Showing posts with label Ps 118. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ps 118. Show all posts

Sunday, August 14, 2016

Psalm 118 - Daleth (Sunday Prime no 4)


 Sunday Prime – daleth (Verses 25- 32): Adhæsit paviménto ánima mea
Vulgate
Douay-Rheims
25. Adhæsit paviménto ánima mea: * vivífica me secúndum verbum tuum.
My soul clung to the dust: revive me according to your word.
26 Vias meas enuntiávi et exaudísti me: * doce me justificatiónes tuas.
I have disclosed my ways and you have heard me : teach me your justifications.
27 Viam justificatiónum tuárum ínstrue me: * et exercébor in mirabílibus tuis.
Instruct me in the ways of your justifications: and I will be exercised with your wondrous works.
28  Dormitávit ánima mea præ tædio: * confírma me in verbis tuis.
My soul has slept because of weariness : confirm me in your word
29 Viam iniquitátis ámove a me: * et de lege tua miserére mei.
Put away from me the ways of iniquity: and from your law have mercy on me.
30 Viam veritátis elégi: * judícia tua non sum oblítus
I have chosen the way of truth: I have not forgotten your judgments.
31 Adhæsi testimóniis tuis Dómine: * noli me confúndere.
 I have adhered to your testimonies Lord: do not let me be confounded.
32 Viam mandatórum tuórum cucúrri: * cum dilatásti cor meum.
I will run in the way of your commandments: when you have enlarged my heart          .


Knox translation:

Deep lies my soul in the dust, restore life to me, as thou hast promised.
Deign, now, to shew me thy will, thou who hast listened when I opened my heart to thee. 
Direct me in the path thou biddest me follow, and all my musing shall be of thy wonderful deeds. Despair wrings tears from me; let thy promises raise me up once more. 
Deliver me from every false thought; make me free of thy covenant. 
Duty’s path my choice, I keep thy bidding ever in remembrance. 
Disappoint me, Lord, never, one that holds fast by thy commandments. 
Do but open my heart wide, and easy lies the path thou hast decreed.

Ancient Christian Commentaries series: 
Revive, teach and strengthen me 
Cassiodorus: 
The council of the faithful passes to the fourth letter, in which they say that they are held bound by physical necessity, and can be saved only by the Lord's devotion. They entreat that He remove from them the ways of iniquity, since they had chosen the path of truth. The human condition is explained by most splendid comparisons.
St Robert Bellarmine:
In the next eight verses David still assumes the person of one imperfect, who is kept back by the concupiscence of the flesh from the perfect observance of the commandments, and asks for grace and help to observe them.
St Benedict:
Therefore must we establish a school of the Lord's service; in founding which we hope to ordain nothing that is harsh or burdensome. But if, for good reason, for the amendment of evil habit or the preservation of charity, there be some strictness of discipline, do not be at once dismayed and run away from the way of salvation, of which the entrance must needs be narrow. But, as we progress in our monastic life and in faith, our hearts shall be enlarged, and we shall run with unspeakable sweetness of love in the way of God's commandments; so that, never abandoning his rule but persevering in his teaching in the monastery until death, we shall share by patience in the sufferings of Christ, that we may deserve to be partakers also of his kingdom. Amen.”  (RB Prologue, trans J McCann)

And you can read more on these verses in my longer post: Daleth Pt 1 and Pt 2 (Enlargement of heart)


Sunday, August 7, 2016

Psalm 118/3 (Ghimel) - Prime, Sunday No 3

beheading of St. Valentine
above: Psalm 118(119):17 ‘Retribue servo tuo, vivifica me, et custodiam sermones tuos.’ ('Deal bountifully with thy servant, that I may live, and keep thy word.’)
Queen Mary Psalter, London 1310-1320.
British Library, Royal...
Beheading of St Valentine
Queen Mary Psalter, London 1310-1320.
British Library, Royal 2 B VII, fol. 243r

Psalm 118 – ghimel (verses 17-24): Retríbue servo tuo

Vulgate
Douay-Rheims
17 Retríbue servo tuo, vivífica me: * et custódiam sermónes tuos.
Deal bountifully with your servant, revive me: and I will keep your words
18  Revéla óculos meos: * et considerábo mirabília de lege tua.
Open my eyes, and I will consider the wonderful things of your law.
19. Incola ego sum in terra: * non abscóndas a me mandáta tua.
I am a stranger on the earth: do not hide your commandments from me.
20  Concupívit ánima mea desideráre justificatiónes tuas, * in omni témpore
My soul has longed to desire your precepts: at all times
21 Increpásti supérbos: * maledícti qui declínant a mandátis tuis.
You have rebuked the proud: cursed are they who turn away from your commandments
22  Aufer a me oppróbrium, et contémptum: * quia testimónia tua exquisívi
Take away from me contempt and reproach: because I have sought your testimonies
23  Etenim sedérunt príncipes, et advérsum me loquebántur: *servus autem tuus exercebátur in justificatiónibus tuis.
For the enthroned princes spoke against me: but your servant had been kept busy with your precepts
24  Nam et testimónia tua meditátio mea est: * et consílium meum justificatiónes tuæ.
For your testimonies are my meditation: and my counsel your justification

