Praying It: Rejoice in the Good

As part of night-time prayers, allow each member of the family to share the things that they are grateful for that day.

Saints:

St. Philip Neri

Our Lady, Cause of Our Joy

Scripture:

John 16:22-24 – So you also are now in anguish. But I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you…

Luke 17:15-19 – And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice…

Psalm 9 – I will praise you, LORD, with all my heart; I will declare all your wondrous deeds.

Psalm 33– Rejoice, you righteous, in the LORD; praise from the upright is fitting.

Psalm 34– I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall be always in my mouth.

Psalm 40 – Surely, I wait for the LORD; who bends down to me and hears my cry…

Psalm 92 – It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praise to your name, Most High…

Psalm 100 – Shout joyfully to the LORD, all you lands; serve the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful song…

Psalm 116 – I love the LORD, who listened to my voice in supplication…

Psalm 147 – How good to sing praise to our God; how pleasant to give fitting praise.

Tobit 12:6 – Raphael called the two of them aside privately and said to them…

In our continuing catechesis on Christian prayer, we now turn to Psalm 126. This Psalm is a joyful prayer of thanksgiving for God’s fidelity to his promises in bringing about Israel’s return from the Babylonian Exile: “The Lord has done great things for us, and we rejoiced” (v. 3). A similar spirit of joy and thanksgiving should mark our own prayer as we recall the care which God has shown to us in the events of our lives, even those which seem dark and bitter. The Psalmist implores God to continue to grant Israel his saving help: “May those who sow in tears, reap with shouts of joy” (v. 5). This imagery of the seed which silently grows to maturity reminds us that God’s salvation is at once a gift already received and the object of our hope, a promise whose fulfilment remains in the future. Jesus will use this same imagery to express the passage from death to life, from darkness to light, which must take place in the lives of all who put their faith in him and share in his paschal mystery (cf. Jn 12:24). As we pray this Psalm, may we echo the song of the Virgin Mary by rejoicing in the great things which the Almighty has done for us (cf. Lk 1:49) and by awaiting in hope the fulfilment of God’s promises. – Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience, October 12, 2011