Showing posts with label Liguori. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Liguori. Show all posts

Thursday, September 8, 2016

Psalm 83 : Ascending by steps through this vale of tears

transfiguration august 6

Psalm 83: Thursday Matins II, 5 
Vulgate
Douay-Rheims
In finem, pro torcularibus filiis Core. Psalmus.
Unto the end, for the winepresses, a psalm for the sons of Core.
1  Quam dilécta tabernácula tua, Dómine virtútum: * concupíscit, et déficit ánima mea in átria Dómini.
How lovely are your tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! 3 My soul longs and faints for the courts of the Lord.
2  Cor meum, et caro mea: * exsultavérunt in Deum vivum.
My heart and my flesh have rejoiced in the living God.
3  Etenim passer invénit sibi domum: * et turtur nidum sibi, ubi ponat pullos suos.
4 For the sparrow has found herself a house, and the turtle a nest for herself where she may lay her young ones:
4  Altária tua, Dómine virtútum: * Rex meus, et Deus meus.
Your altars, O Lord of hosts, my king and my God.
5  Beáti, qui hábitant in domo tua, Dómine: * in sæcula sæculórum laudábunt te.
5 Blessed are they that dwell in your house, O Lord: they shall praise you for ever and ever.
6  Beátus vir, cujus est auxílium abs te: * ascensiónes in corde suo dispósuit, in valle lacrimárum in loco, quem pósuit.
6 Blessed is the man whose help is from you: in his heart he has disposed to ascend by steps, 7 in the vale of tears, in the place which he has set.
7  Etenim benedictiónem dabit legislátor, ibunt de virtúte in virtútem: * vidébitur Deus deórum in Sion.
8 For the lawgiver shall give a blessing, they shall go from virtue to virtue: the God of gods shall be seen in Sion.
8  Dómine, Deus virtútum, exáudi oratiónem meam: * áuribus pércipe, Deus Jacob.
9 O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer: give ear, O God of Jacob.
9  Protéctor noster, áspice, Deus: * et réspice in fáciem Christi tui.
10 Behold, O God our protector: and look on the face of your Christ.
10 Quia mélior est dies una in átriis tuis: * super míllia.
11 For better is one day in your courts above thousands.
11  Elégi abjéctus esse in domo Dei mei: * magis quam habitáre in tabernáculis peccatórum.
I have chosen to be an abject in the house of my God, rather than to dwell in the tabernacles of sinners.
12  Quia misericórdiam et veritátem díligit Deus: * grátiam et glóriam dabit Dóminus.
12 For God loves mercy and truth: the Lord will give grace and glory.
13  Non privábit bonis eos, qui ámbulant in innocéntia: * Dómine virtútum, beátus homo, qui sperat in te.
13 He will not deprive of good things them that walk in innocence: O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusts in you.

Over at Vultus Christi Dom Mark has been providing an excellent commentary on the Prologue to the Rule of St Benedict, and mentioned the use of Psalm 83, said at Thursday Matins in the Benedictine Office as part of the ceremony for the admission of a postulant at Silverstream Monastery:
Saint Benedict would have his monks see themselves as those who dwell in the temple of the Lord. In our ceremony for the welcoming of a postulant, once the postulant has knelt on the threshold of the monastery, and kissed the crucifix presented to him, the prior leads him into the Oratory while the brethren chant Psalm 83...
The blog post includes the key verses in English, but I thought it would be nice to look briefly at the entire psalm.

Our hope of heaven

St Alphonsus Liguori points to its helpfulness in orienting us towards heaven:
This psalm shows us with what ardor the psalmist, desolate in finding himself far from the Temple of Jerusalem, sighed after the moment of seeing it again. And as the Temple was the figure of heaven, one must believe that he sighed at the same time after the happiness of going to contemplate God in the heavenly kingdom. Nothing is more fitted than this psalm to excite in us the desire of leaving the earth, and of entering the abode of the blessed.
The spiritual ascent

