Psalm 16: A Night Prayer

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Conversion, Discipleship, Eternal Life, Faith, holiness, Love, ordinary time, Poetry, Psalms2 Comments

Memorial of Saint Anthony of Padua, Priest and Doctor of the Church

Saturday, June 13, 2020

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psalm16 path2

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we pray once again with Psalm 16. Verses 1-10 strike me as a perfect “nighttime” prayer.

In his musical Phantom of the Opera, Andrew Lloyd Weber lyricizes about the “beauty of the night”.  

It’s a soulful song, and in itself could be used for prayer, especially when we pray in times of spiritual darkness or unknowing. In many ways, it reminds me of John of the Cross’s poem, “The Dark Night”. (Verses below for our poetry today).

All of us have times when our prayer seems to echo back to us without a response from God. Our faith may be tested and our trust stretched very thin. God seems so distant that we wonder what happened to cloud the relationship! We linger in a spiritual darkness that is dry and disconcerting.

Dali John of Cross
Christ of St. John of the Cross by Salvador Dali (1951) – Kenmore Art Gallery, Glasgow

These times in the spiritual life were experienced and described by writers like John of the Cross and the author of “The Cloud of Unknowing”. They are times when our experiences and prayer invite us to a new and deeper understanding of God. They ask us to let go of our intellectual certainties and abandon ourselves to God without demands.

Recently, while describing how disappointed he was in God, a friend told me that he had “lost” his faith long ago. Well, obviously, he hadn’t because he still held expectations of the “God” who was disappointing him. I told him that I had lost my faith a few times too, and that every time I got it back, it was new and deeper than the one I had lost. My “septuagenarian God” is very different from the one I came to follow when I was eighteen!

Our minds and souls are so small next to God’s Infinity. But slowly, through a life of prayerful fidelity and loving service, God stretches our capacity to know and return a Love which is beyond reason.

But the stretching times can be dark – times when Psalm 16 is a comforting prayer.

I like to pray with this transliteration by Steven Mitchell – A Book of Psalms

Unnamable God,
I feel you with me at every moment.
You are my food, my drink,
my sunlight, and the air I breathe.
You are the ground I have built on
and the beauty that rejoices my heart. 

I give thanks to you at all times
for lifting me from my confusion,
for teaching me in the dark
and showing me the path of life. 

I have come to the center of the universe;
I rest in your perfect love.
In your presence there is fullness of joy
and blessedness forever and ever.

Music: Path of Life – The Dameans

Poetry: The Dark Night – Stanzas Of The Soul

( Some people find John of the Cross surprising, if not strange or shocking, in his imagery. He was a grace-filled mystic and poet whose images of God expanded beyond the boundaries we might be accustomed to. And that very extravagance is John’s beauty — he invites us to a place we might not otherwise think to go.)

1. One dark night,
fired with love’s urgent longings
— ah, the sheer grace! —
I went out unseen,
my house being now all stilled.

2. In darkness, and secure,
by the secret ladder, disguised,
— ah, the sheer grace! —
in darkness and concealment,
my house being now all stilled.

3. On that glad night,
in secret, for no one saw me,
nor did I look at anything,
with no other light or guide
than the one that burned in my heart.

4. This guided me
more surely than the light of noon
to where he was awaiting me
— him I knew so well —
there in a place where no one appeared.

5. O guiding night!
O night more lovely than the dawn!
O night that has united
the Lover with his beloved,
transforming the beloved in her Lover.

6. Upon my flowering breast
which I kept wholly for him alone,
there he lay sleeping,
and I caressing him
there in a breeze from the fanning cedars.

7. When the breeze blew from the turret,
as I parted his hair,
it wounded my neck
with its gentle hand,
suspending all my senses.

8. I abandoned and forgot myself,
laying my face on my Beloved;
all things ceased; I went out from myself,
leaving my cares
forgotten among the lilies.

Psalm 27: Lift the Veil

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Courage, Faith, Hope, joy, ordinary time, Poetry, PrayerLeave a comment

Friday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time

June 12, 2020

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Psalm 27JPG

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we pray with Psalm 27, a popular psalm used often in the liturgy.

The psalm rocks back and forth between a desperate cry for light and a firm confidence that it will come. No wonder it’s so popular. Isn’t our whole life filled with that rocking?

