I remember the first series of talks on the psalms I ever went to, at Holy Cross College, Mosgiel, when I was a student at Otago University in the 1970s. My psalm understanding was in its infancy, though I was attracted to them in ways I couldn't articulate. On the basis of those talks I managed to save enough money from my meagre student funds to buy Daily Prayer from the Divine Office. There began my relationship with the psalms as a constant reference point in my praying personally and with the church. From the mid 1990s I began to pray according to a Cistercian arrangement of the psalter, at the encouragement of the abbot of Kopua Abbey where I often joined with the monks in praying the offices. More recently and now living away from the monastery, I have adopted the use of the Benedictine Daily Prayer.
Along the way I have come across books which helped my understanding and sometimes my praying of the psalms. The very first of these was Paschal Botz OSB, Runways to God: The Psalms as Prayer (Liturgical Press, 1980) which I bought when a student at theological college. Notable too are Carroll Stuhlmueller, The Spirituality of the Psalms (Liturgical Press, 2002) and every bit as reflective as its title suggests, Maureen McCabe OCSO, Inside the Psalms: Reflections for Novices (Cistercian Publications, 2005).
A demanding and worthwhile book, with reflection questions and many suggestions for further reading for each of the book's sections, is Margaret M Daly-Denton, Psalm-Shaped Prayerfulness: A Guide to the Christian Reception of the Psalms (Columba Press, 2010). For several years now, my frequent - and magnificent - psalm study book has been John Eaton, The Psalms: A Historical and Spiritual Commentary with an Introduction and New Translation (T&T Clark, 2003). Reference to this book is often accompanied by my turning also to the prayerful beauty of Robert Alter, The Book of Psalms (Norton, 2007).
And now I have found Irene Nowell OSB, Pleading, Cursing, Praising: Conversing with God through the Psalms (Liturgical Press, 2013). This is a book that should be read by all cantors, choirs and lectors who lead the psalms in liturgy. The book is not about liturgy, but will open up the psalms to new levels, for those who lead them liturgically. It is a short book of ninety-three pages, slim enough to carry in a bag to read at work in a lunch break. Here I have found a book that simply and very accessibly opens pathways into the riches of the psalms in all their complexity. This is the book I wish had been written when I first began this journey with the psalms. For Sydney dwellers, I have seen copies at Pauline Books & Media in Castlereagh Street.
