Hey everybody welcome back to another episode of the Catholic Talk Show today we’re going to be talking about the Psalms that’s right we’re going to take a look at the book of Psalms in the Bible the origin of them what they mean and so much more so often people ask me
How to pray and how they can enrich their prayer life well prayer begins with the foundation that’s scripture and there’s no greater book in the Bible than the Psalms to teach you how to pray with the Heart All right this is uh a very interesting episode I think a lot of people uh understand the Psalms but the the story behind it the rich tradition behind it the beauty and how God inspired so many people over the tradition of the Jewish faith to to write this book it’s really
Power powerful it it actually illustrates and and illuminates a lot of how we pray with it no it’s so true and each and every day you know priest religious and lady for you know from the foundations of of the Salter uh in the practice of our faith as as consecrated
Uh you know in in the church we pray the Psalms every day you know and and there’s monasteries around the world that that pray and stop and and and read through all the Psalms in one day and pray them from the heart so it you know
We’re going to dive deep into this you know the history of the Psalms who wrote the book the Psalms there’s a lot that we’re going to touch on but you know the Psalms for me guys is this is my the depths of my prayer like no matter what
I’m suffering God addresses it through the Psalms each and every time I’ve always been addressed by by this book in the Bible yeah I think it’s a lot of people don’t look at how fundamental the Psalms are to prayer life to the Christian prayer life and to our faith
Fundamentally whether it’s in our liturgy that there’s a Psalm at every Mass whether it’s the Liturgy of the Hours that are based in Psalms whether it’s the Rosary that was a simplified version of the Salter originally uh so much of our prayers music and thought are are influenced by the Psalms uh I
Think it’d be good to explore them so that’s why we’re covering this topic today now one thing before we get into it I want to make sure that you go to Catholic talk show.com and you subscribe uh join our man list you’ll get notifications whenever we release new
Stuff or what can they do right now you know what’s cool is like the Psalms were really accompanied by the harp and you know the sound of a bell to is music to our ears so before you go any further subscribe click the Bell give us that little ding somebody need
To do it somebody once told me you need to subscribe so yeah yeah so that’s basically you know if you’re on YouTube if you’re on YouTube on YouTube and stuff if you’re on podbean you know I don’t I don’t know what the sound I don’t know what the Subscribe sounds
Like hallelujah it’s like the ends of the Psalms you know uh so let’s get into the you know the Psalms here right um even though word Psalms the Psalms right it’s it’s kind of a strange word but it goes back to the Greek word which basically just means a song Meant to
Accompany a liar right or a harp right so a lot of these songs and well fundamentally people don’t realize this the Psalms are a book of songs it’s basically your song book that the ancient Israelites would have used written by David and Solomon and and a
Lot of you know the majority of written by David but it was a song book mhh and there is every type of Prayer in it it’s maybe the most human book of the Bible because it’s the inner workings of a person’s soul and spirit crying out to
God for music and song yeah and and the thing is it’s not to say that it wasn’t recited most definitely it was recited but you think about like songs that you can call up to memory from your childhood and you remember them well there’s there’s no greater effective way
To memorize things than to set it to music and the passing on of these biblical roots of the prayer of the people of the Old Testament this is it like this these are the prayers that Jesus himself said Mary knew them Joseph knew them you know like the people of of
You know God the children of Israel this was the heartbeat of their pray prayer daily so you know to participate in this is is in the sense of like I’m doing what Jesus did you know I’m doing what the Saints have done throughout the past 2,000 years of the church yeah you know
St Thomas pus you know St Bernard all these Saints have prayed these these very prayers yeah I had the privilege of going to the synagogue when when we were in Jerusalem uh for our anniversary and they sang the Psalms there and it was beautiful it was just like really cool
It was in Hebrew I didn’t know what they were saying but they they prayed it for probably 20 minutes you know thinking of think of that because I’ve had that experience too when you’re hearing the cry in Hebrew to God and it’s rooted in in you know the expression of the Psalms
Isn’t there something that’s like guttural like you’re hearing it like you’re expressing like this this this sense of like crying out to God that’s why the Psalms are very very helpful in the spiritual life to to get to that point of the heart and expressing it but
Singing it it’s it’s what St Augustine said you know is two times more powerful you know pray but singing is praying twice as as St Augustine said he said he said singing well is praying twice he didn’t say sing he said singing well so Howard you’re not allowed to sing so
If you sing poorly it negates the prayer I think I don’t know I don’t know how the it’s a half prayer you still get some credit I’m guilty of that no I told the lady at Mass this this past weekend she’s like you know father I don’t sing
You have you have a beautiful voice I don’t I said God gave you that voice I’ve always heard this give it right back he’s like thanks I put your fault it’s your fault God I’m doing my job exactly you didn’t do yours there’s 150 Psalms right and I think
It’s a nice even number and traditionally The Book of Psalms is broken into five primary sections right uh book one through five so you’ll have Psalms 1-41 42- 72 73 to 89 so you have like basically five little collections of Psalms that make up the whole book so
It’s like now that’s what I call Psalms 1 through five right yeah um were these like were these historically written at different times or are they because I know the the Hebrew language is very beautiful in the way that they allow Symmetry and some of these other things
