Showing posts with label masterpost. Show all posts
Showing posts with label masterpost. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 9, 2016

Masterpost: Prime in the Benedictine Office




Introduction to Prime


Prime, which literally means the first hour after sunrise, is a very important hour in the Benedictine Office, not least by virtue of the psalms set for it, which include Psalms 1 and 2, regarded as an introduction to the entire psalter.

Prime has a very simple structure: opening prayer, hymn, three (four on Sunday) psalms with antiphon, and closing prayers.  The hymn and prayers are the same everyday, and give the hour a strong focus on preparing for the day.

In monastic practice, it is normally immediately followed by Chapter, which includes the reading of the martyrology and Rule, prayers for the Dead, and prayers to be said before work, which reinforces this focus.

Thematic unity?

Prime has no fixed or repeated psalms - instead, St Benedict uses the Psalms 1 to 19 (leaving out Psalms 3-5), and adding in four stanzas of Psalm 118 on Sunday.  All the same, the hour does very much feature some very important and often repeated ideas that are closely connected to themes in the Benedictine Rule.

From the Incarnation to the Resurrection

Sunday and Monday Prime echo each other closely: both begin on a beatitude (Beatus vir/Beati immaculati), and the opening verses of both psalms are very similar in content.

These two psalms have often been interpreted in the Christian tradition as signalling the progression from Christ as the blessed man of Psalm 1, incarnated (see especially Psalm 2) to teach us the path to imitate; to the many following him into heaven, the way reopened by the Resurrection (see for example the psalm commentaries of St Augustine).

St Benedict presumably had this in mind, since Monday in his Office has many allusions to the Incarnation, while Sunday is always a celebration of the Resurrection in his psalm schema.

Christ, fulfilment of the law

One of the most important themes of the Fathers was the idea of Christ as the fulfilment of the law.   And Prime features all three of the 'Torah' or law psalms of the psalter.

Psalm 1 portrays the good or happy man as the person who meditates on the law day and night; while Psalm 18 instructs us that 'the law of the Lord is perfect, converting souls'.  And of course, Psalm 118, the longest in the psalter, is an extended meditation on the law of the Lord.  Thus we have a symbolic three days (Saturday, Sunday and Monday) in which the perfection (Trinity) of the law is praised.

 A nice example of how this theme plays out in Patristic Scriptural exegesis is provided by St Ambrose's comments on why the first miracles recorded in St Luke's Gospel are of Christ healing on the Sabbath.  St Ambrose comments that:
"That the Lord began to heal on the Sabbath-day showeth in a figure how that the new creation beginneth where the old creation ended. 
It showeth, moreover, that the Son of God, Who is come not to destroy the law but to fulfil the law, is not under the law, but above the law.
Neither was it by the law, but by the Word, that the world was created, as it is written "By the Word of the Lord were the heavens made." [Sunday, or Day 1 of creation]
The law, then, is not destroyed, but fulfilled, in the Redemption of fallen man. Whence also the Apostle saith: "Put off, concerning the former conversation, the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts and be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness."
Our hymn of praise to the law at Prime then, starts, as St Ambrose suggests on the Sabbath, to symbolise that the new creation starts where the old ends.

It continues on the 'eighth day', that celebrates the Resurrection and our redemption in Psalm 118.

And is repeated a third time on Monday, in Psalm 1, a day I suggest that St Benedict makes a celebration of the Incarnation (most of the psalms of Matins are clearly linked to this theme by the patristic commentaries, indeed virtually the whole of the Benedictus and Magnificat can be reconstructed from lines in these psalms; moreover, Psalm 2 at Prime gives us the Introit verse for the Midnight Mass of Christmas).

The problem of atheism

The psalms of Prime through the week also ponder the problem of the opposite of the man who follows the law, namely the man who acts as if God does not exist ('the fool says in his heart, there is no God' of Psalm 13 for instance). Sinners don't seem to realise, the psalmist suggests, that in fact God is looking down from heaven to see if anyone is seeking after God (Psalm 13).  Several of these  psalms ask why the evil seem to thrive, while the good suffer.