The Knox translation, which retains the acrostic nature of this psalm in the Hebrew translates it as:

Crown thy servant with life, to live faithful to thy commands.
Clear sight be mine, to contemplate the wonders of thy law.
Comfort this earthly exile; do not refuse me the knowledge of thy will.
Crushed lies my spirit, longing ever for thy just awards.
Chastener of the proud, thy curse lies on all who swerve from thy covenant.
Clear me of the reproach that shames me, as I was ever attentive to thy claims.
Closeted together, princes plot against me, thy servant, that thinks only of thy decrees.
Claims lovingly cherished, decrees that are my counsellors!


Cassiodorus:
They come to the third letter, in which they confess human need, and commend the Lord's grace in all things. They claim that the proud who persecute the Lord's faithful with unjust agitation are rebuked.
St Robert Bellarmine:
In the next octave he enumerates the obstacles to the observance of the law, and prays for their removal out of his way. 
Fr Pasch:
Overcome obstacles
You can find an extended commentary on this stanza of Psalm 118 here.

Sunday, July 31, 2016

Psalm 118 (Beth) - (Sunday Prime no 2)

Painting by Jean Weyh in the St Stephen's church of Mackenheim, France

Psalm 118, Beth (Vs 9-16): In quo corrigit 

Vulgate
Douay-Rheims
9. In quo córrigit adolescéntior viam suam? * in custodiéndo sermónes tuos.
By what does a young man correct his way? By observing your words
10. In toto corde meo exquisívi te: * ne repéllas me a mandátis tuis.
With my whole heart have I sought after you: let me not stray from your commandments.
11  In corde meo abscóndi elóquia tua: * ut non peccem tibi.
Your words have I hidden in my heart, that I may not sin against you
12. Benedíctus es, Dómine: * doce me justificatiónes tuas.  
Blessed are you, O Lord: teach me your justifications.
13  In lábiis meis, * pronuntiávi ómnia judícia oris tui.
With my lips I have pronounced all the judgments of your mouth.
14  In via testimoniórum tuórum delectátus sum, * sicut in ómnibus divítiis.
I have been delighted in the way of your testimonies, as much as in all riches.
15  In mandátis tuis exercébor: * et considerábo vias tuas.
I will meditate on your commandments: and I will consider your ways.
16 In justificatiónibus tuis meditábor: * non oblivíscar sermónes tuos.
I will think of your justifications: I will not forget your words.


You can hear the verse read aloud in Latin here.


This octave of verses starts by talking about the importance of starting out on the right path as a young person, and ends with a rejection of ‘forgetfulness’, or falling away from God. Taken together, they are, I think, a prayer for the grace of perseverance.

Beth is the second psalm of Sunday Prime, and essentially has the same message as the second psalm of Monday Prime (Psalm 2), namely the call for us to take refuge in God, and submit to his discipline.   This portion of Psalm 118 urges us to start young, listen carefully to what God is saying, and remember them always by the practice of meditation.  In short, conversion takes effort.


Cassiodorus:
In the section of the first letter, the faithful people pointed to the spheres of blessedness in which they begged to be maintained; they now under the second letter reveal the time of conversion, and by quoting the Lord's words also state what delights they are to enjoy.
Fr Pasch:
Serve God with all your strength

You can read more on these verses of Psalm 118 here.

Sunday, July 24, 2016

Psalm 118 (Aleph) - Sunday Prime

Don Silvestro dei Gherarducci - Gradual from Santa Maria degli Angeli - folio 80 - Saint Michael Fighting the Dragon in an Initial B (Abegg-Stiftung).jpg
Don Silvestro dei Gherarducci - Gradual from Santa Maria degli Angeli
 - folio 80 -  (Abegg-Stiftung)

Psalm 118 - Aleph
Vulgate
Douay-Rheims
Alleluia
Alleluia
Beati immaculati in via, qui ambulant in lege Domini.
Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord.
2 Beati qui scrutantur testimonia ejus; in toto corde exquirunt eum.
Blessed are they that search his testimonies: that seek him with their whole heart.
3 Non enim qui operantur iniquitatem in viis ejus ambulaverunt.
For they that work iniquity, have not walked in his ways.
4 Tu mandasti mandata tua custodiri nimis.
You have commanded your commandments to be kept most diligently.
5 Utinam dirigantur viæ meæ ad custodiendas justificationes tuas.
O! That my ways may be directed to keep your justifications.
6 Tunc non confundar, cum perspexero in omnibus mandatis tuis.
Then shall I not be confounded, when I shall look into all your commandments.
7 Confitebor tibi in directione cordis, in eo quod didici judicia justitiæ tuæ.
I will praise you with uprightness of heart, when I shall have learned the judgments of your justice.
8 Justificationes tuas custodiam; non me derelinquas usquequaque.
I will keep your justifications: O! Do not utterly forsake me.

