Psalms — Chapter 48

HOMO CUM IN HONORE ESSET NON INTELLEXIT. Lapide: Psalm 48 — "Man when he was in honour did not understand: he hath been compared to senseless beasts and made like to them." The tragedy of original sin: man, created in honor and dignity (cf. Ps. 8:6), did not understand his vocation and sank to the level of the beast through sin. Lapide: this verse is cited in the Office of the Dead as a meditation on mortality and judgment. The refrain (v.13 and v.21) — repeated like a toll of the bell — calls every soul to remember its dignity and its duty.