Reflection for the Fifth Sunday of Lent

Today’s Responsorial Psalm, the De Profundis (Latin for “out of the depths”), is a famous psalm both as a prayer for the dead, as well as a cry to God from the “depths” of the heart of the one praying it. This psalm speaks to the universal human experience of desperation that yells for aid from the only One who can give it. Thus, throughout the centuries, poets have resounded their own “De Profundis” – poems composed from a despairing heart grasping for hope. One such poet was Charles Beaudelaire, a French writer of the 1800s, who wrote the following after the death of a loved one:

De Profundis Clamavi

Have pity, my one love and sole delight!
Down to a dark abyss my heart has sounded,
A mournful world, by grey horizons bounded,
Where blasphemy and horror swim by night.

For half the year a heatless sun gives light,
The other half the night obscures the earth.
The arctic regions never knew such dearth.
No woods, nor streams, nor creatures meet the sight.

No horror in the world could match in dread
The cruelty of that dire sun of frost,
And that huge night like primal chaos spread.

I envy creatures of the vilest kind
That they in stupid slumber can be lost —
So slowly does the skein of time unwind!

 (translated from French by Roy Campbell)

Baudelaire’s poem expresses profound suffering through images of nature. It communicates that not even the coldest or emptiest places on earth can mirror the agony of the poet. He is enveloped in a “night like primal chaos.” The poem ends with a deep wish to be like the hibernating animals who can numb themselves to the harsh winter. Expressing this desire for a sedative is like wishing for a kind of death.

We know how God responds to death: “Jesus wept.” (Jn 11:35) This Sunday’s gospel reveals the heart of God in a way that’s compelling to those who experience despair or depression. Our Lord’s deeply felt compassion for Lazarus and those who mourn for him, of course, does not stop at tears. If He were only a man, it would. But He is God, so He brings about a resurrection from the dead.

Praying Psalm 130 is a way in which we cooperate with God’s work of reviving those who are dead or dying spiritually. Compared with Baudelaire’s poem, the psalm expresses great confidence in God. Though the psalmist experiences darkness and pain, he remains steadfast in recognizing God’s power to overcome them. Though a given situation may be beyond human help, God will come with His mercy and redemption. When people experience great suffering, these sentiments of certainty can be difficult to conjure up. One can feel too storm-battered to pray with the same conviction as the psalmist. It is important, then, to pray Psalm 130 for those who are depressed or close to despair. Doing so is like going down with them into their darkness and giving a steady voice to the confidence in God they cannot utter. By God’s power, praying Psalm 130 for the despairing causes them to look up in hope.

We must also remember the power the psalm has to help the souls in purgatory gain the light of eternal glory. Those in the grave have no voice; they are unable to pray for themselves. By praying for the dead, we participate in God’s power to give them eternal life. As Lazarus came back from the grave, so we hope to revive those who are despairing or dead to gain life again. In this way, we console the heart of Jesus who weeps over the death of his friends. We ask God to make our prayers fruitful and to always hold onto Him with steadfast faith.