Chapter 12

How to Read the Psalms

If you want the psalms not to distract you, read a commentary on them and understand their meaning. Then never read many at once, and read slowly, pondering each word. When your heart is warmed by this, you can set aside the psalms. Remember the account of a certain elder who would read only the ‘Glory be’ and then go into the heart and into contemplation and pray in that way.

(Letter 908. Vol. 5, p. 184)