Catholic Commentary on Psalm 36

"How priceless is your unfailing love, O God! People take refuge in the shadow of your wings." (Psalm 36:7)

The Oracle of Transgression

Psalm 36 is one of the structurally distinctive psalms: it moves from a description of the wicked person to a meditation on the character of God, and the contrast between the two is the theological point. The wicked person has an oracle of transgression in their heart: there is no fear of God before their eyes. They flatter themselves so much that they cannot detect or hate their own sin. Their words are wicked and deceitful; they have ceased to be wise or do good. Even in the night they plot evil and do not reject what is wrong.

This portrait of the person without the fear of God is important for the Catechism's teaching on conscience: the conscience that has been repeatedly overridden by self-flattery becomes incapable of discernment (CCC 1791). The process is gradual but the endpoint is the person described in Psalm 36: unable to see their own wickedness because they have arranged their inner life so that nothing challenges them.

The Unfailing Love of God

Against this portrait the psalmist places the character of God, and the contrast is overwhelming. The Lord's unfailing love reaches to the heavens, his faithfulness to the skies, his righteousness like the highest mountains, his justice like the great deep. How priceless is your unfailing love, O God! People take refuge in the shadow of your wings. The exhaustiveness of the wicked person's corruption finds its counter in the inexhaustibility of God's goodness. Where human character reaches its limit, divine character exceeds all measure.

The Fountain of Life

The most profound verse of the psalm is tucked in the middle: For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light. God is not merely the giver of life. He is the fountain from which all life flows. He is not merely a source of truth. He is the light by which all truth is seen. The Catechism identifies this verse with the Trinitarian nature of God: the Father is the fountain, the Son is the light, and it is by the light of the Son that we see the Father's light (CCC 234).

Living the Word

Brothers and sisters, the contrast of Psalm 36 is a diagnostic tool: which of the two portraits more accurately describes the direction of your interior life? The person who has arranged their inner world to avoid the fear of God and cannot detect their own sin, or the person who takes refuge in the shadow of God's wings and drinks from the fountain of life? The movement from one to the other is always available. It begins with the fear of the Lord.

Prayer

Lord God, your unfailing love reaches to the heavens and your faithfulness to the skies. With you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light. Let us take refuge in the shadow of your wings and drink from your river of delights. Keep us from the self-flattery that cannot see its own sin. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

36
The Transgression of the Wicked
For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, the servant of the LORD.
 
1 An oracle is in my heart
regarding the transgression of the wicked man:
There is no fear of God
before his eyes.* 36:1 Cited in Romans 3:18
2 For his eyes are too full of conceit
to detect or hate his own sin.
3 The words of his mouth are wicked and deceitful;
he has ceased to be wise and well-doing.
4 Even on his bed he plots wickedness;
he sets himself on a path that is not good;
he fails to reject evil.
 
5 Your loving devotion, O LORD, reaches to the heavens,
Your faithfulness to the clouds.
6 Your righteousness is like the highest mountains;
Your judgments are like the deepest sea.
O LORD, You preserve man and beast.
7 How precious is Your loving devotion, O God,
that the children of men take refuge
in the shadow of Your wings!
8 They feast on the abundance of Your house,
and You give them drink from Your river of delights.
9 For with You is the fountain of life;
in Your light we see light.
 
10 Extend Your loving devotion to those who know You,
and Your righteousness to the upright in heart.
11 Let not the foot of the proud come against me,
nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.
12 There the evildoers lie fallen,
thrown down and unable to rise.

*36:1 36:1 Cited in Romans 3:18

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