Verse 6 stresses the importance of treating this life as a pilgrimage towards God, and seeking to make the spiritual ascent.  St John Climacus for example commented:
Ascend, my brothers, ascend eagerly. Let your hearts' resolve be to climb. Listen to the voice of the one who says:  "Come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of our God", Who makes our feet to be like the feet of the deer, "Who sets us on the high places, that we may be triumphant on his road". Run, I beg you, run with him who said, "let us hurry until we all arrive at the unity of faith and of the knowledge of God, at mature manhood, at the measure of the stature of Christ's fullness".
Crushed and pressed in this vale of tears

The path is not always an easy one, as St Augustine's commentary on the psalm makes clear.  St Augustine started from the reference to the winepresses in the title to the psalm, and notes that the grapes seem to hang free and heavy on the vine, until the time when they are harvested and pressed.  So, too, he argues it is with us:
...Men of this kind, therefore, before they draw near to the service of God, enjoy in the world a kind of delicious liberty, like hanging grapes or olives: but as it is said, My son, when you draw near to the service of God, stand in judgment and fear, and make your soul ready for temptation: so each, as he draws near to the service of God, finds that he has come to the winepress; he shall undergo tribulation, shall be crushed, shall be pressed, not that he may perish in this world, but that he may flow down into the storehouses of God. 
He has the coverings of carnal desires stripped off from him, like grape-skins: for this has taken place in him in carnal desires, of which the Apostle speaks, Put ye off the old man, and put on the new man. All this is not done but by pressure: therefore the Churches of God of this time are called winepresses...
 But being placed under pressure, we are crushed for this purpose, that for our love by which we were borne towards those worldly, secular, temporal, unstable, and perishable things, having suffered in them, in this life, torments, and tribulations of pressures, and abundance of temptations, we may begin to seek that rest which is not of this life, nor of this earth; and the Lord becomes, as is written, a refuge for the poor man.
St Augustine urges us to cultivate the mindset that the riches of this world are but transitory:
What is, for the poor man? For him who is, as it were, destitute, without aid, without help, without anything on which he may rest, in earth. For to such poor men, God is present...The poor then are destitute of all this world's substance, for even though it abounds around them, they know how fleeting it is; and crying unto God, having nothing in this world with which they may delight themselves, and be held down, placed in abundant pressures and temptations, as if in winepresses, they flow down, having become oil or wine...
Wherefore, most beloved, as each can, make vows, and perform to the Lord God what each can: let no one look back, no one delight himself with his former interests, no one turn away from that which is before to that which is behind: let him run until he arrive: for we run not with the feet but with the desire...


Scriptural and liturgical uses

NT references
-
RB cursus
Matins Thursday II, 5
Monastic/(Roman) feasts etc
Corpus Christi; Transfiguration; All Saints; Commons of BVM, Dedication of a Church
Roman pre 1911
Matins Friday
Ambrosian

Brigittine

Maurist
Thesauris schemas
A: ; B: ; C: ; D:
Roman post 1911
1911-62:Friday Sext  . 1970:
Mass propers (EF)
Monday Lent 1, GR (8-9); Lent Ember Saturday, GR (8-9); Sunday Lent 3, CO (3-5); PP 14, IN (1, 9-10); September Ember Saturday GR (8-9)


Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Psalms of Compline (Short summaries)/2 - Psalm 90, Qui habitat


