Praying the Psalms of the Divine Office: An Aid to the Breviary / Everyday Prayer

Here is a brief and simple aid to understanding, adapting and adopting the Psalms to one’s life situations. They synthesize a wealth of God’s relationship between God and humans. They convey a great amount of lived theology and spiritual earnestness. They are also prophecies about Jesus, especially in relation to his Passion, Death and Resurrection, and are suitable for use in our prayer. The Psalms have nourished more than three thousand years of prayer, and they still do so. They include hymns of praise, lamentation, Messianic hope, wisdom sayings, worship, thanksgiving, joy, anguish, anger, historical meditations, etc. They express God’s power and greatness, adoring Him and trusting Him, singing of His marvellous works and praising His mercy, exalting his faithfulness and expressing repentance for sins, asking for His help in trouble and showing abandonment to His providence.

Since the Psalms come from different times and a culture different from ours, we need some help to understand them and adopt them. That is what this book tries to offer. Responding to many priests, seminarians and religious, the author has taken care to keep it short and simple and as helpful as possible, for all those who use it, especially in praying the Divine Office.