Cowley Magazine Winter 2013 by Friends of SSJE

Volume 39 â&#x20AC;˘ Number 2

Winter 2013

IN THIS ISSUE In the ninth Monastic Wisdom for Everyday Living article, Br. Kevin Hackett invites readers to a deeper experience of the psalms through song and prayer – and writing their own psalm. Need a little prayer “shock therapy”? Br. Robert L’Esperance points us toward the psalms for inspiration. Four Brothers share meditations on one of their favorite psalms. Br. David Vryhof suggests what the psalms reveal about God and ourselves. Hymn writer and longtime friend of SSJE, Carl P. Daw, Jr. talks about his experiences of paraphrasing the psalms to set them to music. If you want to learn more about the psalms, check out the Recommended Reading List at the back of this issue. Letter from the Superior | Letter from the Fellowship | Voices of Friends Update your address with us! See the postcard inside. To remove your name from our physical mailing list and sign up for our electronic mailing list, please call 617.876.3037x55, or email friends@ssje.org. To follow the latest news from the Brothers, visit www.SSJE.org where you can listen to weekly sermons and view photo galleries of the Monastery. We would welcome hearing what you think of this issue of Cowley Magazine. Visit www.SSJE.org/cowleymagazine to share comments, ask questions, or see Cowley Magazine in color!

Cover photo: The bright initial of an illuminated manuscript page from a medieval book of hours harkens to the Society’s roots in the ancient monastic practice of chanting the psalms throughout the day.

A Letter A Letter from the from Superior the Superior Geoffrey Tristram, SSJE

Dear Members of the Fellowship of Saint John and other Friends,

s I write this letter we are still some weeks before Thanksgiving, and already the shops are playing Christmas music! Why wait for Christmas? We live in a society that does not like to wait, but rather demands things now: instant food, instant music, even instant relationships. We have lost touch with the importance and value of waiting. This issue of Cowley focuses on the psalms. These sacred Hebrew songs have traditionally formed the bedrock of monastic worship, and we Brothers say or sing the psalms five times a day in our Chapel. As we repeat these familiar words over and over again, they seem to enter into our souls and become prominent features of our interior spiritual landscape. One of the deepest truths which I have learned from the psalms is the importance of waiting. Whenever the psalmist becomes anxious or confused or angry or impatient or

overwhelmed, God’s voice so often reassures him and tells him to calm down and wait. In Psalm 37, for example, he is fretting over those who do wrong, and God tells him not to fret but to “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him.” Again, in Psalm 27, he is filled with fear and anxiety, and God tells him, “O tarry and await the Lord’s pleasure, be strong, and he shall comfort your heart – wait patiently for the Lord.” Psalm 130 (which you can read on page 28 of this Cowley) is a wonderful Psalm about waiting. “I wait for the Lord; my soul waits for him; in his word is my hope.” He compares this spiritual stance of waiting as being like the watchman keeping vigil, waiting for the morning and the coming of the light. Advent is all about waiting. It is one of the most powerful spiritual times of the year, as we wait patiently and

“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him” (Ps. 37:7). We invite you to check out our preaching series, “Practicing Patience,” from last Advent at www.SSJE.org/monasticwisdom.

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prayerfully, day by day for the coming of Christ. As we wait we acknowledge that things of lasting spiritual value take time to mature. God doesn’t do ‘instant gratification!’ God is patient and God wants us to be patient. Monastic traditions of prayer have honored this truth, and have valued times of vigil, silence, and contemplative waiting on God. One of my favorite poets is the Welsh poet and priest R. S. Thomas. He expresses this truth in a remarkable poem called “Kneeling”: Moments of great calm, Kneeling before an altar Of wood in a stone church In summer, waiting for the God To speak; the air a staircase For silence; the sun’s light Ringing me, as though I acted A great rôle. And the audiences Still; all that close throng Of spirits waiting, as I, For the message. Prompt me God: But not yet. When I speak, Though it be you who speak Through me, something is lost. The meaning is in the waiting.

God and the poetic impulse do not come to the poet at his bidding. He must wait. ‘The meaning is in the waiting.’ And God will speak to and through us when God is ready to do so! There are many wonderful things happening in our community right now; our various ministries are thriving at the Monastery and Emery House, as well as in parishes and dioceses around the country. We are growing numerically, with new novices and interns, and a steady stream of men knocking on our door for possible vocations. We are delighted to have welcomed our recent monastic intern Ruben Alexis as a postulant in our community, and to have clothed Brian Pearson as a novice. All this growth, I believe, is ultimately dependent on our faithfulness to that 4

daily waiting on God in prayer, which is the bedrock of our life as monastics. Our Rule says, “Quietness and freedom from interruption are needed for us to enter deeply into this prayer. Accordingly, each house of the Society shall have one hour of strict silence set aside each day so that all the Brothers can spend this time in meditative prayer, completely undisturbed. This community hour is sacrosanct” (Ch. 23). This commitment to a time of prayer each day is vital not just for monks, but I believe for everyone who wants to deepen their life of faith. Central to our mission as Brothers is “to respond to the needs of those who desire to learn how to pray, and to understand the things of the Spirit” (Rule, Ch. 31). Many of the articles in this and previous issues of Cowley are about prayer, and our daily devotional, “Brother Give Us a Word” – we are humbled to hear from our friends – is helping people to pray their lives all over the world. The national church is currently using it as part of its Advent spiritual offerings. And since our daily videos during Lent were very popular last year, we are planning a new series this year specifically on prayer for Lent 2013. As we wait together for the wonderful gift of Christ at Christmas, we Brothers give thanks for all of you who share in our hope and our vision. You give us courage and great encouragement. We are so grateful and wish you a very blessed Advent and a joyful Christmas.

