How excellent is Your name in all the earth!

When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,
What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him?
For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor.
You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet,
All sheep and oxen– Even the beasts of the field,
The birds of the air, And the fish of the sea That pass through the paths of the seas.
O LORD, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth! (Ps. 8:3-9 NKJ)

- From the Psalmist

Hear me, O Lord…

Lord, I call upon Thee, hear me.. Hear me, O Lord

Let my prayer arise in Thy sight as incense.

And let the lifting up of my hands be an evening sacrifice. Hear me, O Lord.

- Psalm 141:1-2

Where can I flee from your presence?

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

- Psalm 138/139

In God I have put my trust

What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.

- Psalm 56

He is my Helper and Protector…

He is my Helper and Protector, and has become my salvation. This is my God and I will glorify Him. My father’s God and I will exalt Him. For gloriously has He been glorified.

- Exodus 15:2, 1; Psalm 117:14

On Singing Psalms and Praying

An anchorite saw a demon urging another demon to go and awaken a sleeping monk. And he heard the other one say, “I cannot do this, for one time when I awakened him he got up and burned me by singing psalms and praying.”

- From the Desert Fathers

Which psalms should I memorize?

Which psalms should you memorize? Memorize the ones that strike your heart as you are reading them. Each person will find different psalms to be more effective for himself. Begin with Have mercy on me, O God (Psalm 50); then Bless the Lord, O my soul (Psalm 102); and Praise the Lord, O my Soul (Psalm 145). These latter two are the antiphon hymns in the Liturgy. There are also the psalms in the Canon for Divine Communion: The Lord is my shepherd (Psalm 22); The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof (Psalm 23); I believed, wherefore I spake (Psalm 115); and the first psalm of the evening vigil, O God, be attentive unto helping me (Psalm 69). There are the psalms of the hours, and the like. Read the Psalter and select.

- A Prayer Rule, by St. Theophan the Recluse

Give me understanding..

Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart. Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it. Turn my heart to your decrees, and not to selfish gain. Turn my eyes from looking at vanities; give me life in your ways.

- Psalm 119:34-37

They that seek the Lord

Rich men have turned poor and gone hungry, but they that seek the Lord shall not be deprived of any good thing.

- Psalm 33

In Praise of the God of Creation

Yours is the day, and Yours is the night; You created the light and the sun.

-Psalm 74:16

When you are at prayer

When you are at prayer, recite your prayer or psalm from memory, and embrace each word, not just with thought, but with feeling. If during this your own prayerful cries arise from some word of the psalm or prayer, do not cut them off, but let them come.

-Saint Theophan

The most beautiful psalm

Search me, God, and know my heart (Psalm 138)

Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.