The Psalms – Comfort and Challenge in Hard Times

Byzantine Ramblings has a post on the Psalms. Below is an excerpt (complete article here):

It is almost clichéd to the point of triteness to say that the recent past has been a season of fear, uncertainty and confusion. The world seems to be crumbling day by day into an economic crisis the likes of which have not been seen since the 1930’s. In such anxious times, the need to find perspective and spiritual focus, while perhaps no greater than in times of luxury and earthly peace, is at least more apparent. Fear over declining finances strips away the false faces of fashion, the immodesty of obsession with ‘taste’ and preference, and the scandalous delusion of self-sufficiency. The precariousness of societal instability inevitably leads to the recognition that only inner spiritual strength can provide the means to tread forward through this vale of fears.

It is therefore worthy to become reacquainted with the Psalter. The Psalms have been central to Christian worship and prayer since the time of our Lord and the Apostles. This may strike one as odd, given that the Psalms are hymns and reflections firmly rooted in the liturgical life of the Jewish Temple. Yet, the Church appropriated the Psalms as prototypical sources of spiritual nourishment from the beginning. Until a hundred years or so ago priests and Monastics of all the Churches of Apostolic origin were required to read the entire Psalter every week. Even today, the Psalms form the backbone of the Roman Church’s Liturgy of the Hours.

In the Byzantine Tradition, while much of the actual recitation of the Psalter on a weekly basis has given way to only chanting the troparia and other hymns that once functioned as spiritual reflections and elaboration on it, references and allusions to the Psalter still permeates the hymns and common texts of the Divine Liturgy and other services. And in a welcome advancement, many Byzantine Christians and others recently have turned again to include the recitation of the Psalter as a constituent part of their daily devotions. This is a highly commendable development.

Our Lord frequently quoted the Psalms, and the Apostles came to understand that these millennia-old hymns reveal essential insights into the human condition and man’s relationship with God. The Psalms speak of devotion to God, fear of enemies, sorrow for sin, humble acceptance of God’s justice, and longing to understand in times of confusion and doubt. These are universal themes of human existence. By meditating on the Psalms the Christian finds continuity in his own experiences and those of the shepherd tending his sheep four millennia ago...

Complete article here.