Faithfully,

Geoffrey Tristram, SSJE Superior

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A Letter from the Fellowship

found a real spiritual home at SSJE in 1984, after graduating from college. I’d taught math for a year at the Taft School, then moved back to Boston to work for an actuarial consulting company, designing pension plans. I loved my job, I had a fabulous apartment in the North End, and I loved going to SSJE for the weeknight Eucharist. But at the time I was wrestling with discerning a call to the priesthood: Am I called, am I not called? Do I say yes? When do I say yes? I had all these checklists in my head and I kept making deals with myself: “Once I turn this age… once I accomplish that goal… then I’ll say yes to the priesthood.” Then one night, a friend asked me to go with her to SSJE’s Tenebrae service during Holy Week. She ended up not being able to go, but I decided to go anyway, since I’d already carved out the time. I remember I sat in the back of the Chapel and couldn’t really tell what was going on. Yet I felt very held by the candles, singing, and psalms. I found myself in this place of being very quiet with God. I had nowhere to hide; I had no worshiping companion that I could turn to and draw into distraction by asking questions about what was going on in the liturgy. I was just there, in the moment, with the Brothers and the

singing and the candles – and God. And God was saying, “Okay. What are you going to do?” I realized that every checklist I’d ever made was absurd. I realized that God was God, that I was called to say yes to this. Ever since that moment, I have felt linked to the mystery of the Chapel. The walls are so soaked with the prayers of countless people on various journeys seeking to hear God and be faithful as they discern next steps, that the space just holds you. And it holds you in a safe enough way that you can dream new dreams. It certainly did that for me: I felt in a safe enough place, held in God’s love, supported by the Brothers, and surrounded by prayer, that I could risk dreaming this dream. All these years later, the Chapel at 980 Memorial Drive is still my spiritual home, and the Brothers are truly my spiritual Brothers. When I was elected bishop, I lost the sense of having one particular worshiping community that grounded me. In my episcopate right now, I am in a different church in the diocese every Sunday. Every church and worshiping community in Connecticut feeds and nurtures my spiritual journey as I seek to feed and nurture theirs in the name of our Lord. And, one of the reasons why I am able to be so grounded in the diversity of worshiping communities is because of my heart’s significant relationship with the Monastery Chapel. Having a spiritual home is such a huge gift because it grounds me in important ways. My

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A Letter from the Fellowship ministry would be very different if I didn’t have that. To know that I am prayed for by the Brothers, some of whom have known me for almost thirty years, Brothers who are so intentional about their prayer and so faithful to their prayer, is a gift that supports me when I am out in various places, doing various ministries. I know that the Brothers are there, praying for the church and the world, sustaining, challenging, and inviting all of us to a closer walk with God and God’s Mission. And I also love that, at SSJE, the Brothers are living God’s mission in the world, witnessing not just with their prayer – and thank God for their prayer – but also by living into so many other wonderful ministries that also make a real difference in peoples’ lives. – The Rt. Rev. Laura J. Ahrens, Bishop Suffragan of the diocese of Connecticut

What is the feLLoWship of saint John?

The Fellowship of Saint John is

comprised of nearly 1,000 men and women throughout the world who desire to live their Christian life in special association with the Society of Saint John the Evangelist. Members of the Fellowship seek to live an ordered life of prayer and service in association with the Society, and follow a Rule of Life which expresses a common commitment to faithful discipleship. To learn about the FSJ, visit

www.SSJE.org/fsj or contact us at friends@ssje.org. 6

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Prayer Shock Therapy Praying the Psalms

Robert L’Esperance, SSJE

salms are very much at the center of a monk’s daily prayer. Not including the offering of daily Eucharist, SSJE Brothers pray corporately five times each day. In four out of five of those occasions, singing psalms is at the core of our communal prayer. Biblical scholars tell us that most, if not all of the psalms were originally meant to be sung, which seems to account for their rhythmic style. The name “psalms” comes from the Greek psalmoi, to sing to the accompaniment of a harp or lyre. Here at the Monastery we sing psalms using traditional Gregorian chant. Chanting, I’ve been told, is one of very few human activities that engage both left and right brain hemispheres simultaneously. Something happens in the body through the rise and fall of the chant pattern. What happens when we chant the psalms I cannot really explain in words. But whatever happens seems to both lull the body into a more relaxed state and heighten its attention at the same time. Chanting psalms and reading them in the manner of lectio divina (a monastic practice of very slow, deliberate, reflective reading) are two very different propositions. Chanting evokes word patterns, repeated notes, and the rise and fall of the musical line. The words themselves, and their explicit meaning,

seem to matter less than the body’s experience of being caught up in the various patterns of the musical line’s repetitions and cadences. As I reflect on this I realize how little attention I actually focus on the meaning of the words themselves. This type of prayer’s quality is truly visceral – what we call incarnational. Recently in my spiritual reading, I’ve been struck again and again at how little, if anything, Jesus taught concerning public prayer. This isn’t to say that corporate prayer isn’t important. It is. It just doesn’t seem to be at the center of Jesus’ teachings concerning prayer. All the synoptic gospels record Jesus’ cautions to his followers neither to “pray in the synagogues and on street corners” nor “to heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do.” Most of our prayer work (and prayer is work!), according to Jesus, takes place in the “inner room” where the “Father sees…in secret.” Praying with psalms in that setting constitutes quite a different experience from the one I described happening in a monastic chapel in the course of a day’s prayer cycle. A recurring theme when I talk with people in spiritual direction is their difficulty with prayer and their reluctance to openly share their darker secrets and even “sinful” desires with God. People speak of their strong desire

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to express a range of experiences and feelings in their prayer. But they often struggle against inner voices that would tell them the limits of what divine ears can tolerate. As though we need to protect God from being too shocked at who we really are. Anyone who prays struggles with self-censorship. The dualistic thinking pattern that our minds develop allows us to compartmentalize our existence into neat areas, lest the good be contaminated by less acceptable thoughts and desires. One of the best pieces of spiritual advice I ever received from a spiritual director was to pray for anything that I desired, even if that desire seemed sinful. A kind of “prayer shock therapy” designed to break through dualistic thinking patterns and begin integrating prayer with life as we actually experience it, rather than as we might wish it to be. If you need some prayer shock therapy, the psalms are a good place to begin. We don’t always have to be nice in our prayers. Psalms use words that express feelings less than congruent with our ideas about a loving, merciful, and benevolent God. Words like “O God, break their teeth in their mouths; pull the fangs of the young lions, O Lord” (Ps. 58:8) or even more chilling, “Happy shall he be who takes your little ones, and dashes them against the rock!” (Ps. 137:9). While we can’t view these psalms as instructive, their strong words can help us become more aware of our own emotions – emotions lurking just out of conscious sight that might seem too dangerous for us to acknowledge in prayer. The psalms can encourage us to name those strong, less savory human emotions that should not be suppressed if our prayer is to become a conduit for God’s healing restorative touch. Prayer like this reminds us that God loves us not because we are good, but because God is good. 8

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;One thing have I asked of the Lord; one thing I seek; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life; To behold the fair beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his templeâ&#x20AC;? (Ps 27:5-6)

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v. 1-8

Psalm 103 10

Bless the LORD, O my soul, And all that is within me, bless his holy Name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget not all his benefits. He forgives all your sins And heals all your infirmities; He redeems your life from the grave And crowns you with mercy and loving-kindness; He satisfies you with good things, And your youth is renewed like an eagleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s. The LORD executes righteousness And judgment for all who are oppressed. He made his ways known to Moses And his works to the children of Israel. The LORD is full of compassion and mercy, Slow to anger and of great kindness.

