"A Mirror of the Soul"

How can the Psalms help us to pray?

By St. Athanasius of Alexandria

I commend you for reading the Book of Psalms, striving to understand the meaning of each one. I too have a great affection for that book. It displays a certain charming precision of expression for those who are given to prayer.

The one who takes up the Psalter to pray recognizes the words there as his very own. And the one who hears the Psalter chanted is deeply moved, as though he himself were speaking. It seems to me, then, that these words become like a mirror to the one who sings them, so that he might see himself and the emotions of his soul.

When someone in tribulation sings the third psalm, for example, he recognizes that the words belong to him. In singing the 11th and 16th psalms, he realizes that he himself is the one announcing his confidence in prayer. In the 50th, he is speaking the words appropriate for his own repentance.

When someone sings Psalms 53, 55, 56 and 141, he does not ponder how someone else is persecuted, but how he himself is affected by persecution. These words he chants to the Lord as his own.

In general, then, each psalm is both composed and spoken by the Spirit so that in these same words the stirrings of our soul might be grasped. All these words can be spoken as if they concern us, and come from our lips as our own words, as a memorial of our emotions and a chastening of our life. For the words of the Psalms chanted can be both examples and standards for us.

Examples of Psalms to Pray

Suppose you stand in need of prayer because of those who have opposed you and surrounded you. Then you can sing Psalms 16, 86, 88 and 140. Do you want to pray as Moses prayed? You have Psalm 90. Have you been saved from your enemies and delivered from your persecutors? Sing Psalm 18.

You marvel at the order of creation, and God's gracious providence displayed there, and the holy ordinances of His law. So sing the 19th and 24th psalms. When you see others suffering tribulations, encourage them by praying and speaking the words of Psalm 20. When you see numerous people in need and poverty, and you want to show them mercy, then by saying Psalm 41 you can both approve those who already act compassionately, and urge others to do the same.

Suppose you have sinned and, being ashamed, you repent and beg for mercy. In Psalm 51 you find the words of confession and repentance.

Whenever you want to praise God in song, recite the words in Psalm 65. If you wish to worship the Lord in a festival, calling together the servants of God to celebrate, sing Psalms 81 and 95.

Our nature is frail. When life's trials make you like a beggar, exhausted and needing encouragement, you have Psalm 102. And since it is fitting for us to give thanks to God in and through all circumstances, when you wish to praise Him you can say Psalms 103 and 104, urging your own soul forward to do it.

When you see temptations come as a test for you, and you want to give thanks after such trials are done, you have Psalm 139. Do you want to be rescued? Pray Psalm 140. Do you want to offer up petitions and prayers? Chant Psalms 5 and 143.

Perhaps you are an insignificant person, but you have been chosen for some high position above your brothers. Do not exalt yourself over them, but give the glory to God who chose you, by reciting David's Psalm 150.

The Fruit of the Psalms

Such, then, is the help we gain from the Psalms. Every reader of this book should read it in its entirety, for truly the things in it are divinely inspired. Whenever the need arises, you can go looking there to pluck benefits from it like the fruits of a garden. For the whole of human existence, both the dispositions of the soul and the movements of the mind, have been measured out and encompassed in the words of the Psalter. TCA