WCCM Oblate Blog: Reflections from Daily Reading of the Rule of St. Benedict

WCCM Benedictine Oblates are encouraged to read a designated portion of the Rule daily, and to write a brief, personal response. I hope that this blog will support our Oblate community in this practice. Please, keep blog entries brief and in a first-person ("I") voice. Refrain from discussing, offering an opinion, or commenting on other entries. Simply consider how a particular section of the Rule is speaking to you in your present circumstances.

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Chapter 17: The number of psalms to be sung at the hours

We have already set out the order of the psalms for Vigils and for Lauds. Now let us look at the order of the psalms for the rest of the Hours. (From para. 1 of Ch. 17 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)

Benedict's instructions about ordering the psalms for the hours, like the disciplined repetition of the mantra, teach me that God is always with me -- that Jesus is praying in me, that I am called to join him in the river of constant praise to the Father.

1 comment:

Corey Houchins-WittOctober 22, 2014 at 10:07 AM
The great care and detail with which St. Benedict lays out the Hours of the Office reminds me to treat my own times of meditation with the same reverence. Because of the many things on my daily to-do list, I often feel tempted to "rush through" my meditation. Benedict reminds me that this is the most important part of the day, the one thing necessary, and that I must care for my meditation period as well as he cares for the Hours.
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