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- Psalm 119.46-48
I and Pangur Ban my cat, ‘Tis a like task we are at:
Hunting mice is his delight, Hunting words I sit all night...
Practice every day has made Pangur perfect in his trade;
I get wisdom day and night Turning darkness into light.
- Anonymous, Pangur Ban, Irish, 12th century?
Robin Flower’s translation of “Pangur Ban” (here just the first and last stanzas) affords one of the great joys of Celtic Christian literature.
This poem, in which the scribe compares his love for the Word – carefully copying, dutifully studying, and prayerfully meditating on every word – to his white cat’s quest for mice, was discovered in the margin of an academic manuscript, a moment’s amusement amid the tedious, difficult, but – apparently – delightful work of studying the Word.
Do we delight in the Word of God? Do we even think that way? We may read it, perhaps carry it to church, and maybe even enjoy some of our studies. But can we say that we delight in the Scriptures of our Lord?
Reading, meditating on, and studying the Bible can be a source of great joy and enrichment every day of our lives. But we have to come to this discipline not grudgingly or half-heartedly; instead, let us imagine ourselves like Pangur Ban, on a mission to locate, capture, and consume a prize. Nothing satisfies the deep hunger in our souls the way Scripture can. The more we pursue the Lord in His Word, and the harder we work at cultivating delight in God’s Word, the more time we’ll spend in it, and the more we’ll savor the time spent.
When that begins to happen, our delighting in God’s Word will translate into joyous living according to the commandments and promises of the Lord.
Job declared that he esteemed the words of God’s mouth “more than my necessary food” (Job 23.12). As Jeremiah put it, “Thy words were found and I did eat them, and Thy Word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart...” (Jer. 15.16).
Do the people who know you best see that you delight in the Word of God?
With our lips we praise You, Jesus, for You teach us, full and free.
Now Your Word will ever please us; Your commandments true shall be.
Let Your had come forth to ease us; we Your Word choose gratefully!
Lord, as Patrick fed the people of Ireland heavenly feasts from Your Word, so feed me, that I may delight in Scripture as never before. Adapted from Patrick, Confession
T. M. Moore, Principal
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