It also gives us a taste of the internal problems that were beginning to beset the infant Church. The first part of this psalm is a cry for help from the Lord s faithful servant in deep distress an image of Jesus on the cross. The second part, which is quoted here, praises God the deliverer. One who has experienced God s saving works cannot keep silent, but is impelled to proclaim his praises to all. Conscience is not merely a good feeling or an opinion about what is right.
Conscience is the measure of our own attitudes and acts against the criterion of mutual love.
Faith in God and love of one another are inseparable. Claiming one without living the other is phony.