Chapter 12: The celebration of solemn Lauds

For Lauds on Sunday the sixty sixth psalm should be said first of all straight through without an antiphon.

(From Ch. 12 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry OSB, 1997.)

O God, be gracious and bless us/and let your face shed its light upon us. (Ps. 66/67:1-2). This verse has always expressed extraordinary energy for me, of the penetrating and enlivening power of the sun, and of the love of the creator for his creatures. It also speaks to me of the human consciousness of Jesus who lives in and illumines my heart.