Psalm 31 is the prayer of a person who, at their most fragile moment, discovers that they do not have to be alone. It shows that trust is not born of strength, but of the courage to be vulnerable before God, who is a rock, not an illusion. It is a psalm for modern people, 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 31, sung on the Feast of Saint Stephen on December 26.
As Fr. Kwiatek notes, human beings repeatedly encounter life’s dramas. “At such moments, Psalm 31 ceases to be a distant ancient text and becomes your own cry,” we read in the commentary. Its author reminds us that from the lips of Jesus hanging on the cross come the words: “Into your hands I commend my spirit” (Luke 23:46). The dramatic scene of Christ’s death suggests that “trust is not a luxury for the strong, but a rescue for the defenseless.”
The modern person is often immersed in a culture of fear, constant tension, and perpetual uncertainty about tomorrow. The psalmist resembles the person of the twenty-first century, “trying to piece life together from small, often trembling gestures of hope.” The author of Psalm Therapy stresses that Psalm 31 “does not sugarcoat reality. It does not pretend that life is simple or that the human heart is indestructible. On the contrary, it shows a person exposed to the winds of life.” Yet in dramatic circumstances, trust is born—not as a product of certainty, but as “courage despite its absence.”
A Rock That Does Not Crack
For the psalmist, God is a rock that never breaks—“solid, unyielding, immovable.” Although for the modern person a rock may sometimes seem cold or inflexible, “that is precisely the point: to stop seeking shelter in things that sway—such as the opinions of others, success, health, or relationships. The Rock is the One who does not change when everything else does.” “Faith in God-as-Rock is not an escape from reality, but the discovery of a foundation on which one can stand and from which one can begin to rebuild,” writes Fr. Piotr Kwiatek.
In the Gospel, Jesus also calls Saint Peter a rock (cf. Matthew 16:18). As the Capuchin friar explains, “Jesus gives a name that describes a mission, not a current condition. Peter still makes mistakes, is fearful, impulsive, insecure, and anything but rock-like. Yet in Jesus’ eyes, a rock is not someone perfect, but someone who can lean on a greater Rock,” which is God.
Every Night We Practice Dying
Before the words “Into your hands I commend my spirit…” became the prayer of the dying Messiah, they were an evening prayer recited by devout Jews before sleep, as the commentator on Psalm 31 for the Heschel Center explains. “Modern people suffer from an epidemic of control. We want to manage every aspect of life—our calendars, emotions, image, future—and yet every night we let go anyway. Every night, we practice dying,” emphasizes the author of psalm therapy.
Pointing to a paradox, Fr. Kwiatek writes that it is worth “becoming completely defenseless and at the same time absolutely safe, because our life has a Guardian.” Jesus’ attitude on the cross shows that “even in abandonment, one can remain free from the tyranny of fate. Entrustment is a firm decision to drop the burden of ‘I must control everything’ and to discover that our anchor is embedded in a Rock greater than all our fears.”
A Face That Shines
“God does not turn His gaze away from your pain. You no longer need to hide from Him what you yourself do not want to see,” writes Fr. Piotr Kwiatek. “In Hebrew, the verb hibbit (הִבִּיט) means a careful, attentive gaze—like that of a mother bending over a child who is just learning to breathe calmly. Such a gaze does not accuse; it lifts. When a person allows themselves to be seen in this way, something within them quiets down. Resistance breaks, and something fragile yet powerful happens: healing.”
The psalm message aligns with contemporary developmental psychology. As Fr. Kwiatek adds, “depression often begins with the conviction that no one sees. No one notices the tears that fall inward.” “Psalm 31 then becomes like a verdict of acquittal: God sees,” we read in the commentary.
The Hebrew word ra’ah means a way of seeing that “embraces the whole person: their history, wounds, desires, failures, and successes. It is a gaze that understands and shows compassion. God does not merely look; He co-feels.” God grants the human person mercy (Hebrew chesed, a term difficult to capture in a single English word): love “that does not betray,” fidelity “that takes no holidays,” goodness “that holds a person when the ground trembles beneath their feet.” All moments of a person’s life—both the bright ones and those they would rather erase—are held in God’s hands.
A Remedy for Life in Uncertainty
Psalm 31, writes the Heschel Center commentator, “does not teach magical thinking or cheap optimism. It teaches real trust—the kind that does not deny reality, but faces it with God at one’s side.” He adds that “modern psychology is rediscovering that the human psyche is not built to carry the weight of existence on its own. We need anchors, relationships, and a greater meaning. We need trust.”
Fr. Piotr Kwiatek calls Psalm 31 a promise: “entrusting oneself to God is not an ending; it is the beginning of a new life. A life in which the heart can breathe. In which you do not have to be a rock, because you are already sheltered by one.”
Moreover, “Psalm 31 is the prayer of a person who, at their most fragile moment, discovers that they do not have to be alone.” It is especially significant for contemporary people “weary of control, overstimulation, and loneliness in suffering.” Its message is simple and at the same time radical: God sees, understands, and remains with the human person even when everyone else leaves. And when He holds our time in His hands, fear slowly ceases to be our master.
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