Aug
17
The Monastic Office
August 17, 2008 |
I am currently exploring the monastic office, that which was before Vatican II and those forms after.
As a lay Cistercian affiliated with the oblate program of a Trappist abbey, saying the office is a central part of my vocation. While there is no fixed minimum to the parts of the office one must say, a least a portion of it is suggested, along with the Rosary, 20 minutes of contemplative prayer daily and the study of the Rule of St. Benedict.
That said, the current Roman Breviary is divided into a 4 week Psalter consisting of 3 psalms or 2 psalms and a canticle as the core plus the Benedictus and the Magnificat said at the close of Lauds and Vespers. If one wished to say the Office of Readings this is additionally 3 psalms and two readings, one Biblical, another Patristic.
The previous Breviary, monastic and Roman strived to say the entire Psaler weekly, however as time went the office became somewhat restricted by the frequent feasts and memorials, consequently the psalter frequently repeated the same set of psalms.
As a fruit of Vatican II the laity were invited to join in the liturgical prayer of the Church:
Sacrosanctum Concilium IV,100: Pastors of souls should see to it that the chief hours, especially Vespers, are celebrated in common in church on Sundays and the more solemn feasts. And the laity, too, are encouraged to recite the divine office, either with the priests, or among themselves, or even individually.
Thus the Roman breviary has been constructed so that the core of psalms, canticles and readings are retained and presented in an order that is applicable to the daily requirements of the current age which is tightly scheduled around work.
However, the Monastic Office may be applied differently according to the Rule of St. Benedict and the Thesaurus Liturgiae Horarum Monasticae. The TLHM provides 4 basic schemes, A,B, C and D.
Currently the Abbey of St. Peter at Solesmes has produced 3 books; Antiphonale Monasticum I, II, and III which provide the distribution of Psalms according to scheme A which reflects the original Benedictine arrangement, albeit the hour of Prime is suppressed and those psalms have been distributed elsewhere.
The psalter may be followed in conjunction with the Roman Liturgy of the Hours in which the Hymns, Biblical readings, responsories, and intercessions from the Roman Breviary are used and the pslams are substituted from the Antiphonale. This works quite well however the Office of Vigils has yet to be produced.
One may alternatively use the Psalter Scheme B, which will allow one to recite the Psalter in a week, using the Roman Breviary for the other parts of the office: hymns, readings, responsories.
There is of course the Monastic Diurnal, a reprint of the 1963 day hours.
From the Spain a solution has come in which there is a 2 week cycle of Vigils interfaced with the 4 week Diurnal, this provides a greater depth in the hour of Vigils with more extensive readings. These are of course in Spanish.
In brief, there are different ways of saying an approved Liturgy of the Hours for those who are oblates of a monastic community, one which can allow for a greater reflection of Benedictine form.
