Holy week and the Benedictine Office pt 4 - Friday and the Triduum in the Benedictine Office

The quintessential psalm of the Passion is of course Psalm 21, not least because it was the start of the set of psalms Christ recited while on the Cross.

In the Benedictine Office it is the second psalm of Matins on Sundays: the first psalm of that hour recalls the Last Supper; the second the Passion.

Psalm 85 and Friday Matins

On ferial Fridays, however, the Office also recalls the Passion, not least through its opening psalm, Psalm 85, which is used on the feast of the Sacred Heart for that reason.

St Cassiodorus, in his commentary on the psalm, interpreted it as the prayer of Christ on the Cross: 

Let us ponder the humility of the prayer poured out to the Father by the Lord Saviour in His passion. He was wholly without sin, but in representing our weakness He asked to be delivered from the dangers of this world. So men's rashness should blush to be arrogant, for they have no doubt of their guilt. Christ prayed for His enemies, and patiently accepted death, whereas we wish to avenge our injuries if attacked by the comments of detractors. May He who afforded an example grant the gift of patience, so that by following His footsteps we may be able to avoid the errors which bring death.

St Alphonsus Liguori took the same view.  The psalmist, he said, 

...initiates us into the sentiments that filled the soul of Jesus Christ during his Passion, and he prophesies the conversion of the Gentiles. 

Psalm 85: Friday matins I, 1

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
Oratio ipsi David.	A prayer for David himself.
Inclína, Dómine, aurem tuam, et exáudi me : * quóniam inops, et pauper sum ego.	Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear me: for I am needy and poor.
2  Custódi ánimam meam, quóniam sanctus sum : * salvum fac servum tuum, Deus meus, sperántem in te.	2 Preserve my soul, for I am holy: save your servant, O my God, that trusts in you.
3  Miserére mei, Dómine, quóniam ad te clamávi tota die : * lætífica ánimam servi tui, quóniam ad te, Dómine, ánimam meam levávi.	3 Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I have cried to you all the day. 4 Give joy to the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, I have lifted up my soul.
4  Quóniam tu, Dómine, suávis et mitis : * et multæ misericórdiæ ómnibus invocántibus te.	5 For you, O Lord, are sweet and mild: and plenteous in mercy to all that call upon you.
5  Auribus pércipe, Dómine, oratiónem meam : * et inténde voci deprecatiónis meæ.	6 Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer: and attend to the voice of my petition
6  In die tribulatiónis meæ clamávi ad te : * quia exaudísti me.	7 I have called upon you in the day of my trouble: because you have heard me.
7  Non est símilis tui in diis, Dómine : * et non est secúndum ópera tua.	8 There is none among the gods like unto you, O Lord: and there is none according to your works.
8  Omnes gentes quascúmque fecísti, vénient, et adorábunt coram te, Dómine : * et glorificábunt nomen tuum.	9 All the nations you have made shall come and adore before you, O Lord: and they shall glorify your name.
9  Quóniam magnus es tu, et fáciens mirabília : * tu es Deus solus.	10 For you are great and do wonderful things: you are God alone.
10  Deduc me, Dómine, in via tua, et ingrédiar in veritáte tua : * lætétur cor meum ut tímeat nomen tuum.	11 Conduct me, O Lord, in your way, and I will walk in your truth: let my heart rejoice that it may fear your name.
11  Confitébor tibi, Dómine, Deus meus, in toto corde meo, * et glorificábo nomen tuum in ætérnum.	12 I will praise you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name for ever:
12  Quia misericórdia tua magna est super me : * et eruísti ánimam meam ex inférno inferióri.	13 For your mercy is great towards me: and you have delivered my soul out of the lower hell.
13  Deus iníqui insurrexérunt super me, et synagóga poténtium quæsiérunt ánimam meam : * et non proposuérunt te in conspéctu suo.	14 O God, the wicked are risen up against me, and the assembly of the mighty have sought my soul: and they have not set you before their eyes.
14  Et tu, Dómine, Deus miserátor et miséricors, * pátiens, et multæ misericórdiæ, et verax.	15 And you, O Lord, are a God of compassion, and merciful, patient, and of much mercy, and true.
15  Réspice in me, et miserére mei, * da impérium tuum púero tuo : et salvum fac fílium ancíllæ tuæ.	16 O look upon me, and have mercy on me: give your command to your servant, and save the son of your handmaid.
16  Fac mecum signum in bonum, ut vídeant qui odérunt me, et confundántur : * quóniam tu, Dómine, adjuvísti me, et consolátus es me.	17 Show me a token for good: that they who hate me may see, and be confounded, because you, O Lord, have helped me and have comforted me.

Several of the other psalms of Friday Matins are similarly pertinent to the events of Good Friday: Psalm 93 is used at Good Friday Tenebrae for this reason, while Psalms 86, 88, 92, 96, 96 and 100 are all relevant to its themes.

Friday Lauds

As for Thursday, the Friday canticle, from Habbakuk, has clearly been selected for its appropriateness to the day, as it has long been interpreted as referring to the Passion.

One of the longstanding puzzles of the Benedictine Office, though is why the two variable psalms of the day vary from those in the Roman secular Office.  

St Benedict, of course, specifically stated that he was using the variable psalms of the ancient Roman Office of his time, viz Psalms 75 and 91.  The Roman Office as it has come down to us though, has only one variable psalm each day not two, and for Friday it is Psalm 142, which is used on Saturday in the Benedictine Office.

