Monday of the Twenty-Seventh Week in Ordinary Time

Our Lady of Aparecida (Brazil)

Readings of the Day

RB: Ch 9 The Number of Psalms at the Night Office

Mass: Gal 4:22-24, 26-27, 31-5:1; Resp Ps 113; Lk 11:29-32

High above the nations is the Lord; above the heavens is His glory.

We began yesterday with Ch 8 of the Holy Rule. It is the first of Saint Benedict's chapters on the liturgical code, or instructions on how to pray the Divine Office, also called the Liturgy of the Hours, that is, the universal prayer of the Church. Saint Benedict's layout is the ideal so to speak while we keep in mind something Benedict includes in Ch 18: "Above all else we urge that if anyone finds this distribution of the psalms unsatisfactory he should arrange whatever he judges better" (RB 18:22). And whatever arrangement of psalms that is customary for a particular community or when prayed alone or with others, we remember what Saint Benedict writes in Ch 19: "We believe that the divine presence is everywhere ... but beyond the least doubt we should believe this to be especially true when we celebrate the divine office ... let us consider, then, how we ought to behave in the presence of God and his angels, and let us stand to sing the psalms in such a way that our minds are in harmony with our voices" (RB 19:1, 2, 6-7).

Lastly, let us turn to what we have before us in Ch 9. There we find one of my favorite instructions which happens to be a fitting introduction to Magnificat's "Meditation of the Day": "As soon as the cantor begins to sing 'Glory be to the Father,' let all the monks arise from their seats in honor and reverence for the Holy Trinity" (RB 9:7). 

Praising the Greatest One of All

O Christ Jesus, radiant light

of the immortal glory of the Father of heaven!

As the sun sinks to its setting

we are face to face with the twilight of evening:

we honor God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

You are worthy ever to be hymned

by voices that are pure,

Son of God who gives us life.

The universe proclaims your glory.

(An Evening Liturgical Hymn from the Early Church, in Magnificat, October 12, 2020)

OUR LADY OF APARECIDA,

PRAY FOR US.

© Gertrude Feick 2020