“Hear the voice of my
supplications, when I cry to You, when I lift up my hands to the temple of Your
sacredness.”
(Psalms 28:2)
We must do our part
in this process of self-redemption, enabled and strengthened with God’s
providence that we ask Him with passionate and fervent prayer.
“O send out Your light and Your truth,
let them lead me; let them bring me to the mount of Your sacredness, and to
Your sanctuaries.”
(43:3)
In Judaism, light is
an abstract form referred to God’s goodness, truth, loving kindness, grace,
compassion, forgiveness and redemption, among other positive and delivering
attributes, traits and qualities. These are certainly moral and ethical
principles God wants us to be ruled by, for these are inherent in the goodness
that is our eternal bond with Him.
The Psalmist is fully
aware of this, hence he prays to God in his yearning to live in the freedom
these attributes provide, once we let them lead all aspects and dimensions of
consciousness. These are also the ways and means to ascend to the realm where
God’s sacredness dwells, which is the Temple of Jerusalem in Zion.
In this sacred
awareness only praise and jubilation are the expressions of our thoughts,
emotions, feelings, passions and instincts.
And I will come to the altar of God, to God, my
exceeding joy; and praise You in the harp, O God, my God.”
(43:4)
There is no other way
to fathom, live and experience God’s presence but with the utmost joy to
praise, for these are the expressions of being before the Creator of all.
“There is a river, the streams that
gladden the city of God, the sacred sanctuaries of the Most High.”
(46:5)
The Torah mentions
the rivers in the Garden of Eden, and some of our Sages comment that one of
them flows beneath the Temple of Jerusalem.
Thus we learn that the place of the
lost Paradise is the Land of Israel. They also refer to seas and rivers as
metaphors of unlimited traits or qualities, due to their size, or the endless
flow of waters.
In this verse the
Psalmist remarks the enormous joy that gladdens Jerusalem, the city of God. Is
there anything more gladdening than the sacredness of the sanctuaries of the
Most High? A river of joy and streams of gladness are indeed part of these
Divine dwelling places.
No comments:
Post a Comment