Italy- The previous Psalm of the Psalter, Psalm 43, was a collective supplication, probably after a military defeat, which concludes with the word hesed: “Save us for your mercy’s sake”. Psalm 44, which the liturgy of the Assumption of Mary into heaven has us pray, responds to the supplications and lamentations of the previous Psalm by inviting believers to see God’s work in daily life: the presence of the young king, a Davidic descendant, a messianic figure, who marries his beloved, with the promise of a numerous offspring recalling the Abrahamic covenant. Psalm 44 had already received a messianic interpretation from the targum, the Aramaic translation of the Bible, and as such was sung in the liturgical celebrations of the synagogue with references to the Messiah and his Bride.
- Rabbinic tradition saw in the Bride of the Messiah the people of Israel, “favored” (Lk 1:28), made “most beautiful”, as Eve was before sin. Mary is the new Eve, mother of believers, the new Israel, born of obedience, and is also a prophecy of the Church, made beautiful by discipleship, Bride of Christ.
- Mary “is given as an archetype of what the Church itself is called to be; in the Mother of God the assembly of believers finds its own symbol and projection… In her, the first in the «communio sanctorum», the Church celebrating on behalf of the whole cosmos sees its ultimate horizon opened… by Christ, the «raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep» (1 Cor 15:20)” (G. Bruni), and by his Mother, who immediately entered the glory of the Kingdom with her body as well. Psalm 44 states: “In her train the virgins, her companions, are brought to you; led in joy and gladness, they enter the palace of the king” (vv. 15-16): together with Christ, Mary precedes all believers on the path of salvation. “For, as Saint Irenaeus says, being obedient she became the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race” (Lumen Gentium, no. 56); “for this reason she was a mother to us in the order of grace” (Lumen Gentium, no. 61).
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Psalm XXVIII SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
8 October 2026