ENLARGING THE HEART UPDATE: 1ST January 2015 We now begin a new series of commentaries on the Rule of our Holy Father Saint Benedict (Series 3). We hope this will continue to be a source of spiritual nourishment for you. Daily readings from the Rule of Saint Benedict By a Benedictine of Saint Cecilia's Abbey, Ryde "... 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." (From the Prologue of the Rule of Saint Benedict) |
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St
Benedict wrote his Rule for monks some fifteen centuries ago. Driven by his love of Christ, he wanted to
establish his monastery as a “school of the Lord’s service”: a place where
people who truly seek God could find him; places where “authentic Gospel values
prevail”[1];
where nothing whatever would be preferred to Christ. The Rule of St Benedict
spread all over Europe, and had an enormous influence on the life and spirituality
of the Latin Church. It continues to
inspire monks, nuns, and countless lay people throughout the world today. Like
many monasteries we divide the Rule into sections so that the whole Rule is
covered over a period of three months. The commentaries will follow the
sequence of the sections. |
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How the Night
Office is to be said on Sundays June 14, On Sundays let the brethren rise earlier for the
Night Office, in which the following order is to be observed: six psalms and a
verse having been said, as we have above prescribed, and all being seated at
their places in their proper order, let four lessons with their responsories be
read from the lectionary, as we have said above; and to the last responsory
only let the reader add the "Gloria," which when he begins, let all
reverently rise. After these lessons,
six other psalms follow in order, with their antiphons and a verse as before;
thereafter, four more lessons are to be read, with their responsories, in the
manner above prescribed. Next, let three
canticles from the prophets be said, as the Abbot shall appoint. These canticles are to be sung with an
Alleluia. Then, a verse having been said
and the Abbot having given the blessing, let four lessons be read from the New
Testament as above directed. After the
fourth responsory let the Abbot begin the hymn, "Te Deum." Which hymn being said, the Abbot will read a
lesson from the Gospel, while all stand in reverence and awe, and at the end
let all answer, "Amen." The
Abbot will then intone the hymn, "Te decet laus"; and after the blessing
has been given, let them begin Lauds. This order for the Night Office is always to be
observed on Sunday, in summer as well as in winter, unless perhaps the brethren
rise too late (which God forbid), for then some of the lessons or responsories
would have to be shortened. Let all
care, however, be taken that this does not happen; but if it should, let him
through whose neglect it may have come to pass make due satisfaction to God in
the oratory. Apart from the
celebration of the Eucharist, the oldest of the Sunday services is the
Vigil. The chief Vigil office, and the
one most fervently celebrated has always been the Easter vigil. In the
beginning this vigil occupied the whole night. In imitation of the Easter
vigil, various churches developed the practice of beginning certain solemnities
with a vigil--the Nativity of Christ and Pentecost foremost among them. In like manner, the anniversaries of saints
when celebrated at their tombs and pilgrimages were traditionally marked by
vigils. Monks have always engaged in daily nocturnal prayer. Each vigil is a
celebration of the paschal mystery. The Easter vigil is anticipated and
re-lived every day at Vigils. And the paschal Vigil and the celebration of
Easter is liturgically the point of reference for everything, the meaning of
the whole Christian life. It takes place
in the hours of darkness, expressing the monks' watchfulness and longing for
God; the monk is awake and praying while most people in the outside world are
asleep. The vigils experience is one of listening, hoping, longing for the
deifying light which will illuminate us.
We are the watchman waiting for
the dawn so that we can share our hope with others who see no sign of the sun rising. Monks and nuns have always made the lines of
Isaiah 62:6 their own. “Upon your walls O Jerusalem I have set watchmen; all
the day and all the night they shall never silent.” We watch and keep alert, praying to God so
that we can live in the darkness of the night without being part of that
darkness. The Night Office says:
even when it is dark one may encounter God and praise him; even in the dark we
may meet God. In our night praise we are
claiming that even now in the night the Lord of life comes to meet us. |