It arrives in the evening of the 24 and hangs around until the evening of the 26 (cf. page 1437 in
Treasury of Daily Prayer). I used to dread its coming. So repetitious, it seemed. More fool I! The longer I have prayed it, the more I ache for the days when we do pray it. Countless treasures packed into those days. This month I was especially grabbed by vs. 71 on the morning of the 25th: "It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes." But so many other goodies besides. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever! Amen.
oh my, 119 is so great... it's a shame that we are so impatient. My experience is as yours though, that it becomes treasured rather than dreaded!
ReplyDeleteAnd v.71 is a treasure... you see why Luther developed his theology from it (oratio, meditatio, tentatio).
Also, in Luther's day they prayed it every day at the midday prayers (prime-none). Ps. 54 leads at Prime (an excellent psalm to pray each day) followed by the key psalm of the day (Sn 118, M 24, T 25, W 26, R 23, F 22), followed by the beginning of 119 (1-32). (See J. M. Neale commentary on the Psalms Vol. 1, or I can email you this psalm schedule if you'd like)
In the 1 week Psalter schedule provided by the BPB, it's at Sunday's midday prayers.