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Meditating on the Psalms

Bless the Lord, O My Soul A Meditation on Psalm 103 Eldridge Pendleton, SSJE

henever I hear the opening words of Psalm 103 I think of my grandmother, who loved me unconditionally. I have reflected often in recent years on those individuals whose influence helped make me who I am, and she is certainly at the top of the list. My grandfather died unexpectedly when my grandmother was 27 and within weeks of giving birth to her second child, Elizabeth. They had been sweethearts since childhood. Left a widow in a frontier town in Indian Territory, far from her family in Texas, my grandmother emerged from darkest grief a year later spiritually rescued and renewed, determined to lead others to the love of Jesus. An inspired teacher, she did so by teaching Bible classes for over fifty years. Bereft by tragedy at such an early age, her life could have been hobbled by fear. Instead, Psalm 103 inspired her to live. It became her mantra. Its message can inspire us to live more fully, as well. Most of us, most of the time, would like to feel closer to God and more open to God’s love. We know we can do so through prayer, but we don’t know how to start. Each morning many who hunger for this intimacy hit the floor running as soon as waking, trying to accomplish all the things that need to be done and finding no room for prayer. Others are hindered by sloth, a spiritual paralysis that blocks desires.

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But what if we decided to give God just two minutes at the beginning of the day? What if our only prayer was “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits,” and we ended it right there and sat with it a moment or two, reflecting on how good God has been to us. I suspect if we did and made a habit of it, we would draw closer to God. We would also discover we had more than enough time to do the things we need to do, and we would approach the day with a brighter outlook. One of the traditional ways of developing a spiritual life focused on God is through a Rule of Life. If you lack one or yours has become stale and lifeless, why not start afresh with the first eight verses of Psalm 103 as a focus. So much of our friendship with God involves remembering. By that I don’t mean golden-tinged nostalgic fabrication, but truthfully bringing to memory all that God has done and continues to do for us. Psalm 103 specifically mentions benefits, sins forgiven, infirmities healed, restoration of life, the blessings of mercy and loving-kindness, liberation from bondage, and God’s kindness and compassion. Reflecting on specific ways God has broken into our lives to love us will prompt in us a response of gratitude and joy, and a sense that we are, as another psalm describes it, “the apple of God’s eye.” 11

Psalm 85 12

You have been gracious to your land, O LORD, you have restored the good fortune of Jacob. You have forgiven the iniquity of your people and blotted out all their sins. You have withdrawn all your fury and turned yourself from your wrathful indignation. Restore us then, O God our Savior; let your anger depart from us. Will you be displeased with us for ever? will you prolong your anger from age to age? Will you not give us life again, that your people may rejoice in you? Show us your mercy, O LORD, and grant us your salvation. I will listen to what the LORD God is saying, for he is speaking peace to his faithful people and to those who turn their hearts to him. Truly, his salvation is very near to those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land. Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring up from the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven. The LORD will indeed grant prosperity, and our land will yield its increase. Righteousness shall go before him, and peace shall be a pathway for his feet.

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Meditating on the Psalms

Intimacy with God A Meditation on Psalm 85 David Allen, SSJE

he first six verses of Psalm 85 are a prayer of thanksgiving to God for his continued care and love. The ill fortunes of Israel had been blamed on the failure of the people to keep God’s commandments. A feeling of hope that a turning back to God was taking place has been perceived. Verse seven, “Show us your mercy, O Lord,” is a prayer that this hope may be realized. The last six verses are an expression of the fulfilling of this hope for realizing greater intimacy with God. There are two verses in the last part of Psalm 85 which always touch me deeply: “Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring up from the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven.” These verses speak to me of intimacy with God through the godly virtues of mercy, truth, and righteousness. I think love should also be included. I consulted some commentaries to see what I could find about the background of this psalm. However, I came to the conclusion that I should continue to live with the psalm and let my own interpretation come out of my prayer. One thought has come to me about this psalm, that it can be considered as a spiritual cosmology of Godly virtues. It stirs up within me feelings which I can only describe as a desire for intimacy with God to the extent that we can have such intimacy, no matter how unworthy we may feel.

The words, “Mercy and truth have met together” and those following them stir up a shadowy memory deep within me of a quotation, I think it is from one of the Cappadocian Fathers, about God reaching out his hand in love, and a drop of water springing up to meet the tip of that finger as answering love. God reaches out to us with love, and we respond with love. As I read over the whole psalm I see a relationship of the words in the two verses that I have quoted to key words in other verses. Mercy, truth, and righteousness are in some way related to forgiveness, salvation, and the peace which shall be a pathway for God’s feet. Hear again what the last part of the psalm says; “Mercy and truth have met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring up from the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven. The Lord will indeed grant prosperity, and our land will yield its increase. Righteousness shall go before him, and peace shall be a pathway for his feet.” Whenever I read these words, and hear them said or sung, I can feel that I am being drawn onward towards greater intimacy with God, into that intimacy which God desires all of us to share with him.