There are key messages for us in these psalms, echoed in many places in the Rule, about the importance of mindfulness of God, continued prayer for his assistance, and perseverance in the face of difficulties.

Christ the victorious king

The psalms of Prime also, though, point us to the promise of Christ's ultimate victory as a response to the problem of evil in the world.  In particular, on both Saturday and Monday we are also presented, in the following psalm, with the image of Christ the victorious king.

Michael Barber, in his book Singing in the Reign [2], drew attention to the similarities in content between Psalms 1 and 2 (Monday), and Psalms 18 (19) and 19 (20) (Saturday):
"Psalm 19 [18] is unique because of  its strong emphasis on wisdom.  Its role may be better understood when examined in light of Psalm 20 [19].  Together these two psalms - situated at the centre of book I - mirror Psalms 1 and 2.  Psalm 19 exalts the law of the Lord, the source of wisdom: "The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple" (v. 7).  Them Psalm 20 evokes Psalm 2, speaking of the Lord's deliverance of the Davidic king from his enemies, sending support from Zion.  Thus, as in Psalms 1 and 2, wisdom is connected with the victorious Davidic king."
A similar point can be made on the similarities in content between these two sets of psalms, and the first four stanzas of Psalm 118 St Benedict uses at Sunday Prime.  Both Sunday Prime and Monday, for example, begin with a beatitude, praise the importance of the law, call for or prophesy the destruction of enemies and point to the victory 'over princes' (Ps 2; Ps 118, esp 21-23).


 Alpha and Omega, Aleph and Taw?

There are some possible numerological connections to these themes as well.

The minor hours in the Office, all have three psalms each day, which several of the Fathers suggest is in honour of the Trinity, making in total 21 psalms said at these hours each week.

St Benedict, though, starts Prime each week on Sunday with four stanzas of Psalm 118, taking the number up to 22.

Why is this significant?  The answer is that the Hebrew alphabet has 22 letters, so the number of psalms marks one for each letter.

Moreover, Psalm 118 has 22 stanzas, each labelled with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet, so Sunday Prime starts with aleph, beth, ghimel and daleth.

So the extra 'psalm' is perhaps a piece of numerical symbolism signalling a connection to the Christ as the fulfillment of the law theme, mimicking the Greek, 'I am the alpha and omega'.

Posts on the psalms of Prime


The liturgical genius of St Benedict: the puzzle of Prime


Monday


Psalm 1

Introduction to Psalm 1
Notes on Ps 1 verse 1 - Christ the perfect man
Psalm 1 v 2 - Pray without ceasing
Psalm 1 v 3 - Christ as the tree of life
Psalm 1 v 4 - The healing of nations
Psalm 1 v 5 - The fate of the wicked man
Psalm 1 v6 - Rising up in judgment
Psalm 1 v7 - God knows us

Others:

Commentary of St Basil on Psalm 1
St Augustine on Christ in the Psalms (From his commentary on Psalm 1)
On the power of Psalm 1 (History of the Monks in Egypt)
Psalm 1 - Short summaries
Introduction to Psalm 1 (2014)

Psalm 2


Others: 

Psalm 2 - Short summaries
Introduction to Psalm 2 (2014)
Psalm 2 in the context of Tenebrae for Good Friday)

Psalm 6

Psalm 6 - Short summaries of the psalm
Psalm 6 - Introduction
Ps 6 v 1 - On God's anger
Ps 6 v 2 - God the physician
Ps 6 v 3-5 - In death no man remembers Thee
Ps 6 v6 - A baptism of tears
Ps 6 v 7-10 - Praying for and resisting enemies
Psalm 6 as a penitential psalm

Tuesday

Psalm 7

Psalm 7 - short summaries
Introduction to Psalm 7

Psalm 8

Psalm 8 - short summaries
Introduction to Psalm 8

Psalm 9 (pt 1)