Is where does that fit in in the you’re right so they were written all throughout this is a compilation of the tradition of essentially lurgical music in the Old Testament world right from like you think of a hym book today that’s really what it was it was a hym
Book I mean and you’ll even see some of the Psalms will say for the choir Master to be played with you know the liar right for the the the um memorial celebration I mean it they there’ll even be directions at the beginning of these Psalms what
They’re to be used for so it very much is like a hm book um but they were written throughout you know many hundreds of years right but towards the end of the the Babylonian captivity in the second temple period they would they would have been more neatly condensed
Into those here’s the 150 broken into five second five sections to um uh uh to mirror the first five books of the Bible you know they like to keep that kind of yeah they like to keep that kind of numerical symmetry in their organization uh that’s why we have 150 prayer beads
On the rosary still to this day right so or 150 H laries yeah when you look at when you look at the Salter in the Greek Salter around means the stringed instrument used for the accompaniment of such songs or Psalms and then the Hebrew name for the Suter
Isim which means hymns and when you when you see where it comes from a lot of times I I know for many years myself I always thought oh yeah that’s King David right but there are so many authors of these of these uh expressions of prayer and you know it’s helpful to realize
That in the practice of our faith as God’s revealed word you know this is being inspired in the hearts of people that are articulating living out the Torah living out the law this is the articulation of living the faith and responding to God and I think it’s
Mystical in the sense of it doesn’t just come from one author you know it comes from you know a multiple group of authors from different perspectives and charisms and how appropriate is that because we have so many charisms in the church we have different spiritualities
You know each of us have a have a different charism and we we feed each other and we support each other so you know looking at these authors I think it’s really important to note that yeah so some of those authors would be well obviously David David David wrote here’s
Something that’s pretty interesting I think David whole ascent and you know the line of right through Christ goes through David and it all goes back to his musicianship right so how does David come into power he becomes the favorite of Saul he becomes a general but why
Does Saul ever even get David involved in his inner circle because Saul was going through it having a rough time he’s like man I wish I knew there someone who could play a mean liar right I’m looking I’m looking for the Hendrick of the liar man to just come out here
And just kind of light up the first Backstreet Boys so so they go they’re like well I hear this dude Jesse’s got this kid who can shred right this guy you know he’s friggy and dominant all day long right so they go cool so they bring in this
Shepherd kid to play liar for Saul if you ever write a a Bible I I would just love to get your translation it’s the it’s a yeah no you should it’s the broal so what happens is then so Saul you know ask for this Shepherd boy to come play lar and then
You know things happen and now we have Jesus from the line of David right but it all goes back to his musician right that he was a musician what a birds and the bees kind of explanation that was Happ happen you know when a Man Loves a Woman and put on
Some sweet liar music down by Lord have mercy so no so he he plays liar and he I think David fundamentally you know from being a king and a prophet and all that he was also a musician to his core he was a warrior a king and a musician
Right plays the liar wrote 73 or 75 of the Psalms but he even comes into his role through his role as a musician I think that’s pretty cool and I think his association with the book of Psalms makes even more sense when you consider and and it’s the Lion’s mind I mean just
About half of the Psalms are you know attributed to David 73 in total and you know when you look at David’s life how fascinating right what he experience the simple Beginnings to the most complex situations what he suffered recognizing his sinfulness recognizing his enemies his own faults all these different
Things are captured in his expression to God and it’s it’s amazing to follow David’s path but a lot of times I find I find great resonance uh in in communion with his with his personhood in the in the scriptures yeah and and one of the things I love about being Catholic is
This whole phenomenon of us like drawing from all the historical components of what we’re reading it fills your heart even more right when you when you understand all these things I just think it’s you know a lot of people treat the Bible like it just dropped from heaven
And you just open it up and then there it is and we need to like listen to this but when you actually pull all the contextual stuff of Israel and the the things that went on right over history it is a very fascinating approach to entering into God’s word that’s true so
What did the Psalms originally sound like right we don’t know there was no way of writing down music there’s no recording they didn’t have records They didn’t even have musical notation musical notation didn’t invented until the 11th century by an Italian Guido of Aro right he’s one of your brothers OG
Guid the original Guido we did we did a show on him yeah we talked about him um but he that was when music notation so you didn’t have a way to write down what the melody was what instruments but archaeologists and um Scholars can kind of reconstruct it based on both artwork
Around because there’s no artwork of Hebrews and Israelites writing music because they or playing music even because you couldn’t have physical descriptions you know you didn’t have artwork of people but if you look it around you’d see that they had drums they had Liars they had um flutes and
Trumpets uh symbols those are the kinds of things that there there were referenc in scripture so you can get an idea of what it would have sounded like getting the exact Melody you know you always see people people saying oh I found the secret Melody of you know Psalm 129 you
