Psalm 23 begins with words that make us comforted for their straightforward admission of our need: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” It is this line that prepares us to receive the seven sacraments in just six short verses of a beautiful hymn. And before we explore the sacraments themselves in the words of the psalmist, we must pause to recognize why we need them.
It is the start of Psalm 14 that reminds us, “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” (Ps 14:1) And, in contrast, St. Gabriel reminds us during the Annunciation, “With God nothing will be impossible.” (Lk 1:37) We have no human way to pay our ransom to God for the sin that we have committed, just as we have no human way to cleanse ourselves, to sustain ourselves, along the path to the mountain of God. We can walk the roads of our lives without God, using only earthly sustenance. But to truly live without want – to “lie down in green pastures” (Ps 23:2) – we must seek pastures that do not wither away like the grass of Psalm 103. “As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more.” (Ps 103:15-16)
To place us into those green pastures, the Lord leads us “beside still waters” (Ps 23:2). And here we come to the sacrament of initiation, the doorway that is baptism. For what other reason could there be to rest beside those waters, to let the calm sea wash over us? The start of the third verse reveals this: “He restores my soul.” The sacrament of baptism restores our soul, redeeming it from the original sin that stains it and turning us toward God. We open our eyes to see the green fields and the placid sea.
And though there are many paths, ways that we can stray from the road that leads to the mountain of God, we have a way to return to the right path. “He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake” (Ps 23:3). It is the name of Jesus that our sins are forgiven in the sacrament of reconciliation, and it is a return to righteousness that we receive. When we stray from the path, we can find our shepherd’s hand upon our shoulder, guiding us back to the way that leads out of the wilderness, to the straight and narrow way.
Our shepherd, Jesus Christ, is present in our midst always through the hands of our priests. Along with the other consecrated members of the Body of Christ, the priests provide God’s healing and mercy to those who desperately need it. For we are indeed sheep, white and innocent among the shadows of the world. As Jesus told us, “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves” (Mt 10:16). How are we to traverse “the valley of the shadow of death” (Ps 23:4) without a good shepherd to guide us? Acknowledging that we need our shepherd, in fact, is the only way to make it through.
Without Christ, present in our priests, we are “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Mt 9:36). But knowing that holy orders have passed down from the apostolic times, with all of the power that Jesus gave to those who walked with Him, we can fear no evil. “For thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me” (Ps 23:4). We are reminded that Jesus is “with us always, even to the end of the age” (Mt 28:20) when we look upon the staff of those who lead us.
And we can fear no evil in that valley of death, even when earthly death approaches and surrounds us, because of the sacrament of anointing. Because of this, when we are sent out, we “do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul” (Mt 10:28). Even if we are strengthened in our earthly bodies, we are all the more strengthened to reach our ultimate goal: salvation.
The nourishment that brings us out of our tribulation and sustains us as we walk the narrow path is the Eucharist. When Christ was born and laid in a manger by Our Lady, the Blessed Mother, it can truly be said that “She has also set her table” (Prov 9:2). To that place of feeding – in Bethlehem, the city of bread – with the light shining over the stable, the words of Mary called out: “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here! Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. Leave simpleness, and live, and walk in the way of insight” (Prov 9:4-6).
Through Mary, the Mother of the Eucharist, God “preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies.” The bread that came down from heaven is the “armor of God” (Rom 13:12) that shields us, as well as the food that strengthens us to continue to walk our path, even when it does descend into the shadow of death. For we are all one in the Body of Christ.
One in His Body, we accept the task of being His hands and feet on earth through the sacrament of confirmation. Without Him, we can do nothing, but with Him our “cup overflows” (Ps 23:5). Like the earliest followers of Christ, who did not know how to pray, didn’t know how to proclaim Him, didn’t even know how to remain with Him to the end, we are strengthened by the Holy Spirit.
“Thou anointest my head with oil,” the psalmist says (Ps 23:5), and this gives us the same gifts that the tongues of fire gave to those who were in the Upper Room with the Mother of God. We are all one in the Body of Christ, not just in the food that we eat, but also in the universal call to holiness, the blessed commission that we receive as our head is anointed. “Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! It is like the precious oil upon the head, running down upon the beard, upon the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes!” (Ps 133:1-2).
With the gifts of the Holy Spirit, “goodness and mercy” indeed follow us for all our days. (Ps 23:6) With this, we are strengthened to remain faithful to our nuptial vows, to Christ, to His Church, and to our spouses on earth, if we are called to that sacrament. Whether we have received the sacrament of holy orders or the sacrament of marriage, or both, we are joined to Christ, in His house. We love our neighbor because we love Him.
“For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness” (Ps 84:10). And with the sacraments, we shall truly “dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (Ps 23:6).
Steven Richardson is a Lay Dominican and a member of St. Ann Parish in Charlotte with his wife Mary and his three children, Maria, Rita and Joseph.