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'Your Love is Better Than Life'
How the Psalms Bring Me Closer to God
by Daria Sockey in Faith on Tuesday, November 17, 2009 6:00 AM
I’m stuck, crawling behind a dump truck all the way home from work. I walk in the door and see a sink full of dishes that the kids should have washed. And there on the table is a bill with “second Notice” stamped on the envelope. The house smells like the dog rolled in something. And I am sick, sick, sick of all the small stupid irritations of life. It’s moments like this when the words of Psalm 63 come to me.
Oh God, You are my God, for you I long, for you my soul is thirsting. My body pines for you like a dry weary land without water. So I gaze upon you in the sanctuary to see your strength and your glory ... for your love is better than life ...
Well,yeah. God’s love looks much better than life when life presents stuff like this! But maybe He lets the annoyances happen as a way of gently calling me back to Him, reminding me that His love is always the greatest thing of all. It’s what what I should be chronically longing for, not just at those times when this world is a pain in the neck.
Just recalling the words of Psalm 63 reminds me that there is so much more than my daily hamster wheel. Things fall into perspective. I’m able to de-stress a bit, and even chuckle at Mom the Martyr wallowing in her valley of tears. I call to mind the rest of the psalm. It reminds me that the ball is in my court: God is with me already, offering his love. It’s my turn to respond:
“my lips will speak your praise. I will bless you all my life ... my soul shall be filled as with a banquet, my mouth shall praise you with joy…for you have been my help. In the shadow of your wings I rejoice. My soul clings to you; your right hand holds me fast.”
The Catechism says the psalms “possess such direct simplicity that [they] can be prayed in truth by men of all times and conditions” (2588)
The Church has given us a wonderful method for praying the psalms in a way that is coordinated with the liturgical year. It’s called the Liturgy of the Hours, and I’ve been using it almost daily for many years.
Without really trying, I’ve learned lots of the psalms by heart, so that their words often spring to mind when I really need them. What’s more, the psalms are the very prayers that Jesus learned and prayed. Many of them actually contain prophecies that were fulfilled in Him. Indeed, praying with the psalms is truly praying with the mind and heart of Christ.
I’ll be writing here every couple of weeks about praying with the psalms. Just sharing my own thoughts, or, at times, my “housewife’s edition” of what the Church, has told us about them. My hope is that you will become intrigued by the psalms and maybe even want to try the Liturgy of the Hours. It’s a great way to pray with the Church universal, and to familiarize yourself with one of the most accessible parts of the Old Testament.
—Senior writer Daria Sockey is a mother of seven who writes from her home in Pennsylvania.
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Comments
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Posted by Sarah Reinhard on Tuesday, Nov 17, 2009 6:49 PM (EDT):
Daria, I always love your pieces, and I recently started praying the Liturgy of the Hours too…and I find the Psalms to be just what you’re describing, a gateway of phrases that pull me closer to God.
I can’t wait to read your pieces on them! 
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