The first 'psalm' of Sunday Prime in the Benedictine Office is the first of the 22 stanzas, one for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet, of Psalm 118, the longest psalm in the Bible.  You can hear it read aloud here.

Christianity is above all, a philosophy of life, aimed at the achievement of happiness both now and for all eternity, and here the psalmist tells us that meditation on God’s law (thought of broadest sense) is the key to that happiness. These verses stress that the path to happiness lies in following God’s law. But it is not enough, they tell us, to simply think that we are doing the right thing; rather we are charged to actively seek out God's testimonies.

The opening verses of Psalm 118 really just recapitulate the ideas of verses 1-2 of Psalm 1, said on Monday at Prime, which point to the importance of meditation on God’s law as the path to happiness.

Psalm 1 says:

Beátus vir, qui non ábiit in consílio impiórum, et in via peccatórum non stetit,et in cáthedra pestiléntiæ non sedit. Sed in lege Dómini volúntas ejus, et in lege ejus meditábitur die ac nocte. 
“Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the chair of pestilence: But his will is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he shall meditate day and night”

Psalm 118 says:
Beati immaculati in via, qui ambulant in lege Domini. Beati qui scrutantur testimonia ejus; in toto corde exquirunt eum. 
“Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord. Blessed are they that search his testimonies: that seek him with their whole heart.”

The main difference between the two is that Psalm 1 talks of one man, Christ, appropriate to a Monday Office which St Benedict has, I think, shaped to focus on the Incarnation.  By contrast on Sunday we celebrate the Resurrection which opens up the way to heaven to the many, hence St Benedict perhaps thought the focus on the happiness of the blessed in the plural, particularly appropriate.

The Knox translation attempts to replicate the acrostic flavour of the original so is worth looking at:

Ah, blessed they, who pass through life’s journey unstained, who follow the law of the Lord!
Ah, blessed they, who cherish his decrees, make him the whole quest of their hearts!
Afar from wrong-doing, thy sure paths they tread.
Above all else it binds us, the charge thou hast given us to keep.
Ah, how shall my steps be surely guided to keep faith with thy covenant?
Attentive to all thy commandments, I go my way undismayed.
A true heart’s worship thou shalt have, thy just awards prompting me.
All shall be done thy laws demand, so thou wilt not forsake me utterly.



Scriptural and liturgical uses of the psalm

Mt 5:3 (v2)
RB cursus
Sunday Prime
Monastic feasts etc
-
Roman pre 1911
Prime daily
Responsories
-
Roman post 1911
1911-62: Sunday Prime .
1970:
Mass propers (EF)
PP17 IN (1);
CO (4-5);
PP 20&21 IN (1);
Lent 3 Thurs CO (4-5)


And you can find more detailed notes on each verse of the psalm here.


Friday, March 28, 2014

The liturgical genius of St Benedict: Christ the fulfillment of the law**

Those who have been listening to Fr Cassian Folsom's series on Praying without Ceasing will know that one of his key themes has been the need to recover the reading of the psalms as the Fathers and St Benedict would have read them, above all, Christologically.   Fr Cassian has also drawn attention to the idea that St Benedict literally interprets the Office as being about Christ: put nothing before the work of God/Put nothing before Christ.

I came across a possible solution to something that has been puzzling me yesterday, and it is a nice example, I think, that takes what Fr Cassian has been talking about just a step further.  Accordingly, I thought I would share it partly by way of encouragement to catch up with his talks if you haven't already done so; partly as a taster for some broader research on the structure of the Office I hope to share here in due course; and also to stimulate your own meditations on the Office.

Any  comments on the plausibility or otherwise of my hypotheses below will be gratefully received on or offline.

The puzzle of Prime

One of the key features of the Benedictine Office, compared to the Roman Office that St Benedict took as his starting point, is the design of Prime.  In the old Roman Office, Prime to None were the same every day, featuring Psalm 118.  St Benedict instead varies the psalms for this hour every day, using Psalms 1-2, 6-19 and four stanzas of Psalm 118.

