Praying the Psalms
The Prayer of the Assembly
The Psalms
The Psalms, the prayer of the assembly
CCC #2585 From the time of David to the coming of the Messiah texts appearing in
the sacred books show a deepening in prayer for oneself and in prayer for others.
Thus the Psalms were gradually collected into the five books of the Psalter (or
Praises), the masterwork of prayer in the Old Testament.
CCC #2586 The Psalms both nourished and expressed the prayer of the People of
God gathered during the great feasts at Jerusalem and each Sabbath in the
synagogues.
Their prayer is inseparably personal and communal; it concerns both those who are
praying and all men. The Psalms arose from the communities of the Holy Land and
the Diaspora, but embrace all creation. Their prayer recalls the saving events of the
past, yet extends into the future, even to the end of history; it commemorates the
promises God has already kept, and awaits the Messiah who will fulfill them
definitively Prayed by Christ and fulfilled in him, the Psalms remain essential to the
prayer of the Church.
CCC #2587 The Psalter is the book in which The Word of God becomes man's
prayer.........
CCC #2589 Certain constant characteristics appear throughout the Psalms:
simplicity and spontaneity of prayer; the desire for God himself through and with all
that is good in his creation; the distraught situation of the believer who, in his
preferential love for the Lord, is exposed to a host of enemies and temptations, but
who waits upon what the faithful God will do, in the certitude of his love and in
submission to his will. The prayer of the psalms is always sustained by praise; that is
why the title of this collection as handed down to us is so fitting: "The Praises".
Collected for the assembly's worship, the Psalter both sounds the call to prayer and
sings the response to that call: Hallelu-yah ("Alleluia"), "Praise the Lord!"
What is more pleasing than a psalm? David expresses it well: "Praise the Lord, for a
psalm is good: let there be praise of our God with gladness and grace!" Yes, a psalm
is a blessing on the lips of the people, praise of God, the assembly's homage, a
general
acclamation, a word that speaks for all, the voice of the Church, a confession of faith
in song.
The Psalms, the prayer of the assembly
CCC #2585 From the time of David to the coming of the Messiah texts appearing in
the sacred books show a deepening in prayer for oneself and in prayer for others.
Thus the Psalms were gradually collected into the five books of the Psalter (or
Praises), the masterwork of prayer in the Old Testament.
CCC #2586 The Psalms both nourished and expressed the prayer of the People of
God gathered during the great feasts at Jerusalem and each Sabbath in the
synagogues.
Their prayer is inseparably personal and communal; it concerns both those who are
praying and all men. The Psalms arose from the communities of the Holy Land and
the Diaspora, but embrace all creation. Their prayer recalls the saving events of the
past, yet extends into the future, even to the end of history; it commemorates the
promises God has already kept, and awaits the Messiah who will fulfill them
definitively Prayed by Christ and fulfilled in him, the Psalms remain essential to the
prayer of the Church.
CCC #2587 The Psalter is the book in which The Word of God becomes man's
prayer.........
CCC #2589 Certain constant characteristics appear throughout the Psalms:
simplicity and spontaneity of prayer; the desire for God himself through and with all
that is good in his creation; the distraught situation of the believer who, in his
preferential love for the Lord, is exposed to a host of enemies and temptations, but
who waits upon what the faithful God will do, in the certitude of his love and in
submission to his will. The prayer of the psalms is always sustained by praise; that is
why the title of this collection as handed down to us is so fitting: "The Praises".
Collected for the assembly's worship, the Psalter both sounds the call to prayer and
sings the response to that call: Hallelu-yah ("Alleluia"), "Praise the Lord!"
What is more pleasing than a psalm? David expresses it well: "Praise the Lord, for a
psalm is good: let there be praise of our God with gladness and grace!" Yes, a psalm
is a blessing on the lips of the people, praise of God, the assembly's homage, a
general
acclamation, a word that speaks for all, the voice of the Church, a confession of faith
in song.
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