11-week formation on Psalms draws 300 participants

Sep 18, 2021

By Iruthaya Das Arulanadam
The Penang Diocesan New Evangelisation Commission (PDNEC) completed an 11-week formation on the Psalms - The School of Prayer, by Jeff Cavins, Dr Tim Gray and Sarah Christmeyer on Thursday Sept 8. This was another of PDNEC’s efforts in promoting faith formation, spirituality and developing missionary discipleship in a creative and inclusive manner.

Psalms were chosen as they are prayers to God that help us learn to pray, orientate our hearts and direct our innermost thoughts to Him. Psalms form the basis of the Divine Office, the Church’s official set of daily prayers.

Psalms are the heart of the Bible and also form the heart and soul of liturgical prayer and praise of the Church and features prominently in its teaching, thus PDNEC’s choice to focus on Psalms - The School of Prayer this time around.

The virtual sessions were aired using Zoom. The formation began on Tuesday June 29. Sessions were held on Tuesday nights and on Thursday mornings. A total of 300 faithful signed up —119 from the Archdiocese of KL, 113 from the Diocese of Penang, 22 from India, 10 from the Diocese of Malacca Johore and the rest from East Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Nepal, Canada and USA. The numbers were quite evenly distributed between Tuesdays and Thursdays. Attendance throughout the 11 weeks averaged about 80 per cent.

The faithful were given the reading lists and discussion questions one week in advance to prepare “homework”. Sessions began with Worship — this included playing two “sung” Psalms and a short video clipping linked to the topic of the day or to the Mass theme for the week.

Participants then viewed the video by Jeff Cavins and Dr Tim Gray. This was followed by a small group breakout session where the video presentation and the discussion questions were reviewed. These were lively and engaging sessions — very enthusiastic and interactive — typically over-running the allocated 45 minutes. Participants shared that they were very inspired by the sessions, saying that they had learned a lot and that their prayer life had improved significantly. They now have a better understanding of the Psalms, which were in existence more than 3,000 years ago and feature prominently to this day. Most of them have resolved to “pray the Psalms” more fervently and frequently going forward, and also to use their learning to motivate, inspire and enhance the prayer lives of others.

Bishop Sebastian Francis graced the final sessions on Sept 7 and Sept 9, sharing with the faithful on the importance of the Psalms and how he appreciates them, on how he prays the Psalms and encouraged us, the faithful, on how to pray the Psalms at our own pace. He also gave some updates of the current and upcoming events for the Catholic Church in Malaysia and beyond. Bishop Sebastian concluded the session by congratulating, reaffirming and blessing all the faithful.