Canticles at Matins

One of the unique features of the traditional Benedictine Office is the use of three canticles - psalms from Scriptures outside the book of psalms - as the third Nocturn at Matins.

The number of nocturns and canticles on Sunday is not an accident, but rather a use of the numerological symbolism of which the Fathers were so fond.

Sundays are, above all, a celebration of the Resurrection, which occurred 'on the third day' after Christ's death on the Cross.  The inclusion of a the third nocturn 'resurrection vigil' to reinforce this idea may have been something taken over by St Benedict from the early Eastern cathedral tradition.

In the modern form of the Office, there are sets of canticles for use on particular feasts, as well as for the Commons of saints.

CANTICLES FOR THE TEMPORAL CALENDAR

The most often used canticles though, are for the liturgical season, and are as follows:

Advent

Isaiah 40:10-17**updated
Isaiah 42:10-16
Isaiah 49: 7-13

Nativitytide (and Epiphanytide)

Introduction to Isaiah 9:2-7
Introduction to Isaiah 26:1-12
Introduction to Isaiah 66:10-16

Time throughout the year

Introduction to Isaiah 33:2-10
Introduction to Isaiah 33:13-18
Introduction to Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 36:14-19

Lent and Passiontide

Jeremiah 14:17-21
Lamentations 5:1-7, 15-17, 19-21
Ezekiel 36:24-28

Eastertide

Isaiah 63:1-5
Hosea 6:1-6
Zephaniah (Sophronias) 3:8-13

CANTICLES FOR THE SANCTORAL CALENDAR

In addition to the canticles for the liturgical seasons, particular sets of canticles are also used on Class I&II feasts.

Common of the BVM/Virgin Martyrs/Virgins/Holy Women

Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 39:17-21
Isaiah 61:10-11, 62:1-3
Isaiah 62:4-7

Common of Apostles/Evangelists

Isaiah 61:6-9
Wisdom 3:7-9
Wisdom 10: 17-21

Common of Popes/one martyr/confessor bishop/confessor

Ecclesiasticus 14:22, 15:3-4, 6
Jeremiah 17:7-8
Ecclesiasticus 31:8-11

Common of several martyrs/Feast of All Saints

Wisdom 3:1-6
Wisdom 3:7-9
Wisdom 10: 17-21

Common of the Dedication of a Church

Tobit 13:10-17
Isaiah 2:2-3
Jeremiah 7:2-7

Other feasts

1 Chron 29: 10-13 (Christ the King no 1)

Tuesday in the Benedictine Office

St Mary's Church, Lewisham, UK

I'm currently running a series on the psalms of Vespers, and we have now reached Tuesday at that hour. Before looking at the individual psalms of Tuesday Vespers, though, I thought it might be helpful first to consider the context of the Office of Tuesday as a whole.

The public ministry of Christ, the true Temple

Monday in the Benedictine Office, I've previously suggested, can be seen as a meditation on the life of Christ from his birth to baptism and temptation in the desert.

Tuesday, I want to suggest, is an appropriate time to meditate on the public ministry of Christ, and particularly the growth in the spiritual life and holiness that comes from the imitation of Christ, as we stand in the footsteps of the disciples, hearing his preaching.  In fact, the first very first psalm of Matins, Psalm 45, supports that idea quite nicely, asserting that 'God is in the midst of us',  'doing wonders on the earth' (Deus in médio ejus… Veníte, et vidéte ópera Dómini, quæ pósuit prodígia super terram).

Above all though, the day's key theme is, I think, Christ as the true Temple.

The psalms of Matins and Lauds are full of references to the city of God, the heavenly temple, psalms which Christians have long interpreted as being about the desire for Christ himself.  Indeed, Psalm 42, which is said at Lauds, forms the basis of the prayers at the foot of the altar in the traditional Mass.

Gradual Day

One of the most distinctive features of the Benedictine Office, though, is the use of nine of the Gradual Psalms at Terce to None from Tuesday to Saturday (the older form of the Roman Office used Psalm 118 at these hours).

And on Tuesday, St Benedict goes further, arranging it so that all of the 'psalms of ascent' (Psalms 119-133), save for Psalm 128 (said on Monday) are said in order.

These psalms are thought to have been sung liturgically as the pilgrims ascended the fifteen steps of the Temple in Jerusalem on major feasts.  

These psalms can also be viewed as pilgrim songs, appropriate perhaps for Christ's wanderings around the region as he preached.  

But above all, the Fathers saw them as tracing the mystical ascent of the Christian in the spiritual life in imitation of Christ, who shows us how to climb Jacob’s ladder to heaven and grow in virtue.

The first of the group, Psalm 119, presents us with the image of an exile, a stranger living amongst antagonistic peoples, who has ‘lived too long in exile’.  Hebrews 11 nicely summarises the story line that then develops:

“These all died in faith…having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.”

Hebrews contrasts the story of the Old Testament figures who set out on this journey, but were not able to arrive at the destination because heaven was closed to them by Original Sin, with our situation, whereby the gates to heaven have been reopened by our Lord. But it also points to the key orientation of the Christian: living in the world, but not being of it; and focusing on laying up treasure in heaven, not in the here and now:

"Why then, since we are watched from above by such a cloud of witnesses, let us rid ourselves of all that weighs us down, of the sinful habit that clings so closely, and run, with all endurance, the race for which we are entered. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the origin and the crown of all faith, who, to win his prize of blessedness, endured the cross and made light of its shame, Jesus, who now sits on the right of God’s throne." (Hebrews 12)


Indeed, Christ is the 'third temple', as St John's Gospel asserts in a text that many of the Fathers regarded as the key to the interpretation to the Gradual psalms:

"Jesus answered them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up again. At which the Jews said, This temple took forty-six years to build; wilt thou raise it up in three days? But the temple he was speaking of was his own body; and when he had risen from the dead his disciples remembered his saying this, and learned to believe in the scriptures, and in the words Jesus had spoken." (John 2: 19-22).

