Today, the reading from the handbook reminds us of the Legion's insistence that its members be experienced in prayer. It reminds us that the auxiliary is far more useful to the Legion than the active member, who does not pray. We should hold these exhortations in mind as we approach the text of the 5th Psalm, for this is one of the psalms, in which the role of Our Most Holy Lady is most apparent. Revealed here is the way that the life of the Mother of God is related to our life in prayer.
The 5th Psalm is concerned with the subject of moral rectitude, particularly as it is visible in social virtue. It is a troubling passage of Scripture, because it is one of the few places in the entire Bible, in which it is said that there are human beings that God hates. We know from the whole context of Divine Revelation that this cannot be taken literally. It is said, rather, in order to make a point and to make the point very starkly, for the mention of "God's hatred" can wake us from a slumber of presumption. The point is: God hates sin. Anyone who sins will go to destruction.
At the heart of the psalm, King David sets up a contrast. He says, "A man that is bloody and deceitful shall the Lord abhor." Then, he uses himself as a contrary example: "But as for me, in the multitude of Thy mercy shall I go into Thy house; I shall worship toward Thy holy temple in fear of Thee." Here at the outset, we should remember that the Fathers of the Church are in agreement: The temple of the New Covenant is the Most Holy Mother of God; She is Zion, the Ark of the Covenant. Here, in this verse, King David is bowing down before God's temple; he is entering into God's house.
It is interesting to see what the psalm does not say, as much as it is interesting to see what it does state. When King David confesses, "A man that is bloody and deceitful shall the Lord abhor," he does not go on to say that the Lord loves the man, who is truth-telling, honest and does not shed innocent blood. This is likely not a sentiment that the prophet would express, because he says in another place, "All have gone astray. There is no one, who is just. No, not one." Rather, the terms of the contrast are the following: On the one hand, there is the bloody and deceitful man, and then, on the other hand, there is the one who bows in worship in Zion, paying profound respect to the Holy Temple. He enters into the house of God, and he bows in worship toward the Holy Temple. There is nothing in the text to suggest that the man, who enters the house and bows in worship is not also bloody and deceitful. This is another claim that the Prophet King David would most likely never make. After all, it was he, who tried to deceive an upright and honest man, and, when he failed at this, he decided to murder this same upright and honest man, so that he could take his wife.
There is much debate in the scholarly world whether statements of this kind are literal or aspirational. The debate seems to be swaying towards the position that entering into the house of God is an aspiration, in the same way that the account of the calling of Isaiah in chapter six of his prophecy is likely a vision of the sanctuary, rather than a literal narration of something that happened there. The reason for this is clear. It is not clear that the Prophet Isaiah was a priest (perhaps he was, perhaps not), and it is certain that King David was not a priest. The English Scripture scholar Margaret Barker argues persuasively that normal, rank and file Israelites were taught to "enter" the sanctuary meditationally, offering their prayers up in the sanctuary by means of their concentration and imagination. In fact, this method of prayer may have continued even into New Testament times. This is the experience that is likely being expressed in the New Testament apocryphal book The Proto-Gospel of James, which relates that the Most Holy Mother of God, when she entered the Temple at the age of three, was taken by the High Priest Zechariah and placed on the 3rd step of the Altar of Holocausts, lived in the Holy of Holies and was fed by angels there. Everyone knew that these things could not be literally true. No, rather, they were expressing the close communion with God, which the Most Holy Mother of God enjoyed in the years of her service in the Temple. What could not be accomplished literally was all the more truly accomplished through prayer and meditation. To this day, in mystical Judaism, there remains a method of meditation with similar ends called Ma'aseh Merkavah (The Discipline of the Chariot), referring to the cherubim throne in the Holy of Holies.
It is clear both from the text and from the light of reason that there cannot be any distinction between bowing down to the Temple and bowing down to God. Similarly, there is no distinction between being a disciple of Mary and a disciple of the Lord Jesus. Whoever is the one, is also the other by necessity. Those who are devoted to the Most Holy Mother of God do not insist on their own moral rectitude. No, on the contrary, they are set apart from the wicked by the fact that they enter into the Lord's house and bow down in worship. Their reliance is upon the mercy of the Lord in the midst of His Temple, as in Psalm 47: We have thought on your mercy, O Lord, in the midst of Your Temple."
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