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Psalm 126 14

It seemed like a dream, too good to be true,  when God returned Zion’s exiles.  We laughed, we sang,  we couldn’t believe our good fortune.  We were the talk of the nations – “God was wonderful to them!”  God was wonderful to us;  we are one happy people. And now, God, do it again – bring rains to our drought-stricken lives  So those who planted their crops in despair  will shout hurrahs at the harvest,  So those who went off with heavy hearts  will come home laughing, with armloads of blessing. translation: The Message

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Meditating on the Psalms

Remember A Meditation on Psalm 126 Luke Ditewig, SSJE

ave you been part of a surprise party? Or the reuniting of friends who didn’t expect to see each other? Have you witnessed an act of kindness or generosity that stunned the recipient? Psalm 126 recalls a laugh-out-loud time that was “like a dream, too good to be true.” The people of Israel had been captured and forcibly taken away from their homes to an enemy’s land. Not by just any enemy but Babylon, which had conquered their previous enemy, Assyria. Not just defeat. They were doomed, having lost to this most powerful empire. But then, against all odds, God brought them back home. Remember that time? Remember when God saved us? Remember how we laughed and sang? Remember that grace, that bounty, that taste of heaven? Remember because now we’re back to normal life. Now it is not so heavenly but rather a daily grind, a tragic grief, a depressing gloom, or a crisis for survival. Remember that time because now I’m not sure how we’ll get by. How will we make it to tomorrow or next month or next year? The psalm says they “planted their crops in despair” and with “heavy hearts” because if the drought continues and

the rain doesn’t come, all will be lost. Amid despair, with the memory of blessing, they petition: “God, do it again – bring rains to our droughtstricken lives.” May we shout and laugh as we bring in the harvest. Let it rain. Let the crops grow. Not just enough to survive – surprise us with your generosity. Give us cause to celebrate your goodness. With memory of blessing, they ask in hope. Remembering kindles hope. Remembering is both looking over the shoulder and looking right in front of us. Remember the past, what God has done. Remember today. Look back and look around to see. What has made you laugh and sing with wonder? When did you feel like you were dreaming? In what small but very real ways do you see signs of love? What are you thankful for? Dare to hope for more of that, for more divine generosity, to come. Dare to hope because God is good. Dare to hope because even amid our heavy hearts as we face daily grinds, grief, gloom, and crisis, God still glimmers. Remember God over your shoulder and remember God in front of you today. Cling to these memories. Pray Psalm 126 clinging and crying out to God who blesses.

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Psalm 131 16

O LORD, I am not proud; I have no haughty looks. I do not occupy myself with great matters, or with things that are too hard for me. But I still my soul and make it quiet, like a child upon its motherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s breast; my soul is quieted within me. O Israel, wait upon the LORD, from this time forth for evermore.

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Meditating on the Psalms

Contemplative Humility A Meditation on Psalm 131 Jonathan Maury, SSJE

part from their grouping under a shared, descriptive superscription, “Song of Ascents,” the psalms numbered 120-134 seem a motley crew at first glance, unconnected, even fractious: some are individual laments, others collective thanksgivings; some laud the joys of domesticity while others the glories of the assembly at worship; communal doxologies contrast with a single penitent’s cry for divine mercy; personal pleas for deliverance from enemies are juxtaposed with hymns of gratitude for national protection. Yet the designation “Song of Ascents” indicates their commonality and interrelationship, for all are psalms of pilgrimage – toward and into God. And as such they are hymns for an upward journey experienced on two levels simultaneously, the outer and visible, and the inner and unseen. Outer and visible, since pilgrims traveling on foot to Jerusalem, whether coming from north or south, east or west, must physically ascend through hill country. For though not itself one of earth’s great peaks, Mount Zion presents a sometimes arduous climb, whether approaching via Roman road or overland. But also inner and unseen, for pilgrimage entails a moment-by-moment commitment to rise to the new life which is God’s gift to us in Christ. The temple to which we make ascent is the Lord’s own crucified and risen body, of which we are members.

The “upward call of God in Christ Jesus” of which Paul speaks is made in humility in walking through life, day to day: feet treading the ground of reality, of paradox, upward ascent implying true groundedness. Humility stilling the soul (the word humility derives from humus, the soil, earth, and clay from which we come). Speaking of fears, trials, losses and hopes, dreams and lasting meaning. Making the ascent to God’s dwelling place in pilgrimage, we learn that it is very much within, trusting in humility as a child on its mother’s breast, nurtured, caressed, kissed, sung to, suckled. Psalm 131 comes as an oasis on the way, a place of respite for the journey, a reminder of the Holy One who has preserved us in life to this very moment, and who promises life yet more abundant, even beyond our wildest imagination, when the pilgrimage ceases. This hymn of humility invites us to revel in remembrance of God’s love, which first brought us into being and which at this moment as always delights in our companionship. “O Lord, I am not proud; I have no haughty looks,” we pray, first confessing our forgetfulness in acknowledging ourselves as entirely dependent on God alone, a vital truth which we often refuse through our illusion of self-sufficiency. “I do not occupy myself with great matters, or with things that are too hard for me,” the Spirit prays from deep

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within. And though we have occupied and still do so occupy ourselves with reactive, unconsidered words or actions, the Source of all being invites us to rest from our striving and wait patiently upon Love. “But I still my soul and make it quiet, like a child upon its mother’s breast; my soul is quieted within me.” Here in the midst of pilgrimage we come upon an image of God unique in the scriptures: God as the nursing, nurturing mother; God gently rocking and calming the weary and hungry child who seeks the security of unconditional love. We pray to return to the child-like dependence, even vulnerability, by which alone we enter the kingdom and the security of God’s embrace.

And so our journey in prayer comes full circle: “O Israel, wait upon the Lord, from this time forth for evermore.” We travel on in humility, joined to the community of God’s chosen, and knowing even now of our union with the One to whom we ascend. The stance of waiting is pregnant with expectation, the hopeful assurance of seeing things which are now hidden from our sight. It is to trust in God’s unfailing generosity, which ever provides not what we think we need, but what we actually need – in the right degree and at the right time. The unexpected is made visible to the contemplative heart, which watches and waits on God in all circumstances.

“But I still my soul and make it quiet, like a child upon its mother’s breast.” (Ps 131:3)

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Encountering God and Ourselves Reading the Psalms David Vryhof, SSJE

nature does not, and the psalms speak from and to the essence of being human and in search of God in our lives.” What can we learn about God from the psalms? The God we encounter in the psalms is not radically different from the God we see elsewhere in the Hebrew Scriptures, also called “the Old Testament.” In the psalms, God is revealed to us both as Creator and Savior. As Creator, God is the One who brings order out of chaos; he is the One who has created, and now rules, all that is. The psalms praise the God of Creation, underscoring his supreme status among all gods and revealing his fatherly kindness and goodness. God is the ‘Lord’ and ‘King’ who reigns in both the divine and human realms, but who

n the tradition in which I was raised, the Christian Reformed Church, a predominantly Dutch Calvinist denomination headquartered in western Michigan, the psalms played a prominent role in worship. In fact, the Psalter Hymnal, the official hymnal of the denomination in which I grew up, gave about two-thirds of its pages to the words of the psalms set to music. In the tradition in which I now practice my Christian faith – the (Anglican) monastic tradition – psalms are a mainstay of worship as well. We Brothers sing and pray the psalms several times a day, moving again and again through a cycle which covers the entire Psalter. There are a number of reasons for granting the psalms such a prominent place in our worship. One is that the psalms played a key role in the worship of ancient Israel and were therefore integral to the spirituality of Jesus himself. We can presume that Jesus and his disciples were well familiar with them. But even more, we value them because they reveal to us essential truths – about God, about ourselves, and about the realities of human existence. As one Jewish Rabbi, Amy Scheinerman, has written, “Herein lies the magic of the psalms: they speak to the individual soul, to an entire people, indeed to all souls in all times and places. While time and situations may change, human

