The Psalms
March 31, 1996
Brother John Raymond
Continuing with the Catechism of the Catholic Church we arrive at
the Psalms, the prayer of the assembly. The Church has certainly
placed a lot of importance on the Psalms as is indicated in Her
Sacred Liturgy. They are used for the Responsorial Psalm in the Holy
Mass and are used extensively in the official prayer of the Church,
the Liturgy of the Hours.
The Psalms are very broad in scope. They are at the same time
both personal and communal. The psalms are both concerned with those
praying them and all men. They embace all of creation. Even time is
limitless in them as they embrace saving events of the past as well
as those of the future, even until the end of time. The Psalms
recall promises God has already kept and await the Messiah Who will
fulfill them for all time. As we move into Holy Week it is
interesting to note that the Catechism tells us, "Prayed by Christ
and fulfilled in Him, the Psalms remain essential to the prayer of
the Church." (#2586)
In other books of the Old Testament we read about God's works and
the mystery contained therein. The Psalter (the collection of
Psalms) is unique in that the Word of God becomes man's prayer. It
both expresses and acclaims God's saving works. They show both God's
work and man's response. In Our Lord both God's both of these are
united. "In Him, the psalms continue to teach us how to pray."
(#2587)
As is evident from the Psalms, they reflect both the official
prayers used in the Old Testament Temple liturgy and those contained
in the human heart. "Whether hymns or prayers of lamentation or
thanksgiving, whether individual or communal, whether royal chants,
songs of pilgrimage or wisdom meditations, the Psalms are a mirror
of God's marvelous deeds in the history of His people, as well as
reflections of the human experiences of the Psalmist." (#2588) The
psalms are such that they can be prayed in truth by men of all times
and conditions.
When something good happens some people respond with "Praise the
Lord." Well, the Psalter certainly is a reflection of this very
acclamation with its fitting title, "The Praises." Praising God
sustains prayer throughout the psalms. Even with this underlying
theme, the constant characteristics found in the psalms have a rich
variety in their simplicity and spontaneity, their desire for God
through and with His creation. They even give us the situation of a
distraught believer who chooses God's will and waits on His faithful
response while at the same time being surrounded by enemies and
temptation.
Following a literary analysis of a psalm's structure, vocabulary,
etc. by Hermann Gunkel we can classify some of the psalms into the
following categories:
1) Hymns or Praises: pss. 8, 29, 68, 103-105, 148
2) Thanksgiving: pss. 30, 34, 66, 67, 124
3) Lamentation or Supplication: pss. 22, 69, 80, 83, 88
Subgroups A) Penitential: pss. 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143
B) Curses: pss. 35 (vv. 4-8), 58, 83 (vv. 10-19), 109
4) Royal: pss. 20, 21
Subgroups A) Zion: pss. 46, 48, 68, 76, 87, 132
B) God Reigns: pss. 47, 93-99
C) Messianic: pss. 2, 45, 72, 110
5) Wisdom: pss. 1, 32, 73, 90
6) Prophetic: pss. 50, 82, 85, 95, 110
7) Gradual: pss. 120-134
"My God, my God, why have you forsaken Me?" (Ps. 22,1) Sound
familiar? Was Our Lord praying this Psalm from the Cross? Let us go
through Holy Week praying and reflecting on the psalms in order to
enter more deeply into the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Our
Lord.