Christ is Born for Us, Come Let Us Adore Him

When the sun rises in the morning sky,

you will see the King of kings

coming forth from the Father

like a radiant bridegroom

from the bridal chamber.

Antiphon for the Magnificat of Evening Prayer I

Solemnity of Christmas

Brother Max Schmalzl, CSsR

At this late hour sisters are still awake in our monastery. They are tidying up after serving Christmas treats to guests who attended Christmas Eve Mass. We are always happy to share our liturgies with friends and neighbors. And this is such a special time for all of us.

What is Christmas like in a monastery of contemplative nuns? There has been great preparation for the feast in our offices of the Liturgy of the Hours. Attention given to the great "O Antiphons" of the last days of Advent is a sign of that focus.  This evening the solemnity of Christmas began with Vespers, Evening Prayer I of Christmas. The  antiphons, psalms and canticle were were intoned; antiphons echoing the flavor of the greats "Os".

He comes in splendor, the King who is our peace;

the whole world longs to see him.

He sends forth his word to the earth,

and his command spreads swiftly through the land.

The eternal Word, born of the Father before time began,

today emptied himself for our sake and became man.

At the end of the office, singing "What Child is This?", we processed to the creche so lovingly and beautifully prepared by our Sr. Maria Linda. There we paid homage to the newborn King and greeted each other with a holy kiss of Christmas peace. Following supper, last minute preparations were made for the Mass of Midnight scheduled like the Pope's Mass in Rome at a time easier for frazzled humans to bear. Our Liturgy began with the Office of Readings - psalms and two readings, one from Isaiah the Prophet and the other a sermon by Pope Leo the Great. This was immediately followed by the Proclamation of Jesus' Birth to which we responded by singing the Gloria accompanied by the joyous ringing of bells. In his homily, Fr. Thomas Deely, CSsR invited us to silently call to mind those we know who remain in darkness unlike the people spoken of in the first reading of the Mass who came to see a great light - the light of the Messiah. He also reminded us that this event, the birth of Jesus, is just the beginning of the complete round of the Paschal Mystery of Jesus' life, death and resurrection. It is a cylce that continues in our time and in our own lives but never in isolation for we have the companion ship of Emmanuel, God-with-Us, whose taking on of human nature, whose Incarnation, we celebrated today.

Tomorrow we will begin our day with Morning Prayer. The first antiphon sung is a question.

Tell us, shepherds, what have you seen?

Who has appeared on earth?

We have seen a newborn infant and a choir of angels

praising the Lord, alleluia.

We are so fortunate to have our Redemptorists close by to celebrate the Eucharist with us. At 11am we will have the Mass of Christmas Day. A festive dinner will follow with the company of three Redemptorist priests. And, just as it is in many homes on this day, the long after dinner clean up will be followed by relaxation; maybe the treat of a holiday movie our some TV special. The older sisters here are fond of reminding us that such a feast is a "solemn day of recreation" which means it is a day on which recreating is taken seriously. There will be carol singing after super in our community room.

Our day has been total gift - a monastery Christmas. May your day be gift too. And may every blessing of the feast - every blessing of the knowledge of our God-with-Us, our Emmanuel, be with you and those you love. Join us in praying for our needy world, for the poor and most abandoned, for the cause of peace and justice everywhere.

Come, Let Us Worship Him

Today, the last of the "O Antiphons" of the Advent Liturgy of the Hours uses the title "Emmanuel". The name Emmanuel means "God-with-us". We welcome the God who so loves humankind and all of creation, the God who choses to live with us and totally experience our humble condition. O, the wonder of the Incarnation! 

Our Sr. Moira Quinn created the images appearing here each of these last days. She explained the features of today's illumination. The hand is the hand of God with fingers parted as is the custom of a rabbi with hands raised in blessing over a congregation. The shape is like that of the "Y" in Yahweh. Two fingers bear a dove, sign of the Holy Spirit; two bear the tablets of the Ten Commandments; and the thumb has been fashioned into an image of Mother and the infant Jesus. The palm holds the Star of David - the lineage of Jesus. And on the wrist, a heart at the place where we commonly take our pulse, where we feel the ebb and flow of life within us. 

