Let Us Go Rejoicing, to the House of God
If this refrain sounds familiar, it’s because it is. This psalm was just sung this past weekend, the Feast of Christ the King, year C. It is the only time in the liturgical calendar that the same psalm is used consecutively, ending one liturgical year and beginning the next. The refrain is the same but additional verses are sung on this 1st Sunday of Advent, Year A. Remember the psalm expands on the 1st reading which describes the fullness of Life in God’s time when peace shall rule. The assembly is invited to “go rejoicing” toward that future promise, a future in which God’s plan of peace and justice will come to fulfillment. Central to Psalm 122 is the call for peace (shalom). This peace is more than an absence of war and violence, but refers to a social condition that every person has what she or he needs to live. As you pray and reflect on this psalm, pray for the blessing of shalom on our world, our nation, our families and ourselves.
I rejoiced when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of God!”
And now our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem
Jerusalem, built as a city bound firmly together,
to which the tribes go up, the tribes of our God,
as was decreed for Israel, to give thanks to your holy name.
There, thrones for judgment were set, the thrones of the house of David.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! Peace be to your homes!
Peace be within your walls, and security within your borders!
For love of family and friends I will say “Peace be within you!”
For the sake of the house of our God I seek your good.
[verses from People’s Companion to the Breviary © 1997 by the Carmelites of Indianapolis]