How many times have we said or heard the plea, “God help me/us!”? I know someone who punctuates almost her entire conversation with similar exclamations. Whenever her own circumstances, or the world in general, disappoints or astounds her, some form of the aspiration arises. Often, it takes a secular form like, “Ay, ay, ay!”, but it is still the same prayer.😀

2bubble

How about you? Have you heard that kind of plea resounding in your own heart lately? The world has been pretty overwhelming recently with disease, death, brutality, anger, and hatred all spilling out like lava from a frightening volcano. And you’ve probably got your own few personal boilers to add!

Unless we’re living in some kind of bubble, it all has to have some impact on our faith, hope and joy.

Psalm 27 is made for these times. It does not fail to acknowledge the weight of circumstances:

Hear, O LORD, the sound of my call;
have pity on me, and answer me…
Hide not your face from me;
do not in anger repel your servant.
You are my helper: cast me not off...

Nevertheless, under its pleading, rests a complete and steadfast confidence in God’s favor:

I believe that I shall see the bounty of the LORD
in the land of the living.
Wait for the LORD with courage;
be stouthearted, and wait for the LORD.

The psalmist invites us to share in this honest prayer, for ourselves and for all the anxious world which may carry troubles greater than our own.

(P.S. Be sure to read today’s first reading. Elijah was looking for God’s Face/Voice too. He found it in the most delightful way. Don’t miss it.)

For poetry today, a selection from the powerful poet Denise Levertov

The Tide

Where is the Giver to whom my gratitude
rose? In this emptiness
there seems no Presence.
*
How confidently the desires
of God are spoken of!
Perhaps God wants
something quite different.
Or nothing, nothing at all.
*
Blue smoke from small
peaceable hearths ascending
without resistance in luminous
evening air.
Or eager mornings—waking
as if to a song’s call.
Easily I can conjure
a myriad images
of faith.
Remote. They pass
as I turn a page.
*
Outlying houses, and the train’s rhythm
slows, there’s a signal box,
people are taking their luggage
down from the racks.
Then you wake and discover
you have not left
to begin the journey.
*
Faith’s a tide, it seems, ebbs and flows responsive
to action and inaction.
Remain in stasis, blown sand
stings your face, anemones
shrivel in rock pools no wave renews.
Clean the littered beach, clear
the lines of a forming poem,
the waters flood inward.
Dull stones again fulfill
their glowing destinies, and emptiness
is a cup, and holds
the ocean.

Music: Psalm 27 – Choir of St. John’s College Elora

Psalm 98: Nice Job, Lord!

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Faith, ordinary time, Poetry, Prayer, Psalms2 Comments

Memorial of Saint Barnabas, Apostle

June 11, 2020

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psalm 98 strings
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we pray with Psalm 98, one of a small knot of psalms whose point is to shout praise over and over to God. It is a hymn psalm, and one of the ten Royal Psalms themed with “kingship”.

As we pray this exultant psalm, in Latin called “Cantate Domino” (Sing to the Lord), we can almost visualize the psalmist and fellow praisers clapping God on the back and chanting, “Great job! Nice work!”.

All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation by our God.
Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands;
break into song; sing praise.

psalms
Walter Brueggemann has written extensively about the Psalms. He says this about the act of praise:

Praise articulates and embodies our capacity to yield, submit, and abandon ourselves in trust and gratitude to the One whose we are. … We have a resilient hunger to move beyond self. God is addressed not because we have need, but simply because God is God.
(Israel’s Praise: Doxology against Idolatry and Ideology)

We don’t have to be as articulate as the psalmist to weave praise into our prayer. 

Sometimes when we catch the sunrise at a morning window, we might quietly say, “Great job! Thank You, Radiant God”

When we look at the magnificence of a natural wonder like the Grand Canyon, we might abandon words and simply let our breathing be praise.

When we study the finely-aged face of a beloved elder, we might praise the monument of grace God has worked in her/his life.

When we finger the strings of our own faith history, we might, in our own words, echo the psalmist:

I sing You a new song in every moment, Lord
for You have done wondrous deeds;
Your loving hand has strung grace through my life,
your generous heart has blessed me amazingly.