Vespers on Tuesday

Vespers on Tuesday features four of the gradual psalms, Psalms 129-132.  Two of these (Psalms 130 and 132) are very short indeed - only three verses as they appear in Scripture, though lengthened somewhat in their liturgical presentation.   

There is, arguably, a particular logic to the split between the gradual psalms used at the little hours and those at Vespers: Cassiodorus, St Benedict’s contemporary, suggests that the first nine of the group refer to our life on earth, while the next group look to heaven.

But there is perhaps a deeper logic to them in terms of their specific content and Christ's message to us:

• Psalm 129, De Profundis, is a hymn to God's saving mercy, for God looks not at our sins and merits but instead redeems us through his mercy;
• Psalm 130, Domine non est exaltatum cor meum, urges us to meditate on the necessity of humility, which Christ taught us by his willingness to take human form and die a dreadful death;
• Psalm 131, Memento Domine David, can be interpreted as an ode to the Real Presence and the importance of worship; and 
• Psalm 132, Ecce quam bonum praises the unity of community life, urging us to love and serve one another.

The psalms of Tuesday, masterlist with links to posts

Matins

(Psalm 3 &Psalm 94 said daily)

Psalm 45
Psalm 46
Psalm 47 (In Mass propers: Pt 1& Pt 2)
Psalm 48
Psalm 49 (In Mass propers)
Psalm 51

Psalm 52
Psalm 53 (in context of Tenebrae, as Mass propers)
Psalm 54
Psalm 55
Psalm 57
Psalm 58 (in context of Tenebrae)

Lauds

(Psalms 66, 50 and 148-150 are said daily)
Psalm 42 (Judica me)
Psalm 56 (Miserere mei)

Canticle of Ezekiel (Is 38)
or
Canticle of Tobit (Tobit 13:1-10)

Prime

Introduction to Psalm 7
Introduction to Psalm 8
Introduction to Psalm 9 (Pt 1)

Terce 

Ps 119 (Psalm 119 in the context of Vespers of the Dead)
Ps 120 (in Vespers for the Dead)
Ps 121 (Introit for 18th Sunday PP)

Sext

Psalm 122
Psalm 123
Psalm 124

None

Psalm 125
Psalm 126
Psalm 127

Vespers

Psalm 129 (De Profundis) (as a penitential psalm/1, Penitential/2, Alleluia and Offertory for last Sunday after Pentecost)
Psalm 130
Psalm 131 (Chrysostom on verse 1)
Psalm 132

Compline (same psalms said daily)

Psalm 4 (in the context of Tenebrae)
Psalm 90
Psalm 133

Monday (feria secunda) in the Benedictine Office, masterpost

Monday in the Benedictine Office

Monday for us today represents the start of the working week; liturgically however, it is labelled 'feria secunda', for Sunday is both the first day of creation, and, for Christians, the eighth day, or day of the Resurrection.   That inherent tension between beginnings and endings is certainly reflected in St Benedict's Office.

The start of the week?

Liturgically, Sunday represents the start of the week in many ways: a new collect is allocated to the week from the Sunday Mass for example.  St Benedict's structuring of his Office in part reflects this new start too, by commencing the recitation of that great foundational psalm of the law, Psalm 118 on that day.

Yet in many ways, it is Monday that really represents the start of the liturgical week in the Benedictine Office.

My contention is that St Benedict made a number of judicious changes to the structure of the Office he started from, namely the old Roman one, in order to provide a more thematic approach to the Office.  In fact, I want to suggest, taking his cue from the customary (ferial) Office canticles, each day in the Benedictine Office traces the journey of Christ's life, from the Incarnation, public ministry, through his crucifixion, death and up to the Resurrection.

The beginnings of our salvation: from the Incarnation to the Temptation in the Desert

That early medieval monks understood his Office this way is, I think, suggested nicely captured by the summations of the message of these canticles provided by the Hrabanus Maurus (780-856).  In the case of Monday, Maurus argues that the canticle for Lauds focuses on those events of Christ's life prior to the start of his public ministry:

On Monday [feria secunda], truly the second day, the canticle of Isaiah, in which the coming of the Saviour and the sacrament of baptism is preached, is decreed to be said, because these are the beginning of our salvation.” Hrabanus Maurus, Commentary on the Canticles

Many of the psalms of the day, and particularly the changes St Benedict made to the ordering of the day work well to fit this focus.

At Matins, many of the psalms of the day contain phrases that were incorporated in the New Testament Benedictus and Magnificat canticles, or are redolent of its promises.

Prime contains the two psalms that are generally regarded as both an introduction to the entire psalter and a summation of it, in Psalms 1 and 2.  Psalm 1 presents the picture of Christ, the perfect man, and the choice we must all make between walking in his way, or the way of evil.  Psalm 2 chronicles the history of his coming, particularly  with the verse used in the Introit of Christmas Day: the Lord said to me: you are my son, this day have I begotten thee (Dóminus dixit ad me: fílius meus es tu, ego hódie génui te).

At Vespers, one can perhaps see the psalms as a meditation on the baptism of Christ, his forty days of fasting and prayer in the desert, and his temptation by Satan.

