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Hi and welcome to the Modern Psalmist Podcast. I’m Rebecca De La Torre.

Today we celebrate the 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C. In an effort to release a podcast every week, I’m going to focus on just the responsorial psalm and the communion antiphon for the remainder of this ordinary time cycle, with an occasional featured song as my limited production time permits.

The Psalm response for today is from Psalm chapter 15:

“He who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord.”

The psalm for today is almost exactly identical to the psalm from the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B, except that that response is

“The one who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord.”

I’m not sure why the church leaders chose to use the more general term “the one” for last year’s cycle, but the masculine pronoun “he” in today’s readings. The verses are identical. But because I recorded the psalm last year, I’m sharing that version here. The sheet music has the option for either one, depending on the feast day.

The psalm describes the outward signs of a person who is living an intimate relationship with God.

The psalm verses tell us that these qualities include:

“One who walks blamelessly and does justice;
who thinks the truth in his heart”

and

“he honors those who fear the LORD”

These qualities are some of the standards by which we should measure our own lives.

“who thinks the truth in his heart” – that’s a really subtle one. I have to ask myself, do I always think the truth in my heart? Or do I deceive myself in subtle ways? It’s something we should all think about, and pray that the Lord will reveal any subtle improprieties to us.

I like to think about that as I reflect on this psalm.

The Communion Antiphon for today is taken from Psalm chapter 111, verses 4 & 5.:

“The Lord, the gracious, the merciful,
has made a memorial of his wonders;
he gives food to those who fear him.”

The verses go on to proclaim the Lord’s mercy and justice, which is fitting with the responsorial psalm. While the responsorial psalm outlines several qualities of a just person, the communion antiphon praises those same qualities that are demonstrated to us by our Lord.

I hope you enjoyed my interpretations of the responsorial psalm and communion antiphon for today, the 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C. Links to the recordings and the sheet music can be found in the show notes or on TheModernPsalmist.com.

Tune in next week for more musical interpretations of our sacred psalms. God bless you.