WITH A LISTENING HEART
Biblical and Spiritual Reflections on the Psalms

How does a person approach the Book of Psalms, this compilation of ancient poetic writings whose beauty and meaning are often obscured by the language, culture and time in which they were written? Exegetes and scholars have done much of the work for us and we find their conclusions set forth in this remarkably brief and highly readable book whose very title sums up the approach that we must take: The psalms are to be read and prayed “with a listening heart,” lev shome’a in Hebrew. “Oh, that today you would listen to his voice,” we read in Psalm 95:7, “harden not your heart.” An open heart and an attentive ear are required if we are to enter into the spirit and meaning of these great prayers of the Hebrew and Christian faith. The author has painstakingly taken each of the 150 psalms in order and succinctly pointed out what we would do well to look for if we are to cull the maximum benefit from them. In addition, he indicates what he has derived from his own prayerful reflection on the text. With this work in one hand and the psalms in the other, the reader will reap the abundant rewards reserved for those who have listening heart.

About the Author: Bertrand A. Buby, SM is a Marianist Priest of the Cincinnati Province who completed his Licentiate in Theology at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland in 1964 and a Licentiate in Sacred Scripture at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome in 1966. He received a Doctorate in Sacred Theology from the Marianum in Rome in 1980 and is presently Associate Professor of Biblical Theology at eh University of Dayton. He has authored seven books including his trilogy on Mary of Galilee (3 vols., Alba House 1994-1997), A Journey Through Revelation: A Message for the Millennium (Alba House, 2000) and translated another, Mary in the Mystery of the Covenant by Ignace de la Potterie, SJ (Alba House, 1992). A member of the Pontifical International Marian Academy, he has also served as President of the Mariological Society of America.