Praying the Psalms with Jim Papandrea - JL225

Jacobs Ladder Podcast

Why did you write this book? The subtitle is “The Divine Gateway to Lecto Divina and Contemplative Prayer”. What is Lecto Divina? What is contemplative prayer? I’d like to drill down a bit into the 4 parts of Lecto Divina clarity The first is Lecto which means reading. What’s going on here? The second is Meditetio, meaning meditation or reflection. This is narrowing in a portion of the passage correct? You caution against private revelation, why is that ? Third is oratio, where reading becomes praying, where you make the words your own. Tell us more about this step Fourth is contemplation. You say this is complicated, more difficult than what it may seem at first and something you grow into. What about contemplating is so difficult? In the section on how to use this book, you rely on teachings from the church fathers. Tell us a bit about who you’re referring to when you say that and why you feel we should look to their advice? You talk about the difference between praise and worship vs prayer. What is the difference? Your book is a portion of the Psalms that are found in the Bible. What did you leave out and why? You made a new translation of the excerpts using the Hebrew, Greek (Septuagint), and Latin. First, why did you feel the need for a new translation rather than just using an existing one? Since the Psalms were originally written in Hebrew, explain what the Greek Septuagint is and why you took that into account. I don’t know much about Latin, other than it used a lot in the Catholic Faith and I know you are catholic. What’s unique about Latin, why has the Catholic Church used it and why did you consider it in your translation? You talk about how we should properly think about two references we see in the Psalms. One is our enemies, the other is images of fortifications like fortress, refuge and rock. Let’s take one a time, first how should we think about our enemies when praying? Next how should we think about images of fortifications? You chose to use the word “Father” when the name of God, or tetragramtron is used. For clarification, what is the tetragramatron, how has it been translated and spoken historically by Jewish believers as well as in modern Christian Bibles? Why did you decide to use the word “father” here. There’s a lot debate among the Messianic faith, which is what I practice, on whether we can and should pronounce the name of God. What is the position of the Catholic faith and you personally on this issue? We consider the Psalms as literary poetry, but you said you intentionally chose in your translation to focus on the meaning and less on the poetry. Am I correct in stating that and why did you take that approach? You suggest changing the tenses when reading the Psalms as well as inserting personal names where there are general references. Why ? I’d like to read a quote from John Cassian on pg 23 of the intro and get your thoughts on it With the breathing prayers and mediation you caution against Eastern or modern forms of meditation. What’s the difference between good and bad meditation? I do my quiet time in the morning and when I tried the breathing prayers I found myself falling asleep a couple times. How can I avoid this other than getting a good nights rest? Finally in your intro you had some thoughts on journaling and provided blank pages in your book for journaling, specifically that it can be beneficial but you had some cautions as well. What’s the best way to incorporate journaling into our prayers? At the end of your book you have a mood index where you have categorized the Psalm excerpts from the book based on feelings. I’ve heard a variety of opinions on how we as believers should think about and respond to our feelings, whether we should embrace them and be in touch with them, or alternatively redirect what we consider negative feelings and focus on being positive. This is particularly relevant when we’re going through difficult circumstances and trying to heal through those circumstances. For me personally my wife separated from me and has stated her intent to divorce me and I’ve experienced deep sadness both during this time as well as in the past, so this issue of our feelings is one I’m very interested in. How do you think we should think about our feelings? The bulk of your book is in fact the Psalms themselves and not your thoughts about praying them. Would you mind walking us through the process we’ve discussed by selecting one of them Psalms and demonstrating how you might pray with that Psalm. How can others get your book and contact you? Any final thoughts?