In many ways the use of these particular psalms is an odd one on the face of it, for instead of Sunday Matins starting the week with Psalm 1, it starts seemingly in the middle of things, with Psalm 20 (though as it turns out, that psalm is particularly apt to Sunday given that the Fathers saw it as pertaining to the Resurrection; and the likewise the psalms that follow).

Once one starts looking more closely though, there are in fact several reasons why St Benedict might have chosen to highlight these particular psalms.  Dom John Fortin pointed out some years back, for example, that they seem to echo some of the key themes in the Rule [1].

Christ the fulfillment of the law?

The particular feature of the Prime psalms that I've been interested in though, is their emphasis on the law. There are, in the psalter, three psalms that deal above all with the law, known as the three 'Torah psalms', namely Psalms 1, 18 (19) and 118 (119).  All three feature at Prime one day after another: Psalm 18, which features the line 'The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul' on Saturday (the old Sabbath); four stanzas of Psalm 118, the long hymn in praise of the law, on Sunday; and Psalm 1, 'Happy the man...who meditates on the law day and night', on Monday.

The threefold repetition is surely no accident, but rather symbolises the Trinity and perfection.

But what seemed particularly puzzling to me is why St Benedict arranges things so that this little trilogy starts on Saturday.  One possible answer is suggested, I think, by yesterday's Matins readings (for Thursday in the third week of Lent).

One of the most important themes of the Fathers was the idea of Christ as the fulfilment of the law.  A nice example of how this theme plays out in Patristic Scriptural exegesis is provided by St Ambrose's comments on why the first miracles recorded in St Luke's Gospel are of Christ healing on the Sabbath.  St Ambrose comments that:

"That the Lord began to heal on the Sabbath-day showeth in a figure how that the new creation beginneth where the old creation ended. 

It showeth, moreover, that the Son of God, Who is come not to destroy the law but to fulfil the law, is not under the law, but above the law.

Neither was it by the law, but by the Word, that the world was created, as it is written "By the Word of the Lord were the heavens made."


The law, then, is not destroyed, but fulfilled, in the Redemption of fallen man. Whence also the Apostle saith: "Put off, concerning the former conversation, the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts and be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness."


Our hymn of praise to the law at Prime then, starts, as St Ambrose suggests on the Sabbath, to symbolise that the new creation starts where the old ends.

It continues on the 'eighth day', that celebrates the Resurrection and our redemption.

And is repeated a third time on Monday, a day I suggest that St Benedict makes a celebration of the Incarnation (most of the psalms of Matins are clearly linked to this theme by the patristic commentaries, indeed virtually the whole of the Benedictus and Magnificat can be reconstructed from lines in these psalms; moreover, Psalm 2 at Prime gives us the Introit verse for the Midnight Mass of Christmas).

It is a nice tie in that seems to me to illustrate the deeply Christological approach that St Benedict took to the design of his Office.

Christ the King

Just to reinforce that point, I should note that St Benedict actually takes the repetition of ideas further than the idea of Christ as the fulfillment of the law, for it is not just the 'Torah' psalms themselves we should look at, but also the other psalms placed with them.

In particular, on both Saturday and Monday we are also presented, in the following psalm, with the image of Christ the victorious king.  Michael Barber, in his book Singing in the Reign [2], drew attention to the similarities in content between Psalms 1 and 2 (Monday), and Psalms 18 (19) and 19 (20) (Saturday):

"Psalm 19 [18] is unique because of  its strong emphasis on wisdom.  Its role may be better understood when examined in light of Psalm 20 [19].  Together these two psalms - situated at the centre of book I - mirror Psalms 1 and 2.  Psalm 19 exalts the law of the Lord, the source of wisdom: "The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple" (v. 7).  Them Psalm 20 evokes Psalm 2, speaking of the Lord's deliverance of the Davidic king from his enemies, sending support from Zion.  Thus, as in Psalms 1 and 2, wisdom is connected with the victorious Davidic king."

A similar point can be made on the similarities in content between these two sets of psalms, and the first four stanzas of Psalm 118 St Benedict uses at Sunday Prime.  Both Sunday Prime and Monday, for example, begin with a beatitude, praise the importance of the law, call for or prophesy the destruction of enemies and point to the victory 'over princes' (Ps 2; Ps 118, esp 21-23).

There is also arguably a reason why St Benedict uses Psalm 118 at Sunday Prime rather than Saturday or Monday, for on Monday, the beatitude contained in Psalm 1 'Happy the Man' is singular, referring as St Augustine insists in his commentary, to Christ himself.  Psalm 118, on the other hand, opens with a plural beatitude (Happy those who...): for Christ has opened the way to many through his Resurrection.

This particular example of a key motif in the Benedictine Office is also strongly suggestive of the linkages between the organisation of the Benedictine Office and St Benedict's spirituality more generally.

