THE ABBREVIATED PSALTER OF THE VENERABLE BEDE, Gerald M. Browne, translator, Eerdmans 2002, 92pp. (Call no.: BX2033.A4 B7613).

The Psalter is a composite of liturgical poetry integral to Sunday Episcopal worship, The 1979 BCP arranges for the 150 psalms to be read in Morning and Evening Prayer within a 30 day period. The BCP Daily Lectionary distributes the psalms over a seven week period. St. Benedict of Nursia, born in year 480, author of the famed RULE OF ST. BENEDICT, required disciplined attention to the Psalter by his monks, requiring them to say all 150 psalms each week.

A refreshing approach to the Psalms is the ABBREVIATED PSALTER OF THE VENERABLE BEDE (c. 673-735), a Benedictine monk, famous for his ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF T HE ENGLISH PEOPLE. He crafted one of the church's oldest and most inspiring works, the ABBREVIATED PSALMS. His approach consists of a condensed rendering of each of the 150 psalms for personal meditation. Sometimes a single sentence, or verse, captures the essence of an entire psalm. The Venerable Bede's work of 1300 years ago is a creative spiritual resource for busy 21st Century men and women.