St Albans Psalter Temptation of Christ.jpg
Temptation of Christ, St Alban's Psalter
 Psalm 90: Qui habitat
Vulgate
Douay-Rheims
Laus cantici David.
The praise of a canticle for David
Qui hábitat in adjutório Altíssimi, * in protectióne Dei cæli commorábitur.
He that dwells in the aid of the most High, shall abide under the protection of the God of Jacob.
2  Dicet Dómino : Suscéptor meus es tu, et refúgium meum: * Deus meus sperábo in eum.
He shall say to the Lord: You are my protector, and my refuge: my God, in him will I trust.
3 Quóniam ipse liberávit me de láqueo venántium, * et a verbo áspero.
For he has delivered me from the snare of the hunters: and from the sharp word.
4  Scápulis suis obumbrábit tibi: * et sub pennis ejus sperábis.
He will overshadow you with his shoulders: and under his wings you shall trust.
5  Scuto circúmdabit te véritas ejus: * non timébis a timóre noctúrno.
His truth shall compass you with a shield: you shall not be afraid of the terror of the night.
6  A sagítta volánte in die, a negótio perambulánte in ténebris: * ab incúrsu et dæmónio meridiáno.
Of the arrow that flies in the day, of the business that walks about in the dark: of invasion, or of the noonday devil.
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.
8  Verúmtamen óculis tuis considerábis: * et retributiónem peccatórum vidébis.
But you shall consider with your eyes: and shall see the reward of the wicked.
9  Quóniam tu es, Dómine, spes mea: * Altíssimum posuísti refúgium tuum.
Because you, O Lord, are my hope: you have made the most High your refuge.
10  Non accédet ad te malum: * et flagéllum non appropinquábit tabernáculo tuo.
There shall no evil come to you: nor shall the scourge come near your dwelling.
11  Quóniam Angelis suis mandávit de te: * ut custódiant te in ómnibus viis tuis.
For he has given his angels charge over you; to keep you in all your ways.
12  In mánibus portábunt te: * ne forte offéndas ad lápidem pedem tuum.
In their hands they shall bear you up: lest you dash your foot against a stone.
13  Super áspidem et basilíscum ambulábis: * et conculcábis leónem et dracónem.
You shall walk upon the asp and the basilisk: and you shall trample under foot the lion and the dragon.
14  Quóniam in me sperávit, liberábo eum: * prótegam eum quóniam cognóvit nomen meum.
Because he hoped in me I will deliver him: I will protect him because he has known my name.
15  Clamábit ad me, et ego exáudiam eum : * cum ipso sum in tribulatióne : erípiam eum et glorificábo eum.
He shall cry to me, and I will hear him: I am with him in tribulation, I will deliver him, and I will glorify him.
16  Longitúdine diérum replébo eum: * et osténdam illi salutáre meum.
I will fill him with length of days; and I will show him my salvation.

Pronouncing the words

You can heard the psalm read aloud slowly in Latin over at the Boston Catholic Journal.

Once you are confident of the pronunciation, try singing it with the monks - the videos below are one option, alternatively, listen to one of the archived audio files of Compline sung by the monks of Le Barroux, since Psalm 90 is used in the Benedictine Office at Compline each night.



But it also features in the (traditional) mass as the longest of the Tracts, sung on the first Sunday of Lent, so I've included a wonderful old Roman Chant version of the Tract below so you can get a taster.

Short summaries of Psalm 90

Pick the summary of your choice and learn it, or copy it to create a cheat sheet to have handy for when you say the Office.

St Augustine:
This Psalm is that from which the Devil dared to tempt our Lord Jesus Christ: let us therefore attend to it, that thus armed, we may be enabled to resist the tempter, not presuming in ourselves, but in Him who before us was tempted, that we might not be overcome when tempted... 
Cassiodorus:
Verses 11 and 12 are directed at the Lord Saviour Himself by the devil after he has tempted Him. We always confront demons with this psalm in devoted trust, so that they may be overcome by us by the same means by which they sought craftily to make observations against their Creator.  In the first part David claims that every person of high fidelity is enclosed by divine protection. The second part hymns praise to the Lord Saviour. The third consists of words spoken by the Father to all faithful individuals, who as He knows hope in Him with the greatest devotion. He promises them protection in this world and rewards in the next… 
This psalm has marvellous power, and routs impure spirits. The devil retires vanquished from us through the very means by which he sought to tempt us, for that wicked spirit is mindful of his own presumption and of God's victory. Christ by His own power overcame the devil in His own regard, and likewise conquers him in ours. So this psalm should be recited by us when night sets in after all the actions of the day; the devil must realise that we belong to Him to whom he remembers that he himself yielded. 
St Alphonsus Liguori:
The psalmist here exhorts those that have put all their hope in God to fear no danger. This psalm is somewhat in the form of a dialogue; for the psalmist, the just man, and God himself speak successively. The prophet, v. i, announces his proposition, and says, v. 2, part first, how one enters this asylum of divine protection. The just man, v. 2, 3, declares that he is in this disposition. Then, v. 4 to 13, the prophet describes to him the favors that he will enjoy. Finally, God confirms and completes this picture by magnificent promises.
Fr Pius Pasch:
Safely sheltered - This psalm breathes a spirit of perfect confidence in God through the perils of life.  The image is of a battlefield where the soul of the just man is facing his enemies.
My summary in the context of the Benedictine office:
A psalm speaking 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.  In the Benedictine Office it can be seen as a prayer for and assurance of God’s protection of us against the power of the dark forces symbolized by the darkness of the night.  Verse 7 has a particular poignancy in the context of the Office as it echoes and responds to the other psalm of the spiritual warfare said each day in the Office, the first psalm of the day at Matins, Psalm 3, which says, also in (the sacred number of) verse 7: I will not fear thousands of the people, surrounding me: arise, O Lord; save me, O my God.

