Slides from a presentation on the practice of psalmody in Benedictine monasteries.

1. Psalmody:
What is it?
Why do we do it?
Sister Edith Bogue
Duluth Benedictine Oblates
15 October 2017

2. The Psalms as a Book

3. A Book, Not a Jumble
•The Book of Psalms is the first
book of the Writings in
the Hebrew Bible
•A book in the Christian Bible
•The book is an anthology of
individual psalms, with 150 in
the Jewish and Western
Christian tradition.

4. Organization of the Book: Benedictions
•The Book of Psalms is divided into
five sections, each closing with a
doxology (i.e., a benediction):
•Book 1 (Psalms 1–41)
•Book 2 (Psalms 42–72)
•Book 3 (Psalms 73–89)
•Book 4 (Psalms 90–106)
•Book 5 (Psalms 107–150)
•Consider each in context

5. Genres of Psalms

6. Not all psalms are the same
•Praise
•Lament or complaint
•Royal psalms
•Hymns
•Thanksgiving
•History
•Wisdom psalms

7. Liturgical vs Private Prayer
•Liturgy: pray all the
psalms in a schedule
•Private: choose a psalm
that suits your need
•Liturgy: pray for the
needs of all the world.
•A training of the heart

8. Psalms in Hebrew Worship

9. Psalms in Hebrew worship
•Temple liturgies
•“Psalm of ascents”
•Sung, with markings
•Also part of the daily prayer
•Some psalms said several times each day
•Spiritual foundation of ancient Judaism
•Rituals and liturgies
•These are the prayers that Jesus knew

10. Psalms in Christian Worship

11. Early Church
•First disciples and apostles prayed the psalms
•Early church continued synagogue prayer
until they were no longer welcome.
•Cornerstone of Liturgy of the Hours
•Psalmody during pilgrimage

12. Medieval
•Monastic liturgy
•Gregorian chant made psalmody beautiful
•Removed it from popular prayer
•Eventually, as Latin was not used, few lay
people prayed the Liturgy of the Hours
•“Little Office of the Virgin Mary” replaced it in
many places.

13. Modern times
•Vatican II added a psalm to the readings
at Eucharist, tied to the theme of the Gospel
•Increased the exposure of lay people to psalms
•Less understanding of the structure of the
psalms as a book

14. Spirituality of Psalmody

15. Psalmody is intended to be…
•Throughout the day
•Said by heart and from
the heart
•The topic of meditation
•Formation in the ways of
God’s action in the world
•Turning heart and mind
to praise and thanksgiving

16. Psalmody in your life
•Daily prayer
•In liturgy
•Liturgy of Hours
•Lines of psalms that come
to mind
•The “genres” guide our own
styles of prayer

17. Experiences with
Psalmody
-Explore a genre
-Consider context
(before & after)
-Study one psalm
-Pray in community
-Read about psalms

18. Psalmody:
What is it?
Why do we do it?
Sister Edith Bogue
Duluth Benedictine Oblates
15 October 2017