The dominant image of Christ as King certainly seems to echo through the Rule of St Benedict, for the very opening lines of the Prologue invite the monk to enlist in the army of the true King, Christ, and its an image that is repeated several times through the Rule directly (eg 42.4; 61.10), as well as underpinning the directions on how to pray (Chapter 20) and how to welcome visitors (RB 53).  A similar point can be made about the association between the Rule and the law.

The spirituality of St Benedict's Office?

Is this all too much of a stretch?  Personally I think that this example serves to illustrate the importance of looking at the psalms the way St Benedict would have, in order to unpack the true depths of meaning of his Office, and has hopefully served as a taster for a more thorough reconsideration of the design of the Benedictine Office.

Most contemporary commentators on St Benedict's Office, it has to be said, have struggled to find any systematic thematic or programmatic intent in St Benedict's psalm selections [3].  The consensus view has long been that established by Dom Adalbert de Vogue back in the 1960s, to the effect that St Benedict's changes to the old Roman Psalter were essentially minor ones, aimed primarily at giving the hours from Prime to None a little more variety. [4]  Indeed, James McKinnon summarised the received view on St Benedict's reforms of the Office as follows:

"The process was clearly not one motivated by selecting thematically appropriate psalms.  There was a measure of that only at Lauds and Compline.  Rather, the process was, in Vogues words, a "mechanistic" one, "a matter of a very modest task of arithmetic."[5]

My view is though, that a careful look at the psalms read in the light of the Fathers, as well as close examination of what actually lies behind the liturgical provisions of the Rule, will lead to a rather different conclusion.

Far from being purely mechanistic, I think St Benedict's construction of his Office was a very deliberate work indeed, with his ordering of the psalter aimed at providing both horizontal and vertical unity to it, and reflects a deeply Christological theology.

I'm certainly not the first to suggest this: there have been a few lonely voices that have hints of a deeper spirituality behind St Benedict's design of his psalter, and my comments build on this work. [6]  One key recent contribution, I think, is that of ex-Trappist turned Orthodox scholar Patrick Reardon, who has pointed to the existence of a weekly cycle in both the Orthodox and Benedictine Offices, that runs from Wednesday to Sunday each week and echoes the events of Holy Week. [7]  This cycle, he suggests, starts on Wednesday, with the betrayal of Christ by Judas (reflected in the fact that this was traditionally a fast day in the Benedictine Rule), takes in the events of the Triduum, and ends on Sunday, with a weekly mini-Easter Day celebration of the Resurrection.  All the same, he argues that the Benedictine psalter's programmatic focus is relatively limited, particularly compared to the Orthodox version.

My own view is that closer examination reveals that St Benedict's program is actually much more far reaching.  The bottom line is that in my view, far from representing a purely mechanistic process of adaptation, St Benedict's Office arguably represents a very deliberate spiritual agenda indeed.

Such an agenda does not, of course, have to be understood explicitly in order to shape a particular spirituality: as the experience of the old and new rites of the Mass suggests, an implicit theology can be a surprisingly powerful force in shaping attitudes and understandings.

Prime is of course, one of those hours that no longer exists in the horariums of most modern monasteries.  Indeed, even many monasteries that still say the entire psalter each week have abolished the hour.

Accordingly, making explicit what is implicit in St Benedict's Office may help make the case for the recovery of St Benedict's Office as part of the patrimony of his Order, as well as stimulate our own meditations on the psalms, and enhance our understanding of the Office more generally.  Accordingly, I hope you have found this 'taster' of interest.

Footnotes

[1] John D Fortin, “The Presence of God: a linguistic and thematic link between the doctrinal and liturgical sections of the Rule of Saint Benedict”, Downside Review 117 (1999) 293-308.

[2] Michael Barber, Singing in the Reign The Psalms and the Liturgy of God's Kingdom (with an introduction by Scott Hahn), Emmaus Road Publishing, 2001; pp90.

[3]  The two standard histories of the Office in general, which draw together and provide references to most of the key research on the Benedictine Office are Robert Taft, The Liturgy of the Hours in East and West The Origins of the Divine Office and its Meaning for Today, Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, rev ed, 1993, and Paul F Bradshaw, Daily Prayer in the Early Church A Study of the Origin and Early Development of the Divine Office, Eugene: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2008 reprint.

[4] For the mainstream views of the Office within the Order, see Adalbert de Vogüé, OSB, The Rule of Saint Benedict A Doctrinal and Spiritual Commentary, trans John Baptist Hasbrouck, Cistercian Publications: Kalamazoo, Michigan, 1983, pp 127-163; Timothy Fry OSB, Imogene Baker OSB, Timothy Horner OSB, Augusta Raabe OSB and Mark Sheridan OSB editors.  RB 1980. The Rule of St Benedict in Latin and English with Notes. Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1981; and Terrence G. Kardong, OSB, Benedict’s Rule. A Translation and Commentary. Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1996, pp209-217.

