Psalm 36: Overview

In the Benedictine Office, Psalm 36 is divided into two parts, and said on Moday at Matins.

Cassiodorus suggested that:

Its entire point is the correction of manners, for the Church, here introduced as spokeswoman, instructs the human race by her saving commands not to become involved in deadly errors. She deters the wicked with the punishment, and promises rewards to the good. This type of teaching is extremely effective, causing the arrogant to be humbled, and the humble to gain worthy consolation. 

He notes that this is one of the Hebrew alphabetical psalms:

There is also the ordered disposition of the Hebrew alphabet minus the sixteenth letter. As we have already said in earlier discussion, we consider this attributable to those deficient in some degree in the perfection of behaviour of holy men. Since all the Hebrew letters have their meaning, it is perhaps right to believe that an alphabet short of a particular letter does not embrace its meaning either.

 Its structure, he suggests is that:

 First she warns that none should imitate the malevolent. Whatever blessing we should hope for is to be demanded of the Lord, who can both grant what will aid us and bestow what will abide for ever. Six letters of the Hebrew alphabet are contained in this section. In the second part she says that sinners here are tortured by the most severe suffering of envy, for they realise that in their own actions they evince nothing comparably good. This section contains seven letters. In the third part she proclaims that she has never seen a just man abandoned, and she intermingles the punishments of the wicked and the rewards of the good in profitable interchange. This section contains the remaining eight letters.

The text of the psalm

Psalm 36/1  

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
Psalmus ipsi David	-
Noli æmulári in malignántibus: * neque zeláveris faciéntes iniquitátem.	Be not emulous of evildoers; nor envy them that work iniquity
Quóniam tamquam fœnum velóciter aréscent: * et quemádmodum ólera herbárum cito décident.	For they shall shortly wither away as grass, and as the green herbs shall quickly fall.
Spera in Dómino, et fac bonitátem: * et inhábita terram, et pascéris in divítiis ejus.	Trust in the Lord, and do good, and dwell in the land, and you shall be fed with its riches.
Delectáre in Dómino: * et dabit tibi petitiónes cordis tui.	Delight in the Lord, and he will give you the requests of your heart.
Revéla Dómino viam tuam, et spera in eo: * et ipse fáciet.	Commit your way to the Lord, and trust in him, and he will do it.
Et edúcet quasi lumen justítiam tuam: et judícium tuum tamquam merídiem: * súbditus esto Dómino, et ora eum.	And he will bring forth your justice as the light, and your judgment as the noonday. Be subject to the Lord and pray to him.
Noli æmulári in eo, qui prosperátur in via sua: * in hómine faciénte injustítias.	Envy not the man who prospers in his way; the man who does unjust things.
Désine ab ira, et derelínque furórem: * noli æmulári ut malignéris.	Cease from anger, and leave rage; have no emulation to do evil.
Quóniam qui malignántur, exterminabúntur: * sustinéntes autem Dóminum, ipsi hereditábunt terram.	For evildoers shall be cut off: but they that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the land.
Et adhuc pusíllum, et non erit peccátor: * et quæres locum ejus et non invénies.	For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: and you shall seek his place, and shall not find it.
Mansuéti autem hereditábunt terram: * et delectabúntur in multitúdine pacis.	But the meek shall inherit the land, and shall delight in abundance of peace.
Observábit peccátor justum: * et stridébit super eum déntibus suis.	The sinner shall watch the just man: and shall gnash upon him with his teeth.
Dóminus autem irridébit eum: * quóniam próspicit quod véniet dies ejus.	But the Lord shall laugh at him: for he foresees that his day shall come.
Gládium evaginavérunt peccatóres: * intendérunt arcum suum,	The wicked have drawn out the sword: they have bent their bow.
Ut dejíciant páuperem et ínopem: * ut trucídent rectos corde.	To cast down the poor and needy, to kill the upright of heart.
Gládius eórum intret in corda ipsórum: * et arcus eórum confringátur.	Let their sword enter into their own hearts, and let their bow be broken
Mélius est módicum justo, * super divítias peccatórum multas.	Better is a little to the just, than the great riches of the wicked.
Quóniam bráchia peccatórum conteréntur: * confírmat autem justos Dóminus.	For the arms of the wicked shall be broken in pieces; but the Lord strengthens the just.
Novit Dóminus dies immaculatórum: * et heréditas eórum in ætérnum erit.	The Lord knows the days of the undefiled; and their inheritance shall be for ever.
Non confundéntur in témpore malo, et in diébus famis saturabúntur: * quia peccatóres períbunt.	They shall not be confounded in the evil time; and in the days of famine they shall be filled: Because the wicked shall perish.
Inimíci vero Dómini mox ut honorificáti fúerint et exaltáti: * deficiéntes, quemádmodum fumus defícient.	And the enemies of the Lord, presently after they shall be honoured and exalted, shall come to nothing and vanish like smoke.
Mutuábitur peccátor, et non solvet: * justus autem miserétur et tríbuet.	The sinner shall borrow, and not pay again; but the just shows mercy and shall give.
Quia benedicéntes ei hereditábunt terram: * maledicéntes autem ei disperíbunt.	For such as bless him shall inherit the land: but such as curse him shall perish.
Apud Dóminum gressus hóminis dirigéntur: * et viam ejus volet.	With the Lord shall the steps of a man be directed, and he shall like well his way.
Cum cecíderit non collidétur: * quia Dóminus suppónit manum suam.	When he shall fall he shall not be bruised, for the Lord puts his hand under him.
Júnior fui, étenim sénui: * et non vidi justum derelíctum, nec semen ejus quærens panem.	I have been young and now am old; and I have not seen the just forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread.
Tota die miserétur et cómmodat: * et semen illíus in benedictióne erit.	He shows mercy, and lends all the day long; and his seed shall be in blessing

