My Soul Waits: Praying with the Psalms through Advent, Christmas & Epiphany

For Advent, Christmas and Epiphany, this new devotional combines the words of the Psalms, meditations from the Church Fathers, and a prayer as a guide for the reader through the various twists and turns on the journey to our Lord’s Nativity. These beloved words from Scripture mirror our own thoughts and emotions—hope and expectation, suffering and patience, confession and healing—and are as relevant for the modern spiritual reader as when they were first sung in the Temple.
Reviews

“My Soul Waits is a simple but beautiful and measured reflection on daily psalms: helping us meditate on the purpose of each psalm, lifting up wisdom from ancient Church Fathers, and offering honest prayers for 21st century faith. It’s Shannon’s original prayers especially that resonate with my spirit. The prayers long for Home; they confess Hope; they celebrate What Has Been Done; they meditate on What Will Be. With each prayer, my heart wants to dance, to shout, to weep, to whisper, and Shannon ties them beautifully and subtly to the daily psalm readings. Each day’s meditation indicates that a reader should begin with the psalm; personally, I find myself not only beginning with the psalm but repeating it again at the end of the meditation in order to trace the threads between Scripture, the excerpts of Church Fathers, and Shannon’s prayers. Listening deeply for the soul’s essential stories that reverberate across the centuries, Martin Shannon accompanies us through the longing of Advent to the revelation of Epiphany. My Soul Waits is a balm to the restless spirit—speaking myself as one who is impatient with waiting. It is a patient companion through six weeks of triumph and trembling, turmoil and tenderness. Reading Shannon, my heart believes again that it can wait with hope for Christ’s fulfillment. With every amen, I am renewed.” —Rachel Hackenberg, author, speaker, ordained minister

"Steeped in Benedictine spirituality, Fr. Shannon lives and prays the psalms in community. The 41 psalms (which take us from Advent to Epiphany) include psalms of praise, psalms of lament, penitential psalms, psalms of thanksgiving, orientation, disorientation, reorientation. Shannon's daily reflections on the Psalms, describe the world of the psalmists, the theology of the psalms and their significance for us, with an eye especially for this season. Each entry also ends with a word "from the Fathers" (notable saints from the early centuries of the church). Shannon also includes short profiles of the Church Fathers quoted in this book. The Psalms are the prayerbook of the church, and Fr. Shannon is a good guide to take us through this season!" —Thoughts, Prayers, and Songs

“My Soul Waits is predicated in St. Benedict's writings that emphasize Advent as a time of preparation for Christmas. Shannon describes the trading of vestment colors and adjustments to the liturgy in the weeks leading up to Christmas as outward signs of Christmas approaching, but emphasizes that ‘the meaning is in the waiting.’ This book of Psalms is divided by chapter and preceded by brief descriptions of the background and context of each, to which Shannon adds personal reflections and ties to Scripture, along with quotes from Christian theologians including Augustine, Cyril and Jerome. The psalms are presented in no particular order (in keeping with life's randomness, Shannon notes) other than by the themes as listed in its title, and its 41 psalms take readers beyond Christmas and into early January.” —Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette

"Martin Shannon offers a guide for the reader on the journey to the Nativity. This devotional reflects our experiences of hope and expectation, suffering and patience, confession and healing, through the words of the psalms and prayers and meditations from the early Church." —BuildFaith.org

“An inspiring, and deeply experiential journey through the Psalms of the Advent season. The author takes us on a pilgrimage within with a steady and enriching guide to the great feast of the Savior’s birth." —Abbot Primate Gregory Polan, O.S.B

Martin Shannon