Poetry today from Mary Oliver who rejoices in the redbird’s morning praise:

All night my heart makes its way
however it can over the rough ground
of uncertainties, but only until night
meets and then is overwhelmed by
morning, the light deepening, the
wind easing and just waiting, as I
too wait (and when have I ever been
disappointed?) for redbird to sing
― A Thousand Mornings

Music: Cantate Domino – Claudio Monteverdi 

Psalm 16: The Secret

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Faith, joy, Poetry, Prayer, Psalms, spirituality1 Comment

Wednesday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time

June 10, 2020

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psalm16

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we pray with Psalm 16.  This Psalm is introduced as “A Michtam of David”. “Michtam” can be interpreted as either “golden” or “secret” by various translators. 

For prayer this morning, I focused on “secret” because, in the psalm, David expresses what he considers the secret to a joyful, holy life even in difficulty.

O LORD, my allotted portion and cup,
you it is who hold fast my lot.
I set the LORD ever before me;
with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed.

The last line of this verse immediately brought to mind St. Teresa of Avila’s transcendent advice:

Nada te turbe
nada te espante
Todo se pasa
Dios no we muda.
La paciencia todo alcanza.
Quien a Dios tiene
nada le falta
Solo Dios basta.

Let nothing disturb you,
Let nothing frighten you,
All things are passing.
God alone is changeless.
Patience obtains all things
Whoever has God lacks nothing;
God alone suffices.

Repeating this Psalm slowly and intentionally, let us pray for that kind of peace today:

  • for ourselves
  • our beloveds
  • our world, especially those from whom peace has been stolen by injustice, war, greed, and hate.

Music: Psalm 16 – Shane and Shane

There is fullness
Of joy
Of joy
At Your right hand
There are pleasures
Forevermore
Forevermore

My heart is glad and my soul rejoices
My flesh it dwells secure
Because You put on flesh
Lived a blameless life
My curse on the cross You bore

Then You ripped the doors off the City of Death
And the chains fell to the floor
Now the serpent’s crushed
It has been finished
And You reign forevermore

You are my portion
My cup and you make my lot secure
The lines have fallen
For me in pleasant places
A beautiful inheritance

Psalm 4: To See God’s Face

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Conversion, Faith, inclusivity, justice, ordinary time, Poetry, PsalmsLeave a comment

Tuesday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time

June 9, 2020

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king harp

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we pray with Psalm 4, a lament written to be sung with stringed instruments.

The psalmist expresses confidence that God rewards the prayer of the just, warning the “dull of heart” to wake up!

 

When I call, answer me, O my just God,
you who relieve me when I am in distress;
Have pity on me, and hear my prayer!
Men of rank, how long will you be dull of heart?
Why do you love what is vain and seek after falsehood?

Surely, the psalmist’s sentiments echo in our hearts:

  • We all pray, in these conflicted times, for the grace to wake up to the justice and mercy of God.
  • We pray, like the psalmist, to see the face of God in ourselves and in our neighbor.
  • We pray to finally be able to break through the falsehood of racism to the Presence of our Creator in every person.

shane mccrae
The poem I offer today was written by Shane McCrae, an American poet and recipient of a 2011 Whiting Award. McCrae earned a BA at Linfield College, an MA at the University of Iowa, an MFA at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and a JD at Harvard Law School. He currently teaches at Columbia University.

In this poem, the poet and his young daughter trace faces in the waves, the way many of us have in waves or clouds.

psalm4

Like all great poems, this one allows us to find our own meaning within it. I see a father looking to find the reflection of his own face in our representations of God, and hoping that his little child might do so a well. We sense their hopes disappear in the waves and in a culture that has enthroned God’s image as a white male.

Still When I Picture It the Face of God Is a White Man’s Face

Before it disappears
on the sand his long white      beard before it disappears
The face of the man
in the waves I ask her does she see it ask her does
The old man in the waves      as the waves crest she see it does
she see the old man his
White     his face crumbling face it looks
as old as he’s as old as
The ocean looks
and for a moment almost looks
His face like it’s     all the way him
As never such old skin
looks my / Daughter age four
She thinks it might he might be real she shouts Hello
And after there’s no answer answers No


Music:  The Whole Book of Psalmes: Psalm 4, “Oxford Tune”
written by – Thomas Ravenscroft (1588 – 1635)
rendered here by Richard Muenz

 

Psalm 121: A Climbing Song

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Discipleship, Faith, joy, ordinary time, Poetry, Prayer, Psalms, spiritualityLeave a comment

Monday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time

June 8, 2020

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Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we pray with Psalm 121, another of the fifteen Psalms of Ascent.

