How to Pray the Psalms Like the Monks and Nuns

Praying at certain hours of the day or night goes back to the Jews, from whom Christians learned it.

In the Psalms we find expressions like: "I will meditate on thee in the morning"; "I rose at midnight to give praise to thee"; "Evening and morning, and at noon I will speak and declare: and he shall hear my voice"; "Seven times a day I have given praise to thee"

The Jews began this under King David. His son, King Solomn, took it to a new level, after building the Temple. Thousands of priest took part in this Divine Liturgry.

The Christain Church has done this for two thousand years. Most lay people pray only morning and evening prayers. You can start with one, then add another, or two, like the noon prayer. Anything is better than nothing. These prayers will give a spiritual structure to your life,something solid to build around.

Below are some prayers to get started with:

A Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon,
Where there is doubt, faith,
Where there is despair, hope,
Where there is darkness, light,
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
To be understood, as to understand;
To be loved, as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive—
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Augustine's Great Canticle of Love

My love of you, God, is not some vague feeling;
It is positive and certain.
Your word struck into my heart
and from that moment I loved you.
Besides this, all about me,
heaven and earth and all that they contain
proclaim that I should love you.
But what do I love when I love you?
Not material beauty of a temporal order;
not the brilliance of earthly light;
not the sweet melody of harmony and song;
not the fragrance of flowers, perfumes, and spices;
not manna or honey;
and not limbs the body delights to embrace.
It is not these that I love when I love my God.
And yet, when I love him,
it is true that I love a light of a certain kind,
a voice, a perfume, a food, an embrace;
but they are the kind that I love in my inner self,
when my soul is bathed in light that is not bound by
space;
when it listens to sound that never dies away;
when it breathes fragrance that is not borne away on
the wind;
when it tastes food that is never consumed by the
eating;
when it clings to an embrace from which
it is not severed by fulfillment of desire.
This is what I love when I love my God.

THE ANIMA CHRISTI
(This prayer is said after receiving communion.)

Soul of Christ, sanctify me;
Body of Christ, save me;
Blood of Christ, inebriate me;
Water from the side of Christ, wash me;
Passion of Christ, strengthen me;
O good Jesus hear me;
Within your wounds hide me;
separated from you, let me never be;
> From the evil one protect me;
At the hour of my death, call me;
And close to you bid me; That with your saints,
I may be praising you forever and ever.

Amen

PRAYER OF ST. FRANCIS DE SALES
Prayer # 1

O love eternal,
my soul needs and chooses you eternally!
Ah, come Holy Spirit,
and inflame our hearts with your love!
To love - or to die!
To die - and to love!
To die to all other love
in order to live in Jesus' love,
so that we may not die eternally.
But that we may live in your eternal love,
O Saviour of our souls,
we eternally sing,
" Live, Jesus!
Jesus, I love!
Live, Jesus, whom I love!
Jesus, I love,
Jesus who lives and reigns
forever and ever.

Amen

Came to You Late

I came to You late, O Beauty so ancient and new. I came to love You late. You were within me and I was outside where I rushed about wildly searching for You like some monster loose in Your beautiful world. You were with me but I was not with You. You called me, You shouted to me, You wrapped me in Your Splendour, You broke past my deafness, You bathed me in Your Light, You sent my blindness reeling. You gave out such a delightful fragrance and I drew it in and came breathing hard after You. I tasted, and it made me hunger and thirst; You touched me, and I burned to know Your Peace.

St. Augustine of Hippo

For more prayers click here.