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March 15, 2025

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Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Daily Bible readings that follow the church liturgical year, with sequential stories told across multiple weeks.

Duration: 1245 days

Psalm 27

Psalm 27^[a]

Trust in God, Our Light and Salvation

¹Of David.

The Lord is my light^[b] and my salvation;
    whom should I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
    of whom should I be afraid?
²When evildoers close in on me
    to devour my flesh,^[c]
it is they, my adversaries and enemies,
    who stumble and fall.
³Even if an army encamps against me,
    my heart^[d] will not succumb to fear;
even if war breaks out against me,
    I will not have my trust shaken.
⁴There is only one thing I ask of the Lord,
    just one thing I seek:
to dwell in the house of the Lord
    all the days of my life,
so that I may enjoy the beauty of the Lord^[e]
    and gaze on his temple.
⁵For he will hide me in his shelter
    in times of trouble.
He will conceal me under the cover of his tent^[f]
    and place me high upon a rock.
⁶Even now my head is raised high
    above my enemies who surround me.
In his tent I will offer sacrifices^[g] with joyous shouts;
    I will sing and chant praise to the Lord.
⁷O Lord, hear my voice when I cry out;
    be merciful to me and answer me.
⁸My heart^[h] says of you,
    “Seek his face.”
It is your face, O Lord, that I seek;
⁹    do not hide your face^[i] from me.
Do not turn away your servant in anger,
    you who have been my help.
Do not reject or forsake me,
    O God, my Savior.
¹⁰Even if my father and mother abandon me,
    the Lord will gather me up.^[j]
¹¹Teach me your way,^[k] O Lord,
    and lead me along a level path
    because of my enemies.
¹²Do not abandon me to the will of my adversaries,
    for lying witnesses have risen against me,
    breathing forth violence in their malice.
¹³I am confident that I will behold the goodness of the Lord^[l]
    in the land of the living.
¹⁴Place your hope in the Lord:
    be strong and courageous in your heart,
    and place your hope in the Lord.

Footnotes

Psalm 27:1 Although enemies or the difficulties of existence may be multiplied, the believer finds a sure refuge in God—such is the cry of trust that opens this psalm. Then the movement of the prayer deepens, becoming the search and avid desire for God. It is in the temple that one discovers the presence of the Lord in the sacrifice, chant, supplication, and the law. If such a search becomes necessary for life, will not God be present to his most forsaken and pressured servant?
In praying this psalm, we can place a similar confidence in God and the Lord Jesus, one capable of enabling us to overcome all adversity and death itself.
Psalm 27:1 The Lord is my light: “light” often symbolizes happiness and well-being (see Pss 18:29; 36:10; 43:3; 97:11) or life and salvation (see Isa 9:2; 49:6; 58:8; Jer 13:16; Am 5:18-20), whose source is the Lord (see Isa 10:17; Mic 7:8f).
Psalm 27:2 To devour my flesh: the psalmist’s enemies are like rapacious beasts (see Pss 7:3; 17:12; 22:13f, 17); in the figurative sense, this refers to calumny (see Dan 3:8).
Psalm 27:3 With the Lord as his stronghold and helper, the psalmist fears nothing—not even an army arrayed against him. So long as this strong union with God remains unbroken, the psalmist is secure. Heart: see note on Ps 4:8.
Psalm 27:4 Tarrying in the house of the Lord is an expression and sign of spiritual union with God and intimacy with him. Beauty of the Lord: i.e., his goodness (see Ps 90:17).
Psalm 27:5 Shelter . . . tent: references to the sanctuary of Jerusalem (see Rev 7:15f). See also Pss 31:21; 32:7; 61:5; 91:1.
Psalm 27:6 I will offer sacrifices: see note on Ps 7:18.
Psalm 27:8 Heart: see note on Ps 4:8. Seek his face: an idiom meaning to commune with the Lord, originating in the custom of pilgrimages to sacred places (see Pss 24:6; 105:4; 2 Sam 21:1; Hos 5:15). It then took on the general sense of seeking to know the Lord, anticipate his desires, and live in his presence. In a word, to seek the Lord is to serve him faithfully (Deut 4:29-31).
Psalm 27:9 Hide your face: see note on Ps 13:2.
Psalm 27:10 Union with God gives confidence in prayer; and prayer is something that even the most devout person must do. Sirach says: “Pray in [the Lord’s] presence” (17:25) and “Let nothing hinder you from promptly discharging your vows [i.e., your prayer]” (18:22).
Psalm 27:11 Your way: God’s manner of dealing kindly with those who remain faithful to the covenant by keeping his commandments (see Pss 86:11; 128:1; 143:8).
Psalm 27:13 Goodness of the Lord: the good things promised in the covenant with David (see 2 Sam 7:28). Land of the living: reference to this life or to the temple (see Pss 52:7; 116:9; Isa 38:11), where the God of life is present; the psalmist is speaking of the world of the living as opposed to the world of the dead.

