As it’s been some time since I began this series, and the number of subscribers has grown, here’s a reminder of what this substack is about.
Each Friday I look at a chapter, or part of a chapter, of St Benedict’s rule for monks. The English translation of the Latin Rule is my own, and I then follow this with some thoughts of my own or others on this chapter.
Text
We believe the divine presence is everywhere, and the eyes of the Lord observe the good and the bad in every place: we believe this especially and without any doubt when we are carrying out the divine work.
Ubique credimus divinam esse praesentiam, et oculos Domini in omni loco speculari bonos et malos: maxime tamen hoc sine aliqua dubitatione credimus, cum ad opus divinum assistimus.
Let us then always remember what the Prophet said: Serve the Lord in fear. And again: Sing wisely. And: In the sight of the angels I will sing to you.
Ideo semper memores simus quod ait Propheta: Servite Domino in timore.1 Et iterum: Psallite sapienter.2 Et: In conspectu angelorum psallam tibi.3
Therefore let us consider how we ought to behave in the presence of God and the angels, and so hold ourselves while singing, that our minds are in harmony with our voices.
Ergo consideremus qualiter oporteat nos in conspectu divinitatis et angelorum esse, et sic stemus4 ad psallendum, ut mens nostra concordet voci nostrae.
Comment
This chapter is at the heart of Benedictine life. If you remember back to the chapter on humility, the first degree of humility is this:
The first step of humility is that a man keep the fear of God always before his eyes, so that he flee all forgetfulness, and forever mindful of all that God commands, always contemplates in his soul that while those who despise God will fall into hell for their sins, eternal life is prepared for those who fear God.
Primus itaque humilitatis gradus est, si timorem Dei ante oculos semper ponens, oblivionem omnino fugiat, et semper sit memor omnium quae praecipit Deus, qualiter contemnentes Deum in gehennam pro peccatis incident, et vitam aeternam quae timentibus Deum praeparata est, animo suo semper revolvat.
This has been a key concept to religion and philosophy down the ages. The pre-Christian philosopher Zeno of Citium (334-262 BC) said:
We should act carefully in all things – just as if we were going to answer for it to our teachers shortly thereafter.
In the Old Testament, angels (the messengers of God) were present on the Ark of the Covenant and they were embroidered onto the curtains which surrounded it, as a reminder. God was visibly present to the Israelites in the Exodus by means of a cloud by day and a pillar of fire at night.
Jesus was God incarnated and became present to us for a time. He spoke about the angels, in particular guardian angels, which are in God’s presence all the time. The Apostles, in their letters, also speak about angels watching the world.
Jesus showed us how to live and so the saints throughout the ages have recommended we consider being in his presence at all times. St Francis de Sales (Introduction to the Devout Life) recommends that we start mental prayer by placing ourselves in God’s presence by considering the following:
1. God is everywhere
2. God is present within me
3. Jesus looks down from heaven on all mankind, especially Christians.
4. Imagine Jesus at my side
He then recommends we ask for God’s assistance in our prayer and then request help from our guardian angel and all the saints.
In Catholic and some other churches up to the 1970s, people were made conscious of the presence of angels and saints, represented by their images. See here for my post this week which includes stained glass and carved angels in the roof (more to come next week!). Altars would have angels depicted around them, as at the heavenly altar described in the book of Revelation/Apocalypse. In recent years, we have lost this sense of the presence of God and his angels partly because of their absence from our churches and sometimes the physical whitewashing of decorations or removal of statues.
A singed 15th century angel in All Saints North Street, York; it reputedly stopped a fire in 1997
Dom Gueranger, in his book for novices about the religious life5, says:
The Brothers will remember that their singing is destined to mix with that of the angels, and this thought will oblige them to watch over their human nature in the completion of such a holy function.
We should remember the presence of God and his angels at all times, but especially in the oratory (church) during the divine office, as St Benedict points out. If you don’t believe God and his angels are always watching, you don’t need to be careful about your behaviour and before long, for example, chatting in a church containing the Blessed Sacrament before and after Mass becomes normalized. This then extends to other areas of our lives.
Dom Gueranger also says6:
The Benedictine may be learned, but he is a monk before all else. He is a man of prayer and religious practices. The chanting of the divine office – the service of the angels – absorbs a considerable part of his available time, and he gives to learning only the extra hours which God and obedience do not claim.
The key function of a Benedictine monk or nun is the Divine Office – the praise of God. But it is not enough to simple perform it, by singing or saying the words. Dom Delatte in his Commentary on the Rule says:
If the soul is distracted or the heart cold, if the Divine Office is nothing but a drill of body and voice, it will soon become tedious, with a deadly tedium. And this will be apparent, betraying itself in yawns and impatient movements, in wandering glances, in all sorts of irreverences.
All monks or nuns spend a few minutes in silent prayer before each Office, preparing themselves for the divine service and clearing their heads, as best they can, of all distractions. Usually this is done on their knees, privately. But a traditional practice is for a formal procession before Mass and Vespers. This begins with “stations” in the cloister, where they line up in their due order, to prepare for the liturgy. They then process in silence to the oratory and take their places in the choir.
Dom Gueranger, in his book about the religious life, says:
The Brothers shall take care to recollect themselves before the Divine Office, using the moments they pass at the place of Station to raise their hearts towards God, the prepare themselves to appear before Him, and in arriving at the church they will avoid all which could harm that recollection. Arrived at their place, they will carry out the preparatory acts and renounce all other thoughts in favour of the divine praise. They will make effort to be attentive to the chant and the holy ceremonies to edify themselves through them, and will avoid glances or movements which would only distract them from the great purpose which should occupy them…
In singing or reciting the words, they will seek the meaning in order to take it into themselves. They will gently make an effort to discover the allusions that the holy church makes in the liturgical formulas, so that they may nourish themselves from this hidden manna which strengthens the soul at the same time as it gives understanding of the things of God.
Everything monks do is governed by rubrics of one sort or another; the genuflections, the formalities of bowing to their fellow monk before separating to their due sides of the choir, the way they stand, bow at the Gloria, sit, etc. This is important to generate that sacred atmosphere and help the mind to accord with the voice. No-one rushes. If someone is late to choir, arriving after the office has started, they don’t hasten to their place, making noise and disturbing everyone. Instead, they spend a few moments kneeling as they enter, to recollect themselves first.
These are all small acts of self-denial, the subordination of self-will to the will of God. That’s ultimately what the liturgy is. In terms of the performance of the Office, Dom Delatte says the following:
Self-denial is perhaps more than ever indispensable in the case of the chanting; for it is better to suffer a little error than to sacrifice the combined movement, and the vocal unison, and to transform the choir into a prize-ring or a battlefield. The Constitutions bid us “not to spare the voice”; which is not an invitation to drown all others.
Put simply, the divine office is not about us, it is about God and we must remember that at all times.
Dom Xavier Perrin7 says:
The monk, penetrated by his sense of the presence of God, strives to engage his whole being with the act of praise. He pronounces the words as well as possible, and his mind and his heart are in complete rapport with what he is singing. This is the one and only piece of advice the Rule gives about the exercise of choral prayer. It says a great deal about Saint Benedict’s confidence in the psalms. To sing the psalms is to surrender to them, to give them our voice and our mind, with the assurance that these inspired texts offer our souls the right attitudes in our relationship with God…. For Saint Benedict, whoever sings the psalms in the office, in the atmosphere of reverential fear which goes with faith in the divine presence, learns just by doing this how to address God, how to ask Him for His graces and to thank Him, how to praise Him and adore Him.
For those of us who are not monks or nuns, vowed to the constant praise of God, this chapter reminds us that whenever we are at worship our whole attention and being should be focused on that. We should arrive at church and immediately fall on our knees in prayer and preparation. We should do the same at the end, to give thanksgiving. We should gently push away the distractions as best we can – the crying babies, the parents who let their children roam the church noisily, the constant sniffing or coughing from the man in the pew behind us, even the one who sings slightly out of tune or slower than everyone else. These things are not important. What is important is the Divine Service: God deserves all our attention, physical and mental.
1 Psalm 2:11
2 Psalm 46:8
3 Psalm 137:1
4 I have translated this word “stemus” as “hold ourselves” because the verb is not just “stand” or “assist” (as it is often translated) or even “carry out”, but has a strong physical connotation of persisting, remain in position, continue in battle, etc. It implies courage and stamina, so in this context, it is not just the chanting of the words but physically and mentally being fully present and making an effort.
5 Notions sur le vie Religieuse an Monastique, 1950
6 Quoted in The Spirit of Solesmes, by Sr May David Totah OSB, 1997/2016, Gracewing
7 In the School of St Benedict, 2022, Gracewing
Thank you for your comments about the importance and really the glory of the Divine Office. For me all of our liturgical problems started with the neglect of the Divine Office. When its public recitation ceased and the Divine Office became just 'the Breviary' i.e. something that priests mumbled to themselves as fast as they could to meet their obligation is when our road to ruin started. What happened to the churches and to the Mass and really to Christian society as a whole absolutely never could have happened if we had been attending to the Hours of the Day. So it probably will be that the road to restoration will travel through the restoration of the Divine Office as well.