Psalm 9 - short summaries
Introduction to Psalm 9 (Pt 1)

Wednesday


Psalm 9 (pt 2)

Psalm 9 (pt 2) - Short summaries
Introduction to Psalm 9 (Pt 2 aka Psalm 10)

Psalm 10

Psalm 10 - Short summaries
Introduction to Psalm 10

Psalm 11

Psalm 11 - short summaries
Introduction to Psalm 11

Thursday


Psalm 12

Psalm 12 - Short summaries

Psalm 13

Psalm 13 - short summaries

Psalm 14

Psalm 14 - short summaries
Psalm 14 in context of Tenebrae

Friday


Psalm 15

Psalm 15 - short summaries
Psalm 15 in the context of Tenebrae

Psalm 16


Psalm 17

Psalm 17 (pt 1) - short summaries

Saturday


Psalm 17 (Pt 2)

Psalm 17 (2) short summaries

Psalm 18

Psalm 18 - short summaries

Psalm 19

Psalm 19 - short summaries

Sunday


 (Introduction to Psalm 118 Pt 1, Part II, Part III & Part IV)

Aleph

Ps 118 - Aleph - Short summaries
Psalm 118 (Aleph) - Beati immaculati

Beth

Ps 118 Beth - short summaries
Psalm 118 (Beth) - In quo corrigit

Ghimel

Ps 118 Ghimel - short summaries
Psalm 118 (Ghimel) - Retribue servo tuo

Daleth

Psalm 118 (Daleth) - Adhaesit pavimento anima mea &vs 32 (cum dilatasti cor meum)
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Friday, July 15, 2016

Masterpost: The Psalms of Compline - Into Great Silence

Into great silence ver2.jpg

Compline is the only hour in the Benedictine (and Carthusian!) Office that remains the same every day (the Marian antiphon aside).  

 In the darkness

 Said last thing in the evening, it is often said literally in the dark in monasteries, from memory, and thus teaches us how to deal with the darkness that inevitably surrounds us in this world, as well as the darkness and dangers of the literal night itself.

The structure of Compline is described in St Benedict’s Rule in Chapters 17 and 18, however it has evolved over time, with the addition at the beginning of a new ‘opening section’ that includes a short reading warning of the dangers of the night and an examination of conscience and confession of sins; at the end with a Marian antiphon and prayer.   

 The psalms of the hour

 The three psalms set for it are Psalms 4, 90 and 133.  

 Psalm 4

Like Psalm 3 that opens the day, Psalm 4 contains verses that makes it particularly appropriate to the hour, indeed one that is in effect response to the verse on rising from sleep in Psalm 3:
9 In pace in idípsum * dórmiam et requiéscam;
In peace in the self same I will sleep, and I will rest
10 Quóniam tu, dómine, singuláriter in spe * constituísti me.
For you, O Lord, singularly have settled me in hope.

The psalm calls upon us to repent of the sins of the day; asks God to grant us forgiveness and the grace to do better in future; and asks for God’s blessing on our sleep.  

 Psalm 90

Psalm 90 is most commonly associated with Our Lord's temptation in the desert in the Gospels, and provides reassurance of God’s protection of the just against all the dangers that can arise.  The first section of the psalm sets out the promise of divine protection that God grants to the faithful.  It closes with words put in the mouth of God.  

 One particular reason its use may have appealed to St Benedict is the allusion to God as our 'susceptor' or sustainer, upholder, a word (which also appears in Psalm 3) that was particularly important in the monastic tradition, not least for its associations with the Suscipe verse (Psalm 118:116) used in the monastic profession ceremony.

 He may also have liked the symmetry involved in the seventh verses of Psalm 3 (first thing in the day) and Psalm 90, both of which refer to standing firm even though surrounded by thousands:
Psalm 3:7  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.

Psalm 90:7  Cadent a látere tuo mille, et decem míllia a dextris tuis: * ad te autem non appropinquábit.
A thousand shall fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand: but it shall not come near you.

