Psalm XX SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Psalm 66 is well suited to today’s liturgy, which in the Gospel presents us with the Canaanite woman who, despite not being a member of the chosen people, obtains the healing of her daughter through her Faith. Just as the Gospel passage proclaims the universality of salvation, so Psalm 66, probably written in the post-exilic period, has a universal character. It consists of three short stanzas, between which appears a kind of refrain, which states: “May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you”.
How wonderful it would be if indeed all nations united in praising the one God! The Second Vatican Ecumenical Council states that “the Church prays and labors together, so that the entire mass of humanity may become the people of God, the body of Christ, and the temple of the Holy Spirit, and in Christ, the center of all things, all honor and glory may be rendered to the Creator and Father of the universe” (Lumen Gentium, no. 17).
Psalm 66 is therefore the Christian prayer for the propagation of the faith. The missionary zeal of this Psalm gives our prayer universal dimensions: “Upon every disciple of Christ rests the duty of spreading the faith, whenever possible” (Lumen Gentium, no. 17). By praying with Psalm 66 we obey in some way Christ’s command: “Go into all the world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature” (Mk 16:15).

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