The 'monastic' last psalms of Vespers - Sunday Psalm 112

The first half of Psalm 112 on Sunday focuses on the duty of praising the Lord 'from the rising of the sun to its going down', offering the perpetual praise of God above all in the liturgy that is surely the prime duty of a religious in the Benedictine tradition.  

The final three verses though are also relevant to the idea of the monastic life, pointing to the reward awaiting the religious for their commitment to humility, and their legacy in the countless number of spiritual children that have been held up through their efforts.

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
Alleluja.
1 Laudáte, púeri, Dóminum: * laudáte nomen Dómini.	Praise the Lord, you children: praise the name of the Lord
2  Sit nomen Dómini benedíctum, * ex hoc nunc, et usque in sæculum.	2 Blessed be the name of the Lord, from henceforth now and for ever.
3  A solis ortu usque ad occásum, * laudábile nomen Dómini.	3 From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same, the name of the Lord is worthy of praise.
4  Excélsus super omnes gentes Dóminus, * et super cælos glória ejus.	4 The Lord is high above all nations; and his glory above the heavens.
5  Quis sicut Dóminus, Deus noster, qui in altis hábitat, * et humília réspicit in cælo et in terra?	5 Who is as the Lord our God, who dwells on high: 6 And looks down on the low things in heaven and in earth?
6  Súscitans a terra ínopem, * et de stércore érigens páuperem:	7 Raising up the needy from the earth, and lifting up the poor out of the dunghill:
7  Ut cóllocet eum cum princípibus, * cum princípibus pópuli sui.	8 That he may place him with princes, with the princes of his people.
8  Qui habitáre facit stérilem in domo, * matrem filiórum lætántem.	9 Who makes a barren woman to dwell in a house, the joyful mother of children.

 The pure praise of God 

Three of the last psalms of Vespers during the week focus on the Divine Office, the prime duty of the religious.

Psalm 112, the first of the set, reminds us that the duty of worship of God is eternal: it is the work of heaven.  

Indeed, St John Chrysostom's commentary uses a text variant for the psalm's opening line: instead of saying 'Praise the Lord O ye servants', he has 'Praise the Lord all ye angels', and comments 'So it is necessary to become an angel and give praise this way.' The monastic life, is of course, often described as the angelic life as far as it is possible to live in on earth.

St John though, goes on to explain that giving praise involves more than just the singing of the Office: rather it must involve the harmonisation of our life with what we are saying, and our unity with each other:

 Consequently, let us not take this praise lightly; instead, let our life give voice to it before our mouth, let our morals give vent to it before our tongue. In this way we are able to give praise to God even while remaining silent; in this way even when we speak we make music in harmony with our life. It is not only this we can see from the psalm, however, but also his conducting everyone in harmony and forming a complete chorus: he is addressing not one or two persons but the people as a whole. To lead us on to concord and love, Christ bade our prayers be made together when we pray and be recited by the whole Church as coming from one person.

On spiritual children

St Gregory of Nyssa's tract On virginity cites the last verse of this psalm in his explanation of the spiritual gifts bought forth by the adoption of a life of virginity:

...That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  We know too that the flesh is subject to death because of sin, but the Spirit of God is both incorruptible, and life-giving, and deathless.  Every one knows that the propagation of mortal frames is the work which the intercourse of the sexes has to do; whereas for those who are joined to the Spirit, life and immortality instead of children are produced by this latter intercourse; and the words of the Apostle beautifully suit their case, for the joyful mother of such children as these shall be saved in child-bearing; as the Psalmist in his divine songs thankfully cries, He makes the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children.  Truly a joyful mother is the virgin mother who by the operation of the Spirit conceives the deathless children...

The life of the virgin, St Gregory explains, acts as a barrier to death, as the life of Our Lady makes clear, and brings forth 'wisdom and righteousness, and sanctification and redemption too'.