BOOK REVIEW : Praying the Psalms by Thomas Merton

Abbey of Gethsemani – August 1962 by Pimon Singhasin

Since starting at St Giles-in-the-Fields I think have said more psalms each day than ever before! The Book of Common Prayer is the basis for all the liturgy here. In it, all 150 psalms are said consecutively, with the Psalter dividing the text into sixty groups of Psalms to be said each day of the month at Morning and Evening Prayer.  When a month has thirty one days, the psalms set for the thirtieth day are repeated. 

‘Praying the Psalms’ is a short essay by the Catholic Priest and Trappist Monk Thomas Merton. In it he offers advice on how to gain a “lived sense” of the Psalms - something he says is vital if we are to truly pray with them. 

Start:Stop - I wash my hands in innocence

Raw Material Washing Hands by Bruce Nauman, 1996

Hello and welcome to our weekly reflection from St Stephen Walbrook. You can listen to an audio version of this text here. 

“I pray that those of us who are white Christians repent of our own prejudices, and do the urgent work of becoming better allies to our brothers and sisters of colour."

"For those of us who are white Christians, I pray that we reflect and pray deeply and honestly on what it means to follow the teaching of Jesus to “love your neighbour as yourself””

Tweets by the Archbishop of Canterbury last week which were met with support but also criticism by some white Christians who claimed to be innocent of the charge; and had no need to repent for prejudice.

“I wash my hands in innocence” cries the psalmist. I wonder how many of us can say the same with integrity?

A Week of Psalms in New York - Psalm 82 at the United Nations

The United Nations General Assembly, New York

This psalm tells us that we “are gods, children of the Most High.” Jesus used the words of this Psalm to rebut the accusations of blasphemy made against him by the Jewish leadership. If we are all children of the most high, how can it be blasphemous to say Jesus is the Son of God?