From the Organ Bench

Psalm 128
Blessed are those who fear the Lord and walk in his ways.

Today’s psalm, chosen for the Feast of the Holy Family, opens with a
domestic beatitude:
Blessed is everyone who fears the LORD,
And walks in his ways!
Linking “happiness” with “fear” seems to be an odd beatitude. The LXX
reads: “Happy are all they that fear the LORD; who are walking in his
ways.” The concept of fear of the Lord is a dominating theme throughout
the Hebrew Scriptures. Fear is a basic instinct that alerts to danger or the
presence of immediate danger. Fear is an emotional response that
something might not be good for us. We fear the unknown. Fear has many
facets; dread, panic, alarm, terror, trepidation, anxiousness. Uncontrolled
fear can be the cause of hysterical behavior. My three year old
granddaughter reacted with screams of panic, trembling arms and wild fear
when Santa visited our family’s Christmas party. She made the “knocking
knees of the frightened king” in Daniel 5:6 look like a wimp. Santa was the
ultimate stranger who had invaded our domestic tranquility.
Just as fear is a basic element of our being human, fear is a basic
response to the holy otherness of God. Awareness of God’s glory mirrors
back to us our own unworthiness, our sinfulness. Fear of the Lord is a
basic aspect in our relationship with our God: a trembling adoration, a
healthy awe, a holy respect. In this light, verse one makes perfect sense.
One who respects the LORD is a happy person. One who adores the Lord
is a happy person. One who is in love with the LORD is a happy person.
One who is in love, acts in loving ways. The ONE who IS love, became
one of us wrapped in the swaddling clothes of human tissue, bone, emotion,
and intellect. L’Eternel spent the first days of human finiteness surrounded
by parents, pets, and pasteurs. L’Eternal was at home in his creation, in a
cave, in a manger.
The God-fearer is the subject of the remaining verses. Blessings are
bestowed upon the one who fears the LORD. The God-fearer will:
 Indeed, you shall eat the food of your labors,
Blessed shall you be and it shall be well with you.
Happiness is the result of being with God in everyday living. Work is not a
burden if done with the attitude that one’s ability to work is a blessing and
gift from the LORD.
Happiness from the Lord continues in the home. The wife is the center of
the home. The psalmist compares the wife to a fruitful vine in the recesses
of the home. She surrounds the home on all walls. She is a sturdy force,
fixed, focused and successful. The imagery from nature describes the
blessings of a wife and mother.
Your wife is like a fruitful vine
In the recesses of your home;
Your children like olive plants
In Israel, the vine and olive plants were symbols of God’s providential
care. The olive branch was the first vegetation seen by Noah after the Great
Deluge. Olive trees are in the evergreen family. Olive trees grow even on
rocky hillsides, with roots clinging in barren landscapes. Archaeologists
have uncovered the earliest known paleobotanical specimens of olive
plants (4,0000 B.C.) near the northern tip of the Dead Sea. Olive fruit was a
mainstay in the diet of antiquity. Egypt imported olives and olive oil from
Canaan. The olive tree was essential to life during biblical times. Besides
it’s use as a food, the olive tree produced lamp fuel, was used for medicine,
as anointing oil, and in religious sacrifices. The wood was used for
furniture. Even children are compared to young olive shoots, strong, cool
and delicate. They are:
around about your table.
Thus is the man blessed who fears the Lord.

The psalm ends with a liturgical blessing given by a priest. There is a

connection between the happiness of the community and the blessedness of
the family. When the “fear of the Lord” is the foundation of family peace,
the community (Jerusalem) will experience the Lord’s blessedness. Well
being, peace, is a gift from God:
The Lord bless you from Zion,
That you may see the prosperity of Jerusalem
 All the days of your life.
And that you may see your children’s children-
Salvation be upon Israel!

Delma Rouleau
Feast of the Holy Family, 2010