All You Peoples, Bless the Lord

By Fr. Conor Donnelly

(Proofread)

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

My Lord and my God, I firmly believe that you are here, that you see me, that you hear me. I adore you with profound reverence. I ask your pardon for my sins and grace to make this time of prayer fruitful. My Immaculate Mother, Saint Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.

In the Book of Daniel, we are told the Canticle of the Three Young Men, also known as the Trium puerorum. For many centuries, the Church used that hymn as a song of thanksgiving, both in the liturgy of the Mass and also at its conclusion.

King Nebuchadnezzar had built a gigantic image of gold which his subjects were compelled to adore. The punishment for disobeying that decree was cremation in a fiery furnace.

Three young Jews refused to do so. They were tied up and committed to the furnace, where they sang this hymn to the God of their fathers, the God of the Covenant.

“The Biblical text,” said John Paul II, “sounds like an appeal addressed to creatures to proclaim the glory of God the Creator.” This glory exists in God Himself beyond all time.

“Creatures, called into existence by God in a fully free and sovereign decision, participate in a real, though limited and partial way, in the perfection of God’s absolute Fullness.

“They differ from one another according to the degree of perfection they have received, beginning with inanimate beings, then up to animate beings, and finally to man; or rather, higher still, to the creatures of a purely spiritual nature” (John Paul II, Address, Point 8, March 12, 1986).

The hymn begins with an invitation for all creatures to give glory to the Creator: “Bless the Lord, all you works of the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever” (Dan. 3:57).

The angels of heaven lead the chorus. The heavens bless the Lord and so does the rain. All Creation participates: the sun and the moon, the stars of heaven, every shower and dew, the winds, fire and heat, dews and sleet, frost and cold, ice and snow, nights and days, light and darkness, lightnings and clouds.

The earth blesses the Lord with its mountains and its hills, its rivers, its whales and all that moves in the sea, the birds of the air, and [every] beast imaginable. Every created thing blesses the Creator.

Man is lord of Creation. He appears in the latter section of the hymn, taking this order: all mankind in general, then the people of Israel, the priests and servants of the Lord, spirits and souls of the just, holy men of humble heart, followed by the three young men who remain faithful to the Lord.

The Church has added Psalm 150 to this prayer of thanksgiving. It’s the last of the psalms, inviting all beings to bless the Lord. “Praise the Lord in his holy place, praise him in his mighty heavens. Praise him for his powerful deeds, praise his surpassing greatness. O praise him with sound of trumpet, praise him with lute and harp. Praise him with timbrel and dance, praise him with strings and pipes” (Ps. 150:1-4). Every living thing give praise to the Lord!

Our whole life is a time to give thanks to God, especially in the moments after we have received Holy Communion. If we are to give proper thanks to Our Lord, we must have care for our interior disposition.

St. Augustine wrote: “We ought to praise God as much as possible in this life, for this activity will be our occupation for all eternity. If a person does not praise God in this way, he will not be able to join the heavenly chorus. Let us sing the ‘Alleluia’ by saying to one another: give praise to the Lord. Prepare yourselves for giving praise to God in the glorious state (Augustine, quoted by D. de las Heras, Ascetical and Theological Commentary on the Psalms).

“And so, with all the choirs of angels in heaven we proclaim your glory and join in their unending hymn of praise…” (Roman Missal, Preface for the Mass).

This is our prayer to Jesus after we have received Holy Communion: Adoro te devote, latens Deitas. “Devoutly I adore you, O hidden God” (Thomas Aquinas, Hymn, Adore te devote).

We should try to be recollected in these moments when the Lord is one with us. There is nothing more important than to receive this guest of honor worthily. We need to try to mortify our impatience.

If we are generous with Our Lord, we’ll make room for ten minutes of intimate conversation with Him. Eventually there will come a time when we will be impatiently yearning for Holy Mass and Communion. The saints of every age have had the same experience.

During the morning, St. Josemaría used to give thanks for the Mass he had celebrated, and in the afternoon he would prepare for the Mass of the following day. He grew all the time in that awareness of the importance of the Mass, “the center and root of [the] interior life,” he called it (Josemaría Escrivá, The Forge, Point 69; In Love with the Church, Point 43).

That “had penetrated so deeply into his being that if he woke up in the night his thought went immediately to the Mass he was going to celebrate the following day; and with the thought, the desire of glorifying God with and through that unique sacrifice.

