Prayers of Praise
Praise asks for nothing. It is prayer that attends to God rather than to a need, and it reorders everything else by doing so.
Here you will find psalms of praise, ancient hymns still sung in the church, and short prayers of adoration.
31 prayers
- A General Thanksgiving (Book of Common Prayer)
Written by Bishop Edward Reynolds for the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, this is the classic Anglican thanksgiving, said at Morning and…
- Akathist Hymn: Rejoice, Unwedded Bride
The opening kontakion and first stanza of the great Akathist Hymn, a masterpiece of Byzantine poetry composed by the sixth or seventh…
- Benedicite — The Song of the Three Young Men
The canticle sung by Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace, calling on every creature in heaven and earth to bless the Lord.…
- Benediction of Jude
The closing doxology of the Letter of Jude, prayed as a benediction of preservation and praise.
- Canticle of the Sun (Canticle of the Creatures)
Composed by St. Francis of Assisi in 1225, near the end of his life and while nearly blind. It is generally considered the earliest…
- Eternal God, Eternal Trinity (St. Catherine of Siena)
From The Dialogue of St. Catherine of Siena (1378), a Doctor of the Church and mystic. It captures her characteristic paradox: the more she…
- Gloria in Excelsis (Glory to God in the Highest)
Known as the Greater Doxology, this hymn grew out of the angels' song at Bethlehem (Luke 2:14) and was already used in Greek morning prayer…
- Glory to God for All Things (Akathist)
An akathist composed in the Soviet labour camps, associated with Metropolitan Tryphon of Moscow and with Fr. Grigory Petrov, who died in…
- Hail, White Lily of the Trinity (St. Gertrude the Great)
From St. Gertrude the Great of Helfta (thirteenth century), a Benedictine mystic. Her prayers are dense with Marian and Eucharistic imagery…
- Hannah's Prayer
Prayed by Hannah after years of infertility and the birth of Samuel (1 Samuel 2:1–8). Its themes of reversal — the lowly lifted, the…
- Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee (St. Bernard of Clairvaux)
Edward Caswall's translation of the medieval Jesu dulcis memoria, traditionally ascribed to St. Bernard of Clairvaux. Sung in Catholic,…
- Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus
Devotion to the Holy Name was spread by St. Bernardine of Siena and St. John Capistrano in the fifteenth century; the litany was approved…
- O God, I Love Thee (St. Francis Xavier)
The Latin hymn O Deus ego amo te, long attributed to St. Francis Xavier, in Gerard Manley Hopkins's celebrated English version. It is the…
- Phos Hilaron (O Gracious Light)
Perhaps the oldest Christian hymn still in daily use outside of Scripture, sung at the lighting of the evening lamps by at least the third…
- Prayer of Nicholas of Cusa
Nicholas of Cusa (1401–1464), cardinal and philosopher, sent the monks of Tegernsee a painted icon whose eyes seemed to follow every…
- Prayer of St. Hildegard of Bingen
St. Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179), abbess, composer, and Doctor of the Church, called the life of God viriditas — 'greenness'. This…
- Psalm 100 — Make a Joyful Noise Unto the Lord
The Jubilate, sung at Anglican Morning Prayer as an alternative to the Te Deum and set countless times by church composers. Six verses of…
- Psalm 118 — His Mercy Endureth For Ever
The great Easter psalm, with the stone the builders rejected becoming the head of the corner. Luther called it his own beloved psalm and…
- Psalm 145 — I Will Extol Thee, My God, O King
An alphabetical hymn of praise; the verse 'The eyes of all wait upon thee' became the standard Christian grace before meals. In Jewish…
- Psalm 146 — Praise the Lord, O My Soul
The first of the closing Hallelujah psalms, warning against putting trust in princes and naming God as the helper of the oppressed, the…
- Psalm 150 — Let Every Thing That Hath Breath Praise the Lord
The doxology that ends the psalter: six verses naming every instrument in the temple. It closes Lauds on feast days and is the traditional…
- Psalm 19 — The Heavens Declare the Glory of God
Two psalms in one: creation's wordless testimony, then the perfection of God's law, closing with the line every preacher prays before…
- Psalm 8 — How Excellent Is Thy Name
A night psalm of wonder: David looks at the moon and stars and asks what man is that God should be mindful of him. The letter to the…
- Restless Until It Rests in You (St. Augustine)
The opening paragraph of the Confessions, and the sentence that has defined Christian anthropology ever since: we are made for God and…
- Solomon's Prayer at the Dedication of the Temple
Kneeling with hands spread to heaven, Solomon admits that the heaven of heavens cannot contain God, let alone the house he has built, and…
- Te Deum Laudamus
An ancient Latin hymn of praise dating to the fourth century, traditionally ascribed to Sts. Ambrose and Augustine though most likely…
- The Chaplet of the Immaculate Conception
A chaplet honoring the Immaculate Conception, the doctrine that Mary was preserved free from original sin from the first moment of her…
- The Divine Praises
Written in 1797 by the Italian Jesuit Luigi Felici as an act of reparation for blasphemy and profane language, the Divine Praises were…
- The Doxology (Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow)
Written by Anglican bishop Thomas Ken in 1674 as the closing verse of his morning and evening hymns for the scholars of Winchester College.…
- The Easter Proclamation (Exsultet)
The great proclamation sung by the deacon before the paschal candle at the Easter Vigil, in use since at least the fourth century. Its line…
- The Song of Moses (Exodus 15)
Israel's song on the far shore of the Red Sea, the oldest hymn in the Bible and the first canticle of the Easter Vigil, where it is sung…