Psalms of Compline (Short summaries)/1 - Psalm 4

12th-century painters - Winchester Bible - WGA15739.jpg

 Psalm 4 - Cum invocarem
Vulgate
Douay-Rheims
In finem, in carminibus. Psalmus David.
Unto the end, in verses. A psalm for David.
1 Cum invocárem exaudívit me deus justítiæ meæ: *  in tribulatióne dilatásti mihi.
When I called upon him, the God of my justice heard me: when I was in distress, you have enlarged me.
2 Miserére mei, * et exáudi oratiónem meam.
Have mercy on me: and hear my prayer.
3 Filii hóminum, úsquequo gravi corde? *  ut quid dilígitis vanitátem et quæritis mendácium?
O you sons of men, how long will you be dull of heart? Why do you love vanity, and seek after lying?
4 Et scitóte quóniam mirificávit dóminus sanctum suum: * dóminus exáudiet me cum clamávero ad eum.
Know also that the Lord has made his holy one wonderful: the Lord will hear me when I shall cry unto him.
5 Irascímini, et nolíte peccáre: * quæ dícitis in córdibus vestris, in cubílibus vestris compungímini.
Be angry, and sin not: the things you say in your hearts, be sorry for them upon your beds.
6 Sacrificáte sacrifícium justítiæ, et speráte in dómino, * multi dicunt quis osténdit nobis bona?
Offer up the sacrifice of justice, and trust in the Lord: many say, Who shows us good things?
7 Signátum est super nos lumen vultus tui, dómine: *  dedísti lætítiam in corde meo.
The light of your countenance, O Lord, is signed upon us: you have given gladness in my heart.
8 A fructu fruménti, vini et ólei sui * multiplicáti sunt.
By the fruit of their corn, their wine, and oil, they rest
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.

Pronouncing the words

You can heard the psalm read aloud slowly in Latin over at the Boston Catholic Journal.

Once you are confident of the pronunciation, try singing it with the monks - the videos below are one option, alternatively, listen to one of the archived audio files of Compline sung by the monks of Le Barroux..


(and for those who can't access this video, see below)

The sense of the psalm

Pick the summary of your choice and learn it, or copy it to create a cheat sheet to have handy for when you say the Office:

