Carlos PezaňaAvenido
For
me, Christology and the Psalter are very interesting subjects. We cannot say
that they are distinct from each other because even though the Book of Psalms
in the Bible can be found in the Old Testament, and the life of Jesus is
written in the New Testament, particularly in the four Gospels, nevertheless,
if we read and understand properly each psalm we can say that they are
manifestations of the persons of God, who is Jesus, the King of the universe.
This is my personal realization after
experiencing more than two weeks of tutelage from Fr. Romolo Bertoni, CSS.
After learning the meaning and the interpretation of some of the psalms, I was
able to connect them to the reality that some interpretations pertain to the
character of Jesus. Thus in this paper I will write piece by piece the things
that I have grasped and learned from the teachings of Fr. Romolo about
Christology and the Psalter.
The Book of Psalms in the Bible, composed
of five sections, hence, I have learned that these sections are divided with
the criterion that only some knows, but most probably something connected in
honor of the Pentateuch in the Old Testament. Moreover, the psalms are prayers
way back in the ancient times that were sung by the faithful, and so, if
possible in praying the psalter it must always be sung so that the intention
and the origin of the prayer might not be forgotten. When we read the psalms we
are not speaking about God, but we speak to God, e.g. “have mercy on me God in
your kindness, in your compassion blot out my offense..., or Preserve me God I
take refuge in you..., etc.” thus these are acts of our personal dialogue with
the Lord, and in speaking to God, we are not only two but three: God, the bad
me, and the good me. In other words, the psalms express the need of intimacy or
intimate relationship with God.
There are a lot of categories of the
psalms that Fr. Romolo discussed with us. First, there are psalms that speak of
trust and confidence in God, or psalms of total abandonment, e.g. the Psalm 23
“The Lord is my Shepherd, there is nothing I shall want, He has put me to green
pastures...” this psalm is one of the popular psalms in the psalter, this is
considered as the “real precious pearl in the Psalter”. Second, there are
psalms that speak of the need of intimacy with the Lord, e.g. the Psalm 63 “O
God you are my God for you I long, for you my soul is thirsting, my body pines
for you, like a dry weary land without water, so I gaze on you in the sanctuary
to see your strength and your glory...”this intimacy with the Lord is meant to
be eternal as stated in the whole of Psalm 63. Third, there are psalms that
speak about his passion, death and resurrection. Furthermore, these psalms are
also called “Messianic Psalms” which the objects or topics are kings. The
psalms that are recited in honor of the King can be interpreted also in honor
of God. Even though the psalmists do not know about Christ but there are psalms
which if you try to understand pertain to the coming of Christ; his passion,
death, and resurrection.
On the other hand, Christology teaches us
all the things about Christ, from the words and its nominal definition
“Christus” and “Logos” which means “study of Christ”. Fr. Romolo said to us
that in studying Christology, it is not enough to know only who Jesus is, or to
learn only who Jesus is, but it is also important to follow and learn His will.
The best and easy way to know and learn the life of Jesus is to read the
Gospels. The Gospels are the expressways to know Jesus; his childhood, his
adolescence years, his ministries, his passion, his death and his resurrection
from the dead are concretely stated in them.
After all the discussions of Fr. Romolo
about Christology, I was able to summarize and interpret the life of Jesus in
one word, i.e. LOVE. Jesus is love. Jesus is the answer of God to human
longings. Moreover, only Jesus can fill
our heart’s desire; only Jesus can give us complete joy, complete love, etc.
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