Psalm 133

The last psalm of the each day, Psalm 133 is also the last of the Gradual psalms, said in ancient times liturgically when the priests stood on the highest of the steps on the Temple, symbolising the entrant to heaven.

 At the literal level, this psalm is a summons to worship at night, to give God thanks for the blessings of the day.  Spiritually though, it points to our ultimate destination in heaven, where the worship of God never ends.   It concludes by requesting a blessing from God on us. 

In a monastery, the hour is traditionally followed by the abbot or abbess sprinkling the monks or nuns with holy water, usually while verses of Psalm 50 (from ‘Asperges me…’) are chanted.  

 And then the Great Silence falls, lasting until the first words of Matins, which ask God to open our lips that we might sing his praise.

Posts on the psalms of Compline


 1.  Verse by verse notes

Introduction to Psalm 133
Psalm 133 verse1
Psalm 133 verse 2
Psalm 133 verse 3

Psalm 133 verse 4
2.  Short summaries from the Fathers and other commentators

 Psalm 4
Psalm 90
Psalm 133

3. The psalms of Compline in other contexts

Psalm 4 in Tenebrae of holy Saturday

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Saturday, July 5, 2014

Thursday in the Benedictine Office


“For on Thursday justly is sung the song of the Israelites, which they sung after the pasch celebrating being freed from Egypt and conveyed through the Red Sea dry foot.  For on the same day our saviour figuratively celebrating the psach with his disciples, he offered the paschal mystery continuing in the sacrament of his body and blood and in this immolation of the lamb, who takes away the sins of the world.”  Hrbanus Maurus 

Thursday is, in my view, the start of a mini-Triduum in the Benedictine Office each week, a chance to meditate on the events of Maundy Thursday, when Christ celebrated the Passover with the apostles, ordained them and instituted the Eucharist; prayed in agony in the Garden; was betrayed and arrested; and was deserted and denied by his disciples.

The psalms of the day move back and forwards between these themes.

Passover and the ferial canticle

As always in the Benedictine Office, Lauds, and particularly the Lauds (ferial) canticle) offers the key to the themes of the day, for as Rabanus Maurus points out in the quote above, the day's associatins with Maundy Thursday are firmly linked to the Canticle of Moses, Exodus 15:1-19, sung at that hour. 

In Scripture, the text of this canticle sits between two key events that foreshadow the Last Supper, namely the escape of the people, lead by Moses, from Egypt; and the miracle of the manna in the desert.  In Exodus Chapter 12-13, the people of Israel celebrate that first Pasch, marking the doors of their houses with the blood of the lamb to protect them against the avenging angels who slew the first-born of Israel.  Moses then leads the people out of Egypt, but the Egyptians pursue.  The people are terrified, wishing that they had not followed Moses (Exodus 14) – until he miraculously parts the Red Sea to let them cross, and then lets the waters flow back drowning the pursuing Egyptians.  The people rejoice, and then Thursday's canticle is sung (Chapter 15). Yet no sooner is this song sung than Exodus records that the people are once more murmuring against Moses, this time complaining at the lack of food and water.  Thus in Chapter 16, the miracle of the manna in the desert, that type of the Eucharist, is recorded.

The canticle itself is a song of the victory over Pharaoh, and the Fathers interpreted it typologically, as foreshadowing the events of Maundy Thursday.   The storyline goes like this: at the time of the coming of Our Lord, the Jewish people have once again become enslaved, this time by the law.  But Christ has come to lead them out of Egypt and into the new promised land of the Church of grace.  The lords of the Old Law, the Scribes and Pharisees, however, have hardened their hearts just as Pharaoh did, refusing to see the miracles and wonders Jesus worked.  Instead they are determined to stop Our Lord, to pursue and overtake him as Pharaoh’s horses and chariots tried to (vs 9).  We can look forward though, to the Resurrection, and know that nothing can stand against the omnipotence of God.

