Curses in the psalter

After this past weekend's deaconate formation class on the Psalms, I have reflected further in thought about the truncating of the psalmody in the Liturgy of the Hours as it relates to the so-called "cursing psalms." It should be remembered that while most clergy pray the Divine Office privately, we know that the Office has always been meant for community prayer-and not just in religious houses or monastic communities, but especially in church with an assembly of the faithful. In our own age, that would mean that the recitation of the psalms ought to be open to the public for the sake of worship. The Liturgy of the Hours is not a Eucharistic celebration, so the praying of the Office in church would be open to non-Catholics in a special way, since non-Catholics cannot participate fully in the celebration of the Eucharist.

Because the celebration of the Office in church is and ought to be very public, it might take some special explaining to our non-Catholic friends if they heard chants at Vespers like:

"May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever. Pour out your wrath on them; let your fierce anger overtake them..... Charge them with crime upon crime; do not let them share in your salvation. May they be blotted out of the book of life and not be listed with the righteous." (69:23-24, 27-28)

"May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow. May his children be wandering beggars; may they be driven from their ruined homes. May a creditor seize all he has; may strangers plunder the fruits of his labor. May no one extend kindness to him or take pity on his fatherless children. May his descendants be cut off, their names blotted out from the next generation." (109:9-13)

"Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD, and abhor those who rise up against you? I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies. (139:21-22)

To the unknowing or, worse yet, the totally unchurched, that kind of Scripture passage doesn't sound anything think like "love your neighbor as you love yourself." These Psalms are a part of the psalter, however, and are a part of the inspired Word of God. Hence, as a matter of personal opinion, I tend to agree with those who say that we should reintroduce them into the Breviary-they were to be found there, after all, when the Church (especially and specifically the clergy) was praying the Office chiefly in Latin. In the name of accuracy and totality, it might be good to look at putting them back into our cycle of prayer.

Sister Timothea is right, however, when she says that there is no way we could do that without proper catechesis among the laity with regard to what the "cursing psalms" are really all about. God does not want us to kill the innocent infants of our enemies, or wish that those who wish us personal ills or harms would not be saved. Instead, the very harsh and strong biblical language of these psalms is meant for those who have totally rejected all possibility of God's grace and have completely embraced the work of Satan (examples: Hitler, Nazis at Death Camps, Stalin, etc.). Few people in the world would choose to so openly reject the basic goodness that God made them with (Genesis 1:27-31), but there are those few who do. When they do, they open themselves up to evils like the Holocaust or the Stalinist Purges. Unfortunately, there are such people in the world, and they are-by their own choice-wicked. The evils they have done to the human family are visited upon innocent people. It is precisely to remind us of the frailty of the human condition that we have the cursing psalms.

Before we look at putting these psalms back into the Church's public psalter, however, we need first to have more of the laity ready to pray the Office to begin with before any discussion of catechesis on the "cursing psalms" could take place.