Chapter 14: The celebration of Vigils on feasts of saints
On the feasts of saints and on all other solemnities Vigils should follow the order laid down for the celebration of Sunday except that the psalms, antiphons and readings that are appropriate to the day should be recited; the order of the liturgy itself remains the same as that described for Sunday. (Ch. 14 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry OSB, 1997.)
The phrase "communion of saints" has come to take on much more meaning in my life through the practice of meditation. Selfless attention points me away from myself, toward communion and community -- and toward belonging.
There are two thoughts that stand out for me because of Benedict’s placement of importance on the feasts of saints in praying the Divine Office.
ReplyDeleteThere is first the desire for God which is God’s desire for us(from Fr. Laurence, Thursday of Lent-Week One), for all of us, me included. I have to put that part about me in there because I can always point the finger away from me. “Who me, Lord?”
And, secondly, this from an article for the support for a new saint, a Father Stanley Francis, who was shot in 1981 at a mission he served in Guatamala. He was from a small town, Okarche, Oklahoma. The woman advancing his cause wrote, “We need the witness of holy men and women who remind us that we are called to holiness- and that holy men and women come from ordinary places…”(EWTN news, Feb. 18, 2016)
I look at my ordinary prayer practice again and see that it is God looking for me at least twice a day in the words of the Divine Office and coming to meet me in the meditation practice. What takes place in prayer spills over into my "ordinary" day through my own faith in God’s grace which is everywhere.