From verse 10, the concept of and the word sin disappear, and in its place, joy appears and shines forth.
It could not be otherwise. Guilt complexes populate the soul with sadness, a salty and bitter sadness. However, when mercy dawns on the soul and as man realizes that, despite his excesses and overindulgences; he is still encircled by arms that favor him. Tenderness, freely given, perfumes his house. The consequences were foreseeable. Sadness disappears like nocturnal birds at dawn. Everything; the walls and inner spaces, are clothed with a spring like air perfumed with joy and gladness.
My God, my soul pines for the joy, that joy that fled from my house: I beg You to give it back to me, Lord, so I can sing a hymn of salvation (v. 14).
In verses 15 -17 the psalmist goes to the highest rooftop to shout to the four winds the news of his salvation and the wonders of the Lord. It could not have happened any other way; there, where something happened, the one experiencing it could not keep quiet. He will speak with words and with gestures, with an I do not know what, but those who have moved out of God’s arms will hear and return home to the Father. (v. 15).
The psalmist is transformed then into a witness. His mouth is a trumpet that proclaims to the four winds the marvels of love (v. 16). Your love, Lord, will break my chains and bolts. You will open my lips, and my mouth will become like a silver bugle that will resound above the hills announcing the Great Liberator to the world (v. 17).
This feat of salvation, this magnificent drama of Psalm 51 ends, as can be expected, with a glorious outcome.
When the inner spaces were inhabited by sadness-shame, all the sacred tasks like prayer, the rites, and the offerings, appeared to our eyes to be covered by a shadow. However, now that we have been visited by Mercy and our inner beings are filled with light; from that moment on a new springtime appears everywhere, and the whole world is covered in a mantle of glory.
Everything makes sense now. The Eucharist is a banquet; praying the Divine Office is a feast; the consecrated life, a celebration of freedom. Difficulties are faced with ease; to exist is a privilege; life, a hymn of joy; everything looks different; because all is clothed with the mantle of Mercy.
The long and depressing lament for sin has been transformed into a dance of jubilation by the work and grace of the never- ending love of our God and Father.
Taken from the book “Psalms for Life”, Chapter 7 “The Mercies of the Lord”, by Father Ignacio Larrañaga.
