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Formed in Christ

The Liturgy of the Word -- Psalms

Friday, October 10, 2025Faith

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In the coming weeks, the season of ordinary time on Sunday, we'll experience a few bumps, like speed bumps, that slow us down because they "interfere" with the expected.

Father Robert M.
O'Grady

The psalms deserve a bit more, so before we go to the second reading next week, some more on the psalms. On Sundays, remember it is the second biblical text but not a reading in the Liturgy of the Word. Psalms were composed to be sung, and that is the preferred option during the Liturgy of the Word.
In the coming weeks, the season of ordinary time on Sunday, we'll experience a few bumps, like speed bumps, that slow us down because they "interfere" with the expected.
The first two Sundays of November this year will be Nov. 2 -- the Commemoration of all the Faithful Departed, or All Souls Day; and Nov. 9, the anniversary of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome -- this is Rome's most important church because it is the pope's cathedral and the reason its anniversary is celebrated around the world.
For Nov. 2, there are many options from which the parish may select, not only readings and psalms, but also prayers. The color of the vestments may be either violet (first listed option) or black; or in the USA, white. It is a subdued celebration, I know that sounds strange, but every Mass is a celebration of Christ and something he accomplished for us and our salvation.

One of the suggested options for this day is the beloved Psalm 23, which we know by its first line, "The Lord is my Shepherd." That may serve as one of the refrains for this psalm on this day. Another verse from the psalm provides another option for our response: "Though I walk in the valley of the shadow of darkness, I fear no evil, for you are with me."
Either response nicely reminds us that in life or in death, "we are the Lord's." And this applies not only to us who respond on Nov. 2, but also to those whom we prayerfully and lovingly remember -- our loved ones who have gone before us, marked with the sign of faith.
A week later, we are celebrating the anniversary of the dedication of the pope's cathedral church in the Eternal City. One of the suggested psalms is Psalm 46 and its refrain appointed for the day: "The waters of the river gladden the city of God, the holy dwelling of the Most High."
The psalm calls to mind that when we enter a church, especially one that has been dedicated, we are entering "the holy dwelling of the Most High." This is true of your own parish church, your second parish church -- the cathedral of your own diocese, or your third parish church, the one whose dedication anniversary we celebrate annually on Nov. 9, the pope's cathedral.
One of the psalms appointed for Christmas (not a Sunday every year, but a holy day of obligation every year) is Psalm 98. Its refrain announces that the event we celebrate is monumental -- "All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God." What is monumental is that the saving power of God is the birth of a child! This child, God's own son, has become one of us.
Twelve days later, on or about Jan. 6, we celebrate the Epiphany of the Lord and the psalm, Psalm 72, explains the arrival of the Wise Men or the Magi with this refrain: "Lord, every nation on earth will adore you." When they arrived via the guidance of a star, they came to an unlikely scene for the birth of a king, as we'll see as the child grows in wisdom and grace, a very unlikely king.
The response reminds us that we still have much to do to make a reality of the psalm's prayer. We take up the mission of bringing the good news of the Redeemer to those near at hand and those far away.
The most important celebration of the church's life is the annual celebration of the Resurrection of the Lord -- Easter Sunday.
Psalm 118 provides us with this appropriate response: "This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad." Although this was composed generations before the first Easter, likely for some royal celebration in ancient Israel, the church has adopted its words as her own, expressing the overwhelming joy she experiences, each Easter Sunday, each Easter Season, and indeed on each Sunday.
There is another response, also from Psalm 118, which we might hear during the Easter season. "The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone." The Acts of the Apostles places these words on the lips of Peter preaching his first homily after the Lord's Resurrection.
These are just a few of the 150 psalms that we might not only hear with an ear but also respond with heart and hand. Truly ancient, yet ever new.