RESPONDING TO THE PSALMS – NOVEMBER 2026
a project of the Spirituality Committee of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales
We use the Sunday Responsorial Psalm as a focus for prayer and reflection during the week ahead for yourself or to share with others. You could note your own thoughts as a possible personal journal.
“Why should the Book of Psalms, set within the heart of the Old Testament, be singled out as worthy of independent consideration? The psalms have no great stories; the worldview expressed in the poetry is sometimes puzzling, and the language frequently vitriolic. Yet, as an anthology of one hundred and fifty hymns and prayers, composed and compiled over some seven hundred years of biblical history, it could be argued that the psalms represent, in microcosm, the literature and theology of the entire Old Testament expressed in poetic form. Without the psalms we would know far less about the emergence of early Jewish and Christian beliefs, and we would be far less informed about the cultural history of Judaism and Christianity in both the East and the West……..
People tend to think of the Book of Psalms being used by both Jews and Christians primarily in private and in public as a text for use in worship in the synagogue or church. That the psalter is intrinsically bound up with prayer and worship is an accurate observation, but this is hardly enough to present it as an example of classical literature. Yet the fact is that the Psalter is on of the most cited and imitated books in Scripture, and over the centuries no other religious work offers quite the same rich reception history – not only in the written and spoken word, but also, for example in art music and film.
Susan Gillingham The Psalms – A Companion Penguin Classics 2026 p.2
Sunday 1 November All Saints – Solemnity
Sunday 8 November 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Sunday 15 November 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Sunday 22 November 34th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Christ the Universal King