Several of the psalms of the day explicitly refer to the events of Exodus, above all Psalm 77, a long historical poem that is divided in two at Matins.  But there are many other references to these events.  The most explicit can be found in Psalms 76, 79, 80, and 82.  Many more of these psalms though, were seen by the Fathers as containing allusions to these events.  The second half of Psalm 73 (verses 13-20), the opening psalm of Matins, for example, gives us a set of verses that at the literal level recall God's work of creating the earth, with the references to sea monsters and more taking us up to day 5 of creation (ie Thursday).  But those same sea monsters and dragons were also interpreted metaphorically  as a reference to the drowning of Pharaoh's troops in the Red Sea.

The agony in the Garden

Yet if the day focuses on our salvation, symbolised by the escape from Egypt, those same events also serve as a reminder that we too are suffering from the enslavement of sin;  that we too hang on the edge of destruction, dependent on Christ's willingness to suffer death on the cross to redeem us, for which we must plead.  The opening psalm of the day, Psalm 73, for example, demands that God remember his covenant: the people are enslaved, suffering the effects of God's anger at their sins.

In fact the agony of the garden is never very far away from the front of these psalms.  Psalm 87, at Lauds, is the ultimate prayer of the Garden: easily the darkest psalm in the psalter.  The psalm is the lamentation of a man close to death, and it offers no note of hope whatsoever.  Instead, it is a song of abandonment, a song, perhaps, of the agony in the garden.  Similarly, Psalm 138, which takes up the entire first half of Vespers, is often interpreted as Christ's words in that night of agonised prayer.

Several of the psalms, such as Psalm 13 at Prime, and Psalm 140 at Vespers, dwell on the need to do God’s will, not our own, and to resist the temptation to compromise.  Yet through it all, as Psalm 138 at Vespers draws out, it is made clear that no matter how absent God may seem to be from us, no matter how hard the path may seem, God is always with us.

Betrayal, arrest and abandonment

Nonetheless, it is the theme of abandonment, betrayal, unfair persecution and destruction that stands at the forefront of the day. 

The very first psalm of the day, Psalm 73, opens with a lament for the destruction of the Temple, and the attempt to suppress the worship of God in the land the destruction of the Temple by invaders.  It can be interpreted Christologically, as Christ's prophesy that the temple will be destroyed, then rebuilt in three days.  Indeed, Cassiodorus' commentary does just that saying that:

"In this psalm there is lamentation for the destruction of the city, so that the Jews' extreme hardness of heart should at least feel fear at the disasters to their city. The good Physician has done all he could, if the sick man wished to recover his health. Let us remember, however, that the authority of the Church relates that Jerusalem was ravaged in the days when the most cruel people of the Jews crucified Christ the Lord, so that there can be no doubt what temporal evil that obstinate transgression sustained."

Psalm 74, the second psalm of Matins, takes us to the events of Jesus' arrest.  The psalm starts its narrative with a reminder that we are God's people, members of his flock, and pleads for God to convert us, to rise up and save us:  above all, for the Messiah to come and 'visit' the 'vineyard' he brought out of Egypt:

9  Víneam de Ægypto transtulísti: * ejecísti Gentes, et plantásti eam.
9 You have brought a vineyard out of Egypt: you have cast out the Gentiles and planted it.
10  Dux itíneris fuísti in conspéctu ejus: * plantásti radíces ejus, et implévit terram.
10 You were the guide of its journey in its sight: you planted the roots thereof, and it filled the land...
15  Deus virtútum, convértere: * réspice de cælo, et vide, et vísita víneam istam.
15 Turn again, O God of hosts, look down from heaven, and see, and visit this vineyard:

The parable of the wicked servants of the owner of the vineyard, who murder first the servants, and then the son of the vineyard owner, points to these verses.  And the allusion is reinforced by the psalm's ending, which takes us to the saving role of the Son, whose name we know, and whose face we have seen:

