The Canticle of Daniel

It’s a frequent part of the Liturgy of the Hours. For years I have prayed it and found myself irritated by the repetition:

“Fire and heat, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever. Cold and chill, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever. Dew and rain, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever. Frost and chill, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever. Hoarfrost and snow, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever…”

Alright, already my soul screams after the 8th day of reciting 38 verses that go on and on and on like this. What is the point, Lord?!

Bless the Lord.

Independent of circumstances, light or darkness, rain, sleet or snow…. In every kind of weather, bless the Lord.

This Scripture/song is found in the book of Daniel (3:57-88 in Catholic Bibles*). As the story goes, three men were thrown into a “white-hot furnace” for failing to obey the king and refusing to bow down in worship to the idol he created.

“With one voice,” we hear that the three sang God’s praises in the middle of the fiery furnace:

“Nights and days, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever. Light and darkness, bless the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever. Lightnings and clouds, bless the Lord…”

“And not a hair of their heads had been singed”. In fact, the men glowed in the white-hot furnace, along with a fourth mystery man who “looks like a son of God.”

It was this witness that converted King Nebuchadnezzar (and ultimately the entire Kingdom). He orders the men out of the fire and proclaims: “There is no other God who can rescue like this.”

That’s the point.

It is our Christian witness, in good times and bad, in drought and fire and flood, as well as in gorgeous sunrises and sunsets… we bless the Lord.

We trust in His goodness, his unconditional love for us, his sovereign hand at work in our lives, no matter the circumstances. He is in charge. He will make good come of it.

One look at a crucifix reminds us of This Truth. He is not a distant God asking us to do something He is unwilling to do. He is in the fire with us.

Bless the Lord.

*The Canticle of Daniel was moved to the back of the Bible as“Apocrypha”by Martin Luther in 1534 because it was not found in the Jewish/Hebrew canon. While it continued to be printed in this separate part of the Protestant Bible for a while, sadly it is no longer included in many (most?) Protestant Bibles.

Bless the Lord.