Super flumina. The lamentation of the people of God in their captivity in Babylon. A psalm of David, for Jeremias. For the time of Jeremias, and the captivity of Babylon.
Upon the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and wept: when we remembered Sion: On the willows in the midst thereof we hung up our instruments. For there they that led us into captivity required of us the words of songs. And they that carried us away, said: Sing ye to us a hymn of the songs of Sion. How shall we sing the song of the Lord in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand be forgotten.
Let my tongue cleave to my jaws, if I do not remember thee: If I make not Jerusalem the beginning of my joy. Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom, in the day of Jerusalem: Who say: Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof. O daughter of Babylon, miserable: blessed shall he be who shall repay thee thy payment which thou hast paid us. Blessed be he that shall take and dash thy little ones against the rock.
We were once in the river of Babylon that led downstream into an abyss. By the strength of an Angel, we were lifted from those putrid waters flowing from that unholy city. We gazed with renewed eyes at this city. Her revolutionary aesthetic that used to charm us did no longer; her vulgar customs did no longer entertain; her cheap goods we wished forever refrain from; her sensual pleasures filled us with disgust. And "there we sat and wept: when we remembered Sion."
Jerusalem, that is, Christendom, our fatherland was recollected. The amnesia dissipated, and our memory was returned to us. With renewed zeal, we said, "Let my tongue cleave to my jaws, if I do not remember thee: If I make not Jerusalem the beginning of my joy." Sectors of public opinion began to set the story of history straight. They told the story from the Tower of the New and Eternal David, the Church. We witness the correct retelling of the heroes of old– the great conquistadors, inquisitors, and crusaders.
The Revolutionaries who told lies about the Church and denigrated Her reputation were discovered and slain by argument. We witness the rise of Scholasticism and Catholic Social Teaching providing astonishing clarity to our current political turmoil. And the fervent religious conservative base begins to express great nostalgia for a time when the principles of the Gospel were imbued within the state.
The beauty of old we remembered as well. How artists and artisans ruled those lands of old with their skill! Babylon's haughty minimalism is put to shame, its shameless and bold sensuality is dashed to pieces.
The wicked children of Edom, Edom who is also called Esau according to St. Augustine, have said "[Level] it, [level] it," that is to say, level Sion, Jerusalem, Christendom. The Children of Babylon day be repaid— Protestant Revolutionaries, French Revolutionaries, Communist Revolutionaries, Sexual Revolutionaries, and Openly Satanic Revolutionaries shall be cut off or converted. "Blessed be he that shall take and dash thy little ones against the rock."
St. Augustine says, "If you wish to be armed against temptations in this world, let your longing for the everlasting Jerusalem grow and be strengthened in your hearts. Your captivity will pass away, your happiness will come; the last enemy shall be destroyed, and we shall triumph with our King, without death." Certainly, these words can be adapted to the age to come, the New Jerusalem, the glorious resurrection of Christendom, before the final apostasy, and the King's everlasting victory.
Sources:
Psalm 136 from the Douay-Rheims
Exposition on Psalm 137 by St. Augustine
Painting: Jeremiah on the Ruins of Jerusalem by Horace Vernet (French, 1789-1863)