A call to conversion of life

All of these events have deep implications in the life of the Christian.

The Incarnation is not just the coming of God to earth, not just the birth of a baby, but the fulfillment of specific promises made to our forefathers in faith that affect us in the here and now.  One of the most important of these promises is that God will raise up the poor and humble, and confound the proud.  The day's hours constantly come back to this theme, with each of the hours concluding the variable psalms with a reiteration of or plea for this promise to be fulfilled: at Lauds, Psalm 35; Prime, Psalm 6; at Vespers Psalm 128 (which can also be seen as echoing Jesus' final dismissal of Satan after his temptation in the desert).

There is a call to action implicit in this for us to, for Christ's baptism in the Jordan by St John comes with the message that we must all repent and be converted anew: we all have past sins to be ashamed of our past sins, and need to be washed anew in the waters of baptism so that we can be reborn with Christ.  Accordingly, the whole day constitutes an invitation 'turn away from evil and do good' (Ps 33 at Matins), to open ourselves to grace, to taste and see that the Lord is good.  And, as we shall see, the psalms of Vespers in particular provide an opportunity for us to renew our baptismal promises: to affirm that God is our creator and saviour, and reject Satan and all his works.

The Benedictine Office though, is above all a Monastic Office, intended to be said by monks and nuns who have deepened their baptismal promises through the vows made at solemn profession.  St Benedict's ordering of the Office, I think, provides a weekly opportunity for the religious to renew those vows afresh.  At Lauds the psalms summon us to a preparatory examination of conscience, and many of the other psalms of the day could be used to prompt meditation on commitment to the Benedictine way of life.

The high point of the day for the monk, though, is surely the recitation of the Suscipe verse (of Ps 118) used in the profession ceremony at Terce, for if the birth of Christ and our rebirth in him are key focuses for the day, the concrete realisation of our own baptismal promises is, for the monk, nun or oblate, the living out of the Benedictine Rule.

THE PSALMS OF THE DAY

Matins

(Psalm 3 &Psalm 94 said daily)

Psalm 32
Psalm 33
Psalm 34
Psalm 36 (divided)
Psalm 37 (in the context of Tenebrae)

Psalm 38
Psalm 39 (in context of Tenebrae)
Introduction to Psalm 40 (in the Office of the Dead)
Introduction to Psalm 41(in the Office of the Dead)
Psalm 43
Psalm 44

Lauds

(Psalms 66, 50 and 148-150 are said daily)

Introduction to Psalm 5
Ps 5:v1-4a
Ps 5:v4b-7a
Ps 5: v7b-9
Ps 5: v10-12
Ps 5:v 13-15

Introduction to Psalm 35  (see also Ps 35 in the context of Tenebrae of Holy Thursday)

Ferial Canticle: Isaiah 12 (Confitebor tibi Domine) (Introduction)

or Festal Canticle: Canticle of David (1 Chron 29: 10-13)

Prime

Introduction to Psalm 1 (see also  Commentary of St Basil on Psalm 1)
Introduction to Psalm 2 (see also Psalm 2 in the context of Tenebrae for Good Friday)
Psalm 6 (Series with introduction and verse by verse notes)

Terce

Psalm 118 (Nun)
Psalm 118 (Samech) and Part 2
Psalm 118 (Ayin)

Sext

Psalm 118 (Phe)
Psalm 118 (Sade)
Psalm 118 (Coph)

None

Psalm 118 (Res)
Psalm 118 (Sin)
Psalm 118 (Tau)

Vespers

Monday at Vespers (overview notes)

Psalm 113 (In exitu) Introduction and series providing verse by verse notes.
Psalm 114 (Dilexi) Introduction and series providing verse by verse notes.
Psalm 115 (Credidi) Introduction and series providing verse by verse notes.
Psalm 116 (Laudate Dominum)
Psalm 128 (Saepe expugnaverunt)

Compline (same psalms said daily)

Psalm 4 (in the context of Tenebrae)
Psalm 90
Psalm 133

Those other psalms: Extend our lives O Lord that we may yet live!



Tres Riches Heures du duc de Berry

I want to continue, today, with my look at the ferial canticles in the traditional Office, so today Isaiah 38:10-20, of the Canticle of King Hezekiah.

The imitation of Christ 

Tuesdays in the Benedictine Office, I’ve previously suggested, focus on Our Lord’s public life, when he teaches us how to make the mystical ascent to heaven through the imitation of him; when he teaches us what it means to be truly human. At the very beginning of his ministry, Our Lord asserts that he himself is the true Temple; through our worship of that true Temple we that were sick with sin can gain everlasting life.

The historical story behind today's canticle is that King Hezekiah was told by the prophet Isaiah that he was about to die. At first he resisted the message out of pride (2 Chron 32: 24). But then he repented, and prayed desperately to God for more time. His prayer was granted, a miracle confirmed by the sign of the sundial winding backwards (Is 38:7-8; 2 Kings 20).

The story of Hezekiah’s miraculous restoration to health appears three times in the Old Testament, signaling its importance: as well as Isaiah 38, the story also appears in 2 Kings 20 and 2 Chron 32.

In the liturgy, the canticle is also used in Lauds for the Office of the Dead.

Tuesday in the Office

At first blush, however, its appropriateness for Tuesday in the Office is perhaps less than obvious. Hrabanus Maurus, however, explains the significance of the Canticle for us as follows:

“On Tuesday the canticle or if prayer of Ezekiel is sung, in which recovering from his infirmity the actions of grace from God for his salvation refers, admonishing us in order that after receiving the grace of God and the sacred absolution of baptism by which we are freed from the chains of death for all the time of life, we must be diligent to give our thanks to God.”

