Taste and See

Psalm 34:1-8

I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad.

O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.

I sought the Lord, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.

Look to him, and be radiant; so your faces shall never be ashamed.

This poor soul cried, and was heard by the Lord, and was saved from every trouble.

The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.

O taste and see that the Lord is good; happy are those who take refuge in him.

Whenever the people of Israel gathered in their homes to celebrate the start of the Sabbath or one of their feasts, they took a cup of wine, said a blessing and shared it with one another. This cup of blessing was always a reminder that they had been blessed and an invitation to give thanks to the Lord their God.

Psalm 34, like that cup of blessing, is a way of remembering what God had done for those who prayed it and giving thanks. The final line of the excerpt we have here is an invitation to take that cup of blessing, to “taste and see that the Lord is good.”

Whenever we take the cup of blessing, the chalice of the Precious Blood, we are invited to “taste and see that the Lord is good,” to remember what Christ has done for us, and to give thanks. Whenever we take this cup, we are invited to “magnify the Lord,” to “exalt his name together,’ to be radiant” and to “never be ashamed.” We are invited to remember how God has answered us and delivered us from all our fears, and to give thanks for whenever we have cried, we “were heard by the Lord” and “saved from every trouble.”

The cup we share is thus a cup of blessing, a cup of remembrance and a cup of thanksgiving.