The psalms were a regular part of my prayer life when I was a Benedictine Canon (Novice). In the last year or so, I've limited my exposure to the psalms to my Sunday liturgies. Today, however, wanting to reintroduce the psalms into my prayer life, I prayed evening prayer with my copies of The Plainsong Psalter, the Book of Common Prayer, and Benedictine Daily Prayer, all of which I used to use to pray the liturgy of the hours when I was a novice. The rhythm of Benedictine prayer, which centers around prayer of the psalms, gives me life.
I adapted tonight's prescribed psalms for Thean use. This was my adaptation of Psalm 100:
Be joyful in Thea, all you lands;
serve Thea with gladness
and come before her presence with a song.
Know this: Thea herself is Goddess;
she herself has made us, and we are hers;
we are her people and the sheep of her pasture.
Enter her gates with thanksgiving;
go into her courts with praise;
give thanks to her and call upon her Name.
For Thea is good;
her mercy is everlasting;
and her faithfulness endures from age to age.
It is so beautiful and enriching to pray to Thea this way--to dare to use feminine pronouns when the prescribed pronouns are always masculine, and to call Thea by the Greek name for "Goddess." As I develop my Thean prayer resources, I think I shall leave the Psalter much as it is apart from pronouns and names. The riches of the Psalter are worth retaining.
I adapted tonight's prescribed psalms for Thean use. This was my adaptation of Psalm 100:
Be joyful in Thea, all you lands;
serve Thea with gladness
and come before her presence with a song.
Know this: Thea herself is Goddess;
she herself has made us, and we are hers;
we are her people and the sheep of her pasture.
Enter her gates with thanksgiving;
go into her courts with praise;
give thanks to her and call upon her Name.
For Thea is good;
her mercy is everlasting;
and her faithfulness endures from age to age.
It is so beautiful and enriching to pray to Thea this way--to dare to use feminine pronouns when the prescribed pronouns are always masculine, and to call Thea by the Greek name for "Goddess." As I develop my Thean prayer resources, I think I shall leave the Psalter much as it is apart from pronouns and names. The riches of the Psalter are worth retaining.
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