Catholic Commentary on Psalm 115

"Not to us, LORD, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness." (Psalm 115:1)

To Your Name Be the Glory

Psalm 115 opens with one of the most radical relinquishments in the entire Psalter: Not to us, LORD, not to us but to your name be the glory. The prayer is for the removal of the self from the centre of the picture. The double denial, not to us, not to us, is the prayer of the one who has understood what St. Ignatius would later call the first principle and foundation: humanity is created to praise, reverence, and serve God, and all other things exist to help us toward that end. The glory belongs to God, not to us.

The psalm then contrasts the living God with the dead idols of the nations: their idols are silver and gold, made by human hands. They have mouths but cannot speak, eyes but cannot see, ears but cannot hear, hands but cannot feel, feet but cannot walk, throats that produce no sound. And the devastating conclusion: those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them. The idol-makers become like their idols: unable to hear, see, speak, or respond to the living God. The Catechism warns against idolatry as the corruption of the religious sense that belongs to every human being (CCC 2113): when we worship what we have made, we become as dead as what we worship.

Living the Word

Brothers and sisters, the idols of Psalm 115 have modern equivalents: anything we trust for ultimate security that is made by human hands, including our own reputation, our financial position, our institutional power. Not to us, LORD, not to us. Make that the prayer of this day and see what it releases in your heart.

Prayer

Not to us, LORD, not to us but to your name be the glory. Free us from every idol we have constructed with our own hands. You are the living God, and we trust in you alone. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.