Hermit Diary, Montreal. 7. A Medieval Saint, and the Psalms

My post for today is a piece I wrote for the new blog, Daily Bread, at Christ Church Cathedral, Montreal. Today, March 20, is the Feast Day of St. Cuthbert, Bishop of Lindesfarne, who lived in Northumbria in the 7th century, so I wrote a bit about him. The second half of the post is about Psalm 91, the psalm appointed for Evening Prayer today, and my own experience of singing the psalms as a choir member. In the Anglican Church, these ancient poems are an important part of every liturgy, and when we do choral services -- a sung Mass or Evensong, for instance -- we chant the psalms using four-part settings written by many composers for the church.

We're hoping that a number of parishioners will contribute to this new blog during these weeks when we can't meet together - the idea is to take off in some creative direction from the readings appointed for the day in the lectionary. So please have a look! Eventually I'll cross-post the entry here, but not while the post is new on the cathedral website.

I almost forgot, but March 20 is also my blogiversary: The Cassandra Pages started in 2005, during another time of upheaval. Cassandra does not like being right about things, but she's had a pretty good track record. (She also predicts we'll get through this one.) Love to all of you who've been faithful readers, and a warm welcome to anyone who is relatively new. i try hard to answer comments, and am grateful for every single one.

Comments

[Jean Morris]

Fifteen years - so glad I found you back then! That blogging community is a major reason why I know people in different countries, different lives, all of whose reaction to these times is sane and kind and makes me feel better and less alone.

[Dave Bonta]

2005? You were already blogging when I started in 2003.

[Beth]

Dave and Jean, yeah, I screwed up. I *thought* it was 2003, but the archive said 2005 -- I didn't realize that Typepad's archive of course doesn't include the first two years when I was on Blogger. I've been happy to see some of the old bloggers coming out of the woodwork these recent weeks and beginning to post again, or write elsewhere. though Dave's weekly compendium does a much better job of keeping track of people than I manage to do.