Psalm 102 (101):10Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Look, a humble individual prays openly, not quietly. This allows us to hear him and recognize his identity, whether he is the one spoken of by the apostle who said, "Though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be enriched." (2 Corinthians 8:9) If this is true of Him, why is He in such a state of poverty? In what way can the one who cannot see be called rich? Who possesses more wealth than He who is the creator of riches, even those that are not genuine riches? Through Him, we also receive blessings, such as abilities, memory, virtue, physical health, senses, and the very composition of our being: when these are secure, even those in lowly circumstances become rich. Through Him, we gain even greater treasures: faith, devotion, justice, love, purity, and virtue; for such gifts are granted only through Him who redeems the ungodly. Look at these vast riches! How do we recognize such words in one as wealthy as He? "I ate ashes as bread, and mixed my drink with weeping." Has such profound wealth diminished to this? There is a great disparity between the heights of His fortune and the depths of His condition. Yet let us examine if this impoverished figure is indeed Him; since the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. (John 1:14) He also said, "I am your servant, and the son of your servant." Notice that this servant is pure, a virgin, and a mother; for here He embraced our poverty by taking on the form of a servant, emptying Himself; so that you would not fear His wealth nor hesitate to approach Him in your humble state. Here, I proclaim, He took on the form of a servant, embodying our poverty; there He became poor, and we were enriched. We are now moving towards a deeper understanding of these matters concerning Him, yet we cannot carelessly affirm...

Let Him add poverty to poverty; let Him transform our humble bodies into His own; let Him be our Head, with us as His members, that the two may become one flesh. (Philippians 3:21) For He desires to maintain us as His members. The truly repentant are also included among His members. They are neither isolated from His Church nor excluded from His love; He would not have established the Church as His Bride were it not for the words, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." (Matthew 3:2) Let us thus heed the prayers of the head and body, the bridegroom and the bride, Christ and the Church, for they form one unified person; although the Word and the flesh are not simultaneously the same entity, the Father and the Word are unified. Christ and the Church are one person, a perfect being in His fullness... Therefore, let us listen to Christ, who is poor among us, with us, and for our sake. For the very name reflects the impoverished. Finally, let me reveal to you who this poor man truly is: listen to His prayers, recognize His identity; do not be deceived when you hear anything that cannot be attributed to Him. This preface is necessary so that whatever you hear of this nature may be understood as the sound emanating from the frailty of the body, and recognize the voice of the members in the head. The title is "The Prayer of the Suffering One," expressing his anguish before the Lord. This is the same poor man who elsewhere states, "From the ends of the earth I will call upon Thee when my heart is in travail." He suffers because he is also Christ, who, as the Prophet states, identifies Himself as both Bridegroom and Bride: "He hath put a diadem upon me as the bridegroom, and as the bride hath adorned me with jewels." (Isaiah 61:10) He calls Himself the Bridegroom and the Bride; for this signifies that the Bridegroom refers to the Head and the Bride to the body. Thus, they share one voice, for they are one flesh. Let us listen and identify ourselves within these statements; and if we perceive that we are outside, let us strive to be part of it.

"Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come to Thee." (Psalm 100:1) "Hear my prayer, Lord," is synonymous with "Let my cry come to Thee;" the emotion of the supplicant is evident in the reiteration. "Turn not away Thy face from me." When has God ever turned His face away from His Son? When did the Father abandon Christ? But for the lack of strength among my members, do not turn away from me: in whatever day I lament, incline Your ear unto me. (Psalm 101:2) You are in distress now, I feel your pain; another tomorrow may also suffer, and I bear it; the future generations that follow are also in trouble, I too share in that suffering; until the end of time, everyone who experiences trouble within my body, I encompass their grief. Peter prayed; Paul prayed; the other Apostles prayed; the faithful throughout those times and those to come, during the times of the martyrs, and now, as well as in the future, the faithful will continue to pray. Soon, very soon: for I now plead for that which You are prepared to grant. I seek not earthly matters, as one bound by earthly concerns; rather, having finally been liberated from my former captivity, I yearn for the kingdom of heaven. Hear me swiftly: for it is with such desire that You have stated, "Even while Thou speakest, I will say, 'Here am I.'" (Isaiah 58:9) To what end do you call? What sorrow accompanies your desire? What need prompts your request? O destitute one, before the gates of the all-rich, what longing drives your inquiry? From what desire do you seek relief? From what need do you knock that the doors may open for you?