(Placing the hymn early today. You might want to play it as you read the psalm.)
Waldorf Davies: Psalm 121 St. John’s College Choir Cambridge

 

climber

Picture the ancient pilgrims on their way up to Jerusalem. They carry in their hearts all the joys and burdens of their lives, just like everyone else in the world.

Psalm 121 eyes
What blesses them particularly is that they have turned their eyes toward God as they journey, singing both their griefs and their delights in hope and thanksgiving.

The psalm moves from a plea for help in the beginning: 

I lift up my eyes toward the mountains;
whence shall help come to me?

To, at the close, a triumphant confidence in that help in perpetuity:

The LORD will guard you from all evil;
he will guard your life.
The LORD will guard your coming and your going,
both now and forever.

May we, too, fix our eyes on God,
vigilantly seeking God’s truth
at the core of our experiences.
May our faithful, lifelong dialogue with God
lead us, like the psalmist,
to the same blessed assurance.

Just for a little added joy, here is the glorious hymn Blessed Assurance
– sung by CeCe Winans honoring Cicely Tyson at the Kennedy Center Honors.

Poem: Prayer by David Gioia

(In this poem, we glimpse one particular pilgrim and the prayer he is carrying. The poet addresses God in lovely ways, ( I really loved “Jeweller of the spiderweb”). Finally he prays for protection for a beloved. I think we’ve all prayed that kind of prayer.)

Echo of the clocktower, footstep
in the alleyway, sweep
of the wind sifting the leaves.
Jeweller of the spiderweb, connoisseur
of autumn’s opulence, blade of lightning
harvesting the sky.
Keeper of the small gate, choreographer
of entrances and exits, midnight
whisper traveling the wires.
Seducer, healer, deity or thief,
I will see you soon enough—
in the shadow of the rainfall,
in the brief violet darkening a sunset—
but until then I pray watch over him
as a mountain guards its covert ore
and the harsh falcon its flightless young.

Daniel 3: Bless the Lord

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Faith, Holy Spirit, Jesus, ordinary time, Psalms2 Comments

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

June 7, 2020

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Daniel3_Benedicite

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Trinity.

For the Responsorial Psalm we have, not really a psalm, but an exultant canticle from the Book of Daniel – The Benedicite (Bless!)

Today’s segment of this extended and glorious canticle addresses God directly. The ensuing lines, not in today’s liturgy, invite all the elements of Creation to bless and glorify God.

3 men
The prayers are those said by the three young men, rescued by an angel, and delivered from Nebuchadnezzer’s furnace.

As we pray for our country, and the world, to be delivered from the furnace of hate, racism, violence, militarism, and disease, let us call on all Creation to bless and beseech God – Creator, Redeemer, and Holy Spirit.

 


In God’s magnificent handiwork,
we see the perfection of peace,
the elegance of simplicity,
and the power of obedience to God’s design.

globe

Focus on whatever in nature speaks most to you today. Enter the depth of that part of Creation. Let it speak healing and wholeness to you and to our aching world. Praise the Adorable Trinity who gave us the gift of life with all Creation.

Music: Benedictus es Domine – this Latin chant is today’s Responsorial Psalm.

For our poetry today, we have the remaining verses of Daniel’s Canticle with a musical rendition at the end.

Bless the Lord, all you works of the Lord,
sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
Bless the Lord, you angels of the Lord,
bless the Lord, you heavens.
Bless the Lord, all you waters above the heaven,
bless the Lord, all powers.
Bless the Lord, sun and moon,
bless the Lord, stars of heaven.
Bless the Lord, all rain and dew,
bless the Lord, all winds.
Bless the Lord, fire and heat,
bless the Lord, winter cold and summer heat.
Bless the Lord, dews and snows,
bless the Lord, ice and cold.
Bless the Lord, frosts and snows,
bless the Lord, nights and days.
Bless the Lord, light and darkness,
bless the Lord, lightnings and clouds.
Let the earth bless the Lord;
let it sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
Bless the Lord, mountains and hills,
bless the Lord, all that grows on the earth.
Bless the Lord, you springs,
bless the Lord, seas and rivers.
Bless the Lord, you whales and all that swim in the waters,
bless the Lord, all birds of the air.
Bless the Lord, all beasts and cattle,
Bless the Lord, you sons of men.
Bless the Lord, O Israel;
sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
Bless the Lord, you priests of the Lord,
bless the Lord, you servants of the Lord.
Bless the Lord, spirits and souls of the righteous,
Bless the Lord, you who are holy and humble in heart.
Bless the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit;
sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.