(divisio)

Psalm 36/2

Declína a malo, et fac bonum: * et inhábita in sæculum sæculi.	Decline from evil and do good, and dwell for ever and ever.
Quia Dóminus amat judícium, et non derelínquet sanctos suos: * in ætérnum conservabúntur.	For the Lord loves judgment, and will not forsake his saints: they shall be preserved for ever.
Injústi puniéntur: * et semen impiórum períbit.	The unjust shall be punished, and the seed of the wicked shall perish.
Justi autem hereditábunt terram: * et inhabitábunt in sæculum sæculi super eam.	But the just shall inherit the land, and shall dwell therein for evermore
Os justi meditábitur sapiéntiam, * et lingua ejus loquétur judícium.	The mouth of the just shall meditate wisdom: and his tongue shall speak judgment
Lex Dei ejus in corde ipsíus, * et non supplantabúntur gressus ejus.	The law of his God is in his heart, and his steps shall not be supplanted.
Consíderat peccátor justum: * et quærit mortificáre eum.	The wicked watches the just man, and seeks to put him to death,
Dóminus autem non derelínquet eum in mánibus ejus: * nec damnábit eum, cum judicábitur illi.	but the Lord will not leave him in his hands; nor condemn him when he shall be judged.
Exspécta Dóminum, et custódi viam ejus: et exaltábit te ut hereditáte cápias terram: * cum períerint peccatóres vidébis.	Expect the Lord and keep his way: and he will exalt you to inherit the land: when the sinners shall perish you shall see.
Vidi ímpium superexaltátum, * et elevátum sicut cedros Líbani.	I have seen the wicked highly exalted, and lifted up like the cedars of Libanus.
Et transívi, et ecce non erat: * et quæsívi eum, et non est invéntus locus ejus.	And I passed by, and lo, he was not: and I sought him and his place was not found.
Custódi innocéntiam, et vide æquitátem: * quóniam sunt relíquiæ hómini pacífico.	Keep innocence, and behold justice: for there are remnants for the peaceable man
Injústi autem disperíbunt simul: * relíquiæ impiórum interíbunt.	But the unjust shall be destroyed together: the remnants of the wicked shall perish.
Salus autem justórum a Dómino: * et protéctor eórum in témpore tribulatiónis.	But the salvation of the just is from the Lord, and he is their protector in the time of trouble.
Et adjuvábit eos Dóminus et liberábit eos: * et éruet eos a peccatóribus, et salvábit eos: quia speravérunt in eo.	And the Lord will help them and deliver and he will rescue them from the wicked, and save them because they have hoped in him.

Scriptural and liturgical uses of the psalm

NT references	Mt 6:33 (4); Mt 6:25 (5) Mt 5:4 (11); Acts 7:54 (12); Heb 11: 7 (31)
RB cursus	Matins Monday I, 4-5
Monastic/(Roman) feasts etc	-
Roman pre 1911	Monday Matins
Roman post 1911	1911-62: Tuesday Matins  . 1970:
Mass propers (EF)	-

Psalm 34:Overview

The opening verses of Psalm 34 are a cry for God to defend the psalmist, and they include a plea for the defeat of his enemies that resound throughout the psalms of Monday.

St Alphonus Liguori summarises this  psalm as follows:

This psalm is suitable to the just man who, seeing himself exposed here below to the temptations of the devil and to bad treatment on the part of impious men, seeks help from God.  This psalm is admirably suited to Jesus Christ, the Just by excellence. 

In the Benedictine Office

The placement of Psalm 34 at Monday Matins in the Benedictine Office seems to be important, because some of its key themes are picked up in several other psalms of the day.  

