Passionists Pray
Psalms & Canticles
Psalms are from the book of the Old Testament composed of sacred songs, or of sacred poems meant to be sung aloud.
Why do the psalms have a big place in our prayers? “Although the whole of Scripture breathes God’s grace upon us, this is especially true of that delightful book, the book of the psalms,” St Ambrose writes, “History instructs us, the law teaches us, prophecy foretells, correction punishes, morality persuades; but the book of psalms goes further than all these. It is medicine for our spiritual health. Whoever reads it finds a medicine to cure the wounds caused by our own particular passions. Whoever studies it deeply finds a school open for all souls to use.”
The psalms reveal the mystery of Jesus Christ: “In the book of psalms Jesus is not only born for us: he also accepts his saving passion, he dies, he rises from the dead, he ascends into heaven, he sits at the Father’s right hand. The Psalmist announced what no other prophet had dared to say, that which was later preached by the Lord himself in the Gospel.”
Canticles means a “little song,” from the Latin canticulum. In practice, canticles are sung or said in worship. These scriptural hymn texts are used in various Christian liturgies and are similar to a psalm in form and content but appear apart from the book of Psalms.
Along with the psalms, canticles from the Jewish and Christian scriptures are found in our morning and evening prayers. They offer examples of key figures in sacred history who met the challenge of their time and gave thanks for the blessing they received. The canticles are taken from many books and literary forms in the Bible.
The Canticles of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, are Christian canticles from Luke’s gospel prayed daily—Mary’s canticle after the reading in evening prayer, Zechariah’s canticle after the reading in morning prayer.
Mary invites us in the evening to join in praising God, who “has done great things for me.” Zechariah, who slowly came to believe, calls us in the morning with the same words he spoke to his son, John the Baptist: “go before the Lord to prepare his way.”
St. Paul’s letters to the Colossians, Philippians and Ephesians offer canticles, probably ancient Christians hymns, that praise Jesus Christ and the mystery of redemption. He came “in the fullness of time” to carry out God’s plan, “to bring all things into one in him in the heavens and on earth.”
Canticles from Revelation frequently end the weekly evening prayers, reminding us as night approaches of our heavenly destiny. We have been redeemed by Christ, “from every people and nation” and called into his kingdom. In the evening prayers we join those in heaven who praise him.