Work of God 
Articles related to the first work of God: Prayer. These include both the public prayer of the Church, private prayers, and methods of praying.
Psalm 3: “Arise, O Lord! Deliver me, O my God!”
Today we are resuming the Audiences in St Peter’s Square and the “school of prayer” which we attend together during these Wednesday Catecheses. I would like to begin by meditating on several Psalms, which, as I said last June, constitute the “prayer book” par excellence. The first Psalm I shall consider is a Psalm of lamentation… Read More ›
No childish devotion
Today throughout the Church is the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. For a thorough treatment of the devotion you can read the article on it at the Catholic Encyclopedia, or for fully authoritative teaching on the Sacred Heart you can read the more recent 1956 encyclical Haurietis Aquas from the hand of Pope… Read More ›
Psalm 5: In the morning you hear me
1. “In the morning you hear me; in the morning I offer you my prayer watching and waiting” (v. 4). These words make Psalm 5 a morning prayer, well suited for use at Lauds, the believer’s prayer at the start of the day. Tension and anxiety over the dangers and bitterness which the believer has to… Read More ›
Psalm 149: Song of Praise
1. “Let the faithful exult in glory, let them rise joyfully from their couches”. The order which you have just heard in Psalm 149, points to a dawn which is breaking and finds the faithful ready to chant their morning praise. With a suggestive phrase, their song of praise is defined as “a new song” (v…. Read More ›
Prayer for Pentecost
The Holy Spirit embodies the life force of the universe, the power of God, the animating energy present in all things and captured by none. On this great feast of Pentecost, the coming of the Spirit of God, I invite you to pray with me: May the Gifts of the Holy Spirit bring fire to… Read More ›
Psalm 110(109): “Sit on my right: your foes I will put beneath your feet”
1. Continuing an ancient tradition, Psalm 110[109] which has just been proclaimed constitutes the primary component of Sunday Vespers. It is proposed in all four of the weeks into which the Liturgy of the Hours is divided. Its brevity is further accentuated by the exclusion in Christian liturgical usage of verse 6, which contains a curse. This… Read More ›
Real Men Say the Rosary
CNA. On May 13, 1917, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared for the first time to three shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal. She shone radiantly before those whom the world initially took no notice – as the Mother of God tends to do – during a year that also saw the rise of Soviet communism and… Read More ›
Psalm 119(118):145-152: Praise God for His Gift of Law
1. What the liturgy of Lauds for Saturday of the first week offers us is a single strophe of Ps 118[119], (the verses 145-152), in the monumental prayer of 22 strophes or stanzas, that correspond to the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Each strophe begins with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet and the… Read More ›
Magnificat: “My soul glorifies the Lord”
The Commentaries on Psalm 119(118) are interrupted this first week of May as we honor Mary during her month. The following Commentary was offered by Pope Benedict XVI as part of the Commentaries on the Liturgy of the Hours on February 16, 2006. 1. We have now arrived at the final destination of the long… Read More ›
Psalm 119(118): v. 145-152: let Christ be light of day
1. In our already long journey through the Psalms that the Liturgy of Lauds presents, we come to one strophe – to be precise, the 19th – of the longest prayer of the Psalter, Psalm 118[119]. It is a part of an immense alphabetical hymn. In a play on style, the Psalmist divides his work into 22… Read More ›