O God, Our God, How Wonderful Your Name in All the Earth
By what name do we call God? Do we put God in a box with our names and titles:
“Father, Son, Spirit” – a relationship?
“Creator, Redeemer, Sanctifier” – a role?
Or is our God beyond all names?
The refrain for this Sunday’s psalm causes us to reflect on the name we give to God who is beyond names. However, the verses to Psalm 8, like the 1st reading, offer a poetic view of the work of the Holy Spirit, celebrating the glorious vocation God has given to humankind. The verses contemplate the beauty of creation and God’s incredible love.
In the psalm we give thanks and praise to a God who not only exists but reaches out to us and loves us into being.
I see your handiwork in the heavens:
the moon and the stars you set in place.
What is humankind that you remember them,
the human race that you care for them?
You treat them like gods,
dressing them in glory and splendor.
You give them charge of the earth,
laying all at their feet:
cattle and sheep, wild beasts, birds of the sky,
fish of the sea, every swimming creature.
[Verses from The Psalter © 1995, Archdiocese of Chicago: Liturgy Training Publications. The English translation of the Liturgical Psalter © 1994. ICEL, Inc. All rights reserved.]