St Alphonsus Liguori:
According to interpreters this psalm was composed by David, happy to see himself delivered from the hands of Saul, or of Absalom. In a mystical sense it is applied to Jesus Christ inasmuch as he is the end of the law and of the prophets. Jesus Christ, of whom David was a figure, is properly the Saint of God, the Saint by eminence, he whom God has glorified above everyone else in a wonderful manner, v. 4; our Master and our Model, he reminds us at first of the efficacy of prayer: then he exhorts us to detach ourselves from the goods of this world, to flee from sin, to practise virtue, and to seek only justice, sanctity, by putting our whole confidence in God.
Fr Pius Pasch:
Trustful evening prayer. To oppose the allurements of the world, this psalm makes us aware of the good fortune of union with God.  It was a favorite with St. Augustine.  We ought to pray it, he observes, "trembling with fear, and yet all aglow with hope and exultation at God's mercy."
 Cassiodorus:
End does not mean here the decline of some object but the perfection of rungs of the spirit; as Paul says: The end of the law is Christ, unto justice to everyone that believeth? Christ is the glorious perfection of all good things. So the words, Unto the end, remind us that they are to be related to the Lord Christ, or as some prefer, we are to believe that they refer to us...Throughout the psalm the words are spoken by holy mother Church...  In the first section she asks that her prayer be heard, and rebukes the faithless for worshipping false gods and ne­glecting worship of the true God. In the second part she warns the world at large that it must abandon deceitful superstition, and offer the sacrifice of justice. Then in her attempt to win over the minds of pagans by the promise she has made, she relates that the Lord has bestowed great gifts on Christians…
My summary (in the context of the Benedictine Office): 
Psalm 4 recapitulates some of the key themes of the Benedictine Office (and Rule): the Benedictine day starts with an allusion to the call to praise God, to offer up the sacrifice of justice in verse 16 of Psalm 50 at Matins; here again in this psalm the Office recalls this sacrificial dimension of our prayer (v6).   In Psalm 94 at Matins we are called not to harden our hearts lest we be lost; so here again, God asks how long we will fail to heed his call to conversion (v3).  Just as Lauds we celebrate the rising sun, and the light of Christ, so here we are reminded that his is the light that shines in the darkness (v7), the grace that enlarges our hearts through grace (v1, 4) so that we can run 'with the unspeakable sweetness of love' (RB Prologue).  Above all the psalms calls on us to repent and asks God to grant us forgiveness and the grace to do better in future; and asks for God’s blessing on our sleep (v5), so that we can rise up again with him on the morrow (Ps 3).  


Saturday, June 14, 2014

Psalm 148 verses 13-14


Psalm 148 concludes, St Bellarmine tells us, with a special call to those in the Church:

This is the conclusion of the Psalm, as it were to say: The hymn, then, to be sung to God should be specially sung by all his saints; that is, by all those dedicated and consecrated to him, the children of Israel especially, inasmuch as they come nearer to God than any other people, through true knowledge and faith, true worship and adora­tion, true filial confidence and love. 

13
V
Conféssio ejus super cælum et terram: * et exaltávit cornu pópuli sui.
NV
Magnificentia eius super caelum et terram, et exaltavit cornu populi sui.
JH
gloria eius in caelo et in terra. Et exaltabit cornu populi sui

ξομολόγησις ατο π γς κα ορανο κα ψώσει κέρας λαο ατο

For the raising of the horn, see Ps 131:17; Eccli 51:12, 1 Sam 2:1

confessio, onis, the praise of God, the glory and majesty of God confessed by His creatures, and the giving of thanks to God
cornu, us, n.  the horn of animals, of the bull, ram, etc; symbols of strength, power, glory, pride, or dominion

DR
The praise of him is above heaven and earth: and he has exalted the horn of his people.
Brenton
his praise is above the earth and heaven,  and he shall exalt the horn of his people
Cover
and his praise above heaven and earth. He shall exalt the horn of his people

St Augustine gives the Christological interpretation of the verse:

And He shall exalt the horn of His people. Behold what Haggai and Zachariah prophesied. Now the horn of His people is humble in afflictions, in tribulations, in temptations, in beating of the breast; when will He exalt the horn of His people? When the Lord has come, and our Sun is risen, not the sun which is seen with the eye, and rises upon the good and the evil, Matthew 5:45 but That whereof is said, To you that hear God, the Sun of Righteousness shall rise, and healing in His wings; Malachi 4:2 and of whom the proud and wicked shall hereafter say, The light of righteousness has not shined unto us, and the sun of righteousness rose not upon us. Wisdom 5:6 This shall be our summer. 
Cassio: This passage too is proclaimed in virtue of His magnificence and uniqueness. In the words: For his name alone is exalted: the confession of him is above heaven and earth, His magnificence is undoubtedly being made known in the whole world. Up to this final statement higher creatures are kept in abeyance, so that the faithful people may praise the Lord when established, as they shall be, in that native land of the future, when we know that they are released from the bonds of sins. Next follows the most just reason why the Lord must be proclaimed: it is because his name alone is exalted. It is exalted because in Paul's words before Him: Every knee bows, of things in heaven, on earth, and under the earth.11 The psalmist added: The confession of him is above heaven and earth. Here confession denotes the praise paid to Him by all rational creatures after the renewal of this world. He spoke of above heaven and earth, for neither heavenly nor earthly things can be found equal to those praises.

