Here is the latest in author Mary Kathleen Glavich's popular "Catholic Companion" series. The Catholic Companion to the Psalms is a complete, accessible and fascinating exploration of the Psalms and why they are (and should be) precious to Catholics today, just as they were for Basil the Great, Cyril of Alexandria, Francis Xavier, Teresa of Avila, Thomas More and many others in the Catholic tradition.
The Catholic Companion is a treasury of methods for understanding and praying the psalms. The purpose of this book is to bring the psalms to life for all Catholics and entice them to begin or continue to mine the riches of these simple but powerful prayers, and to use them for ardent heart-to-heart conversations with God.
Chapters include:
- God the Lyricist
- Personalizing the Psalms
- Lectio Divina with the Psalms
| Mary Kathleen Glavich, SND, is an educator, speaker, editor, and the author of 50 books. She is also a part-time pastoral associate at St. Dominic's in Cleveland, OH. |
EXCERPT: Psalm Modes
To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. (Psalm 25:1).
Songs come in different forms and styles, each with particular characteristics. Consider the variety: operatic arias, national anthems, camp songs, and nursery rhymes. Then there are symphonies, blues, country, rock-and-roll, and rap. It’s no surprise, then, that the hymns in the Book of Psalms are of different genres. They are appropriate for the ups and downs and in-betweens of our roller-coaster life, as the following story demonstrates.
One woman was captured and sold into sexual slavery. She was beaten, raped, and tortured repeatedly. Eventually a team from International Justice Mission rescued her. They found she had written these words on the wall of the room where she had been held: “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When evildoers assail me to devour my flesh—my adversaries and foes—they shall stumble and fall. Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war rise up against me, yet I will be confident” (Psalm 27:1-3).
After she was rescued, people asked her to read these psalm verses for them, but she replied, “No. Those were the words I prayed when I was in the brothel. But I will ready you these words: ‘I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad. O magnify the Lord with me; and let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.’” (Psalm 34:1-4).
The German scholar Hermann Gunkel (1863-1932) was the first to categorize psalms based on their life-setting, purpose, and structure. The Norwegian Sigmund Wowinckel and others like Claus Westermann have modified his classifications and made new proposals regarding how the psalms were used originally. Nevertheless, attempts to neatly classify the psalms are in vain because often they are a medley of themes. The following are the usual ways the psalms are grouped, along with occasions when you might wish to pray them.
