the Lord at all times, his praise shall be always in my mouth.
3 In the Lord shall my soul be praised: let the meek hear and rejoice.
4 O magnify the Lord with me; and let us extol his name together.
5 I sought the Lord, and he heard me; and he delivered me from all my troubles.
6 Come ye to him and be enlightened: and your faces shall not be confounded.
7 This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him: and saved him out of all his troubles.
8 The angel of the Lord shall encamp round about them that fear him: and shall deliver them.
9 O taste, and see that the Lord is sweet: blessed is the man that hopeth in him.
10 Fear the Lord, all ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him.
11 The rich have wanted, and have suffered hunger: but they that seek the Lord shall not be deprived of any good.
12 Come, children, hearken to me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
13 Who is the man that desireth life: who loveth to see good days?
14 Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.
15 Turn away from evil and do good: seek after peace and pursue it.
16 The eyes of the Lord are upon the just: and his ears unto their prayers.
17 But the countenance of the Lord is against them that do evil things: to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
18 The just cried, and the Lord heard them: and delivered them out of all their troubles.
19 The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a contrite heart: and he will save the humble of spirit.
20 Many are the afflictions of the just; but out of them all will the Lord deliver them.
21 The Lord keepeth all their bones, not one of them shall be broken.
22 The death of the wicked is very evil: and they that hate the just shall be guilty.
23 The Lord will redeem the souls of his servants: and none of them that trust in him shall offend.
Quid gloriaris. David condemneth the wickedness of Doeg, and foretelleth his destruction.
1 Unto the end, understanding for David,
2 When Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul: David went to the house of Achimelech.
3 Why dost thou glory in malice, thou that art mighty in iniquity?
4 All the day long thy tongue hath devised injustice: as a sharp razor, thou hast wrought deceit.
5 Thou hast loved malice more than goodness: and iniquity rather than to speak righteousness.
6 Thou hast loved all the words of ruin, O deceitful tongue.
7 Therefore will God destroy thee for ever: he will pluck thee out, and remove thee from thy dwelling place: and thy root out of the land of the living.
8 The just shall see and fear, and shall laugh at him, and say:
9 Behold the man that made not God his helper: But trusted in the abundance of his riches: and prevailed in his vanity.
10 But I, as a fruitful olive tree in the house of God, have hoped in the mercy of God for ever, yea for ever and ever.
11 I will praise thee for ever, because thou hast done it: and I will wait on thy name, for it is good in the sight of thy saints.
Catechism
Catechism of the Council of Trent, Part 2, Introduction, Sections 26-27
Second Effect: Sacramental Character
The second effect of the Sacraments which, however, is not common to all, but peculiar to three, Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Orders is the character which they impress on the soul. When the Apostle says: God hath anointed us, who also hath sealed us, and given the pledge of the Spirit in our hearts, he not obscurely describes by the word sealed a character, the property of which is to impress a seal and mark.
This character is, as it were, a distinctive impression stamped on the soul which perpetually inheres and cannot be blotted out. Of this St. Augustine says: Shall the Christian Sacraments accomplish less than the bodily mark impressed on the soldier? That mark is not stamped on his person anew as often as he resumes the military service which he had relinquished, but the old is recognised and approved.
This character has a twofold effect: it qualifies us to receive or perform something sacred, and distinguishes us by some mark one from another. In the character impressed by Baptism, both effects are exemplified. By it we are qualified to receive the other Sacraments, and the Christian is distinguished from those who do not profess the faith. The same illustration is afforded by the characters impressed by Confirmation and Holy Orders. By Confirmation we are armed and arrayed as soldiers of Christ, publicly to profess and defend His name, to fight against our internal enemy and against the spiritual powers of wickedness in the high places; and at the same time we are distinguished from those who, being recently baptised, are, as it were, newborn infants. Holy Orders confers the power of consecrating and administering the Sacraments, and also distinguishes those who are invested
with this power from the rest of the faithful. The rule of the Catholic Church is, therefore, to be observed, which teaches that these three Sacraments impress a character and are never to be repeated.
How to Make Instruction on the Sacraments Profitable
On the subject of the Sacraments in general, the above are the matters on which instruction should be given. In explaining them, pastors should keep in view principally two things, which they should zealously strive to accomplish. The first is that the faithful understand the high honour, respect and veneration due to these divine and celestial gifts. The second is that, since the Sacraments have been established by the God of infinite mercy for the common salvation of all, the people should make pious and religious use of them, and be so inflamed with the desire of Christian perfection as to deem it a very great loss to be for any time deprived of the salutary use, particularly of Penance and the Holy Eucharist.
These objects pastors will find little difficulty in accomplishing, if they call frequently to the attention of the faithful what we have already said on the divine character and fruit of the Sacraments: first, that they were instituted by our Lord and Saviour from whom can proceed nothing but what is most perfect; further that when administered, the most powerful influence of the Holy Ghost is present, pervading the inmost sanctuary of the soul; next that they possess an admirable and unfailing virtue to cure our spiritual maladies, and communicate to us the inexhaustible riches of the Passion of our Lord.
Finally, let them point out, that although the whole edifice of Christian piety rests on the most firm foundation of the cornerstone; yet, unless it be supported on every side by the preaching of the divine Word and by the use of the Sacraments, it is greatly to be feared that it may to a great extent totter and fall to the ground. For as we are ushered into spiritual life by means of the Sacraments, so by the same means are we nourished and preserved, and grow to spiritual increase.