I love to teach about the Psalms. When I do, the first image that I offer to suggest the breadth and depth of these biblical poems/songs is an Art Gallery.
You know how it is when you enter an art gallery and begin to look around. You can move from room to room and see works from different times and places, using different media and sizes, sporting brilliant or subdued colors, representing different artists and movements. Clearly, they are individual works of art and every one can be appreciated by itself. I envision each piece as the effort of a given artist who wants to capture a scene, a feeling, or an event. Every work is unique and personal and beautiful.
That art gallery image helps me as I reflect on the Psalms. I see them, too, as individual expressions of an experience. Something happens in the life of the psalmist and he/she feels moved to capture it in a way that engages his/her life in a unique and personal manner. With compelling images and original literary devices, the psalmist tells his/her story in an open and candid manner. Like the visual artist, the psalmist reveals a truth that the one who prays with the psalmist is invited to appreciate, but it need not be done in the same manner that gave rise to the thought of the author. The Psalm is put “out there.” Then, the one who chooses can “take it in” and pray it according to his/her own life story.
A helpful and familiar example of this truth emerges for me from outside the Psalter. Mary’s Magnificat arises from a concrete moment in her life. It captures something of what is going on within her as well as her heartfelt desire to proclaim her praise of her God. It faithfully presents a psalm that has meaning for her. Listen again to how it begins:
“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
my spirit rejoices in God my savior.
For he has looked upon his handmaid’s lowliness;
behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed.”
How often have we seen artistic representations of this great prayer of the Blessed Mother! We recognize how it gives true and colorful expression to her experience. One can easily see how it would take a place of honor in the art gallery of Psalms.
When I look at so many of the prayers of the Psalter, I can try to imagine the circumstances that would have given rise to these words addressed to the Lord. What kind of art is suggested by his/her outpouring? The possibilities run the gamut of human expression with praise, lament, petition and thanksgiving expressed as well as so many other feelings that give voice to the psalmist’s encounter/s.
Yes. I find that the image of an art gallery aids my imagining and praying of the Psalms. They complement one another and give multiple expression to the experience of the human heart. They help a person to seek the Lord in the midst of a complicated life and to give form to one’s conversation with the one who loves us.
Vincent de Paul had a love of the Psalms and encouraged his communities to pray the canonical hours with “reverence, attention, and devotion” (Common Rules. Chap. X. Art. 5). We hear that summons to be a prayerful and praise-filled people.
What a beautiful and meaningful metaphor for praying the Psalms….an art gallery! Thank you, Fr. Pat, for your creative prayerful insight!
Sister Jane Burger, D. C.
Seton Residence
Evansville, Indiana