Praying with the Psalms in Lent: 22 March 2022 (Psalms 42)

‘As the deer pants for the water’ (Psalm 42: 1) … at the edges of Muckross Lake in Killarney, Co Kerry (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

I spent another night in Milton Keynes Hospital last night following my minor stroke on Friday night. I am waiting results this morning of a CT scan yesterday and an MRI scan the day before, and have also seen pharmacists, doctors, nurses and radiographers in the last day or so. But, before this day begins, I am taking some time early this morning (22 March 2022) for prayer, reflection and reading.

During Lent this year, in this Prayer Diary on my blog each morning, I am reflecting in these ways:

1, Short reflections on a psalm or psalms;

2, reading the psalm or psalms;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

Psalm 42:

Psalm 42 is the first psalm in Book II in the Psalms, from Psalm 42 to 72. This second book of Psalms is also known as the ‘Elohistic Psalter’ because the word YHWH is rarely used and God is generally referred to as Elohim.’

In English translations, this psalm is often known by its opening words, ‘As a deer (or hart) longs for flowing streams (brooks), so my soul longs for you, O God ’ (verse 1). In Latin, its incipit in the Psalterium Gallicanum is Quemadmodum desiderat cervus, but in the Psalterium Romanum this is Sicut cervus.

The psalm has been set to music in Palestrina’s Sicut cervus, Handel’s As pants the hart and Mendelssohn’s Psalm 42.

In the slightly different numbering system in the Greek Septuagint and most Latin translations, this psalm is numbered as Psalm 41.

The psalm is a hymn psalm. It is one of 12 psalms attributed to the sons of Korah. But, despite this attribution, the text is written in the first person singular. We know the writer lives in the northern kingdom, for he refers to Mount Sinai as Mount Horeb (see 42: 5). He has a deep desire to visit God him in the Temple, but is ill or wounded, and unable to make a pilgrimage from the north to Jerusalem.

He has fond memories of past pilgrimages (42: 4), but he wonders whether his inability to visit God in the Temple means God has forgotten him (42: 9), and ungodly people say he is ill because he is wicked (43: 1).

He now prays that God may come to his rescue, so that he may be able to make the pilgrimage once again.

Some commentatoprs suggest that King David composed this psalm when he was prevented from returning to the sanctuary in Jerusalem, either due to persecution by Saul or because of Absalom’s revolt.

The psalm can be divided into two parts, each ending with the same line – verses 6 and 12 in the Hebrew text.

The psalmist bemoans all the troubles he has endured in his exile and prays for salvation. He laments his remoteness from the Temple of God, and he expresses his desire for the renewal of God’s presence.

Some ancient Hebrew manuscripts have this Psalm combined with Psalm 43, and some commentators suggest that on account of similarities of thought and language in Psalm 42 and 43, these two psalms were originally one. They form one single poem or song consisting of three stanzas, each with the same refrain (42: 5, 42: 11; 43: 5).

Among Jews today, this psalm is traditionally recited as a prayer for the end of the exile, and to find favour in the eyes of others.

Sephardi Jews recite Psalm 42 on the first and second nights of Sukkot prior to the evening prayer. Those who follow the custom of the Gra say Psalm 42 as the Song of the Day on the second day of Sukkot.

Psalm 42 is one of the ten Psalms of the Tikkun HaKlali of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov.

Many verses in this Psalm are echoed by Christ during his agony in the Garden of Gethsemane (see Matthew 26: 38; Mark 14: 34; John 12: 27).

‘As a deer longs for flowing streams’ (Psalm 42: 1) … mosaics in the sanctuary in Saint Bartholomew’s Church, Ballsbridge, Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Psalm 42 (NRSVA):

To the leader. A Maskil of the Korahites.

1 As a deer longs for flowing streams,
so my soul longs for you, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
When shall I come and behold
the face of God?
3 My tears have been my food
day and night,
while people say to me continually,
‘Where is your God?’

4 These things I remember,
as I pour out my soul:
how I went with the throng,
and led them in procession to the house of God,
with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving,
a multitude keeping festival.
5 Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my help 6 and my God.

My soul is cast down within me;
therefore I remember you
from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,
from Mount Mizar.
7 Deep calls to deep
at the thunder of your cataracts;
all your waves and your billows
have gone over me.
8 By day the Lord commands his steadfast love,
and at night his song is with me,
a prayer to the God of my life.

9 I say to God, my rock,
‘Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I walk about mournfully
because the enemy oppresses me?’
10 As with a deadly wound in my body,
my adversaries taunt me,
while they say to me continually,
‘Where is your God?’

11 Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my help and my God.

Today’s Prayer:

The USPG Prayer Diary this week has a particular focus on ‘Lingering Legacies’ and remembering the victims of slavery and the transatlantic slave trade. The Prayer in the USPG Prayer Diary this morning (22 March 2022) invites us to pray:

Let us pray with Keila Comrie, an 8-year-old from Jamaica, as she celebrates the ending of slavery and prays that we may never allow ourselves to become slaves of impersonal things.

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

‘As the deer pants for the water’ (Psalm 42: 1) … the base of the ‘Market Cross’ in Kells, Co Meath (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

Celebrating the presence of the Lynders family in a house in Portrane for 300 years

The Lynders Farmhouse in Portane, has been in the possession of the Lynders family for 300 years since 14 March 1722 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

I was sorry that unexpected circumstances meant I missed the celebrations last Monday [14 March 2022] marking the three centuries of continuous presence of the Lynders family in Portrane, Co Dublin.