[5] James McKinnon, "The Origins of the Western Office", pp 63-73 in The Divine Office in the Middle Ages, Methodology and Source Studies, Regional Developments, Hagiography, Written in Honor of Professor Ruth Steiner, edited by Ruth Steiner, Margot Elsbeth Fassler, Rebecca Anne Baltzer, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2000: 72.

[6] See for example Laszlo Dobszay,“Critical Reflections on the Bugnini Liturgy: The Divine Office”, 1983 PDF available from http://musicasacra.com/literature/

[7] Patrick Henry Reardon, Christ in the Psalms, Conciliar Press, revised 2011.  See especially pp 125-126; 181-182.  It should be noted that helpful as this book is, it needs to be treated with some care from a Catholic perspective.  I should also note that I've recently come across a reference to a book on the psalms of the Benedictine psalter by the German monk Georg Braulik, which from its blurb at least sounds promising in this context; my copy has yet to arrive however.

**Update: I've now got the Braulik book, and at first glance at least, though of academic interest at least (providing you can read German) it is less relevant than I had hoped, being concerned primarily with modern arrangements of the psalter rather than St Benedict's (though there is a chapter on the Sunday Office that may have some relevant material in it).


**Cross-posted from Saints Will Arise

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Saying psalms as a Lenten penance



As we have now moved into the lead in season to Lent, of Septuagesima, it is time to start thinking about Lenten penances!

Advice from St Benedict

During Lent, St Benedict, in his Rule. suggests that we adopt not just one form of penance, but rather an integrated regime.

Everyone, of course, monk and layman alike, was traditionally bound to the strict Lenten fast.

To that, St Benedict added to that extra time in the day for lectio divina, with the instruction to read one book (selected by the abbot) straight through.

He also instructs that we:

"...refrain from sin and apply ourselves to prayer with tears, to reading, compunction of heart, and to abstinence.  In these days, therefore, let us add something beyond the wonted measure of our service, such as private prayers and abstinence in food and drink..."

The psalms as a Lenten penance

By way of private prayers to add, one possible option for this seems to me to say and study the psalms. There are some sets of psalms particularly appropriate for this purpose that you could consider.

1.  Psalm 118:  One option would be to say some or all of Psalm 118 (the longest psalm of the psalter), that great hymn of praise for the law, and one with an ancient history if a  letter attributed to St Benedict's sister, St Scholastica, describing Lenten practices at her monastery is to be believed.  You can find a set of notes, with one part for each day (mostly one post per stanza) of Lenten penitential obligation, here.

2.  Holy Week Tenebrae: A second option might be to say and meditate on the psalms used for the special night Office of Tenebrae during the Sacred Triduum.  You can a series of notes on these psalms from last year's Lent series listed with background and links here.

3.  The Gradual Psalms: Another traditional option is to say the fifteen gradual psalms (Psalms 119-133).  The Gradual Psalms, or Songs of Ascent, have a traditional association with Easter, as they were originally probably pilgrim songs sung as the people travelled to Jerusalem for major feasts such as the Passover, and also have an association with the solemn ascent of the fifteen steps of the Temple at the entry to the feast.

Although fifteen psalms might sound a lot, in fact they are mostly very short (and include two of the shortest psalms in the psalter).  In fact the Gradual Psalms were typically all said before Matins each day in most monasteries from the ninth century onwards, and when this obligation was commuted, it remained obligatory for monks and clerics to say them at a minimum on Wednesdays in Lent for many centuries.  In their devotional arrangement, which you can find here, the first five are offered the dead, the second five for the expiation of our sins, and the final five for our particular intentions.

I had actually been planning to do a Lenten series of notes on these, but looking at them find that they don't really lend themselves to a particularly Lenten flavour of meditations, so I'll save these for sometime after Easter.

The Seven Penitential Psalms

The most traditional psalm set of all for Lent though, is saying the Seven Penitential Psalms each day (or you could do one a day if that is too much!).

After some reflection that is what I'm planning to do again this year, so on this blog during Lent I'm going to revisit my previous series on these psalms (originally posted over at Australia Incognita blog), and provide some new material, particularly focusing on those psalms used in the day hours of the Benedictine Office that I haven't yet deal with here in any detail, viz Psalms 50 and 142.

More on this anon.


Saturday, February 8, 2014

Psalm 118: Masterpost



Psalm 118 (119), at 176 verses, is the longest in the psalter, and an important one, devoted to the praise of the law.

