If you decide in your heart  to go on the holy journey … "

The Judaic tradition attributes Psalm 83 to the "children of Core", a priestly family, who attended to the liturgical service and guarded the Ark of the Covenant (cfr 1Cr 9,19). The inspiration was probably born during the pilgrimages prescribed by the law of Moses (cfr Ex 23, 17; Sam. 1,3; Lk 2,42). This pilgrim song overflows with a deep yearning for God and the joy, which comes from the Lord for those who seek Him in sincerity of heart. It is a song of actuality because it is typical of our life which is a pilgrimage. All of us are on a journey. However, the important thing is to decide in our heart that our going may become a "holy journey", namely that it may be a spiritual journey.

A fathoming of the text

 How lovely are your dwelling-places, Yahweh Sabaoth

The exclamation expresses how dear the temple is to the pilgrim, the temple where the Lord dwells. He is named Sabaoth, in the sense that He is the sovereign of the angelic flights or, according to other exegetes, of groups of stars, namely of the cosmos.

My whole being yearns and pines for Yahweh's courts; my heart and my body cry out for joy for the living God.

These verses express the impetus of the desire of God, which is certainly not an activity of the brain clothed with poetry.  The whole person of the pilgrim: heart (decisional seat) and body, (bodily dimension), the totality of man is seized by a great joy: we exult not in ourselves, but in God who gives life. The psalmist seems to say that the yearning for God is a deep need of man, almost an inborn instinctive identity of incarnated spirit.

Even the sparrow has found a home, the swallow a nest to place its young: your altars, Yahweh Sabaoth , my king and my God.

The background of the psalm is the temple towards which the pilgrim moves, probably during the solemn feast of the tents. Whoever moves towards Sion and its temple keeps the desire so vivid in his heart as to visualise the most delicate image of the birds, who have the good luck of making their nests near the altars of God and of putting their young in them.

Once again we read the expression, Yahweh "Sabaoth", accompanied by "my king and my God". We exalt the greatness, the majesty and the sovereignty of God. But the repeated possessive adjective "my" expresses also the personal relation with God, who does not crash the faithful man, but introduces him to intimacy.

 How blessed are those who live in your house; they shall praise you continually. Blessed those who find their strength in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.

The psalmist underlines two aspects of joy: that of living with the Lord, in intimacy with Him and, even more, that of understanding how life is a journey. It is the matter of a pilgrimage, of a "holy journey". It is the same as if he said: life is a journey: make up your mind to turn it into a spiritual journey, rather than sliding down into your days and with your days. Where is the strength? It is not in you, but in the Lord. To discover it is a source of serenity and joy.

As they pass through the valley of the Balsam, they make there a waterhole, and -a further blessing- early rain fills it. They make their way from height to height. God shows himself to them in Zion.

"Valley of the Balsam" in the Vulgate it is "valle lacrimarum", from which we have the expression  "in hac lacrimarum valle",  (" in this vale of tears") of the "Hail holy Queen, to mean our life on earth. The immediately following affirmation is stupendous. Within the "holy journey", the pilgrim changes this desolate place into a pleasant place of springs. The same beneficial rain (probably of the incoming autumn), becomes a symbol of blessing and peace. In fact, is there anything impossible for him who lives in love? Here is another precious affirmation. A man who lives within a spiritual journey, as he keeps on moving perceives an increase of vigour. It is the power of God which he implores with an ever more determined trust.

Yahweh, God Sabaoth, hear my prayer (…) listen (…) look, (…) and see the face of your anointed. Better (…) to stand on the threshold of God's house than to live in the tents of the wicked.

Who is this anointed? The king or, more probably, the priest of the post-exilic epoch, head of the Judaic community.  In a Christian reading of the psalm it is the person who is consecrated to God in Baptism, more radically in the priestly ordination or the religious consecration through the vows.

It is interesting to note the confidence with which the psalmist turns to God, invoking Him to listen, to look: a powerful help for his choice of entering the house of God rather than living in the tents of the wicked. It is the same as to say: Help me, because I want to live with You and as you like.

For Yahweh God is a rampart and shield, he gives grace and glory (…) to those whose life is blameless, (…). Blessed is he who trusts in you.

Two images: "rampart" and "shield". They express two realities, which infuse security in the man who chooses uprightness without letting himself be allured by the gleaming of other ways. He chooses with determination, without fear or discouragement, because he trusts and knows the Source of vigour and joy.

Let us meditate actualising

The prophet Isaiah invites, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of Yahweh" (Is. 2, 3). "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light (…). You have increased the joy" (Is 9, 1-2).

Even the author of Psalm 88 says, "Blessed the people who walk in the light of your face: they will rejoice the whole daylong".

The theme of walking in the light is a very important consistent thread, which crosses the whole Bible.  I suggest to consult more passages, "The nations will come to your light" (Is 60,3); and also Micah 6,8; Isaiah 33,15; Ezekiel 18, 9 etc. Yes, if we reflect well, this theme is an interpretative key of the human existence.

Today many people are in trouble because they do not know the reason why they are on earth. What is the sense of life? Where am I going to within my days?

Wanted by God, who has created me in love, my life is a path with a secure, beautiful and charming end. It is truly worthwhile to live it, paying attention to the "semaphores", or the indications of the Lord through the Law.

Yes, it is beautiful and joyful to be persuaded that to live is a call to start "the holy journey", listening to Jesus who says, "Walk while you have the light", that is, while you can encounter Him,  be strengthened by His Word, by the Eucharistic Bread, by the intimacy, which we experience in our heart when we contact Him along the journey. You choose to walk according to the Spirit because of Him (cfr Gal 6,26 and Rom 4), rather than because of the instinctive impulses of selfishness.  Sure, like every other man on earth, he who walks spiritually may also find himself in the "vale of tears", but just because he is aware of being on a pilgrimage towards the radiant end of the true House,  he changes that valley into a "spring" of sense, a spring of love and, consequently, of joy.

"My heart and my body exult in the living God" (v.3).

If you know that your life is a journey and it is worthwhile to make it because its end is very beautiful, you can't help singing for joy. Put into your backpack only plenty of good will for uprightness, for never refusing any good (v.13) and be happy, because you are one who trusts in the Lord."

The word questions me

Do I keep very clear and well rooted in my heart the conviction  that to live is to walk in the light of a God made man, whose face is Peace, whose Word is Life, whose love is Jesus?

How do I behave when I run up against the "vale of tears"? Do I throw myself down on the ground, fully discouraged,  or do I take out of my backpack my daily dose of trust in the Lord?  Rather than skipping my prayer, do I intensify it, going on in my yourney, thus changing tears into a source of joy for the family and friends?

Have I understood that I must make up my mind to set on the journey, walking according to the inspiration of the Spirit, which comes from the Law of God (the commandments), from the Word of Jesus and the New Testament? Have I understood that I must uproot the ego and its impulses, the incentives of this type of society, a society which exalts the running after money, sex and success at any cost?

Do I often receive the sacraments and do I meditate the Word of God to draw from them the strength I need?

Though hard, is my journey an  exultation and a singing for joy? Or do I allow sadness to weigh down on me?

For  my prayer

I seek a time of silence, perhaps in the light of the tabernacle, or in the sunlight (symbol of the Lord). I expose myself to the light, asking the Lord to let me decide the "holy journey" in my heart, in the depth of my being, that is, to walk in the light of His face and His teachings. "Violent men make me stumble laying out snares where I walk (Psalm 140, 4), but the Lord is my sun, my shield and my strength. I trust in Him, I shall fear no evil and will rejoice in his love.