“In this way, work, mortifications, aspirations, spiritual communions, details of charity with others or daily contradictions [were always] directed to God—either as a preparation or as an act of thanksgiving” (Federico Suárez, The Sacrifice of the Altar).

We can ask ourselves the question: Do we give full attention during Holy Mass? Do we take special care to live those few moments of thanksgiving after Communion? It’s a matter of supernatural courtesy which we should do our very best to fulfill.

In St. Luke, Our Lord talks about the last days and the Second Coming, when He will come in power and glory. There will be “men fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of [the heavens] will be shaken” (Luke 21:26). This same Son of Man comes to our heart in Holy Communion to strengthen us and fill us with His peace.

He comes as the long-awaited friend. We read that “when Jesus came to Bethany, to the house of his friend Lazarus, one of his friend’s sisters, called Martha, busied herself about the house. The other, Mary, gave her attention to the Lord. It seems that this was by far the most commendable kind of action: if you receive a friend as a guest into your house, you look after him—that is, you keep him company and you converse with him. You do not leave him sitting in the living room, or anywhere else in the house reading the newspaper to amuse himself until you have time to attend to him. This would be an absence of good manners.

“And if the person,” says one writer, “were of such importance that the mere fact of his coming to your house would be regarded as an honor far surpassing your condition and deserts, the discourtesy would be tantamount to a gross insult” (Federico Suárez, op. cit.).

We have to try and treat Jesus well. He wants so much to visit our soul St. Teresa says, “It is not His Majesty’s custom to pay cheaply for his lodging, when he is hospitably received” (Teresa of Ávila, The Way of Perfection).

Holy Mother Church has advised her children to take advantage of these wonderful prayers from Scripture, and also the writings of the saints. The hymn Adoro te devote, the Trium puerorum, the Prayer before a Crucifix, the Prayer of Self-Dedication to Jesus Christ…

Whenever we receive Communion, we can try to have a Missal close by. These prayers that you find in a Missal for after Communion can help us to use this time to the full.

In a certain sense, the whole course of the day depends on the quality of this thanksgiving. Let us try to be sure to use all the means available in order to prepare well for Mass and to make a good thanksgiving. We can be confident that whatever effort we make will be richly rewarded.

In The Forge we’re told, “When you receive Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist, thank him from the bottom of your heart for being so good as to be with you.

“Have you ever stopped to consider that it took centuries and centuries before the Messiah came? All those patriarchs and prophets praying together with the whole people of Israel: Come, Lord, the land is parched! If only your loving expectation were like this” (J. Escrivá, The Forge, Point 991).

We’re told in the Psalms, “The hearts who search for the Lord, rejoice! Seek the Lord and his strength; seek always the face of God!” (Ps. 105:3-4).

When we don’t seek the Lord, then we’ll find that real happiness will be unattainable. Sadness springs from egoism, from the pursuit of comfort, from careless neglect in the things of God and of our fellow men. In short, it springs from living for ourselves.

But God has made us to be happy. He wants us to be even more joyful when we follow His call.

In the Book of Joel we’re told, “Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice, for the Lord has done great things! ... Be glad, O sons of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God, for he has given the early rain for your vindication; he has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the latter rain, as before” (Joel 2:21,23).

Joy is indispensable to a Christian’s life. When a soul is joyful, it has wings to fly to God. A happy soul is closer to God and is able to undertake works of service for other people.

In contrast, sadness paralyzes one’s desire for sanctity and apostolate. It’s a great evil because it clouds our vision. That’s why St. Paul repeats his advice to the early Christians: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice” (Phil. 4:4).

Our Christian joy can prove to be a source of strength in time of trial. It can serve to attract other people to the faith.

Sadness does not come from suffering itself, but from the failure to look upon Jesus. St. Thomas said, “This infirmity of the soul is a vice provoked by disordered self-love. It can also lead to many other problems” (cf. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, II-II, Question 28).

It could be likened to a diseased root which will produce only bitter fruit. Sadness can be the cause of lack of charity, of a reckless love of comfort, of a surrender to temptation of the senses.

In the Furrow we’re told: “You need a heart which is in love, not an easy life, to achieve happiness” (J. Escrivá, Furrow, Point 795).

Happiness is the first effect of love. Sadness is the sterile fruit of egoism, laziness, and the absence of love.