Scripture tells us that we are held in the palm of God's hand, a metaphor of the initimacy of God's love and presence with us. At Christmas we acknowledge this presence and welcome, yet again, our Incarnate God into our world.

Scripture Readings: Isaiah 7:14

                               Luke 1:69-70

                               Isaiah 32:22

                               Psalm 18:20

Drawing by Sr. Moira Quinn, OSsR

The Lord is Close at Hand...

The day is drawing near. Yesterday, during the long drive home from the funeral of a Redemptoristine sister who died in Canada, we listened to a wonderful recording of Handel's "Messiah." The oratorio is narrated completely by the words of Holy Scripture. It is the story of the Messiah's life; how He came forth from the Father out of love; how he was born of simple woman, lived with suffering and rejection, came to a tortured death and yet rose victorious. Handel presents him as truly the King of Kings. The "O Antiphon" for today pronounces Jesus the "King of all nations" and ends with the appeal, "Come make us one in you." We know too well the cause of our divisions, the cause of suffering, war, famine and disease. May we become one in the God who is Love.

Scripture Readings: Psalm 47:3
                               Isaiah 9:5-6
Draeing by Sr. Moira Quinn, OSsR

Open Our Hearts

Sometimes my heart is as locked up as the door to a prison cell. It can seem impenetrable, not allowing any influence to worm its way inside to release some love,  compassion, understanding sympathy, or warmth of any kind. In this way I become like stone. In this petrified state I can love nothing and no one, not even myself. The Messiah is the key to our freedom of heart. We wait for his coming and pray that our relationship to Emmanuel, to God-with-us, will be heart to heart.

Scriture Readings: Isaiah 9:6

                             Isaiah 22:22

                             Isaiah 40:4-5

Drawing by Sr. Moira Quinn, OSsR

Lo, How a Rose......

Singing in high school choir is one of the memorable experiences of my life. Under the demanding direction of Sr. Mary Cecilia, CSJ at Fontbonne Hall Academy in Brooklyn, New York we learned some of the most demanding choral pieces and also some difficult arrangements of standards. It was there that I fell in love with "Lo, How a Rose E're Blooming". It still puts a lump in my throat. The second verse begins: "Isaiah 'twas foretold it, the rose I have in mind." What Isaiah foretold was that "flower of Jesse", that child of the line of David who would bring salvation to his people. And so we too watch for the coming of our salvation. We grow inpatient for the day of his birth and beg, "Come, Lord do not delay."

Scripture Readings: Jeremiah 33:14

                                Isaiah 11:1

                               Habakuk 2:3

                               Sirach 35:19a

Drawing by Sr. Moira Quinn, OSsR

New Blog Link

"Monastic and Liturgical"

While checking my 'hits and visits' statistics at Blogpatrol today, I discovered that Scott Knitter, another blogger about things monastic, has feeds to some things published here in the side bar of his blog. Turn about is fair play so I have decided to add Scott's blog "Monastic and Liturgical" to my links list on this page. His blog focuses on things monastic and liturgical in the Benedictine, Anglican, Episcopalian and Catholic traditions. I have a feeling that Scoot Knitter and I have mutual friends at Holy Cross Monastery (a male Anglican community) just a few miles down the road from us here in Esopus, New York.

Lenten Contemplative Studies Series

The People's Office

That's what the documents of the Second Vatican Council tried to communicate to the faithful; that the Divine Office, now more commonly called the Liturgy of the Hours, was not the exclusive property of clerics, or even of religious but, as the official public prayer of the Church, it belongs to everyone.

These days that is being taken more and more to heart by many in the Church. Last evening, 18 earnest, faithful folks, ranging in age from early 20s to over 80, came to our monastery to be introduced to or to brush up on the Liturgy of the Hours. Their interest spurs us contemplative monastic nuns on in our own apostolate of prayer. And the group included seven men! That's over and third and it is hard to find such a ratio at most religious adult education.

Last night's presentation covered the theology of the Liturgy of the Hours, the trinitarian prayer of the Church to the Father, united with Jesus, and through the Holy Spirit. It is the prayer of the whole Church, sanctifying the hours of the day and fulling the priestly office of Jesus Christ in which we participate by virtue of our baptism.The seven sacraments, especially the Eucharist; the observance of the Liturgical year of the Church; and the Liturgy of the Hours comprise the official public worship of the Catholic Church.

Next week we will compare notes on using the Hours during this coming week - the trials, frustrations of using the book and, hopefully, the contribution made to our prayer lives. We will also cover the long history of the Liturgy of the Hours in our Chruch. The last week will also include more encouragement and how-to but also discussion of the Psalms as a particular prayer form.

If you would like to know more; if you would like to consider this time-honored prayer practice for yourself, here are some resources:

Church Documents
The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (Vatican Council II)
General Instruction on the Liturgy of the Hours

Books
The Divine Office for Dodos - Nugent, Catholic Book Pub.
The Origins of the Divine Office and Its Meaning for Today by Taft, Collegeville 1986

Internet Sources
The Holy See on the Internet for all documents http://www.vatican.va/
****Daily Instructions and whole offices for the Liturgy of Hours http://www.blogger.com/www.universalis.com

Season of Lent

Last year we offered a Lenten Contemplative Studies Series: three Mondays in Lent beginning at 7pm with presentation, break at 8pm and Night Prayer with the community at 8:15pm. The topics were contemplative values for daily living, contemplative prayer and the contemplative monastic life in our time. We were amazed at the interest in this sessions.

This year we are going to offer material on the history, theology and practice of the Liturgy of the Hours. The main title is The People's Divine Office. Local parish bulletins and newspapers published announcements yesterday and registrations are already coming. There is a hunger out there! Hope we can help to satisfy it in our little way as contemplative nuns who would like their monastery to be a school of prayer for all the faithful.

Monastic Prayer - The Prayer of the Church

Bout Psalter

Immersed in the Advent Moment

The Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours together form the great, deeply rooted trunk of contemplative monastic life. This pillar of life nourishes perseverance in in the vows and devotion to private prayer. In addition, as is particularly evident in the Advent season, participation in the official public worship of the Church, provides penetrating connection with the Paschal mystery of Jesus' birth, life, death and Resurrection. To take part in these two expressions of the Church's official public worship is to be totally immersed in the meaning and invitation of these days.

The Roman Catholic breviary (The Liturgy of the Hours) currently in use was first published in 1970 by the International Committee on English in the Liturgy. Like the Sacramentary used for the celebration of Mass, its readings, antiphons, prayers, petitions and music are specific to the season and/or the feast of the day. It is amazing that these books of ritual and prayer so necessary for public worship were created and edited without the use of computers on which we so totally rely for organizational and editing assistance today.

In our monastery we are blessed to have Mass every day and we celebrate together The Office of Readings, Lauds (Morning Prayer), Midday Prayer (one of the "little hours", Vespers (Evening Prayer) and Compline (NightPrayer). In these times of prayer and celebration the ambiance of the season, its deepest spiritual significance will plunge us into the mystery of the Incarnation over and over again.

The day begins with the antiphon for the Invitatory Psalm 95:

Come worship the Lord, the King who is to come.

The first hymn of the day began:

Lift up your heads you mighty gates; behold the King of glory waits.

The first selection for the Office of Readings told of Isaiah's prophecy of the conversion of Egypt and Assyria. The second reading was one of my all-time favorites, a selection from the Proslogion by St. Anselm. It begins:

Insignificant mortal, escape from your everyday business for a short while, hide for a moment from your restless thoughts. Break off from your cares and troubles and be less concerned about your tasks and labors. Make a little time for God and rest a while in him.

Enter into your mind's inner chamber. Shut out everything but God and whatever helps you to seek him; and when you have shut the door, look for him. Speak now to God and say with your whole heart: I seek your face; your face, Lord, I desire.

The wise Bishop Anselm then speaks of how difficult this is and how hard it is to see God who is, after all, light inaccessible. But he ends with a beautiful plea, a prayer for all seekers.

Teach me to seek you, and when I seek you show yourself to me, I cannot seek you unless you teach me, nor can I find you unless you show yourself to me. Let me seek you in desiring you and desire you in seeking you, find you in loving you and love you in finding you.

These examples are only the tip of the iceberg. When the antiphons, readings, responses and prayers of the Office combine daily with the prayer texts and scripture readings provided for the celebration of the Liturgies of the Word and Eucharist at Mass, those who are blessed to participate are plunged into the life of prayer particular to this season. Every provision has been made to create the atmosphere necessary for the coming of Jesus within. We are not waiting for Jesus to be born 'out there'. He was born 'out there' over two thousand years ago. Rather, we ourselves are gestating the appearance of the Jesus within, the Jesus who is in us by virtue of his very birth in human flesh. Jesus is to come alive in us, to be unveiled for all to see.

How blessed we are in our contemplative monastic home to be surrounded by these gifts of the Church.

A New Link on this Blog

A Great Liturgy Resource

The Internet is an amazing instrument of social and informational connection. If you check comments here you have noted that Dina in Jerusalem is a regular reader. That amazes me and I am grateful. Now an Anglican priest in New Zealand has tripped over this small site. He contacted me and brought me attention to his absolutely wonderful web page focusing on liturgy in general and the Liturgy of the Hours in particular. Here is the link: http://www.liturgy.co.nz/ofthehours/resources.html . Reverend Bosco Peters, married and father of two teenagers, is devoted not only to informing good liturgical practice but most particularly to encouraging praying of the Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office) for all Christians. This is a cause I have believed in for a long time. Years ago I wrote a lengthy history of the Liturgy of the Hours for a graduate course. Its title was The People's Office. I have taught this material to parish groups and instructed them on use of the the breviary. Just recently I had began to think about offering a course here at the monastery as I am told that there is rising interest in this prayer among the laity.

Rev. Peters' site is truly comprehensive. Catholics, do not shy away because he is an Anglican priest. He is very attentive to ecumenical issues, has links to many Catholic sites, and provides a vast array of liturgical resources. In addition, Rev. Peters is fun. There is a segment on his site called "The Naked Liturgist". I think he assigned this provocative title because in regard to liturgy his believe is that 'less is more.' When I clicked on "The Naked Liturgist" last night I was treated to a very tongue in cheek bit about the placement of announcements in the Mass. Admittedly, I had to get in to the New Zealander speech patterns and the dry British-type humor, but then I had to laugh. I think you will too. Rev. Peters seems to have sound ideas about allowing the special moments of the Eucharistic Liturgy to have their full and potent effect by letting them stand alone - less is more.

So today I have added Bosco Peters' web site to the list in the side bar as Liturgy - Liturgy of the Hours Resources. Give yourself adequate time to explore the site. He tells me he has over 700 pages of information and links, not to mention photos of monasteries, slide shows and videos. Have fun!

Sisters Retreating, More on the Liturgy of the Hours, and a Traveler's Blessing

Today three of our sisters drove to the Trappist Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts for five days of retreat. The horarium (daily schedule) of the Abbey includes these 'hours' of the Divine Office:

3:30am Vigils

6:30am Lauds, morning prayer, followed by Eucharist

10:00am Tierce

12:15am Sext, midday prayer

2:00pm None

5:40pm Vespers, evening prayer

7:40pm Compline, night prayer

Years ago I visited the Abbey and was so moved by the blessing at the end of Compline. The monks approached the Abbot two by two and received his blessing in dismissal as they entered into the Great Silence of the Night which ends at 8:00am in the morning. After all the monks were gone, the Abbot came to the visitors' section and solemnly blessed each of us. Here, in our monastery, we also receive this customary blessing from the prioress at the end of night prayer: May the Lord bless us, protect from all evil and lead us to everlasting life. Amen.

Protect us Lord, as we stay awake, watch over us as we sleep

that awake we make keep watch with Christ

and asleep rest in His peace.

Antiphon for the canticle said every night during Compline, the Nunc Dimitis (Simeon's Prayer)

************************

Here is the Blessing for Travelers we used today. You may want to adapt it for use in your family or parish.

Leader: May the Lord turn His face toward us and guide our feet into the way of peace, now and for ever.

Response: Blessed by God for ever.

Leader: Let us entrust our Sisters to the hand of the Lord. Let us