It is neatly divided into twenty-two stanzas of eight verses, and in Hebrew it is one of the alphabetic psalms, presumably to facilitate memorization.

Psalm 118 in the Office

In the older form of the Roman Office, it was said daily, from Prime to None.

St Benedict, however, spreads it over Sunday and Monday in his form of the Office.  One can perhaps view this as in juxtaposition to his use of the Gradual Psalms for the remainder of the week: the law (Psalm 118) is a necessary foundation for the ascent of grace (Psalms 119-133).

Many verses of the psalm are used in Mass propers, and it has much in it that makes it worth meditating on at any time, as well as in the context of the Office.

As a Lenten devotion

The series below, however, was written as a Lenten series.

Saying Psalm 118 daily as a Lenten penance has some tradition behind it, for a letter found in a medieval manuscript purporting to be from St Scholastica to a fellow abbess, which details the Lenten practices at her monastery says that:

"Nonna Marcellina asked me if she might pray the Beati immaculati (Psalm 118) daily through Lent. She knows it by heart, of course."

The links below show how the psalm is allocated between the hours of the Benedictine Office.

SUNDAY

Prime

(Introduction to Psalm 118 Pt 1Part IIPart III & Part IV)

Psalm 118 (Aleph) - Beati immaculati
Psalm 118 (Beth) - In quo corrigit
Psalm 118 (Ghimel) - Retribue servo tuo
Psalm 118 (Daleth) - Adhaesit pavimento anima mea &vs 32 (cum dilatasti cor meum)

Terce

Psalm 118 (He) - Legem pone mihi
Psalm 118 (Vau) - Et veniet super misericordia tua Domine
Psalm 118 (Zain) - Memor esto verbi tui servo tuo & Vs 52-56:Cantabiles mihi

Sext

Psalm 118 (Heth) - Portio mea Domine & Verses 63&64: Particeps ego sum
Psalm 118 (Teth) - Bonitatem fecisti cum servo tuo Domine
Psalm 118 (Jod) - Manus tuae fecerunt me

None

Psalm 118 (Caph) - Deficit in salutare tuum anima mea
Psalm 118 (Lamed) - In aeternum Domine
Psalm 118 (Mem) - Quomodo dilexi legem tuam Domine

MONDAY

Friday, August 17, 2012

Psalm 91: our anti-Jewish roots?!



In my commentary on the other Psalm of Friday Lauds in the traditional Benedictine Office, Psalm 75 (76), I suggested that its selection reflected its clear allusion to the events of Good Friday, particularly the reference to the earthquake that occurred at the hour of Our Lord's death on the Cross.

I have to say though that for a long time I was fairly puzzled about the reasons for the inclusion of Psalm 91(92) on Friday.  It certainly contains allusions to the Crucifixion, but overall it is a rather joyous hymn; indeed its title suggests that in the Jewish tradition it was said on the sabbath (ie Saturday), and indeed the Old Roman Office retained that position for it.

Christ's sacrifice replaces those of the Temple

Eminent Orthodox scholar Patrick Reardon, in his book Christ in the Psalms, however, has provided an elegant and plausible solution to this puzzle, for he notes that as well as the Sabbath, Jewish commentaries state that it was sung daily as an accompaniment to the daily morning sacrifice of a lamb.  Reardon, accordingly, sees the shift of the psalm to Friday Lauds as a testimony to the idea that Friday is "our true the true Pascha and Atonement Day, on which the Lamb of God took away the sins of the world."

He sees Psalm 91 as a reminder that the Old Covenant, which merely foreshadowed what was to come, has ended, and the New has replaced it:

"Prayed on Friday mornings, as the ancient Western monastic rule prescribed, this psalm reminds the Church why it is no longer necessary to make the daily offering of lambs in the temple, for those sacrifices had only "a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things" (Heb. 10:1). With respect to those quotidian lambs offered of old, we are told that "every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins" (10:11). But, with respect to the Lamb in the midst of the Throne, we are told that "this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God . . . For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified" (10:12-14). This is the true Lamb to whom we chant: "You are worthy to take the scroll, / And to open its seals; / For You were slain, / And have redeemed us to God by Your blood" (Rev. 5:9)." (p181)

St Benedict on the Old Covenant

Is it plausible that St Benedict was aware of the Jewish tradition?   Sociologist Rodney Stark has drawn attention, in a number of his books on the early Church, on the close relationship and competition between Jewish and Christian communities in the early Church.  Certainly there is a large volume of Patristic literature which St Benedict would have had access to, directed against the Jews that is plausibly explained by the problem of relapsing/Judaizing Christians.  And there was also a lot of other material on Jewish culture available at the time: Cassiodorus attests, for example, that Josephus' Antiquities for example was available in Latin at this time.   The idea that St Benedict would deliberately shift this psalm out of Saturday as something of a statement on the Old Covenant is also supported, I think, by two other instances in the design of his Office where I think St Benedict may be having a subtle poke at the Jews.    One instance concerns Psalm 118, which the traditional Roman Office gets through in a day, but St Benedict spreads over Sunday and Monday. St Benedict ends Sunday, the eighth day's, segments of the psalm with the psalmist claiming to have outshone his teachers and those of old in his understanding.

