March 2023 Letter

Dear brethren,

As we start Lent, we read from “The Spirituality of Prayer with Agpeya” by His Grace Bishop Mettaos, the reasons that prompted the Church to use the Psalms in prayer:

The Church chose the Book of Psalms to use it in all her prayers and throughout the day, for many reasons, including:

• David is a man with a variety of experiences in his person: he is the poor shepherd, he is the great king, he is the inspiring prophet, and he is the saint who soared in the spiritual heavens. He is the person whom the Lord allowed to fall into two heinous sins that humiliated him, and for their sake he kept crying and wet his bed with his tears. We find in the Psalms many experiences that are applicable to our lives, our emotions and our needs.
• The psalms came out of the heart of a person who was truly purified by repentance and who struggled for the life of the spirit in a great struggle that we should look forward to and learn from.
• Even if the psalms were said by David and to whom they are attributed, they are also the words of God spoken by David by the Holy Spirit, to the extent that the Lord Christ said: “David in the Spirit calls Him `Lord,’” (Matthew 22: 43).

So in praying with psalms, we speak to God with His words, is there anything greater than this?!

It is wiser for the lawyer to leave his own speech while pleading for an accused and address the judge with the provisions of the law because the judge is committed to it. Is this not what we see in the psalms, that show God’s justice, His love for mankind, His mercy, and His many precious promises to mankind?

• The Psalms contain a very clear element of praise. Praise is the language of angels and spiritualists, while our impromptu prayers that we pray are often utilitarian prayers, as they are compact requests and often devoid of this important element: the element of praise and glorification of God.
• The psalms, above all, are a wonderful material for contemplation, as they give those who pray them with patience and spirit wonderful meditations, that in truth cannot but come from the Spirit of God.

Do you still need proof or evidence of the power of the Psalms and their great benefit to those who pray with them? Hear what St. Isaac said: “Have an insatiable love for reciting the Psalms, because they are food for the soul.”

St. Nils the Sinaite said: “Keep on reciting the Psalms, because remembering them expels demons.”

And the great patriarch Athanasius the Apostolic said: “Praising in psalms is a medicine that heals the soul.”

The blessings of St. Mary mother of God, and the Holy Lent be with us always, Amen.

Belleville, March 1, 2023

رسالة شهر مارس ٢٠٢٣