St Benedict, I think, provides psalms for Tuesday that expand on three aspects of this canticle.

First, the sense, in the first half of the canticle, that we start off far away from God, cut off from him, condemned to a foreshortened, alienated life even, just as the psalmist bewails his exile in the first of the Gradual psalms said at Terce.

The second, more important theme, though, is the possibility of reform: in verse 16 the psalmist asks for God to correct him, that he may yet have hope of life, and this process of gradual sanctification, of spiritual ascent or deification is the major focus of the day. Christ came to earth, after all, as a physician for our souls, sent to bring us to repentance and gives us healing grace.

And for this reason, the Council of Tent cited verse 10 in its explanation of the sacrament of penance, even citing it in one of its canons:

“If anyone says that this contrition, which is evoked by examination, recollection, and hatred of sins "whereby one recalls his years in the bitterness of his soul" ( Isa. Is 38,15), by pondering on the gravity of one's sins, the multitude, the baseness, the loss of eternal happiness, and the incurring of eternal damnation, together with the purpose of a better life, is not a true and a beneficial sorrow, and does not prepare for grace, but makes a man a hypocrite, and a greater sinner; finally that this sorrow is forced and not free and voluntary: let him be anathema.”

But the third key idea, that gives meaning to the previous two is our ultimate objective: our hope is, with Hezekiah, that God will save us, so that we can worship him all the days of our life in heaven.

Extend our lives that we may yet be saved!

St Benedict, in the Prologue to his Rule, sets out, I think, exactly this theology:

“Wherefore the Lord also saith in the Gospel: He that heareth these my words and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock. The floods came and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. Having given us these instructions, the Lord daily expects us to make our life correspond with his holy admonitions. And the days of our life are lengthened and a respite allowed us for this very reason, that we may amend our evil ways. For the Apostle saith: Knowest thou not that the patience of God inviteth thee to repentance? For the merciful Lord saith: I will not the death of a sinner, but that he should be converted and live.”

The Canticle of Hezekiah

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
Ego dixi: in dimídio diérum meórum * vadam ad portas ínferi.	10 I said: In the midst of my days I shall go to the gates of hell:
2  Quæsívi resíduum annórum meórum. * Dixi : Non vidébo Dóminum Deum in terra vivéntium.	I sought for the residue of my years. 11 I said: I shall not see the Lord God in the land of the living.
3  Non aspíciam hóminem ultra, * et habitatórem quiétis.	I shall behold man no more, nor the inhabitant of rest.
4  Generátio mea abláta est, et convolúta est a me, * quasi tabernáculum pastórum.	12 My generation is at an end, and it is rolled away from me, as a shepherd's tent.
5  Præcísa est velut a texénte, vita mea: dum adhuc ordírer, succídit me: * de mane usque ad vésperam fínies me.	My life is cut off, as by a weaver: whilst I was yet but beginning, he cut me off: from morning even to night you will make an end of me.
6  Sperábam usque ad mane, * quasi leo sic contrívit ómnia ossa mea:	13 I hoped till morning, as a lion so has he broken all my bones:
7  De mane usque ad vésperam fínies me: * sicut pullus hirúndinis sic clamábo, meditábor ut colúmba:	from morning even to night you will make an end of me. 14 I will cry like a young swallow, I will meditate like a dove:
8  Attenuáti sunt óculi mei, * suspiciéntes in excélsum:	my eyes are weakened looking upward
9  Dómine, vim pátior, respónde pro me. * Quid dicam, aut quid respondébit mihi, cum ipse fécerit?	Lord, I suffer violence; answer for me. 15 What shall I say, or what shall he answer for me, whereas he himself has done it?
10  Recogitábo tibi omnes annos meos * in amaritúdine ánimæ meæ.:	I will recount to you all my years in the bitterness of my soul.
11  Dómine, si sic vivítur, et in tálibus vita spíritus mei, corrípies me et vivificábis me. * Ecce in pace amaritúdo mea amaríssima	16 O Lord, if man's life be such, and the life of my spirit be in such things as these, you shall correct me, and make me to live. 17 Behold in peace is my bitterness most bitter:
12  Tu autem eruísti ánimam meam ut non períret: * projecísti post tergum tuum ómnia peccáta mea.	but you have delivered my soul that it should not perish, you have cast all my sins behind your back.
13  Quia non inférnus confitébitur tibi, neque mors laudábit te: * non exspectábunt qui descéndunt in lacum, veritátem tuam.	18 For hell shall not confess to you, neither shall death praise you: nor shall they that go down into the pit, look for your truth.
14  Vivens vivens ipse confitébitur tibi, sicut et ego hódie: * pater fíliis notam fáciet veritátem tuam.	19 The living, the living, he shall give praise to you, as I do this day: the father shall make the truth known to the children.
15  Dómine, salvum me fac, * et psalmos nostros cantábimus cunctis diébus vitæ nostræ in domo Dómini.	20 O Lord, save me, and we will sing our psalms all the days of our life in the house of the Lord.

Canticle of Isaiah: The Incarnation and our baptism in Isaiah 12

Having looked briefly at the variable psalms for Lauds, I want to turn now to those other 'psalms' in the Benedictine (and Roman) Office, the canticles, or psalms from books other than the book of psalms. 

The importance of the (ferial) Canticles

The ferial canticles (the festal set are a later addition) are important to St Benedict’s Office for a number of reasons.