The content of verses 4&5 are recapitulated first of all in verses 29&30:

34: 4  Confundántur et revereántur,  * quæréntes ánimam meam.	4 Let them be confounded and ashamed that seek after my soul.
5  Avertántur retrórsum, et confundántur * cogitántes mihi mala.	Let them be turned back and be confounded that devise evil against me.

34: 29  Erubéscant et revereántur simul, * qui gratulántur malis meis.	26 Let them blush: and be ashamed together, who rejoice at my evils.
30  Induántur confusióne et reveréntia * qui magna loquúntur super me.	Let them be clothed with confusion and shame, who speak great things against me.

But the words of verses 4&5 reappear in virtually identical form in Psalm 39 at Matins:

39: 19 confundántur et revereántur simul, qui quærunt ánimam meam, * ut áuferant eam.		15 Let them be confounded and ashamed together, that seek after my soul to take it away.
20  convertántur retrórsum et revereántur: * qui volunt mihi mala.	15 Let them be confounded and ashamed together, that seek after my soul to take it away.

The sentiments are also echoed at Prime in Psalm 6:

6: 10  Erubéscant, et conturbéntur veheménter omnes inimíci mei : * convertántur et erubéscant valde velóciter.

Let all my enemies be ashamed, and be very much troubled: let them be turned back, and be ashamed very speedily.

And at Vespers in Psalm 128:

128: 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.

The dust  imagery of verse 6 is echoed at Prime in Psalm 1:

34: 6  Fiant tamquam pulvis ante fáciem venti: * et Angelus Dómini coárctans eos.

5 Let them become as dust before the wind: and let the angel of the Lord straiten them.

6: 5  Non sic ímpii, non sic: * sed tamquam pulvis, quem prójicit ventus a fácie terræ.

Not so the wicked, not so: but like the dust, which the wind drives from the face of the earth.

The text of the psalm

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
Ipsi David	For David himself
Júdica, Dómine, nocéntes me, * expúgna impugnántes me.	Judge, O Lord, them that wrong me: overthrow them that fight against me.
Apprehénde arma et scutum: * et exsúrge in adjutórium mihi.	Take hold of arms and shield: and rise up to help me.
Effúnde frámeam, et conclúde advérsus eos, qui persequúntur me: * dic ánimæ meæ: Salus tua ego sum.	Bring out the sword, and shut up the way against them that persecute me: say to my soul: I am your salvation.
Confundántur et revereántur,  * quæréntes ánimam meam.	Let them be confounded and ashamed that seek after my soul.
Avertántur retrórsum, et confundántur * cogitántes mihi mala.	Let them be turned back and be confounded that devise evil against me.
Fiant tamquam pulvis ante fáciem venti: * et Angelus Dómini coárctans eos.	Let them become as dust before the wind: and let the angel of the Lord straiten them.
Fiat via illórum ténebræ et lúbricum: * et Angelus Dómini pérsequens eos.	Let their way become dark and slippery; and let the angel of the Lord pursue them.
Quóniam gratis abscondérunt mihi intéritum láquei sui: * supervácue exprobravérunt ánimam meam.	For without cause they have hidden their net for me unto destruction: without cause they have upbraided my soul
Véniat illi láqueus, quem ignórat: et cáptio, quam abscóndit, apprehéndat eum: * et in láqueum cadat in ipsum.	Let the snare which he knows not come upon him: and let the net which he has hidden catch him: and into that very snare let them fall.
Anima autem mea exsultábit in Dómino: * et delectábitur super salutári suo.	But my soul shall rejoice in the Lord; and shall be delighted in his salvation.
Omnia ossa mea dicent: * Dómine, quis símilis tibi?	All my bones shall say: Lord, who is like to you?
