Psalter Group Sign-Ups {Great Lent 2019}
It's time to start organizing Psalter Groups again! Yay! For those of you not familiar with these groups, here’s a quick rundown:
The Psalter is the book of Psalms broken up into twenty sections called kathismata. People are placed in groups of twenty, one person per kathisma. Each person begins their readings for Day 1 of 40 on a different kathisma. For example, I’ll read 1, you’ll read 2, Mary will read 3, and so on. Between each group, the ENTIRE Psalter is read every day during the fast! We normally get between 5 and 6 groups so that means it’s read 5 or 6 times a day. That’s incredible!
Many of our saints, including the greats like St. John Chrysostom and St. Basil have written many things on the importance of daily Psalter reading and these groups are a wonderful way to make praying the psalms a part of our daily routine, not just during the fasts but year round. It’s a warm feeling knowing you’re praying along with other Orthodox faithful all around the world.
So if you’re interested in joining us, please leave YOUR BAPTISMAL NAME AND EMAIL ADDRESS in the comment section of this post. Be sure to leave BOTH because I oftentimes use your email address to differentiate between others with the same name.
I will have the groups and everyone’s assigned readings up between on Clean Monday morning--March 11. But don’t worry, if you stumble upon this post after the fast has begun, you can still sign up. It’s never too late to join in!
If you haven’t seen my new book, Songs of Praise: A Psalter Devotional for Orthodox Women, click here.
What exactly is Songs of Praise?
It’s a 384-page devotional that includes the entire Psalter with extra-wide margins for journaling and notetaking.
Inside you’ll find:
- Writings from various saints on the benefits of daily Psalter reading.
- Prayers Before Reading.
- A reflection after each of the twenty kathismata on topics relating to Orthodox women today, along with some of my favorite quotes from some of my favorite saints.
- Extra journaling pages after each reflection.
- An index on how the psalms can be prayed for various needs as used by St. Athanasios.
My prayer for this book is that it will become a place women look forward to spending time in each and every day and that instead of seeking comfort in the things offered by the world, we’ll find it in the sweet words of St. David. Because, even though my name is on the front of this book, it’s really not mine. It’s his.
NOTE: You don't need Songs of Praise to participate in the groups! Any version of the Psalter or the book of Psalms in your Bible are all you need.