“Your word is a lantern to my feet and a light upon my path.” (Ps 119:105)

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“I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will praise my God while I have my being.” (Ps 104:34)

is also our ‘Shepherd,’ our ‘Rock,’ and our ‘Refuge.’ We are safe in God’s care. God is also the source of salvation. God is the Savior of the people of Israel, the One who delivered them from Egypt, sustained them in the wilderness, and brought them safely into the Promised Land. Not only is God the Savior of the nation, he is also the One who saves each of us – from sickness, from death, and from our enemies. Salvation and deliverance come from God; in God alone is our hope. The psalms reveal to us the nature of God, but they also reveal to us the heights and depths of human experience. At times we see the psalmists caught up in wonder, love and praise at the power and goodness of God (e.g. Psalms 8, 103, 150); or longing passionately to draw closer to God (Psalms 42, 63). At other times, the psalmist cries out from the depths of suffering and pain for God to rescue him (Psalms 88, 137). The psalmists hold nothing back; they are brutally honest about themselves and their circumstances. In the psalms we find the full range of human emotions: fear, envy, hatred, and despair, as well as joy, wonder, love, and trust. The most powerful and transformative way to pray the psalms is to enter into the mindset of the writer. At times this is easy, when we can readily recognize similar emotions within our own hearts. At other times the psalmist is expressing an emotion which is not immediately accessible to us, and we will need to lay aside our present mood or concern in order to identify with that dimension of human experience that is being expressed in the words of the psalm. Thus, praying the psalms often requires a freedom and generosity to rise above our own experience in order to extend our empathy and our prayerful intentions towards others for whom the SSJE

words may ring more true. Perhaps I do not feel persecuted or tormented by enemies, but this may be exactly what a brother or sister in another part of the world is experiencing. Because it is real for them, it can be real for me as well. We come to the psalms, then, to encounter God and to know more fully the depths of our humanness. The psalms expand our hearts and enlarge our horizons. When we come to them with openness and a desire to serve, they draw us into something that is greater than ourselves. Approaching the psalms with vulnerability and honesty allows them to form and transform us. I urge you to make the psalms your own. Study them, read and ponder them, memorize them, savor them, sing them and pray them. When we study them, we come to appreciate the time and circumstances in which they were written, and some of the “strangeness” of that culture and time fall away. But we must also remember that they are first of all songs and poetry, and so must be careful to analyze them as such, rather than as theological discourses. If we take time to recognize the category to which a particular psalm belongs (praise, thanksgiving, lament, penitence, etc.), we can enter more fully into the emotion or experience being expressed. Then we can use them as intercessory prayers for others, as well as for our own comfort, guidance, and edification. We can be sure that whatever effort we expend in appropriating their wisdom will be repaid many times over. Allowing the psalms to be relegated solely to the liturgy will rob them of their potential richness. To be fully effective, they must be appropriated in the heart by prayerful and thoughtful recollection.

“The trees of the Lord are full of sap, the cedars of Lebanon which he planted.” (Ps 104:17)

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The Holiness of Beauty Paraphrasing the Psalms

An Interview with Carl P. Daw, Jr.

How did you begin writing hymns and psalm paraphrases?

When I was a seminarian at Sewanee, my liturgics professor, Marion J. Hatchett, was the chair of the text committee for The Hymnal 1982, and since I didn’t know that this was the sort of committee to which one was appointed – in all my experiences of committees to that point volunteers were welcome – I approached him and said, “I hear that you’re on the text committee; I’d like to work on that.” Fortunately, he did not tell me that I was an upstart (he likely assumed that, as a PhD in English, I would at the very least know how to punctuate). Instead he said to me, “Well, actually, we’re having a meeting in Nashville in a few weeks. Why don’t you come along and see what you think.” Of course, what was really happening was that they were seeing what they thought of me. Apparently, I was not completely useless, since they invited me to keep coming. Bit by bit, I’d help out with the revision of a few lines, then a stanza here, a paraphrase there. The first time I wrote a hymn on my own was because we had the tune Bridegroom by Peter Cutts, but found that the old words were just not salvageable. So I was asked to write a hymn text to fit that tune. The resulting hymn was “Like the Murmur of the Dove’s Song” – my first 22

hymn. That’s how it transpired that I worked my way up from revisions to paraphrases to hymns of my own. Why do we need new paraphrases of the psalms today?

A great danger with psalm translations – as with anything that we sing or do in church – is the possibility of making one text into an idol, such that it seems it cannot be changed. It has been said about church architecture that anything in the worship space that cannot be changed becomes an idol. This is true also of what we sing in worship. So it’s valuable to have different psalm paraphrases, as well as different tunes to pair with psalm and hymn texts, because these different versions will enable us to notice new things that we might not have seen in the familiar version. A key example of the difference a paraphrase can make comes from that familiar paraphrase of Psalm 23, “The King of Love my Shepherd Is,” by Henry Williams Baker. The interesting thing about Baker’s translation is how it is so clearly influenced by the Oxford and Cambridge movements: it’s like a pre-Raphaelite version of the psalm. You can see this influence particularly when you get down to the lines that SSJE

ordinarily read, “You anoint my head with oil and my cup runs over.” For those phrases, Baker uses very churchy words: “Thou spread’st a table in my sight; thy unction grace bestoweth; and O what transport of delight from thy pure chalice floweth!” With words like “unction” and “chalice,” he very definitely gives an ecclesiological slant to the psalm. This is a classic example of how a paraphrase can provide a very particular perspective on a given biblical text. This is the great power of paraphrases: they give us the ability to interpret the psalm text, giving it a kind of immediacy and application that it otherwise might not have had if we simply read a literal translation. Paradoxically, the more immediacy we can give a psalm paraphrase, the more that paraphrase contributes a sense of timelessness to the psalm. The paradox is that each paraphrase can be located at the time of its making, but the whole chain of paraphrases connected with

one psalm adds to the sense that its timelessness continues into the present day. What is your process when you write a new paraphrase for a psalm?