Know it’s always the secret chord that David played to please the Lord they always everyone’s like oh I found it no one knows and if they tell you they know they don’t but there has been some kind of archaeological Recreations of what the instrumentation would have sound like these are not representative of
Actual you know lyrics melodies or whatever but it’s a guess yeah it’s a guess but here let me play this and so you can hear it so this is called the liar of megiddo and this would have been using ancient instruments and ancient melodies Peter Pringle dcom yeah shout out Peter [Laughter]
Pringle I love it you played one note you were all In I’m already I’m soothed right now soothe yeah you’re like Saul Saul’s like this is a banger I’m chilling now this is a banger bro I’ve been praying my songs wrong Man man oh man I love this Yeah oh yeah that would have been somewhat what it would have sounded like for some songs other songs would have been fluts whatever but that scale whenever you hear that Middle Eastern that ancient sounding scale it’s called frigi and dominant and it’s a particular music scale um it’s when you hear that you
Know that sound and that would have been a pretty common scale they would have used in those times so do we know what it sounds like no but guessing it would have sounded something like that with some singing over it so case you anyone filled with peace right
Now yeah it’s nice I love that Peter Pringle will do that to a Manet raes on that heart bro yeah Peter pringo man him at the St Augustine uh Amphitheater yo nak you ready to rock though um so that that’s a little bit of a background of the
Song Peter pringer mred the steio girl with his harp dude he’s still single let’s go Peter Pringle he’s still single somebody come give me a call that’s so dumb all right so what kinds of Psalms were there there’s so we talked about the the grouping right you know five
Major groupings but there was a few different types of Psalms right different moves and why would you sing a song so ones addressed to God In Praise u a lot of them describing suffering right kind of kind of your durges and your downers right your um hey wo to me type
Songs uh cursing the party responsible for suffering so you got your you got your rap battle SS there’s so much rap battle you’re Dis Track you’re like this Philistine was up in my business and now what’s up right and you like you when you go through the Psalms you know it’s
Like Enemy enemy enemy enemy enemy you know it’s like an Eminem just talking about all the people out to get them nonstop right or so cool about this is like if you if you read these different types and we’re not done sharing all of them but like I mean we can all
Effectively say that this is this is ways that we’ve approached God In Prayer as well that’s true so um claiming your innocence right kind of saying look why is this stuff happened to me you know so kind of country music yeah right you know my car got broke my
Dog got stolen why why does it happened to me right the innocent innocent suffering like the injustices of life is covered but then alsoo the admission of guilt and fault is is you know certainly in respect to David’s Psalms so songs of Thanksgiving so just saying hey things
Worked out pretty good those are your those are your happy songs right those are your feel-good summer hits right and a and a petition for God’s assistance like how we begin the Liturgy of the Hours oh God come to my assistance oh Lord make case to help me you know that
Petition of God’s help the immediacy of his help is rooted in the in the practice of um praying the Psalms and then you’d have ones that were a little bit more specifically lurgical or ecclesiastical right like really meant for the temple for specific functions or
For Royal so look if the if the king is coming into the temple this is the kind of stuff you’d play so you have some of your um I would guess you would say your your core songs right so coronations marriages battles you have those things
That are played and we and that’s the same stuff that we have now right we have those songs that you know you have Harold to the Chief and you have the Wedding March you hear them you’re like oh that’s a wedding song that’s they would have had the same thing back then
Too so not much changes you know The Song Remains the Same I think is yeah you know back then to here it’s the same thing so so how do we use psalms now today right I mean we in Mass we have a Psalm and and I think a lot of times it
Gets kind of you you skip past it that you’re really praying and singing the Psalms at Mass because the response the response song will be they like okay what is it what is it and you’re like trying to remember what the response is going to be but the to I to contemplate that
Every single Mass has the Psalms I think shows the importance of how integral this book of the Bible is to our faith I I want you to think about too like years ago when we didn’t have Spotify or you know Apple iTunes or we weren’t surrounded by you know social media and
These pockets of time that were just filling with all these distra actions you know you would have remembered the responsorial S like you would have you would have kind of had more of a memory bank to to keep that as your Mantra now that Mantra that we’re trying to set
Into motion liturgically should be remaining in the brain but it’s so challenging because of how fast-paced our our world is right now in In fairness there’s ones where it’s like the Lord is my refuge and he quenches me with the rivers of cion you’re like okay
That’s a bit much if it’s too too too long that’s too long something simple as the response like Hallelujah cool I can handle that but like you know between the rivers you know the Lord quenches me with his thirst for justice like that’s hard for anyone right you know it’s
Early in the morning your kids are giving you crap you probably had a few you know three or four beers the night before and now you got to remember this mini poem in the context of the mass sorry that’s a personal thing for me you got a lot B bent up feelings ins
Side okay yeah I do also the musical expression uh for that is also important I think a lot of times you know you just got somebody up there just hitting the hitting the notes and then you’ve also got more accompaniment where you know I went to some church in Houston St
Michael’s I think in The Galleria and this lady who had this operatic voice right was singing the Psalms and it really hit me hard like the the prayer was really brought out to me a lot a lot more than you know going to mass at my
Church and for for me you know like hearing an anointed voice that’s also prayerful like Gracie’s voice like listening to Gracie pray the Psalms at Mass she’s praying it from her heart it’s not like a it’s not a performance right and you know I was even Del Rey
Years ago and they had this you know they hired this opera singer to sing as a Cancer and it was more about the notation and the vbr than anything that was spiritual you know so it could be moving and be like oh wow that’s beautiful what a beautiful voice you
Have but like no this the Psalms are supposed to be sung congregationally we should respond and acclaim and when you think about how um the latter part of the book of Psalms is you you always find the Hallelujah you always find this command which means like praise God you
Know but it’s it’s in the form of a a command it’s like you know this is your opportunity right you’re at this liturgy you’re praying in the church this is your opportunity to praise God and and express that from from your heart so yeah there’s a really distinct
Difference when you find a cancer that is truly you know called by God to uh to S that’s beautiful so one an interesting thing you know being down here in the dasis of St Augustine is that he he he had this really when I was researching for this he had this really interesting
Comment on it and let me see if I can find no not Peter Pringle so well if I have one up too St Augustine taught that if the Psalms prays pray if it laments lament if it rejoices Rejoice you know and and lean into the music yeah what what I like
About that too is and it’s what I mentioned before whatever it is that I’m suffering at heart if I’m searching through the Psalms or I’m praying my Liturgy of the Hours you better believe that God gives me the words through the scriptures that I can express myself and then find
Consolation and peace yeah there’s there’s playlists in there for whatever mood you got going on you know um so mix tape yeah it’s a mixtape now why are they in the order that they’re in I think this is what I wanted to get to St Augustine said something so a lot of
People looking at the book of Psalms will say look there’s an obvious order there’s a meaning to why they’re here like you know it’s lost on us now right but if you were to say like look at your you know your phone and you see a mixtape you say okay this song plays
Into this one and maybe it’s an autobiographical reference or hey I remembered this song and then I heard this one right there’s there’s a rhythm to it or even on like an album I know Sergeant peppas one song plays into another for a reason uh and all scholars believe that
The book of Psalms was written in order and collected in a reason uh a meta narrative and St Augustine hippo said the sequence of the Psalms seems to me to contain the secret of a mighty mystery but its meaning has never been revealed to me and that’s on one of his
Um one of his narratives on the Psalms but I just think that’s so cool that there’s some in the flow of how they’re written you know there’s a hidden meaning and you’re talking about how there’s like there’s so many different meanings in there so there’s kind of a like they said like a
Narrative of how these flow that no one really is sure why it’s there but it’s there and I think you can fundamentally feel it yeah you know this this begs the the story um and I think I’ve shared it on the um the the podcast before but
Psalm 88 eight prayer in great distress I was in a Maximum Security Prison working with these kids in juvenile you know uh Center in Palm Beach County and you know I remember you know going there and I all I could do is just you know love these kids that’s what I heard from
God like love love these kids I didn’t know what to do and I just started opening up the Bible and we just had conversation it turned into the whole Wing would come to my services every week and when I came to Psalm 88 I remember lifting up my voice and saying
This with such Gus so like Yahweh God of my salvation when I cry out to you in the night May my prayer reach your presence Hear My Cry for Help for I’m filled with misery my life is on the brink of sh already numbered among those
Who sink into Oblivion I am as one bereft of strength left alone among the dead like the slaughtered lying in the grave whom you remember no more cut off as they are from your protection you have you have plunged me into the bottom of the Grave into the darkness Into the
Depths waited down by your anger kept Low by your waves you have deprived me of my friends made me repulsive to them imprisoned with no Escape my eyes are worn out with suffering I call to you God all day I stretch out my hands to you do you work your wonders for the
Dead can Shadows rise up to praise you do they speak in the grave of your faithful love of your constancy in the place of predition are your wonders known in the darkness your saving Justice in the land of Oblivion but for my part I cry to you Yahweh
Every morning my prayer comes before you why Yahweh do you rebuff me turn your face away from me wretched and close to death since my childhood I’ve borne your Terrors I am finished your anger has overwhelmed me your Terrors annihilated me they flood around me all the day long
Close in on me all at once you have deprived me of friends and Companions and all that I know is the dark and the way that these guys Universal responded to this Psalm was one of the most powerful Witnesses of what the Psalms accomplish right it where is god
Well God is there existentially theologically philosophical we could draw conclusion we could come up with logical arguments God is God is there but why am I going through this you know I need to express myself it’s like what uh with mon Senor um Mike Moore shared
With you many years ago it’s like bring your bring your worst to God you know yell express yourself from from the core of like this is this is dark I don’t know where you are this helps you express we know God is there we know
That God is not you know the cause of these realities that we face yeah that’s another there’s another one like that it’s the day profundus right um Psalm 129 or 130 depending on how you number it which we’ll get into but that one begins out of the depths I have cried to
