The Prayer of the Church

As seminarians we are able to grow in a particular appreciation of the psalms as “The prayer of the Church” through the praying of the Liturgy of the Hours. This draws its origin from ancient Judaism where the psalms were prayed communally as a prayer of the people. But why is that so? The psalms are different from most other books of Scripture. Most of Scripture is the process of God revealing himself to us, but the psalms are a way for us to relate back to God who He is. Because of this we can enter into the psalms in a different way then we can the rest of Scripture. Unlike other parts of Scripture, the psalms are written in a somewhat non-specific way that helps us to freely pray them as our own prayers. 

The three major types of psalms are praise, thanksgiving, and lament. The psalms in the liturgy of the hours are arranged so that we pray various types throughout a week. Sometimes we feel as the psalmist feels in a psalm of praise, like in Psalm 18 “O Lord you are my rock, my fortress, my savior; my God, my rock where I take refuge.” But we may not feel the same way as in the lamenting Psalm 13 “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?” Though we may not always feel like the psalmist, we realize that there are other members of the body that may feel this way. We connect to the rest of the body of Christ, the Church. And even if one finger on the body hurts the whole body feels the pain. We are not on this journey alone; the nature of our faith is communal. 

We can learn many things from the psalms, but what I find the most important is the total reliance on God. There is an old image of the psalms where King David is preparing to stick his finger in God’s ear. Through the psalms we are able to participate in this constant demand for the attention of God because it doesn’t matter as much what we are relating to God but the fact that we are relating it to God. God wants to enter into every part of our lives. We must let him in whether we are in a state of great joy praising God, or in great confusion wondering why the Lord would allow something to happen that we don’t understand. What is most important is that we invite God into that place. 

Through the psalms in the liturgy of the hours we are trained to relate all things to God, as one Church, and to live a transparent life. In praying the psalms, we pray God may look at us and say “Here is a true child of Israel. There is no duplicity in him.” John 1:47-49

Mr. Rojas is a Second Pre-Theology seminarian for the Archdiocese of Washington.