He said that the Book of Psalms “presents prayer as the fundamental reality of life” since it is “the salvation of the human being.”

Newsdesk (October 21, 2020, Gaudium Press) — In his general audience catechesis on the Psalms today, the Pope defined the wicked as those who “live as if God did not exist” and who “do not fear judgment on what they think and what they do.”

He said that the book of Psalms “presents prayer as the fundamental reality of life” since it is “the salvation of the human being.”

“The reference to the absolute and the transcendent – which the masters of asceticism call the ‘sacred fear of God’ – is what makes us fully human, it is the limit that saves us from ourselves, preventing us from rushing into this life in a rapacious and voracious way. Prayer is the salvation of the human being,” expressed the Pontiff.

The Pontiff warned against a false prayer, “in which one seeks to be admired,” a prayer “in which the brother is not present, it is not Christian prayer. As we see in the Our Father, the other becomes important and we are responsible”.

To make a good prayer, the Psalms are “a great school.”

In the Psalms, we find “both intimate and community prayers, so that personal prayer is nourished by the liturgy and vice versa. Both become the heritage of all”.

“Prayer can begin in the penumbra of a church’s nave, but come to an end on the city streets. And vice versa, it can blossom during the day’s activities and reach its fulfillment in the liturgy. The church doors are not barriers, but permeable “membranes,” willing to allow everyone’s groans in.” That is to say; it is located and applied to all fields of man’s life.

The Pope recommended meditation in prayer to not make it mechanical and always keep in mind the good of the brother.

And he concluded his meditation by asking God to free us from impiety, that is, from living, and perhaps from praying, as if God did not exist.

With information from Vatican News