First they represent an ancient ecclesial tradition: St Benedict simply took them over from the old Roman tradition in using them, as he makes clear in his Rule.

Secondly, though, I want to suggest that they in fact provide the key to the themes that St Benedict has used to help select which psalms should be said each day.

When I first went looking for underlying themes for the Benedictine Office each day, I was prompted to do so by the recurring phrases and ideas that seem to fill each days Office.

Hrabanus Maurus

It didn’t take much study to see the traces of a mini-Triduum in the Office each week. But my hunt through the patristic literature and elsewhere to find possible associations for Mondays and Tuesdays in particular didn’t bear much fruit until I came across the Benedictine Hrabanus Maurus’ (760-856) Commentary on the Office Canticles (it can be found in Migne's Patrologia Latina, vol 107).

Maurus’ provides, by way of an introduction to his commentary, some pithy summaries of each day’s canticles. And those summaries provide some concrete evidence of how early Benedictines understood their Office.

In particular, I’ve previously suggested that the underlying theme of St Benedict’s Office on Monday was the life from the Incarnation to his Baptism. Here is what Maurus says:

“On Monday [feria secunda], truly the second day, the canticle of Isaiah, in which the coming of the Saviour and the sacrament of baptism is preached, is prescribed to be said, because these are the beginning of our salvation.”

And of course, his commentary goes on to elaborate on these ideas, including providing some of the links (inter alia) between the psalms of the day and the canticle.

Scriptural context

In fact today’s canticle comes from Isaiah and brings to a close the section known as the ‘Book of Emmanuel, which contains the prophesies of the coming Messiah, born of a Virgin, and set to be the "Wonderful counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of peace".

Having foretold the coming wonderful redemption of the remnant of the people, and the coming of the son of David promised by God, Scripture gives us the lead in ‘On that day you will say:”

The canticle effectively falls into two parts. The first half thanks God for the results of the Incarnation: he rejoices that God has finally turned aside his anger, allows us to approach him not just in fear, but with confidence, and points to the graces that flow from the saviour (verses 1-3). The second half speaks of the mission of the Church to make known God’s salvation to all the world, for God has become man.

The Scriptural context would perhaps point us to the Incarnation dimension of this canticle in any case. But it is the repeated use of the word ‘salvation’ that the Fathers drew attention to. Robert Wilken’s introduction to the Patristic commentaries on these verses (Isaiah Interpreted by Early Christian and Medieval Commentaries, pp154-5), for example, notes that the Hebrew of v. 2, God is my salvation, was translates by the LXX (and versions dependent on the LXX) as ‘my Savior’, allowing a direct application to Christ. Irenaeus of Lyons, for example says:

“The knowledge of salvation does not consist in believing in another God, nor another Father ... but the knowledge of salvation consists in knowing the Son of God who is called I and truly is "salvation" and Savior and "bringer of salvation" (salutare). "Salvation," as in the passage: I waited for your salvation, O lord (Gen 49:18). And again, Behold, my God, my Savior, I will put my trust in him (12:2). As for "bringer of salvation": God has made known his salvation in the sight of the nations (Ps 98:2). For he is indeed Savior as Son and Word of God; "bringer of salvation" as Spirit, for he says: The Spirit of our countenance, Christ the Lord (Lam 4:20 LXX). And "salvation" as being flesh: The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). This knowledge of salvation John made known to those who repented and who believed in the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world! (John 1:29).”

The waters of baptism

The references to drawing water from the fountain of joy in verse 3 have obvious connections to the imagery used in St John’s Gospel, and to the idea of the living water flowing from Christ’s side from the Cross, and thus to the font/sacrament of baptism. Indeed Pope Pius XII used the opening words of Verse 4 in his Encyclical encouraging devotion to the Sacred Heart.

Perhaps the most important message of the canticle though, is that God has become man: Emmanuel or God-with-us makes it possible for us to deal confidently with God, to obtain that living water and make a fresh commitment to the God that is our salvation, strength and joy.

Isaiah 12
And you shall say in that day:
I will give thanks to you, O Lord, for you were angry with me: your wrath is turned away, and you have comforted me.
2 Behold, God is my saviour, I will deal confidently, and will not fear: because the Lord is my strength, and my praise, and he has become my salvation.
3 You shall draw waters with joy out of the saviour's fountains:
4 And you shall say in that day: Praise the Lord, and call upon his name: make his works known among the people: remember that his name is high.
5 Sing to the Lord, for he has done great things: show this forth in all the earth.
6 Rejoice, and praise, O habitation of Sion: for great is he that is in the midst of you, the Holy One of Israel.

Et dices in die illa :
Confitebor tibi, Domine, quoniam iratus es mihi; conversus est furor tuus, et consolatus es me.
2 Ecce Deus salvator meus; fiducialiter agam, et non timebo : quia fortitudo mea et laus mea Dominus, et factus est mihi in salutem.
3 Haurietis aquas in gaudio de fontibus salvatoris.
4 Et dicetis in die illa : Confitemini Domino et invocate nomen ejus; notas facite in populis adinventiones ejus; mementote quoniam excelsum est nomen ejus.
5 Cantate Domino, quoniam magnifice fecit; annuntiate hoc in universa terra.
6 Exsulta et lauda, habitatio Sion, quia magnus in medio tui Sanctus Israël.

Psalm 92: The organic development of the Office?

Since today is the feast of the Assumption, I thought I’d interrupt my consideration of St Benedict’s weekly psalm cycle and focus instead on one of the festal psalms of the day, Psalm 92.

It also provides an opportunity to reflect a little on what constitutes legitimate liturgical development and what doesn’t!