"For my days have vanished like smoke." (Psalm 100:3) O days! If days exist; for where the day is acknowledged, there the light is perceived. My days, my moments, thus, like smoke, is it not due to the inflation of pride? ...Observe how smoke, like arrogance, rises, swells, and ultimately vanishes: hence, rightfully it fades away and is not enduring. "And my bones are burnt as in a furnace." My bones and my strength are not without sorrow, nor devoid of pain. Is there any greater suffering than that experienced by the bones of Christ's body, the strength of His being; than that felt by the holy apostles? Yet you can see that the bones have been burned. Who is offended, and yet I am not scorched? (2 Corinthians 11:29) They are brave, faithful, capable interpreters and heralds of the Word, embodiment of what they preach, and their lives reflect their speech. They are evidently courageous; yet all who stumble become a furnace for them. For love dwells there, and even more deeply so within the bones. The bones reside within every flesh and support it completely. But when someone feels offense, and endangers their soul, the bone suffers in proportion to its inclination.

Consider Adam, from whom the human race originated. From him, who else could this misery have emerged? From him, from which this inherited poverty extends? Let him who, within his own body, once bore despair, now that he is incorporated into the body of Christ, declare with hope, "My heart is afflicted and withered like grass." (Psalm 101:4) Deservedly so, for all flesh is grass. (Isaiah 40:6) But how did this affliction come upon you? Because I neglected to partake of my bread. For God commanded regarding bread. What, then, is the nourishment of the soul? It was the serpent that led astray, and the woman that sinned, who tasted the forbidden fruit (Genesis 3:6), forgetting the commandment: thus his heart was wounded as it deserved, and withered like grass, for he failed to partake of his bread. Forgetting to consume his bread, he consumes poison: his heart is made weak and withered like grass... Now, partake of the bread you have forgotten. But behold, that very Bread has come, through whose body you may recall the voice of your neglect and cry out in your poverty for treasures. Now, eat, for you are in His body, saying, "I am the living bread which came down from heaven." (John 6:41) You have forgotten to eat your bread; but after His crucifixion, all the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord. After forgetting, let there be remembrance; let us consume the heavenly bread so that we may attain life, not the manna they consumed and perished (John 6:49), but that bread of which it is declared, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness." (Matthew 5:6)

"From the voice of my groaning my bones have cleaved to my flesh." (Psalm 101:5) For many groan, and I additionally groan; even this I lament, for they groan concerning a wrongful act. When someone loses a coin, they groan; yet they lose faith and do not mourn. I assess the value of money and faith, and find more reason to lament for him who fails to grieve as he ought, or does not show grief at all. He commits fraud and feels no sorrow. With what gain? With what loss? He gains wealth yet loses righteousness. It's for this reason that those who know how to groan, groan; those who are near the Head, who adhere righteously to the body of Christ, groan for this reason. Yet the worldly do not grieve for this reason, and they generate their own groans; for it is not for this cause that they mourn, and we cannot scorn them, even if they do not grieve at all, or lament for misguided reasons. We aim to correct them; we long to amend them; and when unable to, we groan; and when we groan, we do not separate ourselves from them...