The Lynders Farmhouse was built in 1722 by my grandmother’s ancestor, John Lynders, and is the oldest house in Portane. My second cousin, Ger Lynders, now lives in the house, and is still proud of how he has lovingly restored and extended the family house.

John Lynders probably came to Portrane from Chipping Norton in Oxfordshire at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries. An original family still in the position of Ger Lynders shows that 300 years ago last Monday, on 14 March 1722, he entered an agreement with the principal inhabitants of Portrane Common, Nicholas Carberry and Thomas Bath, to maintain the watercourse leading from the Commons of Portrane to the sea.

In return for this, John Lynders received a grant of part of the Commons of Portrane for a garden, to hold freehold. The agreement, witnessed by Owen Ward and Henry Moran, is still in the possession of Ger Lynders.

In addition, John Lynders received assistance from the William King (1650-1729), Archbishop of Dublin (1703-1729), in building the original Lynders house in Portrane. This means that – with Ger’s children and another generation there – ten successive generation of the Lynders family have lived in the same house for three centuries continuously, from 1722 to 2022.

Although the name Landers is found in Co Limerick, the name Linders is found across Europe, including the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden and Denmark, while in Belgium there is a family named Lindeers.

A photograph of the Lynders Farmhouse in Portane in the mid-20th century (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

One theory says the family name is derived from Linden, the French for ‘lime trees.’ Another theory suggests the name is Lindars and of Swedish or Scandinavian origin. However, the surnames Linders and Lynders are found as variants of a family name more often found today as Lindars and that can be traced back to Oxfordshire as early as ca 1562. The earliest records of this family spell the name Lynders, but by 1700 members of the Oxfordshire family were spelling their name Linders and Lindars.

William Lynders (ca 1562-1624) may have been born ca 1562. He lived in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, about 25 miles north-west of Oxford, in the heart of the Cotswolds.

He was the father of four sons and a daughters, who were born in Chipping Norton between 1592 and 1602. His fourth child and third son, Ellis Lynders (1597-1684), born in Chipping Norton on 11 March 1597. He married Elizabeth Hinks and they were the parents of four sons and three or four daughters. He died on 20 October 1684, aged 87, in Chipping Norton.

The descendants of this Oxfordshire family used the variants Linders and Lynders, and shared many of the first names of the Portrane family of the same name. From the 18th century, the spelling of their family name was standardised as Lindars.

It is believed the ancestor of the Portrane family may have first come to Ireland at the time of the Battle of the Boyne. The name is spelt, at different times, Linders, Lynders and Lunders, often in reference to one person.

John Lynders (ca 1675-post 1722), who built the family home in Portrane in 1722, seems to have been born ca 1675. He was probably a son of Ellis Lynders (ca 1633/1634-1682) of Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire and his second wife Susannah, although his baptism is not recorded in Chipping Norton Parish.

A carving on the boundary wall recalls the date 1722 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

On 14 March 1722, John Lynders entered an agreement with the principal inhabitants of Portrane Common, Nicholas Carberry and Thomas Bath, to maintain the watercourse leading from the Commons of Portrane to the sea, in return for which he received a grant of part of the Commons of Portrane, Co Dublin, for a garden, to hold freehold. The agreement was witnessed by Owen Ward and Henry Moran. The original agreement, which is still in the possession of his descendant, Ger Lynders, 300 years later, was transcribed by Nancy Dockrell-Dempsey in 1985.

This John Lynders was the father of John Lynders (ca 1705-ca 1764), was the immediate of ancestor of the Lynders family of Portrane, including my paternal grandmother.

John Lynders (1798-post 1848), of The Burrow, Donabate, was born in 1798, and was baptised on 6 January 1798 (sponsors Thomas Duff and Catherine Donaugh). In 1848, he was a tenant of Joshua Evans for two portions of tillage in The Burrow, Donabate, and he was one of only seven freeholders in the Parish of Portrane, along with Evans of Portrane, Cobbe of Newbridge, Barnewall (Lord Trimleston) of Turvey, Arthur of Ballymadrough, Matthew Bates and William Davis. Among these freeholders, John Lynders and Mrs Sophia Evans were the only freeholders in ‘Portraine Demesne.’

The agreement, dated 14 March, 1722 and made between the Archbishop of Dublin and John Lynders, the original of which is in the possession of John’s descendent, Ger Lynders, reads:

Memorandum of agreement made by and between the principal inhabitants of the Parish of Portrane in the County of Dublin, and John Lynders of Portrane aforesaid (that is to say) that the said Inhabitants granted unto the said Lynders a small part of the Commons of Portrane afores[aid]: for a garden and assisted him to build a house thereon to have and to hold the said house and garden free forever; he, the said John Lynders, his heirs.

Exec[uto]rs, Adm[inistrato]rs. and Assigns in consideration for the aforesaid house and garden were at all times to keep the watercourse leading from the aforesaid Commons of Portrane to the sea; clean and fit to receive and carry off the water of said Commons.

In witness whereof we have here unto set our hands this Fourteenth Day of March, one thousand, seven hundred and twenty two.

John Lynders do promise to perform the above.

His agreement, John Lynders, signed and delivered in presence of Owen Ward, Henry Moran. Nicholas Carbery Thomas Bath.

An old ‘grandfather’ clock … part of the Lynders family since my grandmother’s time or a time even earlier (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)