The Benedictine Office and feasts

St Benedict’s Rule prescribes that on the feasts of saints and festivals, the Office should be performed as on Sundays (so three Nocturns at matins for example) except that the psalms of the particular day are to be said.

Somewhere along the way, the Benedictine Office instead adopted the practice of using the actual Sunday psalms, at Lauds and Vespers, and special sets of psalms at Matins instead. Moreover, the ‘Sunday’ psalms used at Lauds on major feasts are not the standard Sunday psalms of the Benedictine Office (Psalms 117&62), but rather those of the Roman Office, Psalms 92 &99.

This elaboration of the liturgy was not, of course, restricted to the Benedictines: as time went on the Church sought to give greater honour to God and his saints in many ways, including through the liturgy.

And just as the traditional version of the Mass has what Catherine Pickstock in After Writing calls liturgical stuttering - stops and restarts, circling and around and returns to things, repetitions that do not flow in a neatly linear way - so too our weekly cycle of worship is interrupted by the injection of feasts. Perhaps they serve in part as a reminder that God stands outside time and space, and can jolt us, just a little, out of our time bound, linear logical conceptions of Him?

The Kingship of God

Certainly Psalm 92 draws our attention to the eternality of God and his Christ: “My throne is prepared from of old: you are from everlasting” (v3).

In the context of Our Lady’s Assumption into heaven though, it is perhaps the stress on the kingship of God that is most relevant for us to focus on today: Psalm 92 is actually the first of a group of psalms (to Psalm 99) that proclaims the kingship of God, and looks forward to the establishment of his dominion over the earth.

Opinions differ on its age, and whether the Septuagint/Vulgate ascription to David should be accepted or not, but the current consensus seems to be that because of the style of its language, it is in fact fairly ancient, from the early period of the monarchy.

St Benedict himself gave this psalm no special prominence, taking it out of Sunday Lauds and consigning it instead to Friday Matins. Its return to the Benedictine Office in the form of festal Lauds and Sunday Lauds during Christmas and Eastertide perhaps suggests that this one change he made to the Office that did not entirely stand the test of time, but rather proved to be inorganic!

Still this in itself tells us something about what is and isn’t legitimate change to the liturgy. St Benedict certainly reshaped his Office quite substantially, importing elements from other rites (such as hymns from the Ambrosian) and adjusting which psalms were said when.

All the same, it survived in its essentials for over a millennium in part surely because he respected things such as the existing tradition about which psalms were said in the morning, which in the evening.  And in giving his Office a more thematic approach than that the Old Roman Office he took as his template, he did not attempt to impose a simple linear, logical progression of ideas and events, but rather allowed his Office to move back and forwards between ideas, providing a meditation for us rather than a logically sequenced piece of closely argued theology.

St Benedict’s approach to creating a distinctively Benedictine Office - one that for centuries shaped a distinctively Benedictine spirituality -  provides no justification whatsoever, I would suggest, despite the claims to the contrary, for the decidedly inorganic revisions of the Divine Office adopted by most modern Benedictine monasteries.

Our Lady pray for us.

Psalm 92

Dóminus regnávit, decórem indútus est: * indútus est Dóminus fortitúdinem, et præcínxit se.
2 Etenim firmávit orbem terræ, * qui non commovébitur.
3 Paráta sedes tua ex tunc: * a sæculo tu es.
4 Elevavérunt flúmina, Dómine: * elevavérunt flúmina vocem suam.
5 Elevavérunt flúmina fluctus suos, * a vócibus aquárum multárum.
6 Mirábiles elatiónes maris: * mirábilis in altis Dóminus.
7 Testimónia tua credibília facta sunt nimis: * domum tuam decet sanctitúdo, Dómine, in longitúdinem diérum.

The Lord has reigned, he is clothed with beauty: the Lord is clothed with strength, and has girded himself.
For he has established the world which shall not be moved.
2 My throne is prepared from of old: you are from everlasting.
3 The floods have lifted up, O Lord: the floods have lifted up their voice.
The floods have lifted up their waves, 4 with the noise of many waters.
Wonderful are the surges of the sea: wonderful is the Lord on high.
5 Your testimonies have become exceedingly credible: holiness becomes your house, O Lord, unto length of days.

Why doesn't your Cathedral/parish offer Vespers (!)?

c14th Howard Book of Hours

One of the more positive reforms of the Vatican II was the encouragement of the laity to say the Divine Office.  But also one of the most neglected!

Spirit of Vatican IIism

The emphasis on the importance of the Divine Office in the documents of Vatican II was not an innovation: rather it reflected the recovery of a practice that was extremely popular in the late Middle Ages, when 'books of hours' were far and away the most popular book going. 

The decline in its use by the laity reflected a number of factors: the restriction of the official delegation to say the Office to priests and religious because of concerns over use of unorthodox texts and congregationalist theologies associated with the rise of protestantism; the influence of the Jesuits who did not say the choral Office; and the suppression of many of the earlier forms of the Office that had been particularly popular.

The early twentieth century saw a considerable revival in lay interest in the Office, courtesy of the Liturgical Movement, and the creation of many 'short breviaries' appropriate to the laity.  Vatican II's encouragement of this trend, and revival of the permission for the laity to say the Office liturgically, even in the absence of clerics or religious, should then have met fertile ground.

Alas, it is one of those inconvenient bits of text that has been mostly been quietly forgotten about, and whose implementation has largely been subverted by the butchery of the liturgy that is the modern Liturgy of the Hours.

Now for the real renewal?