Erípiens ínopem de manu fortiórum ejus: * egénum et páuperem a diripiéntibus eum.	Who delivers the poor from the hand of them that are stronger than he; the needy and the poor from them that strip him.
Surgéntes testes iníqui, * quæ ignorábam interrogábant me.	Unjust witnesses rising up have asked me things I knew not.
Retribuébant mihi mala pro bonis: * sterilitátem ánimæ meæ.	They repaid me evil for good: to the depriving me of my soul.
Ego autem cum mihi molésti essent, * induébar cilício.	But as for me, when they were troublesome to me, I was clothed with haircloth.
Humiliábam in jejúnio ánimam meam: * et orátio mea in sinu meo convertétur.	I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer shall be turned into my bosom.
Quasi próximum, et quasi fratrem nostrum, sic complacébam: * quasi lugens et contristátus, sic humiliábar.	As a neighbour and as an own brother, so did I please: as one mourning and sorrowful so was I humbled.
Et advérsum me lætáti sunt, et convenérunt: * congregáta sunt super me flagélla, et ignorávi.	But they rejoiced against me, and came together: scourges were gathered together upon me, and I knew not.
Dissipati sunt, nec compúncti, tentavérunt me, subsannavérunt me subsannatióne: * frenduérunt super me déntibus suis.	They were separated, and repented not: they tempted me, they scoffed at me with scorn: they gnashed upon me with their teeth.
Dómine, quando respícies? * restítue ánimam meam a malignitáte eórum, a leónibus únicam meam.	Lord, when will you look upon me? Rescue my soul from their malice: my only one from the lions.
Confitébor tibi in ecclésia magna, * in pópulo gravi laudábo te.	I will give thanks to you in a great church; I will praise you in a strong people.
Non supergáudeant mihi qui adversántur mihi iníque: * qui odérunt me gratis et ánnuunt óculis.	Let not them that are my enemies wrongfully rejoice over me: who have hated me without cause, and wink with the eyes.
Quóniam mihi quidem pacífice loquebántur: * et in iracúndia terræ loquéntes, dolos cogitábant.	For they spoke indeed peaceably to me; and speaking in the anger of the earth they devised guile.
Et dilatavérunt super me os suum: * dixérunt: Euge, euge, vidérunt óculi nostri.	And they opened their mouth wide against me; they said: Well done, well done, our eyes have seen it.
Vidísti, Dómine, ne síleas: * Dómine, ne discédas a me.	You have seen, O Lord, be not silent: O Lord, depart not from me.
Exsúrge et inténde judício meo: * Deus meus, et Dóminus meus in causam meam.	Arise, and be attentive to my judgment: to my cause, my God, and my Lord.
Júdica me secúndum justítiam tuam, Dómine, Deus meus, * et non supergáudeant mihi.	Judge me, O Lord my God according to your justice, and let them not rejoice over me.
Non dicant in córdibus suis: Euge, euge, ánimæ nostræ: * nec dicant: Devorávimus eum.	Let them not say in their hearts: It is well, it is well, to our mind: neither let them say: We have swallowed him up.
Erubéscant et revereántur simul, * qui gratulántur malis meis.	Let them blush: and be ashamed together, who rejoice at my evils.
Induántur confusióne et reveréntia * qui magna loquúntur super me.	Let them be clothed with confusion and shame, who speak great things against me.
Exsúltent et læténtur qui volunt justítiam meam: * et dicant semper: Magnificétur Dóminus qui volunt pacem servi ejus.	Let them rejoice and be glad, who are well pleased with my justice, and let them say always: The Lord be magnified, who delights in the peace of his servant.
Et lingua mea meditábitur justítiam tuam, * tota die laudem tuam.	And my tongue shall meditate your justice, your praise all the day long.

