Day 79: Psalms of Ascent


Numbers 34:1-29 After God had established the boundaries of the Promised Land, plans were made to section off the land that would be assigned to the various tribes. Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh had already received their territories in TRANSJORDAN.


Deuteronomy 33:1-29 On his deathbed Moses extended his blessing to all of Israel. He extolled the goodness of God and the gift of His Law, and he imparted his blessing to the Twelve Tribes just as Jacob gave a blessing to each of his twelve sons before his death. In the end, Moses urged the people of Israel to rejoice not for their own accomplishments but for what God had done for them.


Psalm 120 The Psalmist was being persecuted by deceitful persons. His exile from his home in Jerusalem serves as a metaphor for all the faithful, who are on a spiritual journey toward the destination of their definitive home in Heaven. “This is the cry of the whole Church and of all the saints, who live for the good things of their eternal homeland in the midst of their long exile, because these men of the spirit live side by side with worldly men, and those who seek only the goods of this earth are annoyed by those who strive after heavenly things'' (OH MY GOODNESS, HOW TRUE IS THIS???) (Prosper of Aquitane, Expositio Psalmorum, 119, 5).



Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven we thank you and we praise your name. We thank you for being with us on this journey. You are the one who initiated this journey, God. You are always the one who leads us. You are always the one who speaks first. You are the one who moves first. You are the one who loves us first. All of our prayers to you, all of our listening to you, and all of our loving you back is simply a response to your initiative. So we just thank you. We thank you that if we are hearing these words, we know that you have chosen us. Because you have loved us. Lord God, you choose your people and you continue to guide them and fight for them. And we know that you continue to choose us, as messed up as we are. And you continue to love us and fight for us. Lord God, help us to love you back. And help us to respond to your fighting for us, by being the kind of people who are willing to not fight against you but to fight with you. Help us to love you well and the people around us well. We make this prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, Our Lord. Amen.”