One of the first things I do is write out a prose paraphrase. How would I say this now if I were simply trying to express what the psalm says? Then I try to look for what I call “bridge” words: words that connect with the psalm as we have received it, but also that connect to events and concerns in contemporary life. So, for example, a word in a psalm about an unjust king might become “tyrant” or even “dictator,” depending on the scansion. “Unjust king” doesn’t connect to us now in the way that “tyrant” or “dictator” does, because (alas) we have recent examples of these latter words that make the immediacy of the idea far greater for us. Similarly, a phrase like “the poor” may not be as immediate for us as “homeless.” I

“Praise the Lord with the harp; play to him upon the psaltery and lyre. Sing for him a new song.” (Ps 33:2-3)

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try to find a phrasing that is true to the intention of the psalm, but that communicates immediacy to audiences now. Biblical translators call this mode of translation “dynamic equivalence.” In paraphrasing for “dynamic equivalence” and immediacy, do you ever worry about losing the power and familiarity of the older psalm translations?

One possible problem with traditional biblical and liturgical language is how we tend to take it as a kind of unit – a chunk of language – rather than having a sense of the various parts and how they fit together. Imagine taking down a wall and having five bricks that are mortared together: if you just take them down as a chunk, you don’t have an experience of the individual bricks. So too, in much traditional biblical language, like the King James translation, whole phrases act for us simply as linguistic units; we don’t see the texture of the language anymore, because the language has changed a great deal since those translations were completed. In such cases, the language can become an impediment to understanding. This is how we can get dangerously close to treating language as an idol of sorts: enshrining a text in one version, to the point that it feels unchangeable. The alternative to revering one version of a text as an idol is to see each version as an icon. John Baldovin, who often comes to the Monastery, has a very fine article distinguishing between idol and icon in talking about liturgical language; I think that distinction applies to the language of hymns and psalm paraphrases as well. If we can see through the language into what it is trying to talk about, rather than looking at the language itself, then we’re getting closer to the intention. A psalm paraphrase is useful because it 24

can, in fact, increase the transparency of a text that may have been opaque to us before. To be able to see through the language to what the text is talking about is really quite valuable, and paraphrases in contemporary language can help us do that. Do you think about tunes when you work on psalm and hymn texts?

When I work on paraphrases, I usually start out by seeing what sort of meter the words will naturally fall into. Then, after I get a stanza together, I look for tunes that might work with that meter. This process ensures that the latter part of the paraphrase will be informed directly by the tune. Once I have settled on a likely tune, I try especially not to write against the tune, so that, for instance, during a series of ascending notes, the words might say something about lifting up, which would be appropriate, as opposed to a phrase like “from the depths.” At the very least I try not to work against the music to which the text is going to be sung. How does chanting the psalms, like we do at the Monastery, add to the experience of the texts?

Chanting the psalms emphasizes the timelessness of them, especially in the space of the Monastery Chapel. There is a kind of sonic memory that is evoked by hearing those sounds in that space, which, to me, communicates a sense of transcendence that doesn’t come by singing ordinary ditties from our culture or reading the texts on their own. Chanting the psalms here opens a door to a memory we didn’t know we had. Among other things, chanting the psalms seems larger than any one person or any one community or any one time, and so it invites us to SSJE

be part of that timelessness. And the prayer book translation of the psalms chanted at SSJE is a fine vehicle for this timelessness, because it was created specifically for singing. You can see the difference if you compare it with the RSV or NRSV or NIV or any other recent translation. The psalms may have similar meanings in those versions, but the way the words fit together – the scansion and stresses – lends an inherent musicality to the prayer book translation. While there may be translations that are more absolutely correct than those in the prayer book, the prayer book gets the ideas across in a more beautiful way. Literalism is one kind of truth; but beauty is another. Anglicans are often criticized for turning the phrase “the beauty of holiness” into

“the holiness of beauty” (and we can go awfully far out on the limb about aesthetics), but I am not sure that that is all bad. After all, God is the first critic, saying of the Creation, “That’s good. That’s very good.” The Reverend Dr. Carl P. Daw Jr. is an Episcopal priest, writer, and hymn writer who served as the Executive Director of The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada from 1996 to 2009. He teaches as an Adjunct Professor of Hymnology in the Master of Sacred Music program at Boston University School of Theology and acts as the Curator of the Hymnological Collections in the STH Library. Hope Publishing Co. has issued four collections of his hymns, and he collaborated with Br. Kevin Hackett on the two-volume A HymnTune Psalter. He is a regular worshiper at the Monastery Chapel.

Support SSJE Please consider becoming a Friend today by supporting SSJE’s Annual Fund. A tax-deductible contribution may be made by check (payable to “SSJE”), credit card, direct deposit, or a gift of securities. Gifts may also be made online through our website www.SSJE.org.

“More than anything, the Monastery represents a respite from the stressful atmosphere my peers and I navigate every day. Over the past year, I have encouraged many of my friends to attend the Monastery. I tell them how the space cultivated by the Brothers is a wonderful one of quiet, contemplation, and peace, a far cry from the anxiety-ridden college environment. In my experience, I have found that students are always looking for ways to escape, albeit briefly, the worries of school. SSJE is a space in which I feel comfortable bringing my friends who have no or very negative experiences with faith (this is unfortunately hard to find). I love the quietness of the space and the holiness that pervades its walls. The Monastery is many things to many people – a place of contemplation, a place to pray, a place to hear a challenging sermon. More than that, however, worshiping at the Monastery has placed within me a desire to simplify my spiritual life. I feel much less attached to the spiritual trappings that I used to cling to to make myself feel connected to God. The Brothers have taught me that following Jesus doesn’t mean having resources or a calling to be great, but rather a desire to be used by and loved by Jesus.” – Desta Lissanu The Society of Saint John the Evangelist

What difference does the paraphrase make?

New International Version (1973)

Book of Common Prayer (1979)

I lift up my eyes to the mountains – where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip – he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord watches over you – the Lord is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm – he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

I lift up my eyes to the hills; from where is my help to come? My help comes from the LORD, the maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved and he who watches over you will not fall asleep. Behold, he who keeps watch over Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep; The LORD himself watches over you; the LORD is your shade at your right hand, So that the sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD shall preserve you from all evil; it is he who shall keep you safe. The LORD shall watch over your going out and your coming in, from this time forth for evermore.

