Psalms for Praying
Nan C. Merrill
Open my heart that compassion may
be my companion;
Where I meet pride, humble me,
Where I meet anger, calm my fears;
Where I meet injustice, cause me
to act in love's way.
For I shall behold your face
in Truth,
when I am fully awake,
I shall dwell in the house
of love and peace and joy!
I think I am beginning to see why the ancient monks used to write out the psalms, and lovingly embellish them with drawings and color; why they they would recite them day in and day out. In the book, Care for Creation, Ilia Delio, Keith Douglass Warner, and Pamela Wood write, "In the early church those who went out into the desert to live the gospel life lived in profound silence so that when words were spoken they could be readily received as actions in their lives. For the desert fathers [and mothers] the Word of God carried authority and burst forth into events of revelatory power(10)." As election fervor gathers momentum, we will be hearing far too many words. How to live love in the onslaught of words too often spoken to distract, cajole, ridicule and even mislead? The psalms may indeed help us.
May we all be open to hearing God's revelatory word today.
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