It is the presence of God in the hurricane and earthquake, and the quiet beauty of a summer day. In my own eucharistic prayer, I frequently turn to the psalms as a golden resource of faith spoken for centuries in the Hebrew tradition. Every possible thought and experience of God's presence or absence, his justice and mercy or his failure to punish evildoers is reflected. The joy and sorrow, the exhiliration and depression of every person and every age is recorded. Birth and death, planting and harvesting, joy and sorrow, love and hate are all interwoven in these poems of dramatic strength.
Priests recite the psalms each day.
At times they are in sharp contrast with what we feel. At other times they perfectly reflect our thoughts and feelings. Reciting the psalms, we can pray for the entire Church as well as for ourselves. Prayed in eucharistic prayer, the psalms unite us to Christ in praying to the Father for the needs of all, especially those who are poor, suffering and marginalized. In good times and bad, one can experience God.