Medicine for Spiritual Health
For generations upon generations, the Psalms were the prayers of God's people. They were songs lifted up to God in praise, lamentation, and thanksgiving. Their imagery spoke to the situations of many, directly or indirectly. They conveyed the longing of the human soul and provided language to the sinner and saint that they might pour out their heart to the Lord.
In some corners of the Church catholic, the Psalms have lost their savor. They are barely prayed. They are not seen to provide language for the soul, but they are only objects to be studied. In our Anglican tradition, as with other traditions of the Church, the Psalms are central to our lives. They are prayed each Sunday during our worship, they shape our liturgy, and they are prayed during the daily offices, morning and evening. Praying them daily is like walking the same path in the countryside to the point where the familiarity of the path frees you to fully enjoy all that surrounds you. This may take a while, but it is an exercise, a practice, a rhythm worth developing. For the Psalms are not merely window dressing for the other more "substantial" or "important" aspects of Scripture. They are rich with encountering God. They are saturated with knowledge of the human heart. They are overflowing with the love of God. They proclaim justice to the oppressed. They are a means of pursuing holiness, shaping the one who prays them into the image of God, who is Jesus.
St. Ambrose, a 4th century bishop of Milan says this about the Psalms: "History instructs us, the law teaches us, prophecy foretells, correction punishes, morality persuades; but the book of Psalms goes further than all these. It is medicine for our spiritual health. Whoever reads it will find in it a medicine to cure the wounds caused by one's own particular passions. Whoever studies it deeply will find it a kind of gymnasium open for all souls to use, where the different Psalms are like different exercises set out before one. In that gymnasium, in that stadium of virtue, one can choose the exercises that will train one best to win the victor's crown."
If the Psalms are not yet a daily path for you, if they are not yet a gymnasium which you frequent, start small. Find one or two (or three) and pray them. Let them become a well-worn path. And as all paths lead the traveler somewhere, may these well-worn paths lead you nearer and nearer to your Lord.
– Matthew+