Nonetheless, as genuine liturgical renewal gains ground, some churches are introducing Sunday Vespers, and late last year Pope Benedict XVI once again encouraged all Catholics to pray the Office, saying:

"I would then like to renew to you all the invitation to pray with the Psalms, even becoming accustomed to using the Liturgy of the Hours of the Church, Lauds in the morning, Vespers in the evening, and Compline before retiring. Our relationship with God cannot but be enriched with greater joy and trust in the daily journey towards him."

The Pope's words merely echoe the actual words - as opposed to the spirit of - Vatican II's Sacrosanctum Concilium, which says, inter alia:

"Pastors of souls should see to it that the principal hours, especially Vespers, are celebrated in common in church on Sundays and on the more common feasts.  The laity, too, are encouraged to recite the divine office, either with the priests, or among themselves, or even individually." (SC 100)

These days in Australia and many other countries, you will be very lucky indeed to find Vespers offered in a major metropolitan cathedral, let alone elsewhere! 

And as for the instruction  that 'In accordance with the age-old tradition of the Latin rite, the Latin language is to be retained by clerics in the divine office.' (SC1010)!

The psalms of Sunday vespers

Nonetheless, for the benefit of those who do want to pray this hour in Latin, or are already saying it and want to understand what they are saying in greater depth, I am going to resume my series aimed at penetrating the meaning of the psalms with a look at the psalms of Sunday Vespers.


I'm working primarily from the traditional Benedictine Office, that means Psalms 109 (110), 110 (111), 111 (112) and 112 (113).  The theme of the Sunday in the Office is, of course, the Resurrection, and these four psalms are particularly pertinent to this theme.


By way of a footnote, in the traditional Roman Office, Psalm 113 (114/115) is also said.  St Benedict's decision to omit that psalm has, I think, to do partly with symmetry, partly with the thematic structure of his Office, and partly to do with keeping the hour short.   In this context, it is worth noting the point on symmetry: the first of the variable psalms said at Lauds in the Benedictine Office on Sunday is Psalm 117, which is the last of the 'hallel' psalms, sung on the great Jewish feasts.  At Vespers we end on the first of the Hallel psalms, Psalm 112.  The Liturgy of the Hours also draws on these core psalms, repeating Psalm 109 each week, and uses Psalm 110, 111 and 113 (split in two).  Curiously, it omits Psalm 112 altogether.

In any case, on to Psalm 109.

Psalm 3: Introduction

The banquet of Absalom,
Niccolo di Simone, c1650

Today I want to start my series on penetrating the meaning of the psalms, particularly in the context of the Divine Office with a mini-series on Psalm 3, the first of the Psalms treated in Pope Benedict XVI's current series of General Audiences on the psalms and prayer.

This post will provide a general introduction to the psalm.  Tomorrow I'll put up some pointers for those who might use this series to learn a bit of Latin.  After that, I'll start working through it verse by verse.

An overview

Psalm 3 is a prayer asking for protection in times of difficulty, and it is said daily at Matins in the traditional form of the Benedictine Office.  

Pope Benedict describes it as:

"a Psalm of lamentation and supplication, imbued with deep trust, in which the certainty of God’s presence forms the basis of the prayer that springs from the condition of extreme peril in which the person praying finds himself."

St Benedict perhaps placed it as a daily first invitatory perhaps because it speaks to us about our daily spiritual warfare: our daily struggles with discouragement and temptation. 

The essential message of the psalm is, I think, that if we but put our trust in God and cry out to him with strength, he will destroy our enemies, be they of the world, the flesh and the devil (and indeed, this psalm is used in the rite of exorcism).

Read through the complete psalm

Here is the complete text, with the Vulgate and Douay-Rheims compared verse by verse:

Psalmus David, cum fugeret a facie Absalom filii sui.
The psalm of David when he fled from the face of his son Absalom.

Dómine quid multiplicáti sunt qui tríbulant me? * multi insúrgunt advérsum me.
Why, O Lord, are they multiplied that afflict me? many are they who rise up against me.

Multi dicunt ánimæ meæ: * Non est salus ipsi in Deo ejus.
Many say to my soul: There is no salvation for him in his God.

Tu autem, Dómine, suscéptor meus es, * glória mea, et exáltans caput meum.
But thou, O Lord art my protector, my glory, and the lifter up of my head.

Voce mea ad Dóminum clamávi: * et exaudívit me de monte sancto suo.
I have cried to the Lord with my voice: and he hath heard me from his holy hill.

Ego dormívi, et soporátus sum: * et exsurréxi, quia Dóminus suscépit me.
I have slept and taken my rest: and I have risen up, because the Lord hath protected me

Non timébo míllia pópuli circumdántis me: * exsúrge, Dómine, salvum me fac, Deus meus.
I will not fear thousands of the people, surrounding me: arise, O Lord; save me, O my God.

Quóniam tu percussísti omnes adversántes mihi sine causa: * dentes peccatórum contrivísti.
For thou hast struck all them who are my adversaries without cause: thou hast broken the teeth of sinners.

Dómini est salus: * et super pópulum tuum benedíctio tua.
Salvation is of the Lord: and thy blessing is upon thy people.

You can hear it read aloud in Latin here. If you are new to Latin, just listen to it through a few times, until you can follow the text.  Then come back to it and actually try and say it yourself when we start on the verse by verse analysis.

For those in the process of or wanting to learn Latin, I'll highlight some of the very common words (such as et=and, Dominus=Lord, and Deus=God) and some of the grammatical structures that occur in this psalm that you could focus on learning first, in the next post.  But first a few general points on the psalm itself.
 
