The Last Psalms of Vespers - Psalm 128

St Benedict's decision to make Psalm 128 the last psalm of Monday Vespers took some considerable contrivance.  

The placement of Psalm 128 on Monday

In order to achieve it, he makes Monday Vespers one of the longest of the week, by dint of not dividing one of the longest psalms used at the hour, and one that falls naturally into two parts (indeed it is listed as two separate psalms in the Maseoretic Text), Psalm 113; and has two combine two others, Psalm 115 and 116 under one doxology.

And on the face of it, it is a particularly odd decision, since it takes it out of the sequence of the rest of the Gradual Psalms that starts at Tuesday Terce and continues through Tuesday Vespers. 

There are, I think, several reasons for this.  The first is to do with his humility theme in the Office: the seven blocks of  Psalm 118 said over the day hours correspond, I think, to the first seven steps of humility set out in Chapter 7 of St Benedict's Rule, and this hour as a whole has links to to the eighth step, of following the common rule of the monastery.

Through those stripes and his cross, Christ has confounded the devil

Psalm 128 is one of the more difficult psalms to interpret just by reading the words literally. 

A simple Christological interpretation of it is that the devil has been confounded and repelled: all his efforts thwarted by the stripes Christ bore on his back (verse 3) for us, and the psalm appears in the Propers for Passion Sunday and elsewhere during Lent in exactly in that context.

Psalm 128 (129) – Saepe expugnaverunt me

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
Canticum graduum.	A gradual canticle.
1 Sæpe expugnavérunt me a juventúte mea, * dicat nunc Israël:	Often have they fought against me from my youth, let Israel now say.
2  Sæpe expugnavérunt me a juventúte mea: * étenim non potuérunt mihi.	2 Often have they fought against me from my youth: but they could not prevail over me.
3  Supra dorsum meum fabricavérunt peccatóres: * prolongavérunt iniquitátem suam.	3 The wicked have wrought upon my back: they have lengthened their iniquity.
4  Dóminus justus concídit cervíces peccatórum: * confundántur et convertántur retrórsum omnes, qui odérunt Sion.	4 The Lord who is just will cut the necks of sinners: 5 Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Sion.
5  Fiant sicut fœnum tectórum: * quod priúsquam evellátur exáruit:	6 Let them be as grass upon the tops of houses: which withers before it be plucked up:
6  De quo non implévit manum suam qui metit: * et sinum suum qui manípulos cólligit.	7 Who with the mower fills not his hand: nor he that gathers sheaves his bosom.
7  Et non dixérunt qui præteríbant: Benedíctio Dómini super vos: * benedíximus vobis in nómine Dómini.	8 And they that passed by have not said: The blessing of the Lord be upon you: we have blessed you in the name of the Lord.

St Jerome, however, also frames it as a description of the struggle we must all engage in against the devil and our own ill desires: this is the story of 'Christ's athlete' who:

 is not crowned unless he has accepted and sustained the challenge, unless his face is black and blue from the fray and bathed in blood.  discoloured bruises deserve a crown; suffering and pain merit joy. (Homily 45 on Psalm 128)

St Jerome goes further, though, goes on to argue that the claim that they could not prevail over me in verse 2 pertains particularly to the monk or nun who has served God from his early life onwards, and possesses integrity of body and spirit.

Uphold us Lord

Building on this, there is also a verbal link between verse 5's 'Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Sion', and the verse of Psalm 118 used in the Benedictine profession ceremony:

Uphold me according to thy word, and I shall live: and let me not be confounded in my expectation. Suscipe me secundum eloquium tuum, et vivam, et non confundas me ab exspectatione mea.

Patristic exegesis of Scripture often fastened on the uses of a word in other verses of Scripture, creating chains of connections in meaning, thus Psalm 128 reflects that same prayer for God's protection against those who strive against us, and perhaps also warns against the consequences of we ourselves falling.

Let us all then, keep the model of Christ always in front of us, and beg for the grace that will ensure that our enemies not prevail over us.

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'.