Chapter 15: When the Alleluia should be said

From the holy feast of Easter until Pentecost the Alleluia must always be said in the psalms and the responsories. From Pentecost until the beginning of Lent it is said only with the last six psalms in the night office. On every Sunday outside Lent, however, the Alleluia is included in Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext and None, but at Vespers an antiphon is intoned instead. The Alleluia is never added to the responsories except from Easter to Pentecost. (Ch. 15 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)

Benedict seems careful to include the Alleluia throughout all the times of the year, except, of course, for Lent. Alleluia, for me, is an utterance of joy, a prayer that can take my whole being to say. Like the mantra, the saying can lead me ever closer to continuous prayer.