Music:  Benedicite Omnia Opera Domini Domino – sung by Lionheart/Tydings True

BENEDICITE, omnia opera Domini, Domino;
laudate et superexaltate eum in saecula.
BENEDICITE, caeli, Domino,
benedicite, angeli Domini, Domino.
BENEDICITE, aquae omnes, quae super caelos sunt, Domino,
benedicat omnis virtutis Domino.
BENEDICITE, sol et luna, Domino,
benedicite, stellae caeli, Domino.
BENEDICITE, omnis imber et ros, Domino,
benedicite, omnes venti, Domino.
BENEDICITE, ignis et aestus, Domino,
benedicite, frigus et aestus, Domino.
BENEDICITE, rores et pruina, Domino,
benedicite, gelu et frigus, Domino.
BENEDICITE, glacies et nives, Domino,
benedicite, noctes et dies, Domino.
BENEDICITE, lux et tenebrae, Domino,
benedicite, fulgura et nubes, Domino.
BENEDICAT terra Dominum:
laudet et superexaltet eum in saecula.
BENEDICITE, montes et colles, Domino,
benedicite, universa germinantia in terra, Domino.
BENEDICITE, maria et flumina, Domino,
benedicite, fontes, Domino.
BENEDICITE, cete, et omnia, quae moventur in aquis, Domino,
benedicite, omnes volucres caeli, Domino.
BENEDICITE, omnes bestiae et pecora, Domino,
benedicite, filii hominum, Domino.
BENEDICITE, Israel, Domino,
laudate et superexaltate eum in saecula.
BENEDICITE, sacerdotes Domini, Domino,
benedicite, servi Domini, Domino.
BENEDICITE, spiritus et animae iustorum, Domino,
benedicite, sancti et humiles corde, Domino.
BENEDICITE, Anania, Azaria, Misael, Domino,
laudate et superexaltate eum in saecula.
BENEDICAMUS Patrem et Filium cum Sancto Spiritu;
laudemus et superexaltemus eum in saecula.
BENEDICTUS es in firmamento caeli
et laudabilis et gloriosus in saecula.

Amen.

Psalm 71: From My Youth ’til Now

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Discipleship, Eternal Life, Faith, Gospel, ordinary time, Poetry, PsalmsLeave a comment

Saturday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time

June 6, 2020

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Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we pray with Psalm 71.

Psalm 71_16

This is the psalm of someone who has loved God all their lives. Theirs is a proven love, a long faithfulness.

O God, you have taught me from my youth,
and till the present I proclaim your wondrous deeds.

As we look back over our own lives in humility and gratitude, we might speak a similar prayer.

Some of us have been blessed with an early faith that has illuminated every page of our life story. Some of us have come by it a little harder, or a little later, or with frequent clouds around our light.

But we are still here praying, aren’t we – still reaching, like the psalmist, for God’s steadying hand.

My mouth shall be filled with your praise,
with your glory day by day.
Cast me not off in my old age;
as my strength fails, forsake me not.

The psalmist’s enduring relationship with God is rooted in this understanding: that every moment of our lives reveals the face of a just and merciful God. Our part is to believe and trust enough to discover that Face and reveal it to others.

But I will always hope
and praise you ever more and more.
My mouth shall declare your justice,
day by day your salvation.

king harpThe psalmist promises to witness to God’s faithfulness by singing with the lyre. In his letter today, Paul charges Timothy to do the same thing (sans lyre):

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus,
who will judge the living and the dead,
and by his appearing and his kingly power:
proclaim the word;
be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient …

In our Gospel, Jesus says that the proclamation of our faith must be sincere, generous, and humble, never used to politicize and advance our stature over others, or as a tool for our personal aggrandizement:

scribeBeware of the scribes, who like to go around in long robes
and accept greetings in the marketplaces,
seats of honor in synagogues,
and places of honor at banquets.
They devour the houses of widows and, as a pretext,
recite lengthy prayers.
They will receive a very severe condemnation.