“Sadness can move the soul to anger. [Whenever] we are sad, we know how easy it is for us to become upset at the slightest provocation. Sadness also inclines us to be suspicious and spiteful. Sometimes it may even lead a person to lose their senses,” says St. Gregory (Gregory the Great, Morals).

The sad soul falls into sin without a fight. Such gloominess is a sure road to destruction. In the Book of Proverbs we’re told, “As a moth does by a garment, and a worm by the wood, so the sadness of a man consumes the heart” (Prov. 25:20).

If there should come a time when we experience this sickness of soul, we should try to examine our conscience with courage. Where have you placed your heart?

In The Way we’re told, “‘Let the hearts of them that seek the Lord rejoice’ (1 Chr. 16:10). There you have light, to help you discover the reasons for your sadness” (J. Escrivá, The Way, Point 666).

It’s difficult to become sad when we walk in the presence of Our Father God, when we’re generous in the face of great sacrifice.

St. Paul said to the Corinthians, “I am filled with comfort. With all our affliction, I am overjoyed” (2 Cor. 7:4). If we truly seek the Lord in our life, nothing can take away our peace and joy. Pain will act to purify the soul. Suffering itself will be transformed into joy.

In the Gospel we have many invitations to joy, because there are many invitations to love. The law of love is also the law of joy.

St. Thomas says the virtue of joy is “not distinct from charity, but a certain act and effect of it” (T. Aquinas, op. cit.) Our joy and good humor, whether in calm seas or in rough, constitute a trusty barometer of our union with God.

The Pharisees approached Jesus to ask Him which is the greatest commandment of the Law. And Jesus answered, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second resembles it: You must love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 22:37-39).

This is what we have to do. We have to direct our entire being to God, serve our neighbors, open ourselves to the Lord, and forget about ourselves. We should put aside our longing for ease and comfort, our vanity and our pride.

Many people labor under the delusion that they will find greater happiness once they possess a ‘sufficiency’ of things, once they achieve popularity or are more admired. They have forgotten that all they need is to have a heart in love. No love can ever fill our heart like the love of God. It’s what our hearts were made for.

All noble love acquires its true meaning in the context of a radical love for the Lord above all things. He who puts his heart in the things of this world will not find the love Jesus promised to His own. This is because the worldly person does not know how to love in the deepest sense of the word.

St. Teresa of Ávila has said, “Love has its greatest power when it is perfect. Then we forget our own feelings for the sake of the one we love. If this is really the case, if we seek only to please God, then even the greatest of trials will be made sweet” (Teresa of Ávila, Foundations).

In the Psalms we’re told, “My God is the rock where I take refuge, my shield, my mighty help, my stronghold. … I love you, Lord, my strength” (Ps. 18:1-2). We shall find strength in God. We can also find our joy and peace there, in the things of God.

We should go to the Lord personally each day. Much, indeed everything, depends on our friendship with Him. We should bring this joy and peace to those whom God has placed by our side.

In Christ is Passing By, St. Josemaría said: “Our homes should be bright and cheerful” (cf. J. Escrivá, Christ is Passing By, Point 78), like that of the Holy Family.

If people say that a certain home is like hell, we can immediately think of a home without love, without joy, without Christ. A Christian home should be cheerful because Christ is at its head.

Being disciples of Christ means that we’re living those human and supernatural virtues that are so intimately tied to joy: generosity, cordiality, the spirit of sacrifice, sympathy, concern for making life pleasant for others.

We should bring our joy to the place where we work, to our colleagues and friends, to people we meet by chance on the street. Many of these people may be sad and troubled. We have to try and help them to see the joy of living in Christ. Many souls have found their way to God by means of this attractive virtue.

Christian joy is also necessary for the proper fulfillment of our ordinary obligations. One writer says, “The more important our duties, the more important is it that our attitude be one of Christian joy” (cf. P.A. Reggio, Supernatural Spirit and Good Humor).

When we have responsibility for others, then we have a duty to communicate this joy. Such is the case with parents, priests, spiritual directors, teachers. The smiling face of Our Lord should shine through our life and works.

His perfect peace was shown during His Passion and Death. Precisely when we find our struggle the more taxing, then it is that we must turn to the example of the Master.

We can turn to Our Lady, Cause of our joy. She will lead us to the path of true peace and joy if we should ever lose our way. We will then understand that the path to joy is the same as the path to God.

I thank you, my God, for the good resolutions, affections, and inspirations that you have communicated to me during this meditation. I ask your help to put them into practice. My Immaculate Mother, Saint Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

EW