The most obvious explanation (albeit contra the liturgists), is that the Lauds psalm allocation changed after St Benedict's time, most likely as part of St Gregory the Great's 'strengthening' of the antiphoner (as the Liber Pontificalis describes it); presumably in fact code for shifting the Roman Office to an entirely fixed weekly psalm cursus.

The rationale for the older psalm selection is surely straightforward: Psalm 75's verse 'terra tremuit' surely refers to the earthquake that occurred at Christ's death on the cross, while Psalm 91 was the psalm used at the sabbath sacrifice in Jewish tradition.

Prime

It is notable too, that Prime on Friday is similarly strongly connected to the Passion.

It opens with Psalm 15, which both SS Peter and Paul used in sermons reported in Acts (Chapter 2&13) to speak about Christ’s crucifixion, descent into hell, and resurrection. 

Psalm 16 is the intense prayer of the just man facing death, with verse 13 speaking of someone captured by his enemies and about to be killed.  

And the final psalm of the hour, the first half of Psalm 17, is generally interpreted as witnessing to Christ as the perfect sacrifice by virtue of his obedience.  The centrepiece of this part of the psalm is a dramatic theophany, a storm that shakes the earth with God’s anger, echoing the ‘terra tremuit’ verse in Psalm 75 at Lauds.

Vespers

 Earlier this Lent I provided notes on the first psalm of Friday Vespers, which has long been interpreted as relating to the themes of this day.

The hour ends though, on a note of triumph, singing of the Kingship of Christ both witnessed to on the cross, and central to his descent into Hades.

As we contemplate the Passion today, then, let us also look forward to his glorious Resurrection. Resurrection.

Holy week and the Benedictine Office pt 3 - Thursday and the Triduum in the Benedictine Office

 In my last post, I pointed to the first three psalms of Sunday Matins as recapitulations of the events of the Triduum, with Psalm 20 pointing us to the Last Supper.

Today I'd like to expand a little on the Thursday Office more generally as part of a 'mini-Triduum' each week.

Many of the psalms of the day arguably go the agony in the Garden, most notably Psalm 87 at Lauds (in the Benedictine, but not Roman Office), often thought to be the darkest of all the psalms, and Psalm 138 at Vespers.

But there is also a strong Eucharistic theme, most notably in Psalm 140 at Vespers, and in the psalms of Matins.

Matins psalms

In the Roman Office, Thursday Matins each week - and hence the Triduum Office - starts at Psalm 68.  

In the Benedictine Office, however, the variable psalms start with Psalm 73, and go up to 84 (Psalm 75 is omitted in the Benedictine sequence as it is used at Friday Lauds, and Psalm 77 is divided in two).

And Psalm 73 opens with a lament for the destruction of the Temple, which can be interpreted as a reference to Christ's prophesy that the temple will be destroyed, then rebuilt in three days, as Cassiodorus' commentary on the psalm points out:

"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

Psalm 77

The key to the day, though, is arguably the festal canticle at Lauds, the Song of Moses, which celebrates the passing of the people through the Red Sea.  

The events of the Passover, and their eucharistic connotations, are alluded to in several of the psalms set for the day, above all in Psalm 77, the second longest psalm of the psalter, which is common to the Roman ferial Office, but doesn't appear in the Triduum Office because it stops after the first nine psalms.

Let me just highlight a few of the key verses for you:

16  Interrúpit mare, et perdúxit eos: * et státuit aquas quasi in utre.	13 He divided the sea and brought them through: and he made the waters to stand as in a vessel.
17  Et dedúxit eos in nube diéi: * et tota nocte in illuminatióne ignis.	14 And he conducted them with a cloud by day: and all the night with a light of fire.
18  Interrúpit petram in erémo: * et adaquávit eos velut in abysso multa.	15 He struck the rock in the wilderness: and gave them to drink, as out of the great deep.

22  Et male locúti sunt de Deo: * dixérunt: Numquid póterit Deus paráre mensam in desérto?	19 And they spoke ill of God: they said: Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?
23  Quóniam percússit petram, et fluxérunt aquæ: * et torréntes inundavérunt.	20 Because he struck the rock, and the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed.
24  Numquid et panem póterit dare, * aut paráre mensam pópulo suo?	Can he also give bread, or provide a table for his people?
25  Ideo audívit Dóminus, et dístulit: * et ignis accénsus est in Jacob, et ira ascéndit in Israël.	21 Therefore the Lord heard, and was angry: and a fire was kindled against Jacob, and wrath came up against Israel.
26  Quia non credidérunt in Deo: * nec speravérunt in salutári ejus :	22 Because they believed not in God: and trusted not in his salvation.
27  Et mandávit núbibus désuper: * et jánuas cæli apéruit.	23 And he had commanded the clouds from above, and had opened the doors of heaven.
28  Et pluit illis manna ad manducándum: * et panem cæli dedit eis.	24 And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them the bread of heaven.
29  Panem Angelórum manducávit homo, * cibária misit eis in abundántia.	25 Man ate the bread of angels: he sent them provisions in abundance.

May we, unlike those wanderers in the desert, always be grateful for the great gifts God has given us through Christ, as we celebrate the institution of the Eucharist on Maundy Thursday.