Psalm 34 is especially for those who feel that no one hears them. It shows that the path to healing does not begin with success, but with honesty about one’s own poverty. Blessing is a decision, not an emotion—emphasizes Fr. Piotr Kwiatek OFMCap, Capuchin friar, psychologist, and initiator of psalm therapy, in his commentary for the Heschel Center at the Catholic University of Lublin on Psalm 34, sung on Tuesday, December 16.
As Fr. Kwiatek points out, Psalm 34 “is born from the experience of a person who has lost everything—and precisely then discovered the One who is everything.” Paradoxically, “from the place of deepest shame and humiliation can flow the most sincere and trusting prayer of praise.” The truth is that “God is not looking for heroes. He is looking for those who dare to admit that they are poor.”
Praise as Oxygen
The psalmist writes: “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall always be in my mouth. My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad” (Ps 34:1–2). Fr. Piotr Kwiatek comments that “this is not ‘positive thinking’ that tells us to smile at cancer or bankruptcy.”
“Contemporary research shows that the conscious practice of gratitude is not merely a religious ritual, but a powerful tool for strengthening well-being. Regularly ‘counting blessings’ changes the architecture of our brain, lowers cortisol levels, and—crucially—builds psychological resilience to shock,” we read in the Heschel Center commentary.
“When you praise God in the midst of a crisis, you literally ‘hack’ your brain. You do not deny reality—the threat is real—but you change the focal point. It is like opening a window in a smoky, suffocating room,” the Capuchin friar adds. “In rabbinic tradition, it was emphasized that to praise God in affliction is to enter a space where freedom begins to outrun the facts. Whoever blesses in distress is already free.”
Commenting on the words “Let the humble hear and be glad,” Fr. Kwiatek explains that in the Bible the humble (anawim) are “those who know the taste of the earth—the poor of the Lord, people weighed down by life, without connections or protection.” “Our emotional states resonate with others,” he adds. “Praise is not religious icing on the bitter cake of life. It is a decision to breathe, even when the world is trying to suffocate you.”
The Age of Mirrors
Today, people often post carefully curated, beautified images of themselves online. Meanwhile, the psalmist continues: “Look to Him, and be radiant; so your faces shall never be ashamed” (Ps 34:5). “This verse is one of the most powerful metaphors of healing in the entire Bible,” says the commentator. “It says: change the direction of your gaze. Sounds too simple? Perhaps—but psychology knows this mechanism very well.”
As the author of psalm therapy explains, “studies on attention show that what we focus on literally shapes our brain.” Moreover, “rumination—obsessive staring at one’s own mistakes and failures—is one of the strongest predictors of depression. Turning one’s attention away from the self toward something greater is not escapism. It is a survival strategy.”
The commentator on Psalm 34 for the Heschel Center explains that “in the culture of the ancient Near East, the face was everything. To lose one’s face meant to lose oneself. Honor and shame were written on the face like on a tablet.” He adds, “In Jewish tradition, there is a beautiful intuition about shame. Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav commented: ‘Shame is the darkness of the soul, but when you turn your face toward the Light, the darkness cannot remain upon it’ (Likutey Moharan I, 4). A face that looks toward God takes on His radiance. This is not magic—it is a basic psychological mechanism: we internalize what we gaze upon. That is why the choice of the object of our attention is an act with existential consequences.”
God’s Nearness at the Very Center of Brokenness
“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted, and saves those crushed in spirit… The Lord redeems the life of His servants; none of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned” (Ps 34:18, 22). “The Hebrew nishberei-lev means a heart shattered as a vessel dropped on stone. A person with such a heart cannot pretend that everything is fine. And it is precisely here that the psalm reveals the deepest truth about God: He does not withdraw from weakness. On the contrary, He comes exactly where the human person is most defenseless,” Fr. Piotr Kwiatek explains.
“When the heart is ‘whole’ in the sense of being closed, self-sufficient, and self-assured, there is no room in it for anything more. It is full of itself. But when it breaks, cracks appear—and it is through these cracks that light enters,” he adds. “God does not come when we have pulled ourselves together. He comes when we are in pieces.”
“We usually think like this: first, I’ll get myself together, then I’ll come to God. First, I’ll stop sinning, then I’ll go to confession. First, I’ll get back on my feet, then I’ll ask for help. The psalm says exactly the opposite. God does not come to those who are already put together. He comes to those who are lying on the ground. Grace is not a reward for effort. It is a gift for the powerless,” the Capuchin friar emphasizes.
A Gaze Toward God as the Source of Deep Transformation
“A broken heart is not an obstacle to grace; it is its condition. Contemporary psychology confirms what the psalmist sang three thousand years ago: gratitude heals, presence restores, and being truly heard gives back dignity,” Fr. Kwiatek notes. “Jesus, who knew this psalm, placed its message at the very heart of the Gospel: ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven’ (Mt 5:3). Not blessed are the strong, the successful, the self-sufficient—but those who know they are not enough on their own.”
“Psalm 34 is an invitation: do not wait until you fix everything. Come as you are. The poor one who cries out—is heard,” concludes the author of Psalm Therapy.
Piotr Kwiatek OFMCap – PhD in psychology, priest and religious of the Kraków Province of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin. He completed a three-year Gestalt therapy program in Philadelphia (USA) and received training in Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) at the Albert Ellis Institute in New York. He teaches positive interventions at SWPS University—studies recommended by the founder of positive psychology, Prof. Martin E. P. Seligman. Author of books from the Positive Psychology and Faith series, as well as Psalm Therapy and A Workbook for the Psalms. Creator of the free well-being app “Dobroteka 2.0.” More at: www.piotrkwiatek.com
Heschel Center, Catholic University of Lublin