The use of a passage of Deuteronomy for today's Responsorial Psalm reminds us that, besides the Book of Psalms, the Bible contains other songs, hymns, and psalms. This is not surprising, for the Chosen People were a praying people: they knew how to pray and they frequently prayed. The Book of Psalms is, a wonderful collection of prayers and songs, but for the Jews praying was not confined to the Psalms. The Bible records that, at important junctures of life, they turned to prayer, whether prayer of petition or of praise. This, of course, carried over into the New Testament songs of praise, Zechariah's hymn at the birth of John the Baptist, and Mary's Magnificat at her visit to Elizabeth

Let us, then, look at this "responsorial psalm" taken from Deuteronomy. At first sight it does not seem to be a prayer, but rather a recitation of the things the Lord had done in choosing Israel. It also contains words of exhortation to the listeners: "think back¡K", "reflect¡K", "ask your father¡K".

Recital is a form of praise, as in our Fourth Eucharistic Prayer: the call to "proclaim the greatness of our God" is a call to prayer.