For Lent I'm going to put aside my current series on the Sunday Vespers psalms, and turn instead to Psalm 118 (119 in Protestant and modern catholic Bibles), and invite you to join me in praying and meditating on some verses of it each day for Lent.
Why Psalm 118?
I've explained why I think it is a particularly appropriate Lenten penance over at my Australia Incognita blog.
In short, it is a psalm above all about the path to happiness, about the Law of God in its broadest meaning. In both Scripture and the Benedictine Office, it is placed so as to provide a preparation for the spiritual ascent into the Temple represented by the Gradual psalms, so fits neatly with the idea of preparing for the joy of Easter.
This psalm used to be said daily in the Roman Office at the minor hours. In the Roman 1962 Office it is said on Sundays, and in the Benedictine Office, is spread over Sunday and Monday.
Looking at Psalm 118
At 176 verses, Psalm 118 (119) is the longest psalm in the psalter (and in fact the longest chapter in the Bible).
But it is neatly divided into stanzas of eight verses, and so I plan to arrange it so as work through it stanza by stanza over the course of Lent up to Holy Week, with a few extra posts at the beginning by way of introduction, and lingering over a few verses here and there!
What to expect...
My plan is to post something relatively short each day over at my Australia Incognita blog, and provide a more extended set of notes, including looking at the Latin of the psalm, over here.
For this week, I'll start by providing an overview and introduction to the psalm, but also provide a couple of verses each day that you could use for prayer purposes that relate to the more general comments.
You can find the first part in the series on Psalm 118 here.
Why Psalm 118?
I've explained why I think it is a particularly appropriate Lenten penance over at my Australia Incognita blog.
In short, it is a psalm above all about the path to happiness, about the Law of God in its broadest meaning. In both Scripture and the Benedictine Office, it is placed so as to provide a preparation for the spiritual ascent into the Temple represented by the Gradual psalms, so fits neatly with the idea of preparing for the joy of Easter.
This psalm used to be said daily in the Roman Office at the minor hours. In the Roman 1962 Office it is said on Sundays, and in the Benedictine Office, is spread over Sunday and Monday.
Looking at Psalm 118
At 176 verses, Psalm 118 (119) is the longest psalm in the psalter (and in fact the longest chapter in the Bible).
But it is neatly divided into stanzas of eight verses, and so I plan to arrange it so as work through it stanza by stanza over the course of Lent up to Holy Week, with a few extra posts at the beginning by way of introduction, and lingering over a few verses here and there!
What to expect...
My plan is to post something relatively short each day over at my Australia Incognita blog, and provide a more extended set of notes, including looking at the Latin of the psalm, over here.
For this week, I'll start by providing an overview and introduction to the psalm, but also provide a couple of verses each day that you could use for prayer purposes that relate to the more general comments.
You can find the first part in the series on Psalm 118 here.
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