Once again this responsorial psalm has been shortened for liturgical purposes. Go to your Bible to read the full text if possible.
This invitation to praise God regularly opens the Church’s official prayer, the Liturgy of the Hours. It is known as the Invitatory Psalm. It is also an Obedience Psalm.
The response, which is always taken from the psalm itself, refers to the grumbling and complaints of the Israelites in the early stages of the Exodus. They begin to realize that while they had escaped the Egyptians, they had begun a trek across a vast and unwelcoming desert to reach the land promised by God to their patriarchal ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. (Exodus 17:1-7)
It was the hardening of their hearts against God’s promise that prevented any of the Israelites who left Egypt from entering the Promised Land. Thus this psalm is a plea by the psalmist to the new generation to not repeat the sins of their fathers but to come into the presence of The Lord singing and giving thanks.
How like the Israelites we are. How often do we determine to make a spiritual journey or undertake a good work, only to abandon it when it becomes inconvenient or tiresome? How well have we kept our Lenten resolutions? Jesus renews hearts.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM
Psalm 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9
℟. (8) If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Come, let us sing joyfully to the LORD;
let us acclaim the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us joyfully sing psalms to him.
℟. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Come, let us bow down in worship;
let us kneel before the LORD who made us.
For he is our God,
and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides.
℟. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Oh, that today you would hear his voice:
“Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,
as in the day of Massah in the desert,
Where your fathers tempted me;
they tested me though they had seen my works.”
℟. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
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