16  Et pérfice eam, quam plantávit déxtera tua: * et super fílium hóminis, quem confirmásti tibi.
16 And perfect the same which your right hand has planted: and upon the son of man whom you have confirmed for yourself.
18  Fiat manus tua super virum déxteræ tuæ: * et super fílium hóminis quem confirmásti tibi.
18 Let your hand be upon the man of your right hand: and upon the son of man whom you have confirmed for yourself
19  Et non discédimus a te, vivificábis nos: * et nomen tuum invocábimus.
19 And we depart not from you, you shall quicken us: and we will call upon your name.
20  Dómine, Deus virtútum, convérte nos: * et osténde fáciem tuam, et salvi érimus.
20 O Lord God of hosts, convert us and show your face, and we shall be saved

These themes are then picked up and amplified throughout the day's psalmody, not least at Matins.

The sheep of his pasture

The day's variable psalmody starts, in Psalm 73, with a recapitulation of the question that opened Wednesday's psalmody: why have you cast us off, why are you angry with us, O God? A key difference between Psalm 59's opening verse though, and that of Psalm 73 is the addition of a reference to the 'sheep of his pasture': we are his people and he is both shepherd and the lamb who will be sacrificed for us:

Psalm 59:1 Deus, repulísti nos, et destruxísti nos: * irátus es, et misértus es nobis.
3 O God, you have cast us off, and have destroyed us; you have been angry, and have had mercy on us.
Ps 73:1 Ut quid, Deus, repulísti in finem: * irátus est furor tuus super oves páscuæ tuæ?
God, why have you cast us off unto the end: why is your wrath enkindled against the sheep of your pasture?

Psalm 77 points us to the importance of this addition, for it reminds us of the reassuring image of God leading his people like a shepherd leading his flock:

Ps 77: 57  Et ábstulit sicut oves pópulum suum: * et perdúxit eos tamquam gregem in desérto.
52 And he took away his own people as sheep: and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.

It is the last psalm of Matins on Thursday, though, Psalm 84, that finally provides the reply to Wednesday and Thursday's opening question, with a series of verses reassuring us that Christ's will indeed redeem us:

1  Benedixísti, Dómine, terram tuam: * avertísti captivitátem Jacob.
2 Lord, you have blessed your land: you have turned away the captivity of Jacob.
2  Remisísti iniquitátem plebis tuæ: * operuísti ómnia peccáta eórum.
3 You have forgiven the iniquity of your people: you have covered all their sins.

All of the themes of the day are finally brought together in the closing psalm of Vespers, Psalm 140, with its injunctions to prayer, and reference to the Eucharist in the evening sacrifice of the Last Supper, anticipating for the apostles the sacrifice of the Cross.

Matins

(Psalm 3 &Psalm 94 said daily)

Psalm 73 (in the context of Tenebrae)
Psalm 74 (in context of Tenebrae)
Psalm 76 (in context of Tenebrae)
Psalm 77 (divided)
Psalm 78

Psalm 79
Psalm 80
Psalm 81
Psalm 82
Psalm 83
Psalm 84 (Mass propers, Advent 3; in context of Tenebrae)

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

Psalm 87: Domine Deus salutis meae (and, in context of Tenebrae)
Psalm 89: Domine refugium factus es nobis (and, in context of Tenebrae)
Canticle of Moses (Exodus 15:1-19) (in context of Tenebrae)
or 
Festal Canticle: Canticle of Jeremiah 31: 10-14

Prime

Psalm 12
Psalm 13
Psalm 14 (in context of Tenebrae)

Vespers

Psalm 138/1
Psalm 138 pt 2
Psalm 139
Psalm 140 

Compline (same psalms said daily)

Psalm 4 (in the context of Tenebrae)
Psalm 90
Psalm 133
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Friday, May 16, 2014

Masterpost: Matins in the Benedictine Office

"At midnight I rose to give praise to thee." (Psalm 118: 62, RB 16)

In this 'masterpost', I want to provide something of an overview of the hour of Matins in the Benedictine Office, as well as links to notes on its psalms (which I'll update as I add more to the blog over time).

