Psalm 116 (numbered as 115 in the Septuagint and Vulgate) is an individual hymn of thanksgiving within the Hebrew Psalter. The verses appointed for the liturgy – 12-13, 15, 16bc, and 17-18 – form a compact expression of gratitude and commitment: the psalmist asks how he can repay the Lord’s goodness, promises to raise “the cup of salvation” and call upon God’s name, acknowledges the preciousness of the death of the faithful, declares himself God’s servant whose bonds have been loosed, and vows to offer a thanksgiving sacrifice and fulfil his promises before the whole people.

Its origins lie in ancient Israelite tradition, most probably in the post-exilic period (sixth–fifth centuries BC), though some scholars allow an earlier, possibly Davidic, date. It belongs to the Egyptian Hallel (Psalms 113–118), a collection sung at the great pilgrimage festivals and, above all, during the Passover Seder. The “cup of salvation” mentioned in verse 13 is one of the four ritual cups of the Passover meal, symbolising God’s redemption of Israel from Egypt. The language of thanksgiving sacrifice and public vow-fulfilment reflects the Temple liturgy of the time.

This ancient text acquires particular resonance at the Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Maundy Thursday. The Church chooses it precisely because the Last Supper was a Passover celebration. After the meal, Jesus and his disciples sang the Hallel (Matthew 26:30); the “cup of blessing” he blessed and shared became, for Christians, the cup of the new covenant in his blood. The responsorial antiphon, taken from 1 Corinthians 10:16, makes the link explicit: “The cup of blessing is a communion in the blood of Christ.” Thus the psalm bridges the old Passover and the new: the thanksgiving sacrifice of the Temple is fulfilled in the Eucharistic offering, and the cup of salvation is now the chalice of Christ’s saving death and resurrection. In this way the Church proclaims that the Lord’s Supper is both the completion of Israel’s ancient liturgy and the source and summit of Christian worship.