 

Oh, so many modern applications come to mind regarding this advice! But, for today, let’s just examine our own hearts.

Music: Psalm 71 – Jason Silver

Poetry: For Light
 by John O’Donohue

Light cannot see inside things.
That is what the dark is for:
Minding the interior,
Nurturing the draw of growth
Through places where death
In its own way turns into life.

In the glare of neon times,
Let our eyes not be worn
By surfaces that shine
With hunger made attractive.

That our thoughts may be true light,
Finding their way into words
Which have the weight of shadow
To hold the layers of truth.

That we never place our trust
In minds claimed by empty light,
Where one-sided certainties
Are driven by false desire.

When we look into the heart,
May our eyes have the kindness
And reverence of candlelight.

That the searching of our minds
Be equal to the oblique
Crevices and corners where
The mystery continues to dwell,
Glimmering in fugitive light.

When we are confined inside
The dark house of suffering
That moonlight might find a window.

When we become false and lost
That the severe noon-light
Would cast our shadow clear.

When we love, that dawn-light
Would lighten our feet
Upon the waters.

As we grow old, that twilight
Would illuminate treasure
In the fields of memory.

And when we come to search for God,
Let us first be robed in night,
Put on the mind of morning
To feel the rush of light
Spread slowly inside
The color and stillness
Of a found word.

Poems for Psalm 119

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Faith, Poetry, Prayer, Psalms2 Comments

I forgot to include some poetry for today’s Psalm.  These are two of mine. I hope they are helpful for your prayer. Thank you for receiving them.

Morning Prayer

rain

I walk the earth, soft
from yesterday’s long rain.
Mists ascend like incense
under my indulgent footsteps.
Bird songs thin themselves
between the early light;
a chanting, contrapuntal, in
the well-laved trees.

Nothing grey is left now
in the wide sky.
Rinsed in light,
it spreads to dry
in sere, blue wind.

Momentarily, earth
is wholly God’s;
deep, true colors fall to it,
rich, unshadowed.
Your Word, Creator,
WaterGod, has penetrated.
It comes back to You in
crystal images
from an uncomplicated world.

As if within a lucent globe
I hold You still,
in perfect, silent love,
clear, inexplicable
like sunlit rain.

 

hands

Reconciliation

The hands of God love me
when I cannot see God’s face.
Like salve, they warmly run
Over, in and out of me,
pausing where my hurt is knotted,
barbed to their approach…

mother’s hands, lover’s, friend’s,
my own hands all held in God’s hands,
healing self-estrangement.

I come to God’s hands
like parched earth
stretches for redeeming rain.

Even in the deep night,
where God will not speak,
those loving hands are words
which I answer in the darkness.

Psalm 119: Your Awesome Word

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Conversion, Faith, Forgiveness, joy, Love, ordinary time, Poetry, Prayer, PsalmsLeave a comment

Memorial of Saint Boniface, Bishop and Martyr

June 5, 2020

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Psalm 119_word

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we pray with Psalm 119 which is considered a hymn psalm, meant for offering praise for God’s handiwork.

bird

This psalm, the longest in the Bible, is an extended string of delight in God’s beauty, power, and tenderness. It reminds me of a mockingbird’s lovely, tireless song, lilting up into the morning or evening sky.

Though long, the psalm is a very simple yet profound prayer. Seeing its length, we might tend to set it aside for a shorter psalm. Instead, don’t tackle the whole thing. Pick one verse that speaks to you. Sit down beside it. Let it crawl into to your lap like a small child. Cradle it and let your soul hum with it.

I remember, as a young novice, learning to pray this beautiful psalm in Latin. Its innocent clarity echoed my desire simply to deepen in God’s ways. Psalm 119 has been one of my favorites for nearly sixty years now, carrying God’s Word to me in myriad ways.

119

Today in our prayer, we might want to contemplate what single word God is speaking most clearly to us in this moment. The words vary over the course and circumstances of our lives. Let us listen and respond to what we hear today in quiet prayer.

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Music: Word of God, Speak – MercyMe