Psalms — Chapter 12

USQUEQUO DOMINE OBLIVISCERIS ME IN FINEM. Lapide: Psalm 12 — "How long, O Lord, wilt Thou forget me unto the end?" The prayer of desolation. Lapide: God does not literally forget, but the soul in affliction experiences divine silence as abandonment. The "how long" (usquequo) repeated four times in two verses = the anguish of prolonged waiting. Lapide: this psalm is the model of persevering prayer in the dark night of the soul, ending (v.6) with sudden confidence: "But I have trusted in Thy mercy."