The 'monastic' last psalms of Vespers: Psalm 137 on Wednesdays

One of the key themes in St Benedict's Rule is of course, the Work of God, the Divine Office, and the ministerial responsibilities of the monk in saying it.

Psalm 137, the last psalm of Vespers on Wednesdays is centred on that task. 

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
Ipsi David.	For David himself.
Confitébor tibi, Dómine, in toto corde meo: * quóniam audísti verba oris mei.	I will praise you, O Lord, with my whole heart: for you have heard the words of my mouth.
2  In conspéctu Angelórum psallam tibi: * adorábo ad templum sanctum tuum, et confitébor nómini tuo.	I will sing praise to you in the sight of the angels: I will worship towards your holy temple, and I will give glory to your name.
3  Super misericórdia tua, et veritáte tua: * quóniam magnificásti super omne, nomen sanctum tuum.	For your mercy, and for your truth: for you have magnified your holy name above all.
4  In quacúmque die invocávero te, exáudi me: * multiplicábis in ánima mea virtútem.	3 In what day soever I shall call upon you, hear me: you shall multiply strength in my soul.
5  Confiteántur tibi, Dómine, omnes reges terræ: * quia audiérunt ómnia verba oris tui.	4 May all the kings of the earth give glory to you: for they have heard all the words of your mouth.
6  Et cantent in viis Dómini: * quóniam magna est glória Dómini.	5 And let them sing in the ways of the Lord: for great is the glory of the Lord.
7  Quóniam excélsus Dóminus, et humília réspicit: * et alta a longe cognóscit.	6 For the Lord is high, and looks on the low: and the high he knows afar off.
8  Si ambulávero in médio tribulatiónis, vivificábis me: * et super iram inimicórum meórum extendísti manum tuam, et salvum me fecit déxtera tua.	7 If I shall walk in the midst of tribulation, you will quicken me: and you have stretched forth your hand against the wrath of my enemies: and your right hand has saved me.
9  Dóminus retríbuet pro me: * Dómine, misericórdia tua in sæculum: ópera mánuum tuárum ne despícias.	8 The Lord will repay for me: your mercy, O Lord endures for ever: O despise not the works of your hands.

 Psalm 137's monastic context is made clear by St Benedict's use of the psalm in Chapter 19 of the Rule, in the context of the Office where he says:

We believe that the divine presence is everywhere and that "the eyes of the Lord are looking on the good and the evil in every place" (Prov. 15:3). But we should believe this especially without any doubt when we are assisting at the Work of God.  To that end let us be mindful always of the Prophet's words, "Serve the Lord in fear" (Ps. 2:11)  and again "Sing praises wisely" and "In the sight of the Angels I will sing praise to You" (Ps. 137:1). Let us therefore consider how we ought to conduct ourselves in sight of the Godhead and of His Angels,  and let us take part in the psalmody in such a way  that our mind may be in harmony with our voice. 

Temple liturgy

St Augustine's commentary in the psalm makes it clear that the Office is a participation in the divine liturgy of the eternal Temple: 

Not before men will I sing, but before the Angels. My song is my joy; but my joy in things below is before men, my joy in things above before the Angels...What holy Temple? That where we shall dwell, where we shall worship... Our heart is pregnant and comes to the birth, and seeks where it may bring forth. What is the place where God is to be worshipped?...The Temple of God is holy, says the Apostle, which Temple you are.  But assuredly, as is manifest, God dwells in the Angels. Therefore when our joy, being in spiritual things, not in earthly, takes up a song to God, to sing before the Angels, that very assembly of Angels is the Temple of God, we worship toward God's Temple. 

There is a Church below, there is a Church above also; the Church below, in all the faithful; the Church above, in all the Angels. But the God of Angels came down to the Church below, and Angels ministered to Him on earth, while He ministered to us; for, I came not, says He, to be ministered unto, but to minister...The Lord of Angels died for man. Therefore, I will worship toward Your holy Temple; I mean, not the temple made with hands, but that which You have made for Yourself.

The last psalms of Vespers: Psalm 132 on Tuesdays

This week, by way of a wrap of this Lent series of psalm notes, I want, this week, to come back to a point I made much earlier concerning the the selection of the last psalm of each day at Vespers.

All of these, I want to suggest, all have a focus on aspects of the monastic vocation, but each of which also have broader implications for all of us, as we prepare for Easter.

I want to start with the most explicit connection between the monastic life and the last psalms of the hour, which is Psalm 132 said on Tuesday, whose opening words about brethren living in unity have long been interpreted as referring to the monastic life.

Psalm 132

Here is the text of the psalm:

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
Canticum graduum David.	A gradual canticle of David.
Ecce quam bonum, et quam jucúndum * habitáre fratres in unum.	Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity:
2  Sicut unguéntum in cápite, * quod descéndit in barbam, barbam Aaron.	Like the precious ointment on the head, that ran down upon the beard, the beard of Aaron,
3  Quod descéndit in oram vestiménti ejus: * sicut ros Hermon, qui descéndit in montem Sion.	which ran down to the skirt of his garment: As the dew of Hermon, which descends upon mount Sion.
4  Quóniam illic mandávit Dóminus benedictiónem, * et vitam usque in sæculum	For there the Lord has commanded blessing, and life for evermore.

The early church in Jerusalem as the model for monks

St Augustine in his Enarration on the Psalm, explains that the psalm is the very origin of the name for monks, from the Greek monos, or one:

For these same words of the Psalter, this sweet sound, that honeyed melody, as well of the mind as of the hymn, did even beget the Monasteries. By this sound were stirred up the brethren who longed to dwell together. This verse was their trumpet. It sounded through the whole earth, and they who had been divided, were gathered together. The summons of God, the summons of the Holy Spirit, the summons of the Prophets, were not heard in Judah, yet were heard through the whole world. They were deaf to that sound, amid whom it was sung; they were found with their ears open, of whom it was said, They shall see him, who were not told of him; they shall understand who heard not. 

...From the words of this Psalm was taken the name of Monks, that no one may reproach you who are Catholics by reason of the name...Since the Psalm says, Behold, how good and how pleasant is it, that brethren should dwell together in one, why then should we not call Monks so? For Monos is one. Not one in any manner, for a man in a crowd is one, but though he can be called one along with others, he cannot be Monos, that is, alone, for Monos means one alone. They then who thus live together as to make one man, so that they really possess what is written, one mind and one heart...,

He goes on to point to the model of the Jerusalem community described in Acts as the key model, a model also reflected in St Benedict's Rule.  The first Jewish converts, St Augustine explains:

they first dwelt together in unity; who sold all they had, and laid the price of their goods at the Apostles' feet, as is read in the Acts of the Apostles.  And distribution was made to each one as he had need, and none called anything his own, but they had all things common. And what is together in unity? They had, he says, one mind and one heart God-wards. So they were the first who heard, Behold how good and how pleasant is it, that brethren dwell together. They were the first to hear, but heard it not alone.

Oblates and others as dwellers in unity

We do not have to limit the meaning of the verse only to monks however, as St Cassiodorus' commentary on the psalm explains, arguing that 'to dwell in unity means maintaining the right path doctrinally and in doing good works:

...the dwelling which the Lord seeks, not that of an enclosing wall uniting our bodies, but that which joins together our souls in an alliance of piety.. His expression, brethren in unity, denotes those established under the one Father in the comradeship of faith, possessing as the Acts of the Apostles has it: One heart and one soul. Yet those too who wander through desert wastes dwell in unity, for though they seem to be separated physically, they are known to be undivided in the harmony of faith. 

May we all be unified in faith and good works this Easter.