While the psalms are the inspired Word of God, they are also a forum for the human heart to cry out to God.
As the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us: “The Psalter is the book in which the Word of God becomes man’s prayer.”
In addition, the psalms cover the plethora of human life. No emotion, experience, suffering, or joy is overlooked. All of the affairs of human life are contained within the pages and the prayerful wisdom of the Book of Psalms.
The Catechism describes the effects of the psalms: “The Psalter’s many forms of prayer take shape both in the liturgy of the Temple and in the human heart. Whether hymns or prayers of lamentation or thanksgiving, whether individual or communal, whether royal chants, songs of pilgrimage or wisdom meditations, the Psalms are a mirror of God’s marvellous deeds in the history of his people, as well as reflections of the human experiences of the Psalmist.”
