A project of the Spirituality Committee of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales
“The collection of psalms found in Scripture, composed as it was under divine inspiration, has, from the very
beginnings of the Church, shown a wonderful power of fostering devotion among Christians as they offer to God a continuous sacrifice of praise, the harvest of lips blessing his name. Following a custom already established in the Old Law, the psalms have played a conspicuous part in the sacred liturgy itself, and in the divine office. Thus was born what Basil calls the voice of the Church, that singing of psalms, which is the daughter of that hymn of praise (to use the words of our predecessor, Urban VIII) which goes up unceasingly before the throne of God and of the Lamb, and which teaches those especially charged with the duty of divine worship, as Athanasius says, the way to praise God, and the fitting words in which to bless him. Augustine expresses this well when he says:
God praised himself so that man might give him fitting praise; because God chose to praise himself man found the way in which to bless God.” from the Apostolic Constitution Divino afflatu of Pope Saint Pius X 1911
We offer the Sunday Responsorial Psalm as a focus for prayer and reflection during the week ahead for yourself or share with others. You could note your own thoughts as a possible personal journal.
Acknowledgements: Excerpts from The Psalms: A New Translation © 1963 The Grail (England) published by HarperCollins.
Sunday 4 February 2024 – Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Sunday 11 February 2024 – Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Wednesday 14 February 2024 – Ash Wednesday
