Psalm 143: 9/11
1 Hear my prayer, O Lord;
give ear to my supplications!
In Thy faithfulness answer me, in Thy righteousness!
2 Enter not into judgment with Thy servant;
for no man living is righteous before thee.
3 For the enemy has pursued me;
he has crushed my life to the ground;
he has made me sit in darkness like those long dead.
4 Therefore my spirit faints within me;
my heart within me is appalled.
5 I remember the days of old,
I meditate on all that Thou hast done;
I muse on what Thy hands have wrought.
6 I stretch out my hands to Thee;
my soul thirsts for Thee like a parched land.
7 Make haste to answer me, O Lord!
My spirit fails!
Hide not thy face from me,
lest I be like those who go down to the Pit.
8 Let me hear in the morning of Thy steadfast love,
for in Thee I put my trust.
Teach me the way I should go,
for to Thee I lift up my soul.
9 Deliver me, O Lord, from my enemies!
I have fled to Thee for refuge!
10 Teach me to do Thy will,
for Thou art my God!
Let Thy good spirit lead me
on a level path!
11 For Thy name’s sake, O Lord, preserve my life!
In Thy righteousness bring me out of trouble!
12 And in Thy steadfast love cut off my enemies,
and destroy all my adversaries,
for I am Thy servant.
Psalm 143 has many uses in the Orthodox Church. The last of the six matins psalms. The “lesser blessing of water.” Small and great compline. The service of prayer “for various needs.” Verse 10b is the communion hymn for Pentecost: “Let Thy good Spirit lead me on a level path” (or in the ancient Greek version, “Thy good Spirit shall lead me into the land of righteousness”).
But I remember Psalm 143 best because it is part of the “Office for the parting of the soul from the body, when a person has suffered a long time.”
When my sister Alla was close to death, after a long struggle with cancer, this was one of the prayers that Fr Alexander Garklavs read by her bedside on June 19, 2010. I made a note of it because the words seemed so right. She died three days later.
Sickness, suffering and dying are enemies that “crush my life to the ground,” that cause the spirit to faint and the heart to be appalled. And still, in the midst of that, we flee for refuge to the crucified and resurrected Lord who cuts off these enemies and will lead us into a place of brightness, a place of repose, where there is no sickness, nor sorrow, nor sighing, but life everlasting.
May God grant eternal rest and memory eternal to all who died in the attacks on 9/11. And may he comfort the families and friends who mourn their loss.