The second case also has to do with the Sunday Office: on Sundays he sets Psalm 117 at Lauds and ends Vespers with Psalm 112.  These are the last and first respectively of the Hallel psalms, songs of praise used on Jewish festivals.  A kind of coded allusion to the promise of their eventual conversion in that the first shall be last and the last first?

The scandal of the Cross  

In any case, if the overall theme of the day is Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross, in this psalm, I think we are called on to contemplate the deep mystery of God’s plan (vs 5). The fool, the psalmist states in verse 6, fails to understand: to him, St Paul points out, the Cross is a scandal.   Yet the Cross enables all of us to be reconciled to God through Christ. Indeed, the Fathers interpreted verse 10, talking about the exaltation of the horn of the unicorn, as a direct reference to Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection. Horned animals were sacrificed to God, as Our Lord became the Lamb of God on the Cross.

St Benedict's overall take on Good Friday though, is a relatively upbeat one, I think, focused on the promise of the Resurrection rather than dwelling unduly on the Cross.

And if his move of this psalm from the Jewish Sabbath to Friday is something of a statement, it is one with a note of hope in it as well, for St Benedict was surely aware that St Paul (Rom 11:33) quotes verse 6 of the psalm immediately after his prophesy of the ultimate reconciliation of the Jewish people to Christ.

Psalm 91

Psalm 91 (92): Bonum est confiteri Dominum

Vulgate
Douay-Rheims
Psalmus cantici, in die sabbati.
A psalm of a canticle on the sabbath day.
1 Bonum est confitéri dómino: * et psállere nómini tuo, altíssime.
It is good to give praise to the Lord: and to sing to your name, O most High.
2  Ad annuntiándum mane misericórdiam tuam: * et veritátem tuam per noctem
3 To show forth your mercy in the morning, and your truth in the night:
3  In decachórdo, psaltério: * cum cántico, in cíthara.
4 Upon an instrument of ten strings, upon the psaltery: with a canticle upon the harp.
4. Quia delectásti me, Dómine, in factúra tua: * et in opéribus mánuum tuárum exsultábo.
5 For you have given me, O Lord, a delight in your doings: and in the works of your hands I shall rejoice.
5  Quam magnificáta sunt ópera tua, Dómine! * nimis profúndæ factæ sunt cogitatiónes tuæ
6 O Lord, how great are your works! your thoughts are exceeding deep.
6  Vir insípiens non cognóscet: * et stultus non intélliget hæc.
7 The senseless man shall not know: nor will the fool understand these things.
7  Cum exórti fúerint peccatóres sicut fœnum: * et apparúerint omnes, qui operántur iniquitátem.
8 When the wicked shall spring up as grass: and all the workers of iniquity shall appear:
8  Ut intéreant in sæculum sæculi: * tu autem Altíssimus in ætérnum, Dómine.
That they may perish for ever and ever: 9 But you, O Lord, are most high for evermore.
9  Quóniam ecce inimíci tui, Dómine, quóniam ecce inimíci tui períbunt: * et dispergéntur omnes, qui operántur iniquitátem.
10 For behold your enemies, O lord, for behold your enemies shall perish: and all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered.
10. Et exaltábitur sicut unicórnis cornu meum: * et senéctus mea in misericórdia úberi.
11 But my horn shall be exalted like that of the unicorn: and my old age in plentiful mercy.
11  Et despéxit óculus meus inimícos meos: * et in insurgéntibus in me malignántibus áudiet auris mea.
12 My eye also has looked down upon my enemies: and my ear shall hear of the downfall of the malignant that rise up against me.
12  Justus, ut palma florébit: * sicut cedrus Líbani multiplicábitur.
13 The just shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow up like the cedar of Libanus.
13  Plantáti in domo Dómini, *  in átriis domus Dei nostri florébunt.
14 They that are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of the house of our God.
14  Adhuc multiplicabúntur in senécta úberi: * et bene patiéntes erunt,  ut annúntient:
15 They shall still increase in a fruitful old age: and shall be well treated, 16 that they may show, 
15  Quóniam rectus Dóminus, Deus noster: * et non est iníquitas in eo.
That the Lord our God is righteous, and there is no iniquity in him.