St Liguori sums it up as follows:

Let then the praises of the Lord resound through heaven and earth, since he has willed to exalt by his power his faithful people, in giving them Jesus Christ, who has made his servants victorious over the devils.

14
V
Hymnus ómnibus sanctis ejus: * fíliis Israël, pópulo appropinquánti sibi.
NV
Hymnus omnibus sanctis eius, filiis Israel, populo, qui propinquus est ei.
JH
laus omnibus sanctis eius, filiis Israhel, populo adpropinquanti sibi.

μνος πσι τος σίοις ατο τος υος Ισραηλ λα γγίζοντι ατ

hymnus, i, m.  a hymn, a song of praise to God.
appropinquo, avi, atum, are , to draw near, approach

DR
A hymn to all his saints to the children of Israel, a people approaching to him.
Brenton
there is a hymn for all his saints, even of the children of Israel, a people who draw near to him.
Cover
all his saints shall praise him, even the children of Israel, even the people that serveth him.

Why a hymn 'of the saints'?  Cassiodorus' take is that it points us to heaven:

These words are a promise; they represent the highest perfection of total blessedness. What the saints will deserve is to praise the Lord, the song which they sing when they are crowned by His eternal gift. Once they have obtained this, they will lack nothing more; they will have there all that cannot be grasped here: the manna of heaven, satiety which knows no surfeit, a gift beyond understanding, the continual performance of this task, and a constant and burning zeal for it. The hymn, then, is the saints' song directed to the Lord's praise, in which soul and body harmonise with perfect purity. We may appear to utter such praise eagerly here and now, but we can complete it only defec­tively. 

Psalm 148: Laudate Dominum de caelis
Vulgate
Douay-Rheims
Alleluia

1 Laudáte Dóminum de cælis: * laudáte eum in excélsis.
Praise the Lord from the heavens: praise him in the high places.
2  Laudáte eum, omnes Angeli ejus: * laudáte eum, omnes virtútes ejus.
2 Praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his hosts.
3  Laudáte eum, sol et luna: * laudáte eum, omnes stellæ et lumen.
3 Praise him, O sun and moon: praise him, all you stars and light
4  Laudáte eum, cæli cælórum: * et aquæ omnes, quæ super cælos sunt, laudent nomen Dómini.
4 Praise him, you heavens of heavens: and let all   the waters that are above the heavens 5 praise the name of the Lord.
5 Quia ipse dixit, et facta sunt: * ipse mandávit, et creáta sunt.
For he spoke, and they were made: he commanded, and they were created
6  Státuit ea in ætérnum, et in sæculum sæculi: * præcéptum pósuit, et non præteríbit.
6 He has established them for ever, and for ages of ages: he has made a decree, and it shall not pass away.
7  Laudáte Dóminum de terra, * dracónes, et omnes abyssi.
7 Praise the Lord from the earth, you dragons, and all you deeps:
8  Ignis, grando, nix, glácies, spíritus procellárum: * quæ fáciunt verbum ejus:
8 Fire, hail, snow, ice, stormy winds, which fulfil his word:
9  Montes, et omnes colles: * ligna fructífera, et omnes cedri.
9 Mountains and all hills, fruitful trees and all cedars:
10  Béstiæ, et univérsa pécora: * serpéntes, et vólucres pennátæ:
10 Beasts and all cattle: serpents and feathered fowls:
11  Reges terræ, et omnes pópuli: * príncipes, et omnes júdices terræ.
11 Kings of the earth and all people: princes and all judges of the earth:
12  Júvenes, et vírgines : senes cum junióribus laudent nomen Dómini: * quia exaltátum est nomen ejus solíus.
12 Young men and maidens: let the old with the younger, praise the name of the Lord: 13 For his name alone is exalted.
13  Conféssio ejus super cælum et terram: * et exaltávit cornu pópuli sui.
14 The praise of him is above heaven and earth: and he has exalted the horn of his people.
14  Hymnus ómnibus sanctis ejus: * fíliis Israël, pópulo appropinquánti sibi.
A hymn to all his saints to the children of Israel, a people approaching to him. Alleluia

The next psalm in this series on the repeated psalms of the Office is Psalm 149.