Psalms & Canticles by John Paul II

The daily Liturgy of Lauds, in addition to the Psalms, always offers a Canticle from the Old Testament. Indeed, it is well known that besides the Psalter [Book of Psalms], the true prayer book of Israel and later of the Church,  another sort of "Psalter" exists, found among the various historical, prophetic and sapiential [relating to wisdom] pages of the Bible. It also consists in hymns, supplications, praises and invocations, often of great beauty and spiritual intensity.

John Paul II, Psalms & Canticles:
Meditations and Catechesis on the Psalms and Canticles of Morning Prayer

Toward the end of his life and pontificate, John Paul II began a series on of homilies on the psalms and canticles of morning prayer in the Liturgy of the Hours. They were collected in this book. When I began dabbling in the Liturgy of the Hours I picked it up. It is a real  treasure.

Saint John Paul II's homilies going through the psalms and canticles for morning prayer used over the 4 week period. His commentaries are both accessible and rich, giving the context in which they were first prayed and then showing how they show us Christ. They often end with a connection to a Church Father or saint who spoke about a particular psalm. I can't recommend them highly enough.

 

I discovered that JPII followed that up with a series of homilies covering evening prayer, which Pope Benedict XVI finished when his predecessor died before finishing commenting on the four weeks of Hours of the Liturgies.  The book versions of these are out of print or ridiculously expensive and a Catholic publisher would be doing the faithful a great service in reprinting them (so that's my plea, moving on). Luckily, some industrious soul made a linked reference to all the homilies. See the second chart in this location for links to the evening prayer homilies which are posted at the Vatican website.

 

These have been so enriching that I will be sharing a few of the insights in an occasional post on the Canticles that I'll be interspersing these occasionally with our psalms series.