The Psalms Meditations for Every Day of the Year

Once more we are fortunate to find the prolific and Catholic Benedictine Sister Joan sharing the depths of her spiritual insight with us, guiding us in prayer and here in meditation of the Psalms, these 150 ancient prayers and praises of the Old Testament read in their entirety each week by the followers of Our Holy Father Saint Benedict. Knowing well our softness Sister Joan does not oblige us to read all 150 in this book, but asks us to take one a month, preferably with meals, providing a daily thought based upon the Psalm of the month, ranging from the spiritually divine to the awakening, joyfully ridiculous. Thus each month we are invited each day of that omnth to read the same Psalm. committing her to memory if possible by the end of the month, and each day supplementing that reading with a brief thought for that day supplied by Sister Joan from her ample trreasure house of spiritual knowledge and apophthegmes. I could not help but notice there lacks a selection for the 29th of February, which falls every four years. Perhaps that day by implication contemplative silence is suggested. This month's Psalm reading, for example, is from Psalm 92: "The just will flourish . . ." A brief introduction comes with each month; "We live in a strange period of history . . .". Today's special reading suggests we bring someone half our age to lunch and ask them three values they wish to live by and why, and thereby learn to cherish and to live the rest of our own lives. Next month, November, we contemplate together Psalm 145: "You, O God, are kind and full of compassion, slow to anger, abounding in love. You are good to all, compassionate to all your creatures." Her introduction to November's guided reading concludes: "It is compassion that supports us in our darkest times; it is compassion for which we are most grateful in life, and it is compassion that we ourselves must develop if we are ever to be worth anything to anyone at all - besides ourselves (p.122)." alone. May this brief taste of the sweetness and the light of this substantial volume serve to whet your appetite for more, as there lies set herein a rich and spiritual feast, true to our Catholic Faith and the Path of Peace through prayer.

"The Psalms are the Oldest Prayers in the Judeo-Christian tradition. They trace the human condition back for thousands of years." So writes Sister Joan Chittister in her brief Intro to The Psalms. For each month she chooses one of the key psalms of Praise, Love, Joy, Hope or Compassion with themes befitting that Psalm. For Feb 28 after writing about her ordinary desk, ordinary car, and ordinary food, she quotes Dag Hammarskjold: Our ordinary Life is in..."the Holiness of human life, before which we bow down in worship." April's Psalm 71 is one of Prof. Walter Bueggemann's favorites, For a Psalm of Despair and Hope! She uses as her marvelous conclusion from Emily Dickinson: "Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul...And sings the tune without words and never stops at all." June is the Month of my birthday, on June 16...She quotes Erica Jong: "Take your life in your own hands, and what happens? A terrible thing: No one is to blame!" For June 21, "Loneliness is the poverty of Self; Solitude is the richness of Self!" Sister Joan is the epitome of one who gracefully places the right words into her chosen psalms which touch our deeper needs and hungers of spiritual desire for Compassion, Hope, and Love! This is her one most profoundly simple and beautiful creations. Sincerely in gratitude... "Revi" Fred W Hood

Joan gives you daily sayings for daily living in a monthly format. She deals with topics like love, suffering and forgiveness. She lets us know how we should live our life and basically what will happen to you once you die. Her interpretation of the Bible permits you to meet God. These are oneliners that you can read as many or as few as you like at one time.