One thing we all love about the Liturgy of the Hours is its variety. 150 psalms, dozens of canticles, hundreds of readings and antiphons. You can pray the hours for years and years, yet still find something new every day.
But after 20 or 30 years, finding something new each day takes a little more work than it used to. Trust me on that. So it's nice to keep a few commentaries around, and once in a while crack one open and see what it says about a particular psalm.
That's what I did today. I checked out what the Navarre Bible said about good old Psalm 95, aka the Invitatory psalm. There's something to be said for having a psalm memorized. It gives you the ability to pray it wherever you are. The downside is the temptation to rattle it off without much thought. But for the next few weeks, at least, that won't be my problem. Because of this brief comment on verse 7, "Today, listen to the voice of the Lord":
Every time a person says this psalm, "today" should be taken literally.
Wow. God isn't telling me to listen to Him in general, but today.
Today He is telling me something. Will I hear it?
Today there is something He wants me to do. Will I notice?
What must I do to enable me to hear his voice today?
That single word, today, is now wrapped up in my mind with other scriptural phrases, like "Be sober! Be alert!" and "Now is the day of salvation!"
So look up a psalm in a commentary and see what might happen to you!
The Navarre Bible: The Psalms and The Song of Solomon (The Navarre Bible: Old Testament)
But after 20 or 30 years, finding something new each day takes a little more work than it used to. Trust me on that. So it's nice to keep a few commentaries around, and once in a while crack one open and see what it says about a particular psalm.
That's what I did today. I checked out what the Navarre Bible said about good old Psalm 95, aka the Invitatory psalm. There's something to be said for having a psalm memorized. It gives you the ability to pray it wherever you are. The downside is the temptation to rattle it off without much thought. But for the next few weeks, at least, that won't be my problem. Because of this brief comment on verse 7, "Today, listen to the voice of the Lord":
Every time a person says this psalm, "today" should be taken literally.
Wow. God isn't telling me to listen to Him in general, but today.
Today He is telling me something. Will I hear it?
Today there is something He wants me to do. Will I notice?
What must I do to enable me to hear his voice today?
That single word, today, is now wrapped up in my mind with other scriptural phrases, like "Be sober! Be alert!" and "Now is the day of salvation!"
So look up a psalm in a commentary and see what might happen to you!
The Navarre Bible: The Psalms and The Song of Solomon (The Navarre Bible: Old Testament)