Thee Oh Lord Lord hear my voice out of the depths I’ve cried to you I mean these are I don’t know these are King David’s emo period right I mean these are these are like some really dark serious things and like you don’t think of the Bible
Having this kind of depth and color yeah to it a lot of times it’s like well then the Amala Kates came here and then this and this happened and then whatever you know it’s kind of like a more tur narrative but these are these are poetic these are song lyrics they’re and
They’re just as relevant now as they were in in the Iron Age or or the you know whenever they were written way back when because people’s emotions their abandonment their feelings of Joy exaltation all these human emotions are always going to be there they’re because they’re human emotions uh yeah that’s
It’s almost like they they actually illustrate something in your soul that you’re you’re almost incapable of of understanding yourself right and then you’re binding yourself to this this beautiful word right these words that help you find a way to to bring this into prayer right to convert your heart
And what’s going on into it to the Lord even in its worst times and going back to the context of the Psalms and some of them it’s you know Israel was uh you know Blasphemous and then they were they were separated and you know so if you
Understand all this you can you can kind of see this illustration of like when we’re when we do that when we when we offend God right we we get scattered in our I I think that’s a perfect segue to jump into you know some some Psalms you know
Like it’s it’s already moving us as we’re kind of sharing some Psalms that are outstanding I know for me you know the initial several Psalms really speak to me Psalm one is is constantly where I I go um you know the paths wow look at how much writing you got on your Psalm
Oh yeah man I I I love I love the book of Psalms I this is like my my Foundation my my my principle and my Foundation is right here and even praying with this through um you know the application of Senses imaginative prayer placing myself in a setting uh
Ignation style prayer you know I always always receive so much from The Book of Psalms and we have a really cool uh some cool insights too just on popular Psalms that that people uh go to so I found basically a thing that looked at Twitter and social media and said what are the
Most re-shared Psalms right um you know you take the really popular bible forms and they have like the Tweet button you click it or the x button no and it puts it out there so they said that okay well what are the Psalms that are most
Resonating with people so we want and we picked a selection of those so uh I think this is a really obvious one as soon as you hear you be like of course this is probably number one which is Psalm 23 of course the Lord is my shepherd there is nothing I shall lack
In Green Pastures he makes me lay down to Still Waters he leads me he restores my soul he guides me along right paths for the sake of his name I mean even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear fear no evil
For you are with me your rod and your staff comfort me I mean this is the everyone knows this one because I think everyone fundamentally and I think this is is what we’re called for is to be able to lie down in peace and comfort with God
That is our end goal that is our ontological purpose is to be in peace and security with God so I think it’s obvious that that’s why it’s number one praying the psalm in the Commendation rituals of the church and being with those who are preparing for death this
Offers so much consolation and so often people have this memorized and as I’m as I’m praying it and as I’m proclaiming Psalm 23 in the context of the liturgies related to uh you know those who are preparing for death when you see people crying and and
Crying out from that place of grief the consolation that God provides in this yay I walk through the valley of the shadow of death MH you know I fear no evil like the the shepherd the God is a shepherd of my soul and the soul of this
Person that I love you know um it’s it is it’s also like a surrender prayer too it’s like you know uh I I don’t fear like what is you know surrendering to God is is is essentially synonymous with removing fear in your life right that’s
A good Insight that’s a great way to put it so uh the second one or the next one I think it’s really similar and a lot of these seem to come from from that first break of the Bible of Book of Psalms that first 1-42 so I think that
Was kind of like I don’t know the Psalms AI a list right that’s its greatest hiss right but uh it’s the intro yeah so Psalm 27 which is the Lord is my light in my salvation whom should I fear the lord is my life’s Refuge of whom shall I
Be afraid when evildoers come at me to devour My Flesh these my enemies and foes themselves stumble and fall though an enemy encamp against me my heart does not fear though War be waged against me even then do I trust one thing I ask of
The Lord this I seek to dwell in the Lord’s House all the days of my life to Gaze on the Lord’s Beauty to visit his Temple for God will hide me in a shelter in times of trouble he will conceal me in the cover of his tent and set me high
Upon the rock even now my head is held up high so I mean again it’s I speaks to that longing of Abandonment of surrender of security of Peace of knowing that you got enemies but you’ve got someone taken care of it it’s it’s really is it’s a
Desire to return to the piece of childhood this that could not be more perfect of a Psalm prefaced by what you said because you know the titling of it in God’s company there is no fear yeah MH just it’s it’s perfect I’m curious is Psalm
37 in there in Psalm 37 let’s look at our list probably has something to do with fear it’s kind of a running theme them so this is a pretty cool one and and I’m looking at it on the Us ccb’s website and how it’s broken off alth Beth giml
Dth hey right which are the ancient alphabet so it’s kind of like what is this like an alphabet song so yeah here it is what is what do you think about this one well this one always speaks to my heart and and this is uh my my version is the New Jerusalem uh
Translation which I love do not get heeded about the wicked or Envy those who do wrong wrong quick as the grass they wither fading like the green of the fields put your trust in Yahweh and do right make your home in the land and live secure make
