Reframing Praise

A Reflection on the Psalm for Sunday, August 24th, 2025:
Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Psalm 117

R: Go into all the world and proclaim the good news. or R. Alleluia!

Praise the Lord, all you nations!
Extol him, all you peoples! 

R: Go into all the world and proclaim the good news. or R. Alleluia!

For great is his steadfast love toward us,
​and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.

R: Go into all the world and proclaim the good news. or R. Alleluia!

Pause. Pray. Reflect.

ex●tol (verb) -- to praise enthusiastically

During prayer this week, I saw an image of a painting being taken out of its frame and placed into another. I couldn’t make out exactly what was in the painting, but I sensed that it expressed many realities going on at the same time: of beauty and ugliness, joy and sorrow, good and evil.

Lately I’ve been considering how God’s healing leads to freedom. I sense God asking me to praise Him as an integral part of healing. Being someone who has difficulty doing so, God is asking me to take a second look at praise to consider why that is.

So what does a framed painting have to do with praising God? Today, let’s assume the painting in question is a snapshot of some time in life. Perhaps you might pause and imagine a painting of a moment in time that God places on your heart and mind. 

As a naturally melancholic person, my default is to find fault or imperfection in these snapshots, regardless of what is in the picture. Psychology suggests I consider different interpretations of what I see, to view the picture with more clarity and healthier perspective. This is called cognitive reframing, and helps challenge distorted thinking.

I have been using reframing with some success, but I do see shortcomings in the practice. Sometimes, the reality is that the picture is just plain crummy. Slapping lipstick on a pig, for lack of better terminology, doesn’t change what is terrible, or correct a wrong. And, sometimes the new frame I “build” is unknowingly way off, and doesn’t accurately describe reality. When this happens, we discover some far off, but still unhealthy places like denial, repression, or God-lacking self-determination.

What healthy reframing requires is the presence of the Holy Spirit. When we are looking for clarity and healing, we are striving for and seeking God’s truth, and releasing that interpretation of truth to God. That in itself is freeing. 

In my vision, the new frame enclosing a snapshot of my life was glimmering in gold and incandescence. I took it to be the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth. When the Spirit frames and informs what we see, pictures illuminate in grace and open up in ways we cannot visualize or understand on our own. I have seen where God has made beauty in the most ugly pictures of my life. God does not paint right over our poignant human complexity, but frames our humanity in mercy and consolation. Yes, what I see in the picture has changed, but not because of my own efforts just to change my mood and get on with my day.

That’s real healing. And when that happens, I find praise has begun to bubble up in small, courageous pockets of ease. Pray for me, as I will for you. Healing—and extolling God—praising him enthusiastically… I’m still working on it!




Michelynne Gomez

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