Psalms

Rich in prayerful and poetic language the psalms are different than the other readings. I thought there must be away to tap into the beauty of the psalms for children.

Up until last week, we did not begin our school day with a prayer. This year, since I have four children who sit around the table while we use Sound Beginnings, (the baby sits on my lap and the toddler busies herself with her projects), it seemed an easy thing to review the psalm for Sunday as a prayer to begin schoolwork.

Using my Sunday missal, we began our reading lessons with one strophe of the psalm. The responsorial verse was written on the white board as a reminder to practice saying this prayer out loud.

The stage was set by reminding the children of the biblical figures of David and Saul. The first King of Israel experienced such malicious jealousy of David that it caused the anointed young David to seek refuge in the wilderness. The psalms are written in this spirit of great need. (David is considered the author of the psalms.)

This week, I noticed that my Sunday Missal indicates the theme of the psalm. Since next week’s psalm is all about gratitude, I asked the children to name something they are thankful for. Then I adapted the words of the psalm to show that the psalm was expressing gratitude to God and I plugged in the thing that my child was grateful for.

I did see a flicker of understanding pass over the children’s faces with the adaptation. The rest of the week, I think I will just remind them to think of gratitude and return to the words as written.

Action item:
After Sunday Mass, ask the children if they recognized the psalm.