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alm 121 Carl P. Daw, Jr. (1996)

The Message (2002)

Beneath the proud hills’ shadows I seek the help I need. I lift my eyes beyond them and there this promise read: “Help comes from God Almighty, who made both heav’n and earth, the Lord who banished chaos and brought all things to birth.

I look up to the mountains;  does my strength come from mountains?  No, my strength comes from God,  who made heaven, and earth, and mountains.

“Your foot will never stumble, nor will your Guardian sleep; the One who cares for Israel will ever watchful keep. The Lord will be your shade tree to shield you day and night; the sun’s heat cannot hurt you nor can the moon’s pale light. “From every harm and evil your life will be secure; God’s strength and love will guard you and keep your footing sure. Your comings and your goings are all within God’s hand; the Lord will bless and keep you till no more proud hills stand.”

He won’t let you stumble,  your Guardian God won’t fall asleep.  Not on your life! Israel’s  Guardian will never doze or sleep. God’s your Guardian,  right at your side to protect you – Shielding you from sunstroke,  sheltering you from moonstroke. God guards you from every evil,  he guards your very life.  He guards you when you leave and when you return,  he guards you now, he guards you always.

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What difference does the paraphrase make?

New International Version (1973)

Book of Common Prayer (1979)

Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord; Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy. If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you. I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope. I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning. Israel, put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.

Out of the depths have I called to you, O LORD; LORD, hear my voice; let your ears consider well the voice of my supplication.

If you, LORD, were to note what is done amiss, O LORD, who could stand? For there is forgiveness with you; therefore you shall be feared. I wait for the LORD; my soul waits for him; in his word is my hope. My soul waits for the LORD, more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning. O Israel, wait for the LORD, for with the LORD there is mercy; With him there is plenteous redemption, and he shall redeem Israel from all their sins.

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alm 130 Carl P. Daw, Jr. (1995)

The Message (2002)

Beyond the depths of numb despair, with hope’s last surge receding, I call to you, great hidden God, to hear my urgent pleading; for you alone can hear and heed the utter starkness of my need, no other pow’r can save me.

Help, God – the bottom has fallen out of my life! Master, hear my cry for help! Listen hard! Open your ears! Listen to my cries for mercy. If you, God, kept records on wrongdoings, who would stand a chance? As it turns out, forgiveness is your habit, and that’s why you’re worshiped. I pray to God – my life a prayer – and wait for what he’ll say and do. My life’s on the line before God, my Lord, waiting and watching till morning, waiting and watching till morning. O Israel, wait and watch for God – with God’s arrival comes love, with God’s arrival comes generous redemption. No doubt about it – he’ll redeem Israel, buy back Israel from captivity to sin.

If you, O God, saw nothing else but how our sins depict us, who then could stand before your gaze when countless faults convict us? Yet more than we can comprehend, your great forgiveness knows no end and turns our dread to rev’rence. For such a great and sov’reign One I wait with expectation: my soul in quiet hope abides and trusts God’s declaration. Far more than those who watch by night and long to see the morning light, my soul seeks God with yearning. O holy people called and led, who know God’s steadfast keeping, recall and claim your cov’nant hope, the joy beyond your weeping. From sins and fears that now enslave our God’s redeeming pow’r will save, will pardon and bring blessing.

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At the close of 2012, take twelve days to unwrap the gifts of God a gift; it’s a spiritual gift. “Joy isGenerally speaking, if you

want to receive a gift, don’t keep your hands in your pockets. Open your heart and open your hands to receive the gift of joy. Cooperate with God.” In The Twelve Days of Christmas: Unwrapping the Gifts, Br. Curtis Almquist invites us to hold out our hands to receive from God the gifts that will last: Love, Revelation, Forgiveness, Joy, Hope, Redemption, a Name, Humility, Companionship, Gratitude, Peace, and Blessing.

Available as an audio book, read by Br. Curtis, or in paperback. Visit www.SSJE.org/twelvedays for details.

In 2013, we also invite you to join us for workshops celebrating the gifts of God January 12 The Gift of Meditative Prayer Br. Robert L’Esperance

March 16 The Gift of Humility Br. David Vryhof

April 13 The Gift of Compassion Br. Curtis Almquist

Upcoming retreats at Emery House March 8-10, 2013 Welcome Dear Feast of Lent George Herbert, the great seventeenth century Anglican poet begins his poem “Lent: Ash Wednesday” with the evocative words, “Welcome dear feast of Lent.” As we begin our Lenten journey we will use this poem as a touchstone to see how Lent can be for us a feast for the soul.

May 24-26, 2013 One Foot in Eden Scripture is full of images of gardens. This weekend retreat will offer times to ponder the image of the garden from Eden to Gethsemane to the Garden of the Tomb as well as times to work in the gardens around Emery House in order to discover the “inner language” of gardens.

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Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Generosity, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control A Conversation about Vocation with Br. James Koester

When did you first begin to have a sense of your vocation?

Even as a little kid, I somehow or other knew that I wanted to be a priest. I used to have a very dark blue wool dressing gown, which I would wear backwards as I wandered around the house pretending to be Mr. Pasterfield, the rector of our parish. I couldn’t have been more than maybe six or seven years old. I remember saying to my mum, down in the laundry room, “When I grow up I want to be like Mr. Pasterfield.” So, from childhood, I always felt attracted to the priesthood, and that attraction never really went away. My awareness of the religious life came a bit later. While I knew that there were nuns in the Anglican Church – in fact I’d been taught nursery school by a sister of the Sisterhood of Saint John the Divine (SSJD) – it wasn’t until I was a teenager that I learned that there are monks in the Church as well. I learned that through an advertisement in our church newspaper for a summer vocations program at SSJE’s Mission House in Bracebridge. Though I ended up not being able to attend that program, I finally made it to Bracebridge for a reading week when I was at university. During that initial visit, I was really

drawn by the silence, the prayer, and the worship. I came away from that first experience thinking, “I could do this.” How did that interest develop?