"I have become like a pelican in the wilderness and like an owl among the broken walls." (Psalm 100:6) Here we have three birds and three places: the pelican, the owl, and the sparrow; respectively associated with the wilderness, the ruins, and the rooftops. The pelican in the wilderness, the owl in the ruins, and the sparrow on the roof. First, we must interpret what the pelican signifies: its origin renders it foreign to us. It is born in secluded places, predominantly on the banks of the Nile River in Egypt. Whatever this bird may be, let us consider what the Psalm conveys. It claims that it dwells in the wilderness. Why investigate its form, limbs, calls, habits? As far as the Psalm informs you, it is a solitary bird. The owl, a creature of the night, inhabits desolate remnants, or ruins, without a roof or inhabitants — this is the owl's home. Regarding roofs and sparrows, you are well aware. Thus, I find someone from the body of Christ, a herald of the Word, compassionate towards the weak, pursuing the victories of Christ, mindful of his future Lord. (Matthew 25:26) Let's observe these three conditions through the lens of His stewardship. Did such a person come to non-believers? He is a pelican in the wilderness. Did he reach out to Christians but withdraw? He becomes an owl among the ruins; for he doesn’t abandon even the darkness of those who dwell in night, but seeks to find them. Has he not approached the Christians who dwell in safety but as if lacking belief, or as if they have forsaken their faith yet continue to walk easily in what they believe? The sparrow calls out to them not in the wilderness because they are believers; nor in the ruins since they have not collapsed; but because they occupy the roof; rather underneath the roof, due to existing within the flesh. The sparrow cries out over the flesh, not hiding from God's commandments, nor becoming worldly to yield to the roof. What you hear whispered, proclaim from the rooftops. (Matthew 10:27) There are three birds and three settings; and one individual could embody three birds collectively, whereas three individuals might separately represent each bird; however, these settings—the wilderness, the ruins, and the rooftops—portray three groups of individuals.

Refers to either the tragedies experienced during the exile or the tribulations endured by the righteous, all in the hope that God would extend His mercy to the people.

I would immerse my bread in the ashes to consume it in that manner. Therefore, if the prophet poses such a question, what is our response? 'And my drink was mingled with tears.' I found no joy in either food or drink; instead, my longing was for the heavenly bread, which is Christ.

What else can I express? David remained quiet in the face of those plotting deceit against him, choosing not to acknowledge their schemes, nor did he retaliate when faced with mockery. In the midst of insult, he turned to prayer; when he faced slander, he responded with blessings. He consistently displayed humility, steering clear of the proud, and sought the fellowship of those with upright hearts. He grieved over his transgressions, blending his food with ashes and watering his drink with tears, as it is written in Psalm 101:10.

In the seventy-ninth Psalm, it is expressed, “Thou feedest us with tearful bread, and drinkest us with tears in measure” (Ps. 79:6). Through this, the Prophet illustrates the overwhelming depth of anguish. If the moments of nourishment are filled with grief, how much more so are all other times permeated by it. Yet, the Prophet confesses his distress over these tribulations, attributing it to the fact that, O Lord, Thou hast stirred Your wrath against me.

He expresses that when he recalled the need to eat, he seasoned his bread with ashes, symbolizing deep sorrow, while the water he drank was mingled with cries and tears. This was his experience in profound distress, where he found it impossible to partake in food without grief. Alternatively, it can be interpreted that he replaced bread with ashes and combined his drink with tears before consuming it. When did David engage in such actions? He did so while others around him were joyfully eating and celebrating. In that moment, he knelt down, placing his mouth to the ground and inhaling the dust, which he then mingled with his tears.

He provides an explanation for his earlier statement, "My bone shall stick to my flesh," noting that he will consume ashes like bread. Consuming ashes in place of bread signifies partaking in unclean bread that is mixed with ashes, particularly when the bread is in a raw state, not free from ash, akin to what the impoverished often endure, as they typically eat poorly made bread that may contain bran or dirt. To drink while weeping serves to illustrate the notion of subsisting on tears or quenching one's thirst with tears as if they were water.

This depiction refers to one who is bereft of God's grace due to their sins yet yearns to attain it, humbling themselves in a posture of repentance and contrition, pouring out tears before the Lord, who is abundant in mercy (Eph. 2:4). Christ, our Lord, during His earthly life, took upon Himself the burdens of all, as He is the Creator and Father of all; He committed no sin yet humbled Himself to endure the cross (Phil. 2:8), raising those who had lost their way through transgressions. He offered prayers and fervent supplications, accompanied by loud cries and tears, to the One capable of rescuing Him from death, and His prayers were heard, granting eternal salvation to those who obey Him (Heb. 5:7-9), for in Him we find every blessing (1 Cor. 1:5).