Tag Archives: Psalms

“Peace Shall be a Pathway for His Feet.”

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A Byzantine icon of Christ as the Great High Priest, seated on a bishop’s throne (cathedra), as the donor and his son kneel in supplication. Christ’s hand is raised in blessing, typically accompanied by the greeting, “Peace be unto all.”
Christ depicted as a bishop at the Eucharist, giving Holy Communion to the apostles; St. Paul leads those approaching the chalice while St. Peter leads those approaching from the other side. The assembly of the apostles is typically a depiction of the Church assembled in peace as the Body of Christ, in which all peoples can be reconciled.

“Righteousness shall go before him, and peace shall be a pathway for his feet.” (Psalm 85:13)

On the most straightforward, historical level, peace was the pathway for the Gospel insofar as the pax Romana made it possible to preach the Gospel from Syria to Great Britain, from Egypt to the North Sea. Apostles and missionaries were able to travel the system of Roman roads–many of which still exist–which were kept safe by the Roman soldiers and the sheer number of people travelling on the roadways. Although it was safe to travel from one end of the empire to the other, it was expensive. Apostles and missionaries needed financial support from their home parish or would stop and work to support themselves as they made their journey.

The peace and stability of the Roman empire not only enabled the growth of the Church but made it possible for letters and communication to be shared. It was the re-establishment of the “Roman peace” that the many kingdoms of western Europe during the Middle Ages aspired to.

Peace is also understood to be the pathway for Christ to meet the worshipper at the celebration of the Eucharist. Each person who approaches the altar, walking towards encountering Christ in the Holy Gifts of the Eucharist, must first make peace with their neighbors either by exchanging the Kiss of Peace or by heeding Christ’s admonition to “leave your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother has anything against you; go, be reconciled and then come to offer your gift” (Matthew 5:23-24). Peace and reconciliation between Christians was the road that had to be built or repaired to make Christ’s arrival possible.

Christ himself was also understood to be the peace of God; in Constantinople, the church of the Holy Peace is nowadays sometimes called St. Irene’s but which was always understood previously to be dedicated to Christ, the Peace of God.

“For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of two, thus making peace.” (Ephesians 2:14-15 )

(The great cathedral of Hagia Sophia was also understood to be dedicated to Christ, the Wisdom of God, rather than the woman-martyr St. Sophia.)

“Seek peace and pursue it” (Psalm 34:14)

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Saint Peter (c. 1468) by Marco Zoppo, depicting Peter holding the Keys of Heaven and a book representing the gospel, bound together with his epistles.

“Turn from evil and do good: seek peace and pursue it.” (Psalm 34:14) This verse can be paired with Psalm 37:28: “Turn from evil and do good, and dwell in the land forever.” God promises his people that if they turn from evil, i.e. repent (literally, “change direction”) and seek to do good, embracing peace, then they will dwell in the Promised Land forever. Embrace the relationship with God and dwell in his land of plenty; refuse to repent and experience exile and expulsion from the Promised Land just as Adam and Eve experienced expulsion from Paradise.

“Seeking peace” and “doing good” are poetic equivalents in these two verses. If we seek peace with our neighbors, especially those who disagree with us, and try to live in harmony with all creation then we will be doing good. Seeking peace necessarily involves seeking the welfare of our neighbors: feeding, visiting, caring for those in need. We express this liturgically by sharing the Kiss of Peace at the Eucharist; we express this at other times by serving at a soup kitchen or helping someone vote or giving a lonely–difficult?–person a phone call.

A few verses later in Psalm 37, we also read: “The righteous shall possess the land and dwell in it forever.” The righteous are those who repent, the ones who turn from evil. The righteous are not the people who never make mistakes; the righteous are the people who admit they have “missed the mark” and change direction in order to try again.

The apostle Peter refers to this verse from Psalm 34 in his first epistle:

“He who would love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking guile: let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayers; but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” (1 Peter 3:11)

The apostle quotes these lines as he concludes urging his readers to have compassion and brotherly love for one another. There is no other way into the Promised Land, the Kingdom of God. Having entered the Kingdom, there is no other way to remain there but to keep changing direction and realigning ourselves with the peace, compassion, and harmony that is Divine life.

Daughters of God

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At left, Mercy and Truth as women, veiled with wimples, labelled MISERICORD and VERITE, stand facing, grasping each others hands. At right, two women kiss, Justice, wearing hat, holding sword with right hand, and Mercy, wearing hat, and holding casket with both hands. They flank Gabriel, back-turned, raising scepter with left hand, kneeling, looking up toward Trinity in arc of Heaven. (Book of hours (Ms. Pierpont Morgan Library. M.73) (Paris, France, ca. 1475.)

“Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring up from the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven.” (Psalm 85:10-11)

These four virtues–mercy, truth, righteousness, and peace–are often referred to as “the four daughters of God.” The virtues come to be seen as personifications, four celestial women, similar to angels or archangels. The most important contributors to the development and circulation of the motif were the twelfth-century monks Hugh of St Victor and Bernard of Clairvaux. (Christian thought might have have been inspired by an earlier eleventh-century Jewish Midrash, in which Truth, Justice, Mercy and Peace were the four standards of the Throne of God.)

The four daughters might sometimes be thought to be gathered around Christ on the Cross as they–all four–are manifest in differing ways by the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ. The verse, “Truth shall spring up from the earth and righteousness … look down from heaven” might also be associated with the Nativity of Christ and his–Truth’s–springing up on the earth and being laid in a manger while Righteousness–the other persons of the Holy Trinity–look down on the scene in Bethlehem. The association of the four daughters with the Incarnation is underscored because they also appear in two sermons by St. Guerric of Igny on Luke 2 “for February 2:

“In this gathering [of the Virgin Mary, Christ, St. Joseph with SS. Simeon and Anna] finally mercy and truth have met … the merciful redemption of Jesus and the truthful witness of the old man and woman. In this meeting, justice and peace kissed when the justice of the devout old man and woman and the peace of him who reconciles the world were united in the kiss of their affections and in spiritual joy.” (Sermon 16.6)

“Rightly then are compassion and truth or faith joined together, since in all our ways–unless compassion and truth meet–it is to be feared that sins will be increased rather than purified…. [There is no forgiveness] if compassion is lacking faith or faith, compassion.” (Sermon 18.5)

The motif of the four daughters of God was influential in European thought. In 1274-76, Magnus VI of Norway introduced the first “national” law-code for Norway and makes prominent use of the allegorical four daughters of God: Mercy, Truth, Justice, and Peace. These daughters have the important role of expressing the idea—which was innovative in the Norwegian legal system at the time—of equality before the law.

The motif changed and developed in later medieval literature, but the usual form was a debate between the daughters (sometimes in the presence of God):

about the wisdom of creating humanity and about the propriety of strict justice or mercy for the fallen human race. Justice and Truth appear for the prosecution, representing the old Law, while Mercy speaks for the defense, and Peace presides over their reconciliation when Mercy prevails. *Michael Murphy, ‘Four Daughters of God’, in A Dictionary of Biblical Tradition in English Literature, ed. by David Lyle Jeffrey (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1992), pp. 290-91. )

This psalm is also often suggested in traditional prayer books as a preparation for receiving Holy Communion. The communicant prepares to join the fellowship of the daughters of God by receiving the Body and Blood of Christ.