The
vaults of heaven ring with Your praise, O Lord.
The
saints and angels in Heaven are continually praising God. They
recognize fully the wonders of His being and the marvels of His
works, and they express their recognition with great joy and
gratitude.
Do
we do the same? Are our prayers laced with praise? Or are they
focused mostly on what we think we want and need from God, both for
ourselves and others?
Prayers
of
petition and intercession are, of course, important. God wants us to
talk to Him about our needs and desires. We're supposed to ask Him
for His help and His blessings. He
listens; He always responds; and these prayers can make a huge
difference, even a critical difference, in our lives and the lives of
those around us. After
all, as Pascal once said, God gives us prayer that we may have the
dignity of causing good things to happen.
But
in the midst our petitions and intercessions, we must not forget
praise. When
we send up our praise to God with grateful hearts, we begin
to give Him the worship, the adoration, that He so deserves. We
acknowledge the wonderful things He has done for us...our creation,
our redemption, our every breath. We
express our love for Him, and
our love grows deeper and richer as we pour it out.
It
can be difficult to establish a habit of praise, for
our petitions and intercessions tend to multiply and crowd out other
prayers. Begin,
perhaps, by praying a psalm of praise each day. Try
Psalms
136, 93, 100, 111, 135, 138, 150, and 19. Turn
on praise and worship music, and listen to it in the car and/or while
doing daily tasks. Take
a few moments during morning and evening prayer to simply praise God.
Just
tell Him how amazing He is, how worthy of all the love His creatures
can give, how merciful, how
perfect, how beautiful, how loving. The more we say these truths
to God, the more they
will
take root in our hearts and the better we will know and
love our
Lord.
May
the vaults of heaven ring with Your praise, O Lord, and may we help
to
multiply that praise forever.
Amen.
(Antiphon
from Monday,
Week II, Morning
Prayer of the Divine Office)
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