In this episode of Psalms for the Spirit, I’m joined by Brendan McManus, a Jesuit priest from Lisnaskea, Northern Ireland. After years in the computer industry, Brendan felt a deeper call that led him into the Jesuits and into a lifelong exploration of Ignatian spirituality, pilgrimage, and finding God in everyday life. He now serves as a spiritual director, retreat leader, and author of Finding God in the Mess and other works rooted in hope and discernment.

Brendan reflects on how the Psalms have shaped his own journey—from the joy of Psalm 139’s reminder that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made,” to the cry of Psalm 130’s “Out of the depths,” and the trust of Psalm 23’s walk through the valley of darkness. He shares stories from the Camino de Santiago—times of deep encounter and unexpected struggle—and the wisdom that emerged from injury, loss, and renewal.

“When life feels like a storm, keep walking. Look at your feet and trust that God is on the path with you.”

This episode invites you to embrace the pilgrimage of your own life ~ to find God not in perfection, but in the sacred mess of the journey itself.

Featured Song:

Psalm 23: The Lord’s My Shepherd

This beloved psalm, describing God shepherding us through green pastures and dark valleys, is set to the well-known air, “The Parting Glass.”

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This song evokes praise with all our heart, soul and body ~ with all of creation, with all instruments, with all aspects of who we are. Indeed, praise includes what brings us pleasure, joy and delight ~ something we don’t often sing about in hymns, and yet which are such an important aspect of living as fully and vibrantly as God intends. Set to the Scottish tune with Irish words, this paraphrase maintains some of the original language in the refrain of the song ‘Happy are We All Together.’

Continue your reflections with the accompanying journal, which includes further questions for reflection and some invitations to prayer and practice.

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Visit the Celtic Psalms website for scores/books, mp3s, CDs, and videos for May We Rise

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In this Psalm, all creation praises the God who heals the broken-hearted. It is combined here with the words from the Doxology and the rousing melody ‘Mo Ghile Mear.’ A song of joy at the outpouring of God’s blessings, this Psalm also tends to the outcasts, the forgotten, those longing for peace in home and hearth ~ that all creation will sing when such blessings are extended to all people.

Continue your reflections with the accompanying journal, which includes further questions for reflection and some invitations to prayer and practice.

Paid subscribers receive a free journal PDF, or you can purchase a paperback version

Visit the Celtic Psalms website for scores/books, mp3s, CDs, and videos for Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow

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This joyful song praises the true ruler of the earth: a God of justice and compassion who stands with the vulnerable of this world. Set to ‘Here’s a Health,’ it is a jubilant song of praise, but one that recounts various forms of suffering ~ oppressive power, poverty, false imprisonment, injustice, bereavement, refugees ~ and continually places hope in the goodness and mercy of the one who will ultimately see us through such earthly struggles.

Continue your reflections with the accompanying journal, which includes further questions for reflection and some invitations to prayer and practice.

Paid subscribers receive a free journal PDF, or you can purchase a paperback version

Visit the Celtic Psalms website for scores/books, mp3s, CDs, and videos for Hallelujah

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This is a Psalm about the transformation from a call to battle into a prayer for peace, and is set to ‘The King’s Shilling’ by the Scottish musician Ian Sinclair. The desire for peace is hard won, after facing the realities of war. In the same way, our prayers for people also become more fervent when we encounter the dreadful realities of war, and our hearts are softened as we utter our prayer of blessing on the next generation, that they will become “trees full grown” and “pillars firm,” and that our streets may not be filled with sorrow any longer.

Continue your reflections with the accompanying journal, which includes further questions for reflection and some invitations to prayer and practice.

Paid subscribers receive a free journal PDF, or you can purchase a paperback version

Visit the Celtic Psalms website for scores/books, mp3s, CDs, and videos for Come, Spirit, Come

Find out more about the Habits for the Spirit course: an 8-week online course exploring habits and daily spiritual practices to promote wellbeing in body, mind, and spirit

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Combined with the lyrical air, ‘The Banks of Claudy,’ this beautiful Psalm professes faith in a God who knits us together and knows us intimately. Whether we like it or not, God knows our every thought and movement, but this Psalm continually reminds us that God’s constant presence is one that is loving and accepting of who we are at our best and our worst moments, and that God will continue to lead us in the way that is everlasting.

Continue your reflections with the accompanying journal, which includes further questions for reflection and some invitations to prayer and practice.

Paid subscribers receive a free journal PDF, or you can purchase a paperback version

Visit the Celtic Psalms website for scores/books, mp3s, CDs, and videos for You Have Searched Me

Find out more about the Habits for the Spirit course: an 8-week online course exploring habits and daily spiritual practices to promote wellbeing in body, mind, and spirit

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Set during the Babylonian exile, this Psalm mourns what was left behind in the homeland. The refrain, inspired by the traditional song ‘The Emigrant’s Farewell,’ echoes the request that God remembers those who grieve and those whose wounds have not yet been healed.

Continue your reflections with the accompanying journal, which includes further questions for reflection and some invitations to prayer and practice.

Paid subscribers receive a free journal PDF, or you can purchase a paperback version

Visit the Celtic Psalms website for scores/books, mp3s, CDs, and videos for By the Waters of Babylon

Find out more about the Habits for the Spirit course: an 8-week online course exploring habits and daily spiritual practices to promote wellbeing in body, mind, and spirit

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With the antiphonal refrain “God’s love endures forever,” this Psalm, set to the sea shanty ‘Bold Riley,’ speaks of the story of the Hebrew peoples’ journey into the promised land and of God’s love that endures through the generations. Like a heartbeat, the refrain is a continual reminder that amid the dramas of our lives and of history, God’s loving pulse is the life force behind it all.

Continue your reflections with the accompanying journal, which includes further questions for reflection and some invitations to prayer and practice.

Paid subscribers receive a free journal PDF, or you can purchase a paperback version

Visit the Celtic Psalms website for scores/books, mp3s, CDs, and videos for God’s Love Endures Forever

Find out more about the Habits for the Spirit course: an 8-week online course exploring habits and daily spiritual practices to promote wellbeing in body, mind, and spirit

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Comparing harmony between kindred with the holy oil used for anointing in the temple of Jerusalem, the Psalm claims that such experiences of community bring fullness of life. Set to the Irish tune ‘A Fig for a Kiss,’ this paraphrase chooses the word “harmony,” which is a synonym for unity in the Hebrew and expresses the possibility of harmonious relationship amid diversity, rather than the homogeneity of uniformity.

Continue your reflections with the accompanying journal, which includes further questions for reflection and some invitations to prayer and practice.

Paid subscribers receive a free journal PDF, or you can purchase a paperback version

Visit the Celtic Psalms website for scores/books, mp3s, CDs, and videos for How Good It Is

Find out more about the Habits for the Spirit course: an 8-week online course exploring habits and daily spiritual practices to promote wellbeing in body, mind, and spirit

Follow Kiran’s monthly reflections on Bless My Feet

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These Psalms, sung to ‘The Quiet Land of Erin,’ share hope in a forgiving God who is with us always, even when we are in the depths. Putting these two Psalms together back to back, this song connects the concept of forgiveness with the deep rest of an infant in its mother’s arms ~ loved unconditionally as a beloved child and held with tenderness and compassion.

Continue your reflections with the accompanying journal, which includes further questions for reflection and some invitations to prayer and practice.

Paid subscribers receive a free journal PDF, or you can purchase a paperback version

Visit the Celtic Psalms website for scores/books, mp3s, CDs, and videos for From the Depths

Find out more about the Habits for the Spirit course: an 8-week online course exploring habits and daily spiritual practices to promote wellbeing in body, mind, and spirit

Follow Kiran’s monthly reflections on Bless My Feet

Psalms for the Spirit is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.