Chapter 17: The number of psalms to be sung at the hours
We have already set out the order of the psalms for Vigils and for Lauds. Now let us look at the order of the psalms for the rest of the Hours. (From para. 1 of Ch. 17 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)
Benedict's instructions about ordering the psalms for the hours, like the disciplined repetition of the mantra, teach me that God is always with me -- that Jesus is praying in me, that I am called to join him in the river of constant praise to the Father.
I do not have to look far to find a way of entering into the presence of God. Mantra repetition has become a constant. Praying through the Psalms is another way. I bring together the past and the present and enter with Christ(who prayed these psalms also)into the presence of God. In praying these Psalms, I allow God to do His work within me here and now.
ReplyDeleteBenedict arranges the Hours of the Day so that Psalm 20 ends up on Sunday. So I re-read that psalm now and see it as a song of triumph and thanksgiving. Reminds me, Abba, that if you are for me who or what can stand against me? And this conviction is not simply an escape or a self-delusion process. As John Main puts it: “ The tensions, the pressures, the challenges, all remain but they do not have power over us when we have built our lives on the rock that is Christ. That is the true task. That is the true challenge . . . .”. (“The Way of Meditation, Moment of Christ”.) For me, that personal foundation construction project is what meditation and the mantra are all about.
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