Matins, it has to be said, is a particularly monastic hour, and not one that the Oblates and other laypeople will generally have time to say: traditionally, going back to the most ancient times of the Church, it is the hour that religious say on our behalf.  My own view is that if you want to say something to mark this hour, saying one or both of the Matins invitatory psalms would be appropriate.  Alternatively, you could say the much shorter Matins of the Little Office of Our Lady.

All the same, it is worth knowing something about it for those occasions when we can say part or all of it.  And of course, it is important that we become familiar with all of the psalms, regardless of where they are placed in the liturgy.

A light in the darkness

St Benedict made it clear, in his Rule, that the symbolism of light and darkness was extremely important to him.  In particular, he devotes an entire chapter to the timing of the Divine Office at night, in order to ensure that the monks rose early enough to enable Lauds to be said at first light.

The long night Vigil, however, in which the monk keeps watch through the darkness of the literal and metaphorical night, reflects the particular Office of the monk in dispelling the darkness on behalf of us all.

Unsurprisingly then, Matins is the workhorse of the Benedictine Office, easily the longest 'hour' of the day, almost as long,  most days of the week, as all the other hours combined.

The structure of the hour

St Benedict opens Matins with a verse from Psalm 50 (RB 9), to be said three times, thus invoking the symbolism of the Trinity, that asks God to cleanse us from our sins, and make us worthy to praise him:

16  Dómine, lábia mea apéries: * et os meum annuntiábit laudem tuam.
O Lord, you will open my lips: and my mouth shall declare your praise.

He then provides for two psalms to be said every day at Matins, namely Psalms 3 and 94. 

A hymn then follows. 

The hymn is followed by twelve psalms or parts of psalms selected from Psalms 20-108, divided into two 'Nocturns'. 

There is, it should be noted, a mystical significance to the number of psalms to be said in the two Nocturns, for twelve is a number that the Fathers took as symbolising universality: hence the twelve tribes of Israel; the twelve apostles, and so forth.  Cassian's Institutes (Book II chapter 5) go a step further, suggesting that the number of psalms to be said was settled as twelve by means of an angelic intervention in a dispute amongst the desert monks.  

On Sundays, to mark the weekly celebration of the Resurrection, St Benedict adds an additional Nocturn consisting of three canticles; he also adds four readings for each Nocturn, the Te Deum and Te Decet hymns, and the Gospel.  

An Office of Psalms

In the modern Liturgy of the Hours Vigils or Matins has been replaced by an Office of Readings that can be said at any time of the day.

St Benedict makes it clear though, that in his version of the Office, the psalms should have priority. 

Indeed, unlike the Roman Office, the Rule specifies that daily readings of Scripture occur at weekdays Matins during winter and on Sundays; and even then St Benedict instructs that they be cut short if needs must so as to enable Lauds to start at daybreak.

The crafting of the psalmody

Given the number of psalms to be said at this hour over the course of the week, one might expect that there would be little thematic unity in the psalms of Matins.  Despite its apparent length though, the Benedictine version of Matins is actually much shorter than the Roman Office designed for the secular clergy: St Benedict's version is some 23 psalms shorter.  Moreover, the saint also divided several of the longer psalms.

In fact, by virtue of his decision to start the Matins sequence at Psalm 20 rather than Psalm 1, to place additional psalms at Lauds, and to divide some of the longer psalms, the saint was able to craft the hour in several key ways.

St Benedict often, for example, seems to have selected the psalms of the other hours of each day of the week with a view to their links of those of Matins.  On Monday, for example, consider, the phrase 'convertantur et revereantur' (let him be converted and turned back, which can be interpreted as a call for the defeat of the devil) and variants on it (avertantur et retrorsum, convertentur, confundantur) recurs not only throughout Matins (most explicitly in Psalms 34&39) but also in the last psalms of the key hours Prime (Psalm 6) and Vespers (Ps 128).   Similarly, on Wednesday the first verses of Psalms 67 and 68 are closely echoed in the opening verses of Psalm 9 and 11 at Prime (at least in the pre-1962 version of the Benedictine Office).

