Psalm pilot: you won't need a reminder if you've committed your favorite prayers to memory. (practicing catholic).MANY OF MY GENERATION CAN REMEMBER how in school we were made to memorize mem·o·rize tr.v. mem·o·rized, mem·o·riz·ing, mem·o·riz·es 1. To commit to memory; learn by heart. 2. Computer Science To store in memory: things: times tables, dates in history, the Gettysburg Address Gettysburg Address, speech delivered by Abraham Lincoln on Nov. 19, 1863, at the dedication of the national cemetery on the Civil War battlefield of Gettysburg, Pa. It is one of the most famous and most quoted of modern speeches. . A few years ago I started memorizing psalms. I had been praying the Liturgy of the Hours
Memorizing the psalms has had many benefits. First, I can pray them without having to find a prayer book or Bible, or stopping what I am doing. Another benefit is the way the psalms have become a part of me. Literary critic Noun 1. literary critic - a critic of literature critic - a person who is professionally engaged in the analysis and interpretation of works of art George Steiner refers to poems that we have "by heart" as "ballast bal·last n. 1. Heavy material that is placed in the hold of a ship or the gondola of a balloon to enhance stability. 2. a. Coarse gravel or crushed rock laid to form a bed for roads or railroads. b. for the soul." I have confirmed that insight many times over. In times of stress, anxiety, or grief I have resorted to the psalms, literally, at all hours of the day or night--or as Psalm 92 puts it: "to proclaim your kindness at dawn, and your faithfulness throughout the night." I can't count the times I have fallen asleep with the verses of a psalm echoing and then becoming disconnected in my mind. The psalms I memorized are now as much a part of me as the breathing out and breathing in that sustains my life: "I love the Lord because he has heard the voice of my pleading, because he inclined his ear to me when I called upon him" (Ps. 116). C. S. Lewis' Reflections on the Psalms acquainted me with the richness of the psalms, but it was Kathleen Norris' observations on the psalms in The Cloister cloister, unroofed space forming part of a religious establishment and surrounded by the various buildings or by enclosing walls. Generally, it is provided on all sides with a vaulted passageway consisting of continuous colonnades or arcades opening onto a court. Walk that square most with my experience of them. She writes, "You find that the psalms do not deny your true feelings but allow you to reflect on them, right in front of God and everyone." She also refers to the way "it can come to seem as if the psalms are reading and writing us." I am not a theologian, but in the course of memorizing psalms I have acquired a sensitivity to their language and rhythm. From that awareness I have learned more about the way the psalms work. Take Psalm 147 ("Praise the Lord for he is good"), for instance. It is a marvelous celebration, a fulsome hymn of praise and confidence, yet also personal, even intimate. Rooted in the exilic experience of ancient Israel, it uses wounding and healing as the occasion for a reflection that takes in the universe: "He has numbered all the stars, and called each by name." Of course the Hebrew psalms were composed to be sung rather than recited. Christianity took over these hymns and lyrics meant to be accompanied by the psalter--an ancient stringed stringed adj. Music 1. Having strings. Often used in combination: a six-stringed lute. 2. Produced by stringed instruments: stringed chamber music. instrument--and made them the basis for its communal prayer. When I decided to memorize psalms, there were some from the daily Hours that I felt I nearly knew "by heart," so I started with them, like Psalm 90. First I typed out the entire psalm and reduced it to the size of a 4- by 6-inch notecard. And even as I typed the psalm, I began to appropriate its style, meaning, and flavor. Then I carried the card with me, reciting the psalm at least once a day. In a short time I found that certain lines were easy to repeat. In a couple weeks I could recite whole sections without looking at the notecard. A few weeks later I could glance at the opening of a stanza stan·za n. One of the divisions of a poem, composed of two or more lines usually characterized by a common pattern of meter, rhyme, and number of lines. [Italian; see stance. and recite the rest by heart. Having committed the whole psalm to memory, I found that I needed to recite it at least once daily for a while in order not to lose it from long-term memory long-term memory n. Abbr. LTM The phase of the memory process considered the permanent storehouse of retained information. long-term memory . IN HIS LITTLE BOOK OF APHORISMS, THE GRAIN OF WHEAT, the late Swiss theologian Hans Urs yon Balthasar observes: "When our strings are well tuned, God can spontaneously play on our soul. And we should aim at nothing more than this: to stretch out toward and be attuned at·tune tr.v. at·tuned, at·tun·ing, at·tunes 1. To bring into a harmonious or responsive relationship: an industry that is not attuned to market demands. 2. to God." Memorizing psalms has "attuned" me to the special spirituality contained in them. Thanks to memorizing and reciting psalms, prayer has become as necessary to me as eating or breathing. By ED BLOCK, professor of English at Marquette University Marquette University at Milwaukee, Wis.; Jesuit; coeducational; chartered 1864, opened 1881. The school achieved university status in 1907. Among its graduate programs are those in business, engineering, and law. and editor of Renascence: Essays on Values in Literature, a scholarly journal. |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion