Thomas Merton on praying the Psalms

People sometimes ask me who my favourite spiritual authors are. That is a tough question, and one which I hope to address  from time to time in this blog. But without a doubt, Thomas Merton ranks among those whom I return to again and again for insight and nourishment.

 

Here follows what will undoubtedly be the first of many reflections on Merton, in this case beginning with a small book he wrote on the Psalms.

The biblical collection of sacred song known as the Psalms has always been central to Christian worship. Selections from the Psalms have long been an integral part of Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant eucharistic liturgies. Besides the place of the Psalms in the Liturgy of the Word, from ancient times until today the Psalms have served as the basis or inspiration for much of the Church’s hymnody. The Psalter is also central to the Liturgy of the Hours, and provides a direct link to the prayers of ancient Israel.

The American Trappist monk Thomas Merton (1915-1968) is one of the best known Catholic authors of the twentieth century, and is famous for many writings on prayer and the spiritual life. In 1956 he published a small book entitled Praying the Psalms, which has some important insights into this aspect of the Benedictine prayer tradition. This book, because of its brevity and avoidance of technical language, still serves well its original purpose of providing an accessible introduction to the Psalms for anyone who is interested in them.

Merton begins by asking a commonly-heard question: why does the Church continue to place so much emphasis on the Psalms in its liturgical life? Is it merely because the Psalms are so old, or that they are nice poetry, or that this is just the way things have always been done? In his answer, he asserts the eternal relevance of the Psalms:

 The Church indeed likes what is old, not because it is old but rather because it is ‘young’. In the Psalms, we drink divine praise at its pure and stainless source, in all its primitive sincerity and perfection. We return to the youthful strength and directness with which the ancient psalmists voiced their adoration of the God of Israel. Their adoration was intensified by the ineffable accents of new discovery: for the Psalms are the songs of men who knew who God was.. If we are to pray well, we too must discover the Lord to whom we speak, and if we use the Psalms in our prayer we will stand a better chance of sharing in the discovery which lies hidden in their words for all generations. For God has willed to make Himself known to us in the mystery of the Psalms.*

When we pray the Psalms during Mass, in the Divine Office, or as part of our private devotions, we not only share in the prayer of the Church today, but also in the prayers of ancient Israel, the Church throughout the ages, and Jesus Christ himself.   The Benedictine tradition of Prayer urges us that such an opportunity to deepen our intimacy with God should not be wasted on a mere mechanical repetition of the words. Instead, when we involve our minds, emotions and hearts in this ancient form of prayer, the Psalms become an important path of praise and thanksgiving to our ever-living God:

It is by singing the Psalms, by meditating on them, loving them, using them in all the incidents of our spiritual life, that we enable ourselves to enter more deeply into that active participation in the liturgy which is the key to the deepest and truest interior life. If we really come to know and love the Psalms, we will enter into the Church’s own experience of divine things. We will begin to know God as we ought. And that is why the Church believes the Psalms are the best possible way of praising God.*

*Quotations taken from Thomas Merton. Praying the Psalms. The Liturgical Press: 1956.