Yahweh your joy and he will give you your heart’s desires commit your destiny to Yahweh be confident in him and he will act it’s just like it it It Centers me you know like I have I have all these things underlined in in my Bible we encourage you to like you know underline
And we want to hear from you this is one of my favorite Psalms um because it just just helps me again what you were sharing before delross surrender like I’m going to surrender my life and and my destiny and and everything that I I long for to God because God is a
Provident father who’s going to provide like and he wants to fulfill my heart I’m in this world not be out of my own generative power I’m I’m in this world because of his generative power and I want to participate in it because he’s placed in me this longing this this this
Cry and only he fulfills it so I just I love I love this and what gets in the way of that yeah when people piss me off don’t piss me off my enemies you know like the people that they that that attack me or whatever it’s like I get I
Get heated you know well don’t get he don’t get heated about the wicked don’t get heated when somebody does you wrong or Cuts you off or whatever you know yeah when I when I see this one in the the NAB re says do not be provoked right
Do not he do not so it’s basically like ignore your haters right you know yeah haters to hate yeah it’s like the the the mental exercise of reentering in in your brain to the the love of God in your life and making that a re prioritizing right that’s that’s how
Scripture kind of helps us to rep prioritize our lives and our thoughts and our mind and and put them into God’s hands for sure so I think you guys will recog this recognize this one um and this one it was a banger back in the day
In the old minutes and a banger Peter Pringle and it’s a banger right now right and once you hear it you’ll recognize it cuz most people probably won’t be able to place it as one of the Psalms but when they hear it they’ll immediately recognize and that’s Psalm
91 do you want to read that one from from here where you want okay um you who live in the secret place of Alon spend your nights in the shelter of Shai saying to Yahweh my refuge my Fortress my God in whom I trust now let me go go to the USCCB
Translation you who dwell in the shelter of the Lord in the shadow bust out that flute y jazz flute yeah so this is on Eagles Wing Psalm 91 uh one of our favorite songs he will shelter you with his pinions and under his wings you will take refuge his
Faithfulness is a protecting Shield you shall not Terror Fear The Terror of the night nor the arrow that flies by day nor the pestilence that roams in the darkness the the plague that ravages at noon though a thousand fall at your side 10,000 at your right hand near it you
Shall not come you need simply watch the punishment of the wicked and you will see so that’s the uh night prayer Psalm yeah mhm for for the the the brevier yep Psalm 91 so that’s a Psalm 91 is a pretty good one it’s maybe a little bit underrated by association but by bad
Music no Peter Pringle there see you know I long for the day where they find some ancient scroll or tablet and it’s got some crazy musical notation and they like they’re like get they bust out the flute in the LI they’re like all right let’s recreate this Peter Pringle gets
Hired and all of a sudden it’s like wait a second an eagle’s wing has been the same for 4,000 years is crazy um I mentioned the other this one before the the day profundus uh that’s a big one during Lent right um what is profundus mean from the depths profound
From the depths profound out of the depths I call to you Lord Lord Hear My Cry may your ears be attentive to My Cry for Mercy if you Lord keep account of sins Lord who can stand but with you is forgiveness and so you are revered I
Wait for the Lord my soul Waits and I hope for his word my soul looks for the Lord more than Sentinels for Daybreak more than Sentinels for Daybreak let Israel hope in the Lord for with the Lord is Mercy with him is plenteous redemption and he will redeem Israel
From all of its sins that’s that’s a big one during Lent uh in the traditional Latin Mass liturgies that’s a really big one as well um so you know in the vgate that would have been 129 in the USCCB it’s 130 right so why is there a difference
Well there was no books numbers or anything like that until you know 6 700 years ago uh so they didn’t really know how to break them up in between and sometimes two backtack Psalms seemed so similar so particular Psalms 9 and 10 they’re they’re really similar so are
They two songs or one right so are they one chapter or two well I mean if you have nine and 10 combined into nine well that sets your numbering back so 130 becomes 129 Etc so there’s kind of two schools of thought which is the Septuagint numbering the Greek which
Would be like the Eastern one and the more traditional Latin one which gets you 129 and then you have the Hebrew or I think it’s called the Maserati text which would get you the the numbering that the Protestants use and they get you one ultimately rest you at 130 but
That’s a difference there which one you looking at here I’m looking at Psalm 137 that’s on the list too a big yeah oh wow what is it so what does it say about this one it doesn’t say anything it just lists them oh really as like more of a
Popular top okay so by the Rivers of Babylon we sat and wept at the memory of Zion on the poplars there we had hung up our Harps for there our goers our ga gayers had asked us to sing them a song our captors to make Merry sing us one of the
Songs of Zion how could we sing a song of Yahweh on alien soil if I forget you Jerusalem May my right hand wither may my tongue remain stuck to my pallet if I do not keep you in mind if I do not count Jerusalem the greatest of my Joys
Remember Yahweh to the [ __ ] cost of the day of Jerusalem how they said down with it R It To The Ground daughter of Babel Doom doomed to destruction a blessing on anyone who treats you as you treated us a blessing on anyone who seizes your babies and shatters them against a
Rock this just like you know gr yeah grueling but this is you know this is uh a Psalm that recalls the fall of Jerusalem in 587 in the Babylon Exile Babylonian exile and and this really expresses the uh when we are in the depths of distress and violence and you