Scriptural and liturgical uses of the psalm

NT references	Rom 1:9, 1 Thess 5:1-3 (9); Lk 1:46 (10); Mt 26:59ff (11); Jn 10:32 (14); Jn 15:25 (22); Jn 20:28 (26)
RB cursus	Monday I, 3
Monastic/(Roman) feasts etc
Roman pre 1911	Monday Matins
Roman post 1911	1911-62: Tuesday Matins  . 1970:
Mass propers (EF)	Passion Friday GR (23, 25); Holy Monday, IN (1-3), GR (3, 26), CO (29); Holy Tuesday, GR (1-2, 15)

Psalm 25: Overview

Psalm 25 is said on Sundays at Matins in the Benedictine Office., but its most familiar verse comes from the use of verses 6-12 in the Ordinary of the Mass, at the lavabo.

St Alphonsus Liguori summarised it as follows:

This psalm teaches all those that are unjustly persecuted what virtues they should practise during their trial. Moreover, it makes and explains in detail what are the dispositions with which we should approach the altar, whether to communicate or to offer the holy Sacrifice.

 Psalm 25

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
In finem. Psalmus David.	Unto the end, a psalm for David
Júdica me, Dómine, quóniam ego in innocéntia mea ingréssus sum: * et in Dómino sperans non infirmábor	Judge me, O Lord, for I have walked in my innocence: and I have put my trust in the Lord, and shall not be weakened.
Proba me, Dómine, et tenta me: * ure renes meos et cor meum.	Prove me, O Lord, and try me; burn my reins and my heart.
Quóniam misericórdia tua ante óculos meos est: * et complácui in veritáte tua.	For your mercy is before my eyes; and I am well pleased with your truth.
Non sedi cum concílio vanitátis: * et cum iníqua geréntibus non introíbo.	I have not sat with the council of vanity: neither will I go in with the doers of unjust things.
Odívi ecclésiam malignántium: * et cum ímpiis non sedébo.	I have hated the assembly of the malignant; and with the wicked I will not sit.
Lavábo inter innocéntes manus meas: * et circúmdabo altáre tuum, Dómine.	I will wash my hands among the innocent; and will compass your altar, O Lord:
Ut áudiam vocem laudis: * et enárrem univérsa mirabília tua.	That I may hear the voice of your praise: and tell of all your wondrous works.
Dómine, diléxi decórem domus tuæ: * et locum habitatiónis glóriæ tuæ.	I have loved, O Lord, the beauty of your house; and the place where your glory dwells.
Ne perdas cum ímpiis, Deus, ánimam meam, * et cum viris sánguinum vitam meam.	Take not away my soul, O God, with the wicked: nor my life with bloody men:
In quorum mánibus iniquitátes sunt: * déxtera eórum repléta est munéribus.	In whose hands are iniquities: their right hand is filled with gifts.
Ego autem in innocéntia mea ingréssus sum: * rédime me, et miserére mei.	But as for me, I have walked in my innocence: redeem me, and have mercy on me.
Pes meus stetit in dirécto: * in ecclésiis benedícam te, Dómine	My foot has stood in the direct way: in the churches I will bless you, O Lord.

Scriptural and liturgical uses of the psalm

NT references	Mt 27:34 (6)
RB cursus	Sunday Matins
Monastic/(Roman) feasts etc	Sunday Matins (Post Tridentine: Wednesday Prime)
Roman post 1911	1911-62: Wednesday Prime . 1970:
Mass propers (EF)	Ordinary of the Mass (6-12); Lent 2 Monday, IN (1, 11-12); Passion Wednesday, CO (6-7)

Praying the psalms with St Benedict 8 - Approaches to interpreting the psalms**

In the last post in this series on praying the psalms with St Benedict, I suggested that the key focus of St Benedict in his Office as in the Rule, is the period of preparation for Easter: the monk 's life is essentially a perpetual Lent.

Rather than assuming we already incapable of sin, and can immediately imitate the angels, as some contemporary schools of monastic thought proposed, St Benedict emphasised the process of our gradual transformation through grace.

And he presents, I think, the psalms as a means to that end.

The psalms as a means to spiritual progress

One of the most intriguing Patristic discussions on the use of the psalms as a means of spiritual progress comes in St Basil the Great's brother, St Gregory of Nyssa's treatise on the psalm titles, or inscriptions. [1]

St Gregory argues that mankind was once truly part of the angelic chorus ever praising God, but through the Fall, was expelled from it.  But we can be lead by the psalms, to progress in the spiritual life through five stages, that open ourselves to resonate to the music of the universe, and can thus rejoin to the heavenly choir, and thus defeat evil and gain the blessings promised to us by God:

The divine book of the psalms wonderfully shows us the way [to blessedness] by a systematic, natural order presenting the various means for man to attain blessedness both by a simplicity which is evident and a teaching which is plain...The psalms' sublime teaching points out to us a way to blessedness which constantly leads persons progressing in the exalted life of virtue until they attain that measure of blessedness where the mind subjects transcendental reality neither to circumstantial evidence nor to opinions... 

The first words of the [first] psalm are a gate or entrance into blessedness and open up to us the destruction of evil...When all creation above and below will join to form one dance, the pleasant sound from our symphony will complete what has been sundered, for sin now divides the spiritual creation which resembles a cymbal. When our humanity will be united to the angels and when the divine battle-order lifts it out of the present turmoil, it will sing a victorious song of triumph at the bloody defeat of the enemy.  [2] 

A beginners rule

St Benedict claims his Rule is one for beginners, sinners motivated at first by fear of hell, who need time to cultivate good habits, and hopefully eventually arrive at that happy where all is done for love of God. [3]

Each day in the Benedictine Office, for example, we are reminded of that period of preparation for entering the Promised Land, and invited to apply that typology to ourselves and our community in the forty psalms said each day, and in the verses of the invitatory Psalm 94.

But perhaps the most important way, I want to suggest, that St Benedict teaches us how to 'progress in the monastic life and in faith' (Prologue to the Rule) is, I think the programmatic aspects of the weekly psalm cycle.

Notes

[1] Gregory of Nyssa, On the Inscriptions on the Psalms,  Casimir McCanbley (trans), Hellenic College Press trans, 1995.

[2] ibid, Part I, 3, 12.

[3] See especially the Prologue, RB 4, RB 7, RB 73.

Praying the psalms with St Benedict/7 - Time and the Work of God

So far in this series I've looked briefly at some of the key purposes of the Office - purgation and penance; adoration and intercession.

In the next section of the series, I plan to focus in on the seven day cycles - around creation, salvation history, the life of Christ and that of our own spiritual development (among others) that I think are embedded within the Office through the psalm cursus.

