Praying the Psalms with Augustine and Friends

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Praying the Psalms with Augustine and Friends

immediately he will help you so that you can withstand the trial you undergo. If your present life seems abominable to you and your spirit delights in contemplating its heavenly home, and gazing on almighty God with burning desire, privately recite Psalms 42, 63, and 84, and the compassionate God will quickly comfort your spirit. If you see yourself abandoned by God in your hardships recite with a repentant heart the following psalms: Psalms 13, 31, 34, 44, 56 or 57, and God will gladden you in the midst of your suffering. Once you have recovered your peace, and are in a time of prosperity , sing these psalms of praise: Psalms 34, 103, and 145. If you wish in private to devote yourself to divine praises and heavenly teachings and commands , recite Psalm 119. While you may continue to ponder and examine the meaning of this alphabetic psalm until the end of your life, I think you will never be able to grasp it perfectly. It contains no verse which does not describe God’s way, his law, his commands, God’s teachings, his words, his acts of justice and his court of law, or the sayings of God. And for this reason you do not need to squander your efforts by consulting a variety of books. In the Psalter alone you have plenty of matter to read, sift over and learn from until the end of your life. . . . If you meditate on these privately and deeply, you will discover, by God’s grace, the substance of their inner meaning. . . . Because singing the Psalms has such great effectiveness, and so many virtues, I encourage and remind you to recite them diligently. . . .

Amen.

Now that you have made it through the psalms with Augustine, with Dhouda, and with your own friends and coworkers in the gospel, consider writing a letter