After that first encounter, I visited Bracebridge several more times while I was an undergraduate. Once I was in seminary I returned when my class made its annual visit to Bracebridge. From those experiences, I knew that if I were to be a monk, it would have to be with SSJE. There weren’t any other communities that attracted me the way SSJE did – partly because SSJE had a Canadian connection, but also because of its history. As I read about the history of the revival of the religious life, SSJE kept on coming up. Reading about the history of other communities, I would always think, “If that’s the religious life, then it’s not for me.” But when I read the history of SSJE, I thought the opposite: “That sounds heroic and interesting; I could really be drawn to that.” The thing that intrigues me about this partiality now is how the history of many other religious communities is not actually all that different from ours. But at that time, there was something uniquely compelling about the history of SSJE to me. When I read about SSJE, something clicked.

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As the area around Bracebridge became quite gentrified, there was no longer a need for the sort of work that the Brothers had been doing when it was still a very hard-scrabble farming and lumbering area, so the Bracebridge house eventually was closed down. After that, I made several visits to the Monastery in Cambridge, first with a friend of mine in May 1984, just after I was ordained deacon. I borrowed my mum’s car, and we drove down. I remember walking into the Guesthouse and thinking that it felt like home. There was a really homey feeling about the place to me. After three days here and after meeting the Brothers, I just kept on thinking, “You know, I could do this.” During that visit, I asked to talk with Tom, who was then the community’s Superior, about a possible vocation. Did you struggle as you decided whether or not to test this vocation? What decided you?

The only thing that really snagged me was the question of immigration: I could get my mind around joining a Monastery; but I could not get my mind 32

around moving to the United States. Even after I came to SSJE for a second inquirer’s visit – in 1986 – after I’d been ordained a priest, I still couldn’t cope with the idea of moving out of Canada. Despite a really positive second visit, it took me another two years before I could psychologically move myself across the border. In the end, though, I realized that I had to try this life out for myself. I just couldn’t get it out of my system. I was thirty-one and had spent two and a half years as assistant in a parish and another two and a half years as rector of a parish, so I knew that I could live the parish life. But the monastic life kept calling to me. I could not let go of this desire for an experience of living with real intensity – the desire for an intense experience of the Christian life that I just wasn’t getting in the parish. This is not to say, by any means, that it isn’t possible to experience that intensity in a parish; it just wasn’t happening for me. I was looking for something more. I think this is one reason why we still need monasteries today. I have this theory that England was converted to Christianity through the SSJE

missionary model of monasteries. Monks would live in community and then go out from the monastery on missionary journeys, returning afterward back to the monastery. Monasteries were, and still are, hubs of prayer, worship, hospitality, healing, ministry, and mission. Coming to a monastery is like being drawn to a blazing fire and getting warm, then being sent out. People need that exposure to intensity, to a real passionate experience of the life of faith in order for them to go out in mission and service in the name of Christ. I think that we’re coming into a time now where the world is going to need to be reconverted, and that can happen only through places that are vibrant centers of prayer, worship, hospitality, healing, ministry, and mission. And again, it’s not that a parish can’t be – or parishes aren’t – that sort of blazing fire. They can be and are. But for me, it was the desire for more intensity that drew me to test my vocation at SSJE. And it’s what continues to draw people to places like SSJE; it’s what makes monasteries – and vibrant parishes – essential to the life of the church today. What’s been the most rewarding thing for you about living this vocation?

God always surprises me. I’m constantly being surprised by God in what I’m asked to do, what I learn I can do, and the opportunities I have. Take an opportunity like the one I had a few years back, to be the Holy Week speaker at Canterbury Cathedral, where I preached on Good Friday to the Archbishop. That is something I never could have imagined doing as rector of a parish, and probably would never have been asked to do if I’d stayed in that role. But in this life, I find I’m constantly surprised by the things I have the privilege of doing, and all the things that I discover I can do. While perhaps I may not be the very best treasurer, I filled that role in the community, and we didn’t go bankrupt. I never in my whole life dreamed that one day I’d be driving a The Society of Saint John the Evangelist

tractor, and yet that’s now the highlight of many of my days at Emery House. Monastic life has a lot of routine to it, just like the church year does, and yet I also experience this life as constantly full of surprises. What would you say to someone still struggling to find his or her vocation?

There’s a passage I’ve been going back to over and over again this last little while, Galatians 5:22-23: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” This for me is the definition of a vocation. I would say that when you find love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, then you’ve found your vocation. If you’re always angry, frustrated, or bitter at work or in your relationship, then you’re obviously not in the right place. But I do believe that everybody has a place, or a person, or a community where they can find “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and 34

self-control.” Everybody has a vocation to some work, some relationship, some place. And to someone still wondering about his or her vocation, I would say: take the chance to check it out. I remember, just after I announced that I would be coming to the Monastery, a friend of mine said to me, “Oh James. I once thought I had a vocation to the religious life.” But he never did anything about it, and he always wondered if he should have given it a try. I knew that I didn’t want to look at myself in the mirror in fifty years and say, “I should have tried.” You may discover your answer after a weekend, or a week, or after six months, or even two years. But I think that if you’re curious and you think there’s a vocation toward which God is leading you, nudging you, encouraging you and pushing you, then a weekend or a week, or even a year out of your life, is worth it to check it out. Because that could be the place of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control for you.

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Recommended Reading on the Psalms Want to read more about the psalms? Check out these titles the Brothers recommend.

Read more about how to pray with the psalms: Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Psalms: The Prayer Book of the Bible Walter Brueggemann, Praying the Psalms: Engaging Scripture and the Life of the Spirit C. S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms Thomas Merton, Praying the Psalms James Sire, Learning to Pray Through the Psalms and Praying the Psalms of Jesus Try praying with a different version of the psalms: The Book of Psalms: A Translation with Commentary Robert Alter (W.W. Norton, 2007) The Complete Psalms: The Book of Prayer Songs in a New Translation Translated by Pamela Greenberg (Bloomsbury, 2010) Psalms for Praying: An Invitation to Wholeness Nan C. Merrill (Continuum, 2000) Psalter for the Christian People: An Inclusive-Language Revision of the Psalter of The Book of Common Prayer 1979 Edited by Gordon Lathrop and Gail Ramshaw (Liturgical Press, 1993) Go deeper into the psalms: If you’ve never read much of the book of Psalms and don’t know where to begin, you might want to start with these psalms, which one of the Brothers selected as among his favorites: Psalms 19, 24, 27, 42, 46, 62, 67, 71, 84, 85, 98, 100 (“the first psalm I ever memorized at age nine”), 148, and 150.

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