The sanctification of time

Before we do that, though, by way of bridge, I want to look at one more dimension of the Office, namely the relationship between the Office and time.

The Divine Office is, by its nature, deeply connected with the idea of the sanctification of time.

Some of the connections in the Benedictine version of the Office are reasonably obvious. The spacing of the hours through the day, for example, gave it an equivalent to one of the old watches (of three hours), as well as a Trinitarian meaning attested to by St Cyprian. [1]  Similarly, the use of twelve psalms (one for each hour) mirrors the number of hours of the day and night, that is Prime to None, and Matins. [2]

Some perhaps are a little less obvious - the use of seven psalms in the twilight hours (Lauds, Vespers+Compline) to symbolise completeness, for example.

But there is one aspect of the sanctification of time that I have not seen explored in the literature, and which I think is perhaps best understood by consideration of the three alternative Office models I've been looking at from the first half of the sixth century, and that is the way that different forms of the Office focus those singing or hearing it on different points in salvation history.

Different forms of the Office, I want to suggest, can reflect very different conceptions of sacred time, which in turn reflect different conceptions of the exactly the 'Work' of the Office is intended to accomplish.

Sacred time and the liturgy

The Office, of course, as liturgy, connects us to the liturgy of heaven: we pray, at the very least, 'in the presence of the angels' (Psalm 137); more, we are joined through it to the angelic choir. [3]

But that is not the same thing as connecting us to the eternity of God, whose eternity stands outside of time and space.

Instead, as creatures, whether in heaven or on earth, our prayers have a before and after, and thus a temporal dimension.

In heaven - at least before the coming of the new heaven and earth - the progress of that time may be different to that we experience on earth.  Without bodies, after all, and the needs associated with them, we may indeed gain the ability to literally pray without ceasing!

But for us here on earth, our progress through time is reflected in the Office in the temporal and sanctoral calendars of the year; in the 'hours' of the Office each day; and in the cycle the hours repeat over.

Agaune's perpetual liturgy and making heaven visible

Consider for example the case of Agaune's perpetual liturgy.

St Alexander the Sleepless, we saw earlier in this series, in the first half of the fifth century, developed a form of the liturgy which almost certainly either directly inspired, or was outright copied by Agaune in the early sixth century, inspired by the model of God's ordering of creation into the twelve hours of day and night.

But St Alexander also seems to have had in mind imitation of the perpetual liturgy of the angels, an idea which fit well with Agaune's history as a shrine of soldier-saints, the martyrs of the Theban legion, whose legend depicted soldiers who refused (an immoral order) to fight, soldiers who laid down their arms and allowed themselves to be slaughtered rather than turn on, as the Emperor ordered, their fellow Christians. By this action, so the early fifth century version of their legend asserted, they were transformed into members of the heavenly choir: “Thus", says Eucherius of Lyon, "that whole angelic legion was murdered, which now, we believe, joins with legions of angels in heaven in always praising together the Lord God Sabaoth.” [4]

And it was this choir to which the earthly members of the monastery were portrayed as literally being members of, transported effectively to heaven now, to that time after the descent of the new Jerusalem described in Revelations, or at least so the early literature surrounding the monastery asserted. St Gregory of Tours, for example, told the story of an Agaune monk who died very young before he could make profession, to the great distress of his mother, who then spent her days weeping in the Church.  Happily, St Maurice appeared to her and assured her that her son was still part of the chorus made up not just of the still living monks, but the dead among their number as well as the Theban legion itself.  To prove this, he invited her to return the next morning at Lauds, and every subsequent day that she so desired for the rest of her life, so that she could hear his voice joining that of the other (still living) monks. [5]

The sermon given by Bishop Avitus of Vienne for the dedication of the new basilica on September 22, 515 similarly made considerable play on the idea of the monks as livers of the angelic life, since, he claimed, they had no possibility of committing any sins, for all their time was consumed now with the work of heaven:

..but when it has come to the present psalmody…you have surpassed even your own works.  For…that glorious custom has been instituted, in which the Christian always pours forth sound, Christ is always present, the onlooker is always heard, the hearer always seen.  You who are about to dwell here…labour in this world invites to the hope of perpetual rest, and all the time for sinning is cut off from those occupied in happy action...May death renew rather than end this action [6]

His sermon also invoked the imagery, as I have previously noted, that seems to me to be an allusion to the description of the New Jerusalem that will descend after the last judgment in Apocalypse 21, a jewel encrusted city in which there is no night:

Whose entry is not shut at night, because it has no night, whose doors are always wide open to the just, but inaccessible to the impious…Christ is its foundation, faith its frame, a wall its crown, a pearl its gates, gold its street, a lamb its light, its chorus the church [7]

Agaune's Office, with a psalm cursus that almost certainly repeated each day, rather than carrying over several as most other Offices did, was surely meant to signal this new age, this eighth day fully realised.

