Catholic Commentary on Psalm 24

"Lift up your heads, you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in." (Psalm 24:7)

The Earth Is the Lord's

Psalm 24 opens with a declaration of cosmic lordship: The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters. Everything belongs to God: not by conquest or by purchase but by creation. He founded it, established it, made it. The Lord of Psalm 24 is not a tribal deity competing with other deities for territory. He is the Creator of all that is, whose ownership is absolute and prior to every human claim.

This opening verse is the theological foundation of Catholic teaching on the stewardship of creation: the earth is the Lord's, which means the human being who tills it and uses it is a tenant, not an owner (CCC 2402). The resources of the earth are held in trust. They belong to the God who made them, and the person who acts as though they are ultimate owner is acting on a false premise.

Who May Ascend?

The liturgical middle of the psalm asks the question of entrance: who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? The answer is moral: the one with clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god. St. Augustine identified the clean hands as the works of justice and the pure heart as the intention from which they flow. Works without right intention are hands without a heart. Intention without works is a heart without hands. Both are required for the ascent.

The King of Glory

The psalm then shifts into a dramatic antiphonal exchange as the King of Glory approaches the gates of the city. Lift up your heads, you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. The Church Fathers read this psalm as the Ascension: Christ ascending to heaven with the cry of the angels demanding the gates be opened for the returning King. It is also read in Advent and Christmas liturgies as the arrival of the Lord in human flesh. The King of Glory who demands entrance at the gates is the one who was born in a stable, who knocked at the door of human hearts, who enters the gates of our own souls.

Living the Word

Brothers and sisters, the King of Glory is still asking the ancient question at the gates of human hearts. Lift up your heads. Open the ancient doors. Who is this King of glory? He is the Lord of hosts, the one who made the earth and everything in it, the one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who died for those who did not. Let him come in.

Prayer

Lord of hosts, King of glory, the earth is yours and everything in it. May we be among those with clean hands and pure hearts who may ascend your holy mountain. Lift up the gates of our hearts so that the King of glory may come in. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.