The poetry of this Psalm enlivens my spirit with its many action verbs that evoke the overflowing love and energies of God as we humans experience Him, being turned, quickened, gladdened; hearing our Father speak peace and living in His Kingdom where righteousness and peace kiss, truth springs up, and fruit naturally grows on the trees.
O God, Thou wilt turn and quicken us,
and Thy people shall be glad in Thee.
Show us, O Lord, Thy mercy,
and Thy salvation do Thou give unto us.
I will hear what the Lord God will speak in me;
for He will speak peace to His people and to His saints
and to them that turn their heart unto Him.
Surely nigh unto them that fear Him is His salvation,
that glory may dwell in our land.
Mercy and truth are met together,
righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
Truth is sprung up out of the earth,
and righteousness hath looked down from heaven.
Yea, for the Lord will give goodness,
and our land shall yield her fruit.
Righteousness shall go before Him
and shall set His footsteps in the way.
-From Psalm 84
“Woe to our times: we now depart from the narrow and sorrowful path leading to eternal life and we seek a happy and peaceful path. But the merciful Lord leads many people from this path, against their will, and places them on the sorrowful one. Through unwanted sorrows and illnesses we draw closer to the Lord, for they humble us by constraint, and humility, when we acquire it, can save us even without works, according to St. Isaac the Syrian.”
…night possessed us and the shadow of death encompassed us, for we had fallen into sin and lost the power of sight which was ours by God’s grace, and by which we were able to perceive the light that bestows true life. Night and death had been poured out on our human nature, not because of any change in the true light, but because we had turned aside and no longer had any inclination towards the life-bearing light. In the last times, however, the Giver of eternal light and Source of true life has had mercy upon us.
Gladsome Lights 