The nuns of Arles and the accumulation of merit

If Agaune and its Office attempted to anticipate the blessed life to come, the life that will come after the Second Coming, the Rule of Caesarius of Arles, I would suggest, portrays his nuns as living a step back in salvation time from that.

In particular, his Rule focuses above all on waiting for the Second Coming and judgment, the time of the coming of the bridegroom to the wedding feast.

Watchers for the second coming

In the Rule, St Caesarius tells his nuns to pray assiduously for the coming of the Son, and to be watchers for it, quoting St Luke:

Watch ye, therefore, praying at all times, that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that are to come, and to stand before the Son of man.  [8]

The nuns then, unlike the monks of Agaune, are not yet living the angelic life, bur rather are looking out in this world, for the signs of Christ's return.

In fact the key image he invokes throughout the rule is that of the wise and foolish virgins in the parable of the bridegroom, who are drowsing while waiting, prepared or otherwise, for the coming of bridegroom; with the wise preparing by cultivating the oil of good works. [9] Indeed the image of the drowsing virgin must have been particularly close to their hearts given the long hours they spent in vigils in the church, for St John of Arles employed a model where the number of psalms said in the Night Office lengthened and shortened with the seasons as the length of time of darkness changed.

An Easter people!

But there is also some important symbolism, I think, in the fact that Caesarius barely mentions Lent (beyond a brief reference to fasting rules) or repentance at all in his Rule; instead he provides a symbolic starting point for the Office, not with Matins and Lauds, as St Benedict does, but rather Terce of Easter Day. [10]

St Benedict, in chapter 8 of the Rule, insisted on Lauds each day being timed to start at daybreak, symbolically the time of the rising of Christ.

Caesarius, however, in chapter 66 of the Rule for Nuns, jumps forward two hours, over Lauds and Prime, and starts the whole of his discussion of the Office from the third hour of Easter Day, linking it to the literal completion of three days after the crucifixion, not least through the particular hymn he specified be used at it, Iam surgit hora tertia, which provides a nice counter to the image of the drowsing virgins fighting off sleep as they keep their vigil:

This hour at which He ends our time Of stupor from that first bad crime, Destroys the world's guilt with His blood; Washed out death's kingdom with its flood…[11]

Terce on ‘the third day’ (after Good Friday), in other words, completes the work of redemption, and inaugurates the ‘third age’ of grace in St Augustine’s schema of before the law/under the law/under grace in which we are now living.

But Easter Day is just the start of the liturgical year in this description of the Office: it is the eschatologically charged season of Epiphany, the showing out of Christ to the gentiles, that is its end.  And these two key seasons are linked by a series of all-night vigils each Friday from Easter to Pentecost, and again in the lead up to Epiphany; Vigils which start from ‘third hour of the night’. [12]

The task of the nun, then, is to accumulate grace  - that good oil - through her prayer and vigils, which can then be applied not only to herself but to others, stretching out to aid the conversion of the world.

St Benedict's Lenten monk

St Benedict's Rule, I want to suggest, takes us back another step in salvation time, to Lent.

Lent barely rates a mention in the Rule of Caesarius, and then only in relation to fasting, not the liturgy proper. [13]

In the Benedictine Rule, by contrast, Lent is the only liturgical season mentioned by name, and the saint explicitly tells us that the life of a monk should always be Lenten in nature. [14]

St Benedict reinforces this, I think, by starting his liturgical prescriptions not with the bright light of the festive celebration of the risen Lord, but rather with a discussion of the hour for rising in the dark in the long nights of his winter season (November to Easter). [15]

His focus is on monks still unreformed, yet to open their eyes to the ‘deifying light’; asking still for  'our lives to be lengthened and a respite allowed...that we may amend our evil ways' (Prologue), for far from living the angelic life themselves, monks need to be wary because that their actions are constantly being scrutinized and reported to God by the angels. [16]

There are no all night Vigils in St Benedict's Office, and his priority is clearly not Matins, whose readings can be cut if necessary, but rather Lauds, which he makes a daily celebration of the Resurrection (symbolized by the rising of the Son/sun).  

The rising

Instead, in St Benedict's theology, the imagery of the Resurrection as the pattern for the monk is not just the starting point, but the dominating theme: in the Prologue, he urges, ‘Exsurgamus ergo’ (let us therefore arise); in chapter 7 he argues that we ascend to heaven through humility.