Psalm 118:26-29

²⁶Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.^[a]
    We bless you from the house of the Lord.
²⁷The Lord is God,
    and he has given us light.
Holding leafy branches, join in the festal procession
    up to the horns of the altar.^[b]
²⁸^[c]You are my God, and I will offer thanks to you;
    you are my God, and I will extol you.
²⁹Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
    his kindness endures forever.

Psalm 119^[d]

Praise of God’s Law

Aleph

Footnotes

Psalm 118:26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord: words used in the Gospels to welcome Jesus entering the temple on Palm Sunday (see Mk 11:9 par).
Psalm 118:27 The people respond to the blessing by confessing that the Lord alone is God. He has made his light shine upon them, protecting them from the darkness of great trials (e.g., famine, war, and exile; Ps 43:3). Accordingly, they are here renewing their commitment to the Lord in a formal liturgical celebration. The horns of the altar: the four corners of the altar of burnt offerings (see Ex 27:2; 38:2; Lev 4:25, 30, 34).
Psalm 118:28 The psalm concludes with the community’s affirmation that the Lord alone is God, similar to the confession of Moses (see Ex 15:2). Kindness: see note on Ps 6:5.
Psalm 118:29 This longest of the psalms is a monumental literary piece consisting of twenty-two strophes, each containing eight verses (sixteen lines) and each beginning with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet that is repeated at the beginning of each pair of verses. Each strophe is a unit, but does not have a close connection with the strophe that precedes or follows. The whole is a free-flowing meditation, now sad, now joyous, now peaceful, now passionate. It is a reflection and a prayer in which the author, a sage and a mystic who draws his inspiration from the Prophets and Deuteronomy, converses with God and voices his deepest feelings: love of true wisdom, attachment and fidelity to the word of God in spite of weakness and obstacles; desire to better understand and live the truth; joy of outdoing oneself to follow the will of God manifested in the law.
In practically every verse, there is the word “law” or some equivalent. We can point to eight such terms—four with a more juridic nuance (statutes, precepts, decrees, commands or commandments) and four with a more religious nuance (law, promise, word, laws, or judgments). These terms introduce us into the heart of the psalm, for they signify less an ensemble of laws to observe than the word of God, which sometimes ordains and judges and sometimes reveals and promises. It is a psalm of spiritual intimacy, of love for God (which means doing his will). In meditating on the law, believers contemplate above all the visage of God and let themselves be transformed in the very depths of their hearts. Such observance becomes liberty. Understood in this fashion, the law proclaims to us Jesus Christ, the living revelation of God, given to human beings to lead them to the Father: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (Jn 14:6).

Matthew 23:37-39

³⁷The Lament over Jerusalem.^[a]“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you murder the Prophets and stone the messengers sent to you! How often have I longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would not allow it! ³⁸Behold, your house has been abandoned and left desolate. ³⁹I tell you, you will not see me again until you say: ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’ ”

New Catholic Bible (NCB)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 27[a]

Trust in God, Our Light and Salvation

Footnotes

Psalm 119[d]

Praise of God’s Law

Footnotes

Footnotes

Psalm 27^[a]

Psalm 119^[d]