According to Your Mercy: Praying with the Psalms from Ash Wednesday to Easter

Many have called the psalms a ‘school of prayer’ and indeed St. Augustine in his Confessions wrote that the psalms could be a stepping stone to deeper conversation with God. These ancient words from Scripture mirror our own thoughts and emotions—celebration and praise, suffering and lament, gratitude and asking for help—as relevant today as when they were first sung in the Temple.

Fr. Martin Shannon brings deep teaching as well as the personal encounter of someone who has chanted and studied the Psalms for years. Each reflection is on one psalm, offering a meditation on its meaning and how it connects to our lives, followed by a word from one of the ancient church fathers and a prayer. There is a reflection for each of the forty-seven days from Ash Wednesday to Easter that reflect the various twists and turns on the Lenten journey. 

Readers will discover the power of the psalms to inspire their own Lenten journey towards Easter.

Fr. Martin Shannon is an Episcopal priest, liturgist, and writer of daily devotional collections, seasonal studies, and other materials for spiritual formation at his home, the Community of Jesus on Cape Cod, MA. He holds a PhD in Liturgical Studies from the Catholic University of America. He and his wife, Mary, have four grown children.