In the liturgy he parallels these ideas by starting the Night Office with Psalm 3, which is usually interpreted, in Patristic texts, as speaking of the Resurrection (Ego dormivi…), through the use of the ‘psalms of ascent’. 

Above all, each week the Office starts again from Sunday, with its three Nocturn Matins in particular a celebration of the Resurrection.

To fear the day of judgment...

St Benedict’s Rule, does, it is true, allude to the common monastic meme of acting as watchers for the Second Coming in their Night Vigils.

His discussion of sleeping arrangements for the monks in RB 22, for example, is actually mainly about ensuring their readiness for the Night Office, and in doing so paraphrases the instructions of Luke 12:

A lamp shall burn constantly in the cell until morning. Let them sleep clothed and girded with cinctures or cords…Being thus always ready…’ [17]

And awareness of the coming judgment is certainly a key theme of the Rule.

But it is a day to be feared (RB 4), rather perhaps than prayed for, lest our process of reform be incomplete.

Indeed, I started this series pointing to the connection between Lent and the forty psalms said in the Benedictine Office each day, and our necessary preparation for entering heaven.  It is instructive, I think, to read Caesarius of Arles' explanation of the significance of forty in a sermon on David and Goliath, which interprets it to mean our entire earthly life:

The children of Israel faced their enemies for forty days. These forty days, by reason of the four seasons of the year, and of the four continents of the globe, are a figure of this present life, during which the Christian world does not cease to be arrayed in battle against the devil and his angels, as it were against Goliath and the army of the Philistines. [18]

And it is to emphasize this process of reform, that the Benedictine psalm cursus, I want to suggest, traces the path of creation, salvation and redemption history from its beginning, and towards its ultimate destiny each week, encouraging us to reform ourselves, with the aid of grade, in line with it.

But more on that in the next post.


Notes

[1] St Cyprian, Treatise 4, On Prayer: "And in discharging the duties of prayer, we find that the three children with Daniel, being strong in faith and victorious in captivity, observed the third, sixth, and ninth hour, as it were, for a sacrament of the Trinity, which in the last times had to be manifested. For both the first hour in its progress to the third shows forth the consummated number of the Trinity, and also the fourth proceeding to the sixth declares another Trinity; and when from the seventh the ninth is completed, the perfect Trinity is numbered every three hours, which spaces of hours the worshippers of God in time past having spiritually decided on, made use of for determined and lawful times for prayer."

[2] St Benedict directs our attention to the number of psalms said at the various hours in his chapter headings to chapter 9 (Quanti psalmi dicendi sunt nocturnis horis) and 17 (Quot psalmi per easdem horas dicendi sunt) and the discussion in these chapters.  Chapter 17 in particular effectively provides three groupings of hours: Matins and Lauds; Prime to None; Vespers and Compline.  Unfortunately he does not discuss the rationale for the various numbers of psalms, assuming, presumably, that the reader would already be familiar with the discussions of the topic to be foound in the earlier literature such as Cassian, Cyprian and Basil.

[3] RB 19: Ubique credimus divinam esse praesentiam et oculos Domini in omni loco speculari bonos et malos, [2] maxime tamen hoc sine aliqua dubitatione credamus cum ad opus divinum assistimus. [3] Ideo semper memores simus quod ait propheta: Servite Domino in timore, [4] et iterum: Psallite sapienter, [5] et: In conspectu angelorum psallam tibi.

[4] Eucherius of Lyons, The Passion of the Martyrs of Agaune (translation in the appendix of Tim Vivian, Kim Vivian and Jeffrey Russell trans, The Life of the Jura Fathers The Life of the Holy Fathers Romanus, Lupicinus , and Eugendus, Abbots of the Monasteries in the Jura Mountains...,  Cistercian Studies Series no 178, Cistercian Publications, Kalamazoo, 1999,  Studies Series 178); for the latin text see Passio Acaunensium martyrum, BHL-5737.

[5] Gregory of Tours, Liber in gloria martyrum, ed. B. Krusch, MGH SRM 1.2: Gregorii Turonensis Opera. Teil 2: Miracula et opera minora. Editio nova lucisope expressa (Hanover, 1885), pp. 34–111 (at c. 74-75). Trans Raymond van Dam, LUP, 1988, pp 69-71

[6] Danuta Shanzer and Ian Wood (ed and trans), Avitus of Vienne: Letters and Selected Prose, LUP, 2002.

[7] ibid.

[8] RC 21

[9] See especially RC 1, 63.

[10] RC 66

[11] For techniques to stay awake during the Night vigils, see RC 15; the Latin of the hymn can be found here and a translation of the hymn here.

[12] RC 68

[13] RC 71.

[14] RB15, 48.

[15] RB 8

[16] RB 7

[17] (RB 22)

[18] Caesarius of Arles, Sermon,