Chapter 18: The order for reciting the psalms (paragraphs 1-2)

Each hour begins with following verse: O God come to my assistance, O Lord make haste to help me. (From para. 1 of Ch. 18 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry OSB, 1997.)

How wonderful that Benedict directed his monks to begin each hour of the Divine Office, with the same verse that Cassian had recommended as a formula for continuous prayer. And, for Fr John, Cassian's recommendation of a formula became the key to his recovering the Christian tradition of the mantra. The psalmist, Cassian, St. Benedict and John Main all point me continuously towards God.