Reflection on Psalm 84: A Pilgrim’s Valley
A Lectio Reflection Regarding Pilgrimage
This morning, as I was praying the Liturgy of the Hours, a line from Psalm 84 stopped me mid-prayer:
“As they go through the Valley of Baca…” (RSV). The NASB translates it, “the Bitter Valley.”
Different words, but both point to the same human place: sorrow, dryness, longing. A place we all pass through.
Psalm 84 is a pilgrimage psalm—a prayer for the journey. And isn’t that what life is? A journey marked by movement toward God, often through valleys we did not choose.
The Valley of Baca—perhaps literally unidentifiable—is spiritually unmistakable. The Hebrew root b-k-h means “to weep.” It is the bitter valley, the aching path. And yet, Scripture says, they make it a place of springs.
This is where grace comes to us: in the valley. Throughout salvation history, water is God’s way of saving—Noah, the Exodus, the rock in the desert, Baptism, the water from the side of Christ, Jesus the Living Water. These are not random moments but a pattern: what is barren, God makes flow.
The Catechism says, “Faith makes us taste in advance the light of the beatific vision.” (CCC 163) Even here, even now, in the bitter valley.
So maybe today, wherever you are—whether you feel strong or shaky, full or dry—let the Psalm give you permission to walk honestly. If you need to weep, then weep. Let others in. And be a companion to someone else in their valley.
Psalm 84 also says, “I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God…” When I read this, I thought of saints like Catherine of Siena, Charles de Foucauld, and Elisabeth Leseur—souls who quietly lived as doorkeepers with Jesus. A life of holiness, for them, was a life of accompaniment. They walked with others. It meant not only seeking God for their own healing, but also carrying the pain, confusion, or unbelief of others in prayer and love.
To be a doorkeeper is to remain at the threshold with Christ—to intercede, to wait, to welcome, and to stay close.
Maybe today, that’s our call—to walk gently with others, wherever they are on the road. Blessed are those whose strength is in the Lord. He’s not waiting at the end of the path. He walks it with us.
© 2025, Lawain McNeil, Mission Surrender, LLC.
I am happy to see that you mention Elizabeth Leseur. Have long liked her and was pleased with the book When Silence Speaks by Jennifer Moorcroft.