Saturday, February 11, 2017

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, the experience of "being in between time". In meditation, in between time, 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.

1 comment:

  1. Sister Joan Chittister reminds me here that "Even the desire to pray is the grace to pray." How amazing is that, Abba! That must be what John Main means when he talks about "experiencing" you. Every inclination I have to show up for meditation, to undertake the disciplines of this community of love, this monastic life without walls, is my experiencing of you and your love.

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