Why praise God?

[Deus_tecum]

We are taught and also told by Scripture to praise God. To me this never made sense as God would be far above needing or wanting praise. Then I realized that perhaps we are not supposed to praise Him to satisfy any of His needs, but instead to make us more cognizant of the infinite enormity of His greatness. Am I correct?

 

[Fr.Charles_Grondin]

You are basically correct. The Prefaces for the Eucharistic Prayers speaks well when it states:

The Priest, with hands extended, adds:
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

The people:
It is right and just.

We give thanks first and foremost because it is right to praise God’s goodness. After all, God could be less merciful and still be perfectly just.

And you are correct that our thanks adds nothing to God but profits us through giving us an understanding and appreciation for God’s infinite goodness, love and mercy. As the Preface VI for weekdays states:

You have no need of our praise,
yet our desire to thank You is itself Your gift.
Our prayer of thanksgiving adds nothing to Your greatness,
but makes us grow in Your grace,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.