Meditate on Psalm 22 during Holy Week

"My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?"

The beauty behind the book of Psalms is that they were written honestly and from the heart. They often express the personal feelings of someone in distress and in the midst of anxiety.

Yet, they always end in hope, looking forward to the joy that will come from the hand of God.

During Holy Week, one of the most powerful psalms to meditate on and pray is Psalm 22, a psalm Jesus himself prayed while on the cross. Even more so, if you find yourself in a similar situation to Jesus, alone, forgotten and in great distress, this psalm can comfort you and bring you peace.

Here is an excerpt from Psalm 22.

My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?Why so far from my call for help,from my cries of anguish?My God, I call by day, but you do not answer;by night, but I have no relief.Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;you are the glory of Israel.In you our fathers trusted;they trusted and you rescued them.To you they cried out and they escaped;in you they trusted and were not disappointed.But I am a worm, not a man,scorned by men, despised by the people.All who see me mock me;they curl their lips and jeer;they shake their heads at me:“He relied on the Lord—let him deliver him;if he loves him, let him rescue him.”For you drew me forth from the womb,made me safe at my mother’s breasts.Upon you I was thrust from the womb;since my mother bore me you are my God.Do not stay far from me,for trouble is near,and there is no one to help.All the ends of the earthwill remember and turn to the Lord;All the families of nationswill bow low before him.For kingship belongs to the Lord,the ruler over the nations.All who sleep in the earthwill bow low before God;All who have gone down into the dustwill kneel in homage.And I will live for the Lord;my descendants will serve you.The generation to come will be told of the Lord,that they may proclaim to a people yet unbornthe deliverance you have brought.