But Deliver Us From Evil and the Deliverance Psalms
By Reverend Thomas K. Murphy, O.F.M. The psalmists of old certainly learned in their own way to pray according to the last phrase of the Lord’s Prayer, since Laments or Deliverance Psalms are by far the largest category of Psalms, comprising over one third of the total. Most of these are Laments of the individual person. In these, the psalmists beg God to rise up and pity them, to save and rescue them, to redeem and deliver them from their afflictions. Their special targets are the wicked – liars, slanderers, bloodthirsty men. The community Laments direct attention to such unsavory groups as unjust judges, invading nations, and oppressive captors. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus, knowing that “the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (cf. Mk 14:38b) warned the sleepy disciples to watch and pray. By the next day, the distraught Apostles had witnessed or heard of the horrendous reality of sin visited upon their beloved Master. All levels of society in Jerusalem were involved: The Jewish High Priests, the Roman governor, the soldiers, the fickle populace. Jesus Christ was executed as a common criminal just outside the wall of the city. The Apostles themselves had been put to the test of human honor, and they, too, had failed miserably. At Gethsemane they fell asleep. As Jesus was being arrested, they all deserted him and fled (cf. Mk [...]