THE HOURS OF OUR LADY #4

 

(The translation of the Psalms and the brief introductory comments on the Psalms of this Little Office of the Blessed Virgin are taken largly from: The Psalms and Canticles by George O'Neill, S.J. [Bruce Publishing Co. 1937.] The late Father O'Neill's work has long been out of print.)

INTRODUCTION 

[Continued]

"The Psalms are very ancient religious poems of unsurpassed excellence with which the religion of the Old Testament has enriched the world. 

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They are hymns of great variety, and in them every religious sentiment finds expression. Little wonder, then, that they loomed large in the religious life of the people. They worshiped God by the singing of the Psalms. And justly. In the Psalms God Himself teaches us how to pray and worship, for they were written under the direct inspiration of the Holy Ghost. Our Lord, too, and His Apostles used the Psalms in prayer. Taught by the example and precepts of Christ and of the Apostles, the Church introduced the Psalms into her liturgical prayer, of which they now form the major part. Many a saint in heaven today owes his exceptional glory to the devout recitation of these inspired prayers, the Psalms." 

(Rev. B. A. Hausmann, S. J. The New Psalter).

[To be continued]

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