In my Psalms class we had an assignment to do 12 meditations on the psalms of our choice.  I chose Psalm 1 because it is my favorite psalm and opens the door to the rest of the psalms.  I have found that there is a psalm for basically every situation in life and either can bring us comfort in a time of need or help us to give words to the feelings of anger we may be having.  Jesus often prayed the psalms throughout his life and every Deacon, Priest, or Religious continues to pray the psalms in the form of the Liturgy of the Hours.  They are amazing bits of poetry and prayer that have been handed down through the ages giving us a great insight into the life of Israel and even Jesus himself. 

“The Psalter is like a stately mansion that has only one key to the main entrance.  Within the mansion, however, each separate chamber has its own key.  Even though the great key to the grand entrance is the Holy Spirit, still each room without exception has its own smaller key.  Should anyone accidentally confuse the keys and throw them out and then want to open one the rooms, he could not do so until he found the right one.  Similarly, the psalms are each like single cells, every one with its own proper key.  The main entrance to the mansion of the Psalter is the first psalm which begins with the words: ‘Happy the man who follows not the counsel of the wicked.’” – St. Jerome Homilies on the Psalms.

 I love this quote from St. Jerome about the first psalm.  It is telling of what the rest of the work is about.  St. Jerome goes on to say how the key to this psalm is the man who is seeking perfection in Christ our Lord and follows that path.  I fell in love with this psalm for that reason.  It is telling of the people that we spend time with and who we choose as our friends.  If we “walk in the counsel of the wicked” they may just be acquaintances or people we work with but if we “stand in the way of sinners” we begin to wonder if these are the right friends.  We may be spending too much time with them.  If we “sit in the seat of scoffers” we have become comfortable with whom we are friends and may find ourselves too deep to get out. 

 When I was in college I found myself with two different groups of friends, those who I played football with and partied with and those who I was in a Bible study with.  I was blessed to have a Bible study leader who cared enough to invite me to do things rather than go to parties on the weekends because he knew I may be in danger of sin if I went with them.    He invested a lot of time with me because I was often the only one to show up for Bible study, so we had a lot of good conversations.  I cut myself off from the friends that led me down the path to sin only by way of transferring schools.  I was able to begin anew and find friends who would challenge me in my relationship with Jesus.  

When we spend time in meditation and prayer we begin to imitate Him whom we meditate upon.  We become “like a tree planted by streams of water, that yields its fruit in due season” and show forth our faith without even knowing it.  It becomes so natural that we live it each and every day with no problem and it becomes our delight to do so.  We may even have to give our lives for our faith like the martyrs.   

The key to the mansion comes through this first psalm and it begins with a call to happiness.  We will be happy to follow the Lord and live in Him in this life so that we may be eternally happy with Him in the next.  The first part of Psalm 1 is contrasted with those who are evil.  “Not so are the wicked, not so!  For they like winnowed chaff shall be driven away by the wind.”  This verse becomes very alive being from a farm in Kansas.  I usually get to help my Dad with wheat harvest every year.  The chaff comes out the back of the combine and on windy days you don’t want to be any where near downwind from it.  The chaff is extremely annoying, makes you itch, sneeze and makes your allergies kick in.  The chaff is the first thing to be blown away in the wind.  The wicked are like this. 

 “When the wicked are judged they shall not stand,” like chaff in the field they are blown away and scattered all over place.  The wicked cannot stand against the unity that meditating on the Word of God can bring.  It is in this that we find comfort.  God’s love is stronger than any kind of evil that stands in our way.  If we embrace this love we can with stand the storms that come into our life and become a “tree that yields its fruit in due season.