More importantly though, he also seems to have carefully organised his psalter so as to take advantage of thematic groupings of the psalms as they appear in Scripture, and so as to ensure that the first psalm of the day relates to the theme of the day in a cycle based around the life of Christ.

By starting at Psalm 20 on Sunday, for example, he is able to set for that day a group of psalms that contain many prophecies of the Resurrection.  On Monday the psalmody opens with a psalm that the Fathers saw as announcing the Incarnation, Psalm 32, and continues with a group of psalms firmly centred on what monastic commentator, Rabanus Maurus, described as 'the beginnings of our salvation'.  On Tuesday the psalmody moves to the theme of the Temple and the heavenly Jerusalem, and opens with Psalm 45 that announces that 'God is amongst us', an appropriate text for a day that can be seen as about the public ministry of Christ in the Office.  Thursday's psalms focus on the escape of the Israelites from Egypt, and their wanderings in the desert; while Friday's opening psalm, Psalm 85, has long been interpreted as the prayer poured out to the Father by Christ on the cross.

The repeated psalms

St Benedict also though, ensured a horizontal unity for this hour though the structural foundations provided in the psalms repeated each day of the week, Psalm 3 and Psalm 94, which serve to set us in the right frame of mind for the day.

St Benedict manages to pack a lot of symbolism though, into the repeated psalmody of the hour.  Firstly, the start of Matins marks the end of the overnight 'great silence' that starts after Compline.  How appropriate then, that the first words the monk or nun says each day is a plea for God to allow him to speak in praise of him:

16  Dómine, lábia mea apéries: * et os meum annuntiábit laudem tuam.
O Lord, you will open my lips: and my mouth shall declare your praise.

The first full psalm of the hour, Psalm 3, also includes a verse that can be taken very literally - though it also has an important spiritual meaning as we shall see  - in a reference to waking from sleep:

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

Psalm 3, though, is primarily a call to take up the spiritual warfare at the start of the new day, a reminder that the battle will not end until we are in heaven.  It is not accidental, in my view, that St Benedict's Rule also opens with a call to become spiritual warriors for Christ.

The second invitatory, Psalm 94, is a joyful invitation to worship our creator, redeemer and protector, but also contains an important warning not to put off repentance, but to respond to God’s call here and now should we here it.  It is worth noting that this psalm features heavily in the Prologue to St Benedict's Rule, so it's appearance here too, is unlikely to be a coincidence.

THE PSALMS OF MATINS

Daily

Psalm 3
Psalm 94



 Introduction to Psalm 94




Psalm 94 v1-2
Psalm 94 v3-4
Psalm 94 v5-7
Psalm 94 v8-9
Psalm 94 v 10-11

Key to the tables 

T=in the context of Tenebrae
P=as a penitential psalm
M= in context of Mass propers
D=in context of Office of the Dead
L=in context of festal Lauds
*=with links to verse by verse posts

Sunday

The psalms of Sunday Matins: Resurrection or Passion? 

Nocturn I
20: T
21
Intro to Ps 22*
23: T
24: M, M
25
Nocturn II
26: T
27
28
29: T
30
31:P*

Monday

Nocturn I
32
33
34
36/1
36/2
37: T, P*
Nocturn II
38
39: T, M
40: D
41: D
43
44

 Tuesday

Nocturn I
45
46
47: M, M
48
49: M
51
Nocturn II
52
53:M, T
54
55
57
58: T

Wednesday

Nocturn I
59
60
61
65
67/1
67/2
Nocturn II
68/1: T
68/2
69: M,T
70: T
71: T
72: T

Thursday

Nocturn I
73: T
74: T
76: T
77/1: M
77/2
78
Nocturn II
79
80
81
82
83
84: M, T

Friday

Nocturn I
85
86
88/1
88/2
92: L
93: T
Nocturn II
95
96: M
97
98
99
100

Saturday

Nocturn I
101: P*
102
103/1
103/2
104/1: M
104/2
Nocturn II
105/1
105/2
106/1
106/2
107
108

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