Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Today's Mass Readings

Preface: This week, I reflect on the Responsorial Psalm, “which is an integral part of the Liturgy of the Word and holds great liturgical and pastoral importance, because it fosters meditation on the word of God.” (General Instruction of the Roman Missal, 61)

Teach me your ways, O Lord.
From Psalm 25

In high school, a friend asked me about my favorite Bible verse. The first thing that came to mind was the first words from Psalm 25: “To you, O Lord, I lift my soul.” I loved the beautiful melody it was set to in the Responsorial Psalm at Mass growing up. Do you know it? It was in the green Gather Hymnal. Singing it brings back memories, a sense of peace and rest in God. It probably helped that I was a musician. The Responsorial Psalm on Sunday was always sung and accompanied at my parish. Music amplifies prayer and supports the emotion of the text. Even back then, I loved the Psalms. Now that I am a monk, I pray them every day.

And so, what does today’s refrain from Psalm 25 offer us? “Teach me your ways, O Lord.” How can we make it our own? How can we say to the Lord, “Teach me! Teach me your ways!”?

In 2019, The US Conference of Catholic Bishops adopted the Revised Grail Psalter and the Old and New Testament Canticles translated by the monks of Conception Abbey. Now called, The Abbey Psalms and Canticles, this translation will become the new text in the Church’s official liturgical books.

The verse from which today’s refrain is taken is slightly different in the Abbey Psalms translation: “O Lord, make me know your ways. Teach me your paths.” One of the poetic elements of the Psalms, now brought out more clearly in this new translation, is called Parallelism. The first part of the verse is expressed in a parallel way in the second part of the verse. So, the prayer, “make me know your ways” is parallel to “teach me your paths.” This is a characteristic of Hebrew poetry, which the Psalms are.

The Book of Psalms is the prayer book of the Church. Here is what Thomas Merton, a monk of the 20th century, says about the Psalms: “The Psalms are perhaps the most significant and influential collection of religious poems ever written. They sum up the whole theology of the Old Testament. They have been used for centuries as the foundation for Jewish and Christian liturgical prayer.” (Bread in the Wilderness, 1953, Prologue) This is why the Responsorial Psalm is an “integral part” of the Liturgy of the Word.

The Psalms presented at Mass are often beautiful and easy to pray. However, some Psalms require reading and studying on their own, because they use phrases, imagery, or terms that are foreign to us. I highly recommend the new accurate yet poetic translation, The Abbey Psalms and Canticles for your prayerful study.

Ponder today how you can pray the Responsorial Psalm. Ask, how does it mesh with the other readings today? In the first reading, the Ninevites turn from their evil way by repenting. They could say, “Teach me your ways, O Lord.” In the Gospel, Jesus invites us, “Come after me….” We could respond, “Teach me your ways, O Lord.”

Reflection by Br. Luke Kral, OSB