Chapter 9: The number of psalms at the night office
During this winter season the office of Vigils begins with this verse recited three times; Lord, open my lips and my mouth will declare your praise. (From para. 1 of Ch. 8 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry OSB, 1997.)
The images of night and winter are metaphors, for me, of the experience of silence and stillness in meditation. In faith, God "opens my lips" to a silent, interior saying of the mantra, and in this way, the praise of selfless attention is born.
I am minded of the Native American chief telling his grandson that everyone has a white wolf and a black wolf battling inside them. The boy asked the old man, “Which one wins?’ “The one you feed,’ he replied. Praying the Divine Office and Lectio can feed my white wolf. Help me, Abba, to make you and your word, today, my priority.
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