Hearing Prayer

Exaudi, Deus, orationem meam, intende precationi meae. A finibus terrae ad te clamavi, dum anxiaretur cor meum. Exaudiri precationem suam santus hic postulat, cujus est ea fiduica est, ut in orationem suam velit intendi, utrum sit, innocens, casta, et fidelis, et ex intimo conscientiae atque cordis metu profecta quia secudnum Paulum, et corde credendum, et ore confitendum sit ad salutem. Intendandae autem orationis hinc precatio est, quod dum corde anxio est, a terrae finibus clamaverit. Non hic extrema solitudinum aut contigua Oceani incolebat, qui a terrae finibus anxio corde clamabat. Sed sciens se in carne quidem quae terra est degentem, jam in fine carnis habitare, dum secundum Apostolum habitans in corpore peregrinatur a corpore dum vivens jam non sibi vivit; neque ipse vivit, sed vivit in eo Christus: congemiscens tamen in hoc suo habitaculo, supervestirique festinans, et ideo anixo corde a terrae finibus clamat, quia et necessitatem habeat in carne vivendi, et spem teneat a carnis vitiis desinendi. Sanctus Hilarius Pictaviensis,Tractatus super Psalmos, Tractatus in Psalmum LX

Hear, God, my prayer, attend to my petition. From the ends of the earth I cried out to you while my heart was anxious. 1 The holy man here asks that his petition be heard, of which there is this confidence, that to his prayer He will attend, if it be innocent, chaste, and faithful, and from the depths of the conscience, and sent forth from the fear of the heart, for according to Paul, 'With the heart believing unto righteousness, the mouth makes confession unto salvation.' 2 Attention to this prayer is thus prayed for, which while the heart was anxious he cried out from the ends of the earth. But in that we should not suppose the extremes of solitude or some dwelling beside the ocean of this one who cried out from the ends of the earth. But knowing himself to be in the flesh which is a thing of earth, he now dwells on the border of the flesh, that is, according to the Apostle, while dwelling in the body he wanders from the body, 3 and while living he does not live for himself, for he does not live but Christ lives in him. 4 However crying out in this his little dwelling, he is yet eager to put on the garment, therefore with anxious heart he cries from the ends of the earth because even though he has to live in the flesh, he holds to the hope that he will be released from the faults of the flesh. Saint Hilary of Poitiers, Homilies on the Psalms, from Psalm 60 1 Ps 60.1 2 Rom 10.10 3 2 Cor 5.8 4 Gal 2.20