Psalms — Chapter 41

QUEMADMODUM DESIDERAT CERVUS. Lapide: Psalm 41 — "As the hart panteth after the fountains of water: so my soul panteth after Thee, O God." One of the most beautiful expressions of mystical longing in Scripture. Lapide follows Augustine's famous commentary: the hart (cervus) was believed to draw serpents from their holes by its breath and devour them; having filled itself with venom, it thirsts desperately for water to quench the burning. So the soul, filled with the poison of sin and worldly desires, burns with thirst for God alone. Lapide: this verse is used liturgically at baptism (the newly baptized panting for the living waters they have just received), and in mystic theology as the archetype of contemplative longing.