PART XXXV
Yahweh, God of my salvation, when I cry out to you in the night, may my prayer reach your presence, hear my cry for help.
In Psalm Chapter 88 is very much connected to the passion of Jesus. He was thrown into this pit of darkness because of our sins, which Psalmist. It was full of darkness and there were nobody is there to save him, because it was the darkness of the sins of the whole world since the beginning and till the end. Jesus brought the Light into the world to win over the darkness as per the plan of Heavenly Father. Through his death, Jesus gave us the salvation for the dead, living and for those still to be born. We always calculate the mysteries of heavenly kingdom by our own mind and knowledge. God is speaking to us through the Prophet Isiah in the scriptures: for my thoughts are not your thoughts and your ways are not my ways, declares Yahweh. For the heavens are as high above earth as my ways are above your ways, my thoughts above your thoughts.’ (Is. 55: 8-9)
Psalmist prophesy about Jesus’ suffering in the pit of darkness
‘Yahweh, God of my salvation,
when I cry out to you in the night,
may my prayer reach your presence,
hear my cry for help.
For I am filled with misery,
My life is on the brink of Sheol;
Already numbered among those who sink into oblivion,
I am as one bereft of strength,
Left alone among the dead,
Like the slaughtered lying in the grave,
Whom you remember no more,
Cut off as they are from your protection.
You have plunged me to the bottom of the grave,
In the darkness, in the depths;
Weighted down by your anger,
Kept low by your waves.
You have deprived me of my friends,
Made me repulsive to them,
Imprisoned, with no escape;
My eyes are worn out with suffering.
I call to you, Yahweh, all day,
I stretch out my hands to you.
Do you work wonders for the dead,
Can shadows rise up to praise to you?
Do they speak in the grave of your faithful love?
of your constancy in the place of perdition?
Are your wonders known in the darkness?
your saving justice in the land of oblivion?
But for my part, I cry to you, Yahweh,
Every morning my prayer comes before you;
Why, Yahweh, do you rebuff me?
Turn your face away from me?
Wretched and close to death since childhood,
I have borne your terrors—I am finished!
Your anger has overwhelmed me,
Your terrors annihilated me.
They flood around me all day long,
Close in on me all at once.
You have deprived me of friends and companions,
And all that I know is the dark. (Ps. 88)
Everything was darkness there as Psalmist mentioned here. Jesus experienced this darkness throughout his passion. In this deep dungeon, he was alone for one day. During last day of his suffering and in perscicution his friends the apostles and all other disciples were left him alone except some women companions and of course Mother Mary.
(The hymn that David sung is fulfilled in this pit of darkness, where Jesus was imprisoned for one day and night before being crucified. Khaiaphas, the high priest, imprisoned Jesus in this cell alone. While visiting the Holy Land with Fr Eugiene, we read Psalm 88 under the pit of Jail where Jesus was imprisoned. The place resembles a deep dungeon with a little opening from above. It's a kind of well, with steps leading to the end. In the time of Jesus, there was no step to descend to this dungeon. After reaching down into the dungeon, the guide turned out the light. Light cannot enter this pit, which is completely dark. And we sensed Jesus' presence in our midst and shared his pain. Fr Eugiene led us to a pedestal where the Bible was stored, and one of our group members recited Psalm 88 from the Bible using a candlelight without turning on the light. We could feel Jesus' anguish when a lector read the Psalm, and most of us cried in the middle and at the end.)
Lord, protect us from the darkness of this world. In the time of Prophet Noah: Lord, with your anger you throw all the people into deepest of the water. You gave them the time for repentance, but they didn’t obey. Lord, give us the humility and obedience to do your will. St Michael Archangel, pray for us.
