How do we Catholics view Psalms and Proverbs?

[yesukristus]

Some Protestants in my diocese view these as guidelines for life- quite different from the Catholics, where the Psalms are treated like hymns and Proverbs barely even mentioned. Are either treatments recommended by the Church?

 

[tobinatorstark]

Some Protestants in my diocese view these as guidelines for life- quite different from the Catholics, where the Psalms are treated like hymns and Proverbs barely even mentioned. Are either treatments recommended by the Church?

Psalms are sung in every mass as Responsoral Psalm. Outside of mass reading and praying the Psalms is quite helpful. I pray the Psalms quite often. I use my Latin Vulgate at Eucharistic Adoration and I pray the Psalms daily using the Grail Psalms found in the Liturgy of the Hours. I don’t know why Proverbs couldn’t be prayed outside the Church, but I like both. Psalms is one of my favorite books of the Bible next to Ecclesiasticus. Everything I think of Psalms I always think of David praying to God and I think of this Psalm in the Vulgate 42:4:

Et introibo ad altare Dei, ad Deum qui lætificat juventutem meam. Confitebor tibi in cithara, Deus, Deus meus.

I’ll let you look that one up. It is Psalm 42 in the Douay-Rheims and and it Psalm 43 in modern versions.

 

[scottywolf777]

Psalms are sung in every mass as Responsoral Psalm. Outside of mass reading and praying the Psalms is quite helpful. I pray the Psalms quite often. I use my Latin Vulgate at Eucharistic Adoration and I pray the Psalms daily using the Grail Psalms found in the Liturgy of the Hours. I don’t know why Proverbs couldn’t be prayed outside the Church, but I like both. Psalms is one of my favorite books of the Bible next to Ecclesiasticus. Everything I think of Psalms I always think of David praying to God and I think of this Psalm in the Vulgate 42:4:

Et introibo ad altare Dei, ad Deum qui lætificat juventutem meam. Confitebor tibi in cithara, Deus, Deus meus.

I’ll let you look that one up. It is Psalm 42 in the Douay-Rheims and and it Psalm 43 in modern versions.

regarding the book of Proverbs, it could be used somewhat as a guide to life which was the original intent. Despite protestant ideas the church still holds te "copyright’ to the Bible and it should always read with that understanding. Even amoung jews who wrote proverbs there’s a variant of opinion on how to use it. There are many negative sounding references to alcohol for instance so i was shocked when I attended a sabbath service in a synagogue to be given wine and cookies instead of coffee and donuts afterwords.

 

[DavidFilmer]

Some Protestants in my diocese view these as guidelines for life

True. Even the little Gideon’s New Testaments include both Psalms and Proverbs.

quite different from the Catholics, where the Psalms are treated like hymns

Well, of course, the Psalms *are *hymns - the word “psalms” means “songs with harp.” We typically use other instruments these days, but the psalms were intended to be chanted or sung (although they sometimes loose some lyrical quality in various translations).

and Proverbs barely even mentioned. Are either treatments recommended by the Church?

Of course, the Church does not encourage anybody to ignore any part of the Bible. But the three-year cycle of readings that the Church uses in public worship are designed around the Gospel reading. The second reading is always from the NT, so it could not include Proverbs. The first reading might be from the OT or the NT, but it is always designed to compliment the Gospel reading for that day. Everything in Catholic liturgy leads to (and from) the Gospel.

The folks who set the liturgical cycle don’t sit up and say, “hey, we need a few more chapters from book XYZ because it isn’t used very much, and we gotta make this balanced and fair.” They try to pick the best OT/NT selections which directly relate to the Gospel.

Thus, some books are not read very often in regular public worship. But this does not mean Catholics may neglect these readings. All Catholics are encouraged to study the entire Bible (though, admittedly, many do not).