Solidary Heart

No one is obligated to have all the psalms at hand when it comes time to nurture their personal piety. However, it is another thing for priests and religious when they pray The Liturgy of the Hours, especially when they do so in unison. At that moment, their goal is different. At that moment, it is the whole Church, it is Humanity as a whole, it is the Whole Christ who prays, who suffers, who intercedes, who cries and who implores. The horizons are expanded towards a universal solidarity.

Whenever we make the words of the psalms our own, the heart enters into universal communion. No longer is it just one voice; but it is the voice of humanity, of all time, of all space, a polyphonic voice that cries nonstop to God.

The psalms were born out of concrete situations; and so, they encompass the world’s passions. That is why the language of the psalms is such a passionate language, the language of the heart, with shrieks, cries, wails, and alleluias that sound like hoorahs.

We assume the weight of all humanity, regardless of the state our soul, and we become the voice of the whole Church. During the recital of The Liturgy of the Hours, the great march of suffering humanity passes on pilgrimage, through the heart.

Extracted from the book “Psalms for life” by Fr. Ignacio Larrañaga