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[Dignare Me Laudare Te, Virgo Sacrata began four years ago on 4 October 2004. This post is therefore 10 days late, but I still want to mark this occasion by posting a commentary on Psalm 129, my favorite psalm, from the 1948 reprint of a 1914 edition of the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary, printed by E.J. Dwyer, from which I found a commentary on the Ave Maris Stella.] Psalm 129 De profúndis clamávi ad te, Dómine: Dómine, exáudi vocem meam. Fiant aures tuae intendéntes: in vocem deprecationes meae. Si iniquitátes observaveris, Dómine: Dómine, quis sustinébit. Quia...

De Profundis ("Out of the depths"). First words of Psalm 129. The author of this Psalm is unknown; it was composed probably during the Babylonian Exile, or perhaps for the day of penance prescribed by Esdras (I Esd., ix, 5-10). The hard school of suffering during the Exile had brought the people to the confession of their guilt an had kindled in their hearts faith and hope of the Redeemer and confidence in the mercy of God. The De profundis is one of the fifteen Gradual Psalms, which were sung by the Jewish pilgrims of their way to Jerusalem, and...