Historical context
 
The historical context for this psalm is the tragic rebellion of David's son Absalom, aided by David's most trusted counselor, Achitophel (2 Sam 15-18). When David learns of the strength of the conspiracy against his rule, he was forced to flee:

"But David went up the ascent of the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went, barefoot and with his head covered; and all the people who were with him covered their heads, and they went up, weeping as they went." He is pelted with stones by previous allies, while the conspirators plot to attack him at his weakest moment: "Moreover Ahith'ophel said to Ab'salom, "Let me choose twelve thousand men, and I will set out and pursue David tonight. I will come upon him while he is weary and discouraged, and throw him into a panic; and all the people who are with him will flee. I will strike down the king only, and I will bring all the people back to you as a bride comes home to her husband. You seek the life of only one man, and all the people will be at peace." And the advice pleased Ab'salom and all the elders of Israel."

The psalm tells us however that despite the advice of fainthearted friends, David never lost faith, and slept despite the risk of night attack, waking refreshed and ready to face the impending tragedy of his son's undesired death.

Pope Benedict XVI comments:

"Psalm 3, which Jewish tradition ascribes to David at the moment when he fled from his son Absalom (cf. v. 1): this was one of the most dramatic and anguishing episodes in the King’s life, when his son usurped his royal throne and forced him to flee from Jerusalem for his life (cf. 2 Sam 15ff).

Thus David’s plight and anxiety serve as a background to this prayer and, helping us to understand it by presenting a typical situation in which such a Psalm may be recited. Every man and woman can recognize in the Psalmist’s cry those feelings of sorrow, bitter regret and yet at the same time trust in God, who, as the Bible tells us, had accompanied David on the flight from his city."

Typological interpretation
 

The tradition of the Church, however, suggests two other levels of interpretation for the psalm.  In addition to the original historical context, St Augustine, for example, sees David as a type of Our Lord.  Thus, St Augustine sees the psalm as a prophesy of Our Lord's Passion, Cross and Resurrection: the persecutors are so many they include even one of his own disciples; they mock him even on the Cross in effect saying God won't save you; and the sleeping and rising up refers to his death and Resurrection.   He also interprets it as a reference to the Church, which too is persecuted, but which can always trust in God to preserve it.  And of course we can apply its key messages to ourselves.

Pope Benedict XVI puts it as follows:

"Dear brothers and sisters, Psalm 3 has presented us with a supplication full of trust and consolation. In praying this Psalm, we can make our own the sentiments of the Psalmist, a figure of the righteous person persecuted, who finds his fulfilment in Jesus.

In sorrow, in danger, in the bitterness of misunderstanding and offence the words of the Psalm open our hearts to the comforting certainty of faith. God is always close — even in difficulties, in problems, in the darkness of life — he listens and saves in his own way.

However it is necessary to recognize his presence and accept his ways, as did David in his humiliating flight from his son, Absalom; as did the just man who is persecuted in the Book of Wisdom and, ultimately and completely, as did the Lord Jesus on Golgotha. And when, in the eyes of the wicked, God does not seem to intervene and the Son dies, it is then that the true glory and the definitive realization of salvation is manifest to all believers.

The psalm as a whole

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
Psalmus David, cum fugeret a facie Absalom filii sui.	The psalm of David when he fled from the face of his son Absalom.
2 Dómine quid multiplicáti sunt qui tríbulant me? * multi insúrgunt advérsum me.	Why, O Lord, are they multiplied that afflict me? many are they who rise up against me.
3  Multi dicunt ánimæ meæ: * Non est salus ipsi in Deo ejus.	Many say to my soul: There is no salvation for him in his God.
4  Tu autem, Dómine, suscéptor meus es, * glória mea, et exáltans caput meum.	But thou, O Lord art my protector, my glory, and the lifter up of my head.
5  Voce mea ad Dóminum clamávi: * et exaudívit me de monte sancto suo.	I have cried to the Lord with my voice: and he hath heard me from his holy hill.
6  Ego dormívi, et soporátus sum: * et exsurréxi, quia Dóminus suscépit me.	I have slept and taken my rest: and I have risen up, because the Lord hath protected me
7  Non timébo míllia pópuli circumdántis me: * exsúrge, Dómine, salvum me fac, Deus meus.	I will not fear thousands of the people, surrounding me: arise, O Lord; save me, O my God.
8  Quóniam tu percussísti omnes adversántes mihi sine causa: * dentes peccatórum contrivísti.	For thou hast struck all them who are my adversaries without cause: thou hast broken the teeth of sinners.
9  Dómini est salus: * et super pópulum tuum benedíctio tua.	Salvation is of the Lord: and thy blessing is upon thy people.

Liturgical uses of Psalm 3

RB: Monastic:	Matins invitatory
Maurist	Matins daily
Thesauris schemas	A: Sunday Matins; B: Sunday Lauds; C: Sunday Matins wk 1; D: Friday Matins wk 1
Brigittine	Sunday Matins
Ambrosian	Monday Matins wk 1
Roman	Pre-1911: Sunday Matins Post-1911: Sunday Matins. 1970: Monday Lauds wk 1
other (EF)	Rite of exorcism

Links to the notes

And now, on to Verse 1 (verse 1 is the psalm title).

For those interested in learning a little Latin as you go through the psalm, take a look at these posts:

• strategies for learning the Latin of the Office;
• Psalm 3 study hints Part A - vocab;
• Psalm 3 study hints Part B - present indicative verbs; and
• Psalm 3 Latin study hints Part C - Nouns.