On the Psalms
From the apostolic constitution Divino afflatu by Saint Pius X, Pope (1835 – 1914)
The Song of the Church – The Psalms as the hymn of praise
Narrated by Frank Dugan, Huntington Beach, California
The collection of psalms found in Scripture, composed as it was under divine inspiration, has from the very beginnings of the Church, shown a wonderful power of fostering devotion among Christians as they offer to God a continuous sacrifice of praise, the harvest of lips blessing his name. Following a custom already established in the Old Law, the psalms have played a conspicuous part in the sacred liturgy itself, and in the divine office. Thus was born what Basil calls the voice of the Church, that singing of psalms, which is the daughter of that hymn of praise (to use the words of our predecessor, Urban VIII) which goes up unceasingly before the throne of God and of the Lamb, and which teaches those especially charged with the duty of divine worship, as Athanasius says, the way to praise God, and the fitting words in which to bless him.
Augustine expressed this well when he says: God praised himself so that man might give him fitting praise; because God chose to praise himself man found the way in which to bless God.
The psalms have also a wonderful power to awaken in our hearts the desire for every virtue. Athanasius says: Through all Scripture, both old and new, is divinely inspired and has its use in teaching, as we read in Scripture itself, yet the Book of Psalms, like a garden enclosing the fruits of all the other books, produces their fruits in song, and in the process of singing brings forth its own special fruits to take their place beside them. In the same place Athanasius rightly adds: The psalms seem to me to be like a mirror, in which the person using them can seehimself, and the stirrings of his own heart; he can recite them against the background of his own emotions. Augustine says in his Confessions: How I wept when I heard your hymns and canticles, being deeply moved by the sweet singing of your Church. Those voices flowed into my ears, truth filtered into my heart, and from my heart surged waves of devotion. Tears ran down, and I was happy in my tears.
Indeed, who could fail to be moved by those manypassages in the psalms which set forth so profoundly the infinite majesty of God, his omnipotence, his justice and goodness and clemency, too deep for words, and all the other infinite qualities of his that deserve our praise? Who could fail to be roused to the same emotions by the prayers of thanksgiving to God for blessings received, by the petitions, so humble and confident, for blessings still awaited, by the cries of a soul in sorrow for sin committed? Who would not be fired with love as he looks on the likeness of Christ, the redeemer, here so lovingly foretold? His was the voice Augustine heard in every psalm, the voice of praise, of suffering, of joyful expectations, of present distress.
Source: The Liturgy of the Hours – Office of Readings
Saint Pius X (1835 – 1914) was the eighth of eight children born of a cobbler in the village of Riese in the province of Venice, Italy in 1835. He felt called to the priesthood at an early age and studied at Padua and was ordained in 1858 at age 23. After he became a priest he performed his duties with distinction and was appointed bishop of Mantua and patriarch of Venice.
He was elected pope in 1903 at age 68 and took as his motto To Renew All Things in Christ. He put that motto into practice by advocating attendance frequent, even daily Mass and daily reception of the Holy Eucharist. By the Decree “Quam Singulari” in 1910, he reduced the allowable age to receive Holy Communion from 12 or 14 years to age 7. He destroyed the last vestiges of Jansenism and fought against the heresy of Modernism, which he called the summation of all heresies. He reformed the liturgy, renewed the use of Gregorian chant in the liturgy, revised the Divine Office and initiated the codification of canon law. He promoted an increase of piety among the faithful and encouraged daily reading of Sacred Scripture. He was active in supporting foreign missionaries, devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and reorganized the administrative workings of the Church throughout the world. He fulfilled this task in the spirit of simplicity, poverty and courage, arousing the faithful to a Christian way of life and waging constant warfare against the errors of his age. Historians and those who met him have said he was one or those chosen few men whose personality was irresistible and people were moved by his simplicity and his angelic kindness. All those who were ever admitted to his presence has a deep conviction of being face to face with a saint. Pius X died on the morning of August 20, 1914. He was canonized a saint in 1954 by Pope Pius XII. His body lies in state, uncorrupted from decay to day.