Another Catholic (and an Orthodox Christian) on the imprecatory psalms

I am in a Facebook group devoted to the Breviary and Divine Office, which includes mostly Roman Catholics and Anglicans but also other Christians interested in the ancient cycle of daily prayer of which the biblical Psalms play a central role. One of the members posted this article by Peter Kwasniewski: The Omission of “Difficult” Psalms and the Spreading-Thin of the Psalter. The author charges that church officials have unduly expurgated troubling scripture passages from both the Psalter and the lectionary readings of scripture at the celebration of the mass. But what I wanted to call attention to is the long quotation by Orthodox priest Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon in one of the footnotes:

The real problem . . . is not with the psalm, but with ourselves. We modern Christians are far too disposed to establish our personal sentiments, our own spontaneous feelings, as the standard for our prayer. Thus, if the words of a particular prayer (in this case, a psalm inspired by the Holy Spirit) express emotions and responses with which we do not “feel” comfortable, we tend to think that we are being insincere in praying it. Contemporary Christians have made a virtual fetish of spontaneity in worship, and sincerity nowadays is measured by pulse rhythm. One would think that our Lord had said: “I have come that you may have sincere and heartfelt emotions, and have them more abundantly.”

 It is a big mistake to adopt this attitude, for it places even the authority of God’s inpired Word under the tribunal of our subjective sentiments. Is it not obvious that to set up our own feelings as the measure of our worship is utterly arrogant? The proper standard for the worship of God is already established in His unfailing Word, and no one will pray as he should unless he submits his prayer entirely to the authority of that Word. Otherwise there is a real danger that our worship will express only the unredeemed sentiments of unrepentant hearts.

If we are going to pray as Christians, it is essential that we submit ourselves unreservedly to the authority of the Holy Spirit who speaks in the inspired words of the psalms. In the present case, this will likely mean ignoring our feelings on the matter and going on to understand exactly what this psalm does, in fact, say. (Christ in the Psalms [Ben Lomond, CA: Conciliar Press, 2000], 215)

Read the entire post here.