Know when we’re in the cause of like war in the middle of this type of pain you know the the heart turns to uh murder you know and and death and and you know uh wishing these kinds of of things of the heart and uh but it’s it’s sobering
To think that if these are prayers and petitions to God you know how does God respond well he sent his son Jesus into the world yeah you know as the most definitive fulfillment of you know subjecting himself even to the weight of the Cross and to death and you can see
What’s lost too like a lot of Contrition comes from you know in our own sinfulness so we we we’ve we feel like we’ve lost something and we go back for confession I can just see these guys just going we had this amazing House of
God and we SED and now you know they the the militaries they take them and put them into different places they scatter them the diaspora right and to to have that sense of not living in that Community to have that taken from you just the pain and the suffering of that
Joy being lost you know it just comes out of that yeah and then the anger and then the anger the suing anger but you know by the Rivers of Babylon we sat and wept yeah I I see that so in the New Testament there’s only one time where it
Mentions Jesus himself singing and I think that’s really kind of cool but Jesus himself would have sang and it would have been the Psalms so if you look at uh Matthew 26 right this is the last supper and it says this basically he’s that’s the institution of the Eucharist and then
Afterwards then after singing A Hymn they went out to the Mount of Olives bless you thank you so that’s the institution of the Eucharist then Jesus and the apostles sing and then they go to the agony in the garden what would have Jesus and the apostles saying in that moment right
According to ancient Jewish traditions and Customs uh from what I’ve read it would have been Psalm 116 so if we look at the Bible and do a little inference we know that for certain or very likely this is something Jesus himself would have saying and likely the last song he
Would have sang before his crucifixion so Psalm 116 I love the Lord who listened to my voice in supplication who turned an ear to me on the day I called I was caught by the cords of death the snares of Shel had seized me I felt Agony and Dread then I called on
The name of the Lord oh Lord save my life gracious is the Lord and righteous yes our God is merciful the Lord protects the simple I was helpless but he saved me return my soul to your rest the Lord has been very good to you for
My soul has been freed from Death my ears from tears my feet from stumbling I shall walk before the Lord in the land of the living I kept Faith even when I said I am greatly Afflicted I said in my alarm all men are liars how can I repay
The Lord for all the good done to me I will raise the cup of Salvation and call on the name of the Lord I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people dear in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his devoted Lord I am
Your servant your servant the child the child of your maid servant you had loosen my bonds I will offer a sacri sacrifice of praise and call on the name of the Lord I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people
In the courts of the house of the Lord in your midst oh Jerusalem Hallelujah that’s pretty yeah those seem to fit the moment oh yeah just like the raise the Chalice you know let this let this cup pass from me the son of your CH of your maid servant Monday Thursday
Like you know the fact that this is this is happening before he enters into the agony of the garden and you know his dark moments of why have you forsaken me yeah you know when you pair this with that you start looking at The Passion of Christ even more differently yeah what a
Perfect what a perfect ssal we’re so glad that we’re you know drawing up this Psalm as as you know the heights of our expression of the Psalms that we’re looking at um why not you know see that Jesus sang this hymn and how we need to sing these hymns too when we’re faced
With uh you know the Providence of fulfilling God will that’s before us yeah so I think this this whole episode’s been really a great way to look at I think at times maybe an overlooked book of the Bible because the Psalms could be just it’s a bunch of
Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah right and there’s no narrative there’s no story but the Psalms are so so important now one way if you and practical too practical and and and impactful in our prayer lives and in the history of the church and and the way we
Think and pray and everything so we do we want to encourage each of you out there to approach the Bible in a very prac way sometimes it’s daunting or intimidating but the Psalms are a great way to enter into that scriptural prayer that we all want to put into practice in
Our life and it’s very very fruitful when you could express no matter what emotion you’re facing or what circumstances God has addressed it down to the very sense of being in war and being you know taken away from your Homeland taken away from all of your possessions like no matter what you face
In this life God has provided a resource at your fingertips to be able to pray through it receive consolation and hope and return to a God who is Provident who will provide and you know thinking of practical ways you know the Psalms are practical prayers but a practical way to
Pray you know I think hallow is a is a great way and a resource on your phone at your fingertips to access the Psalms and all of the Great Library of resources in the Catholic faith yeah sometimes you need a little bit of a a
Boost a little bit of a guide to walk through prayer to help you and everybody’s used to clicking buttons and they’ve got you know all these prayers in there that help you and guide you into a deep communion with God no matter what your circumstances are that’s what
Makes how such a great app and it’s grown into this massive community of people praying billions of prayers literally you know I was just talking to the people over at H the other day and they had started out with about eight people they’re now at like 100 people
Working over there because of the demand that because people are hungering for prayer in the modern world right excuse me technology has a way of off fisca and and removing our need for prayer because it fills you up with everything else you know intellectual and technological junk food for the soul
But Hollow is going in there and giving you a way to use the technology you in a really beneficial way uh one of the things you know we talked about music this whole episode they’ve got great music resources in there they have chant music they have meditation music they
Have music to help you fall asleep they have the Psalms they have Reflections on the Psalms in there but then they have all kinds of things like they have the Bible in the year and catechism in the year with father Mike schmidtz they have spiritual exercise I mean like it’s just
Like a massive you have the ability to literally go on a retreat with this thing yeah you know it’s just amazing Bishop Baron explaining scripture they’ve got Dr Scott Han explaining scripture they’ve got you know father Josh Jackson Jack jackon and sister Miriam they’ve got all these really
Great Catholic leaders in here so that it’s accessible that you so that you could pray with and besides people who really kind of know how to pray well so if you go to Catholic Talk show.com Hollow you could try it out 100% free the Psalms are intended in the practice
Of our faith as a congregational communal effort and response to God and like you said with hallow you have billions of prayers and the solidarity you could set up prayer groups like all of those types of things that you do with your family with alexio deino
Preparing for mass is great and you know that congregational communal that’s that’s where we Thrive as people and as men you know I always look forward to coming together to pray together to celebrate mass and to really talk about our faith I really enjoy our fellowship and you know the Brotherhood aspect of
This you know our our partners at Exodus do a tremendous job it is so alive in my Parish there are so many groups that have gone through Exodus 90 or other subsequent programming that Exodus has put together because men need to thrive and pray together and that strength
That’s drawn up in that communal worship of God really returns to the family with great power yeah one of the things I like about Exodus is it takes your faith to a different level where you’re practicing you know auster measures in your life that seemingly would not bring
Joy right like you know giving up hot showers and you know social media entertainment like all these things that you feel like you’re taking away but doing so you’re you’re getting so much more you’re detaching yourself from something that’s distracting you from the real purpose in your life so it’s a
Great way to reset I think we talk about those little electric cars when they used to go around we were little and they’d hit that little metal thing you know and just get it right you know start coming back around again yeah that’s that’s a great analogy so like
Exodus works on three pillars which is prayer asceticism and fraternity and I think you can find all those things in the Psalms right aism I mean monasticism and aestheticism their root is in the Psalms and praying the 150 Psalms that is the root of the monastic tradition in
The west and in the East and that’s because it’s a form of prayer a structured form of prayer which Exodus really encourages and then Fraternity in that Brotherhood of having men who will help iron sharpen iron so that you can become the kind of man that God and the
Church need in today’s age so that you can protect your family your culture and your identity as Christian men uh so if you go to Catholic Talk show.com Exodus you can download the app and see if it’s right for you and they have a lot of things not just Exodus 90 the
90day thing which this year begins on January 1st which is a great way to line up with your New Year’s resolutions you know so you can go through the whole cold showers only listening to lurgical music for 90 days Jump Right In hard in a hard reset or you can find some other
Things other programs they have on there that like spiritual warfare with St Michael or um talking about you know exor exorcism spiritual battle Exodus 90 is equipping men to be prayer warriors in the modern world so check it out MH and when you think about the asceticism
That that you guys are talking about as as one of the pillars and and what you were sharing delross what I was talking about earlier in the day like there’s so many distractions you know and we need to we need to empty ourselves out of all these
Distractions so that we can become more full of that communal capacity that we have as creating the image and likeness of God we are truly upheld and uplifted in spirit when we’re communing with God and one another and what great Partners we have in hallow and exodus and we
Encourage you to check them out today so go to those sites at you know Catholic Talk show.com Exodus or hallow and uh you know try it out because if if you’re still out there and you haven’t done it you know you have nothing to lose in the same way
Praying with the Psalms each and every day make it make it a point that you open up the Psalms and make it a daily practice it will en Rich your spiritual life and man do we need more God in our life and in society I I am just so
Grateful guys to just stop and talk about the Psalms today this is really one of my favorite shows that we’ve we’ve had and what a blessing to have Partners like hallow and exodus that really establish a good practice of prayer and the convenience of an application but we want to encourage you
Out there to pray the Psalms make this a part of your daily devotional life you know praying with scripture is really the foundation of you growing in your knowledge of God and what you’re going through and enduring each day and you know before we go our separate ways we
Want to give a shout out to our patrons without your support we wouldn’t be able to do this work so if you’re considering becoming a patron and supporting the show financially go to Catholic Talk show.com patreon and you’ll see all of the tears and the cool swag we want to send you to
Say thank you now what a perfect way to say thank you to God because God is the one who has brought all of this together and a great way to do that is Psalm 28 Yahweh is my strength and my shield in him my heart trusts I have been
Helped my body has recovered its Vigor with all my heart I thank him let’s be thankful to God today and we’ll see you next Week H
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