I'm going to just talk for about 20, 25 minutes and then have time for questions.

And the topic I want to talk to you about is the relationship between the Psalms and our inner life of prayer,

particularly, of course, because as Third Order Dominicans, one of the things that you're doing regularly is praying the Psalms and allowing them to orient your inner life toward God.

So let's just think a little bit about what that entails.

And I want to start by talking about what St. Thomas talks about prayer being, what prayer is, according to St. Thomas.

And then talk a little bit about the Psalms as prayers, the way the Psalms point to the prayer of Christ,

and the way the church prays mystically with Christ.

So when St. Thomas asks the question in the Secundi Secundi about prayer,

actually the question on prayer is the longest question in the suma.

And when he, at the start of the questio, he asks the question,

is prayer primarily in the intellect or in the heart?

And I think a lot of us, if you ask this, that question,

if I had a radar gun, and I can see into your soul, and I ask the question,

I think a lot of people would probably say prayer is primarily in the heart, Father.

It's a turning of the heart toward God.

But interestingly, Aquinas says prayer is primarily in the mind.

It's the elevation of the mind to think of God, to know God.

So it's the lifting of the mind up into God, so to speak.

Now the first thing you say about that is that that means that prayer in a certain way follows just the normal

orientation of our intellectual life.

Our intellectual life, we try to think about the world, try to understand the world, try to understand the world in light of what's most ultimate,

what explains the world best.

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