Praying with the Book of Psalms brings comfort and happiness, says the Pope

By Carol Glatz, Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — In the book of Psalms there is a prayer for every state of mind and every spiritual need, Pope Francis said.

“There are many psalms that help us to move forward. Get into the habit of praying the psalms. I assure you that in the end you will be happy,” the Pope said during his general audience on June 19.

The Pope also reminded people that June 20 is World Refugee Day, created by the United Nations to focus on solidarity with refugees. “We are all called to welcome, encourage, accompany and integrate those who knock on our doors,” he said.

“I pray that nations will work to ensure humane conditions for refugees and facilitate integration processes,” he said.

During his main catechesis, the Pope continued his series on the Holy Spirit and emphasized the importance of prayer, especially in preparation for the Holy Year 2025.

All the books of the Bible are inspired by the Holy Spirit, he said, “but the book of Psalms is so in that it is full of poetic inspiration.”

The Psalms are the prayers of Jesus, Mary, the Apostles and all Christian generations before, he said. Jesus comes into the world with a verse from the Psalms in his heart: “I delight to do your will, O my God” (Ps 40:9), and he leaves the world with another verse: “Into your hands I commit my spirit” (Ps 31:6).

“Do you sometimes pray with the Psalms?” the Pope asked, reminding people that there are special editions that contain the New Testament and the Psalms together.

“On my desk is a Ukrainian edition” of the New Testament and Psalms that belonged to a soldier who died in the war, he said. “He used to pray with this book at the front,” he said, referring to the 23-year-old soldier named Oleksandr.

“If there are psalms or simply verses that speak to our hearts, it is good to repeat them and pray them throughout the day. The Psalms are prayers ‘for all seasons’: there is no state of mind or need for which one cannot find in them the best words to transform into prayer,” the Pope said.

The Psalms also allow believers to look more closely at the nature of their prayers, he said, so that prayers are not just a series of requests and a constant “give me, give us.”

“The Psalms help us to open ourselves to a prayer that is less focused on ourselves: a prayer of praise, of blessing, of thanksgiving. And they also help us to give voice to all of creation and to include it in our praise,” he said.

At the end of his main address, the Pope welcomed an Italian association that supports the late Cardinal Celso Costantini, a former apostolic delegate to China who 100 years ago headed the Council of the Chinese Catholic Church with the aim of revitalizing the Church’s mission in China.

The Pope greeted “the dear Chinese people” and asked Catholics to always “pray for this noble, brave people who have such a wonderful culture.”

Welcoming the Polish-speaking visitors, the Pope thanked God for a new blessed person: Father Michal Rapacz, a martyr of communism who was beatified in Krakow on June 15.

Blessed Rapacz was an early victim of the communist regime in Poland because he refused to abandon his parishioners and his pastoral work. The Pope prayed: “May his example teach us to be faithful to God, to respond to evil with good and to contribute to building a fraternal and peaceful world.”

“We pray that his testimony will be a sign of God’s consolation in these war-torn times,” he said, praying that the new blessed “will intercede for Poland and bring peace to the world!”