Praying the Psalms?

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stuartbrianhenlis

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I have a hard time praying. I try, but it doesn’t come easily for me. I’d like to make prayer a regular activity. Which leads me to the question about praying the Psalms. Does anybody know how to pray using the Psalms?
 
there is a very simple prayer, well there are two.

one prayer is very old, from the Early Christians and is found in Pauls letters. It is the Maranatha Pray.

Come Lord Jesus Come

the second prayer, also very old is the Jesus prayer

Lord Jesus have mercy on me.

very simple easy prayers
 
If you do portions of the Liturgy of the Hours you will soon start to imbibe and even memorize many Psalms. I do Morning Prayer and have found this very beneficial. I hope to add Evening Prayer.
 
You can also just go through psalm by psalm and make them your own prayer, inserting people’s names, certain prayer intentions in, etc
 
Thanks Maximilian,

I can’t afford the Liturgy book set, but I have a copy of the new Grail Psalter. I’ll use that one instead.
 
liturgy of the hours can be really complicated to start praying and each section is not a 5 minute prayer.

the other way of doing things is to just start praying psalms, get a Study Bible that explains each Psalm, read the explanation and then pray.
 
stuartbrianhenlis said:
Thanks Maximilian,

I can’t afford the Liturgy book set, but I have a copy of the new Grail Psalter. I’ll use that one instead.
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I love the Grail Psalter.

Although I have the LOTH book set, I also have a tiny book with just Night Prayer. It only uses seven or eight Psalms, but it’s a beautiful way to begin praying with them.

And Night Prayer is also a wonderful way to wrap up the day and be ready for bed.
 
Take a look at Psalm Basics for Catholics by John Bergsma. He does a great job of explaining how the Psalms were written and has suggestions on how to go about praying them. Some people may be put off by his drawings but I found them very useful.
 
You can probably You Tube how to pray the Liturgy of the Hours (LOH). Aside from Eucharist and rosary I can’t think of anything better for a soul. Think of psalms like spiritual fiber in your diet.

Also you will need to get St. Joseph’s Guide to help with Liturgy of the Hours. Ask if you can meet and pray with someone at your parish who knows how to pray LOH.

Buying the four volume LOH is a wise investment.
 
esmac said:
Buying the four volume LOH is a wise investment.
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I’d protest that statement… Unless someone is becoming a priest/religous/tertiary of some kind, the smartphone LOTH apps absolutely suffice
 
Maximilian75 said:
Unless someone is becoming a priest/religous/tertiary of some kind, the smartphone LOTH apps absolutely suffice
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And even many of those folks now prefer the digital…

To the OP:
I’d recommend the Liturgy of the Hours as well, but as mentioned above, there’s a bit of learning/practice involved. In the interim, you could simply pick one or two of the psalms for the indicated day and read and reflect on those intentionally for a few minutes. At first, there are some that are awkward to draw meaning or spiritual benefit from, but it does come with time…
 
The Our Father - given to us by Jesus - has been called “the perfect prayer” - “the complete prayer” - “contains all that one ought to pray”. Pray that prayer well, (with due attention and devotion) and you will truly be praying.
 
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Once you get used to it, you can privately pray Lauds or Vespers, using the modern LOTH rite, in 5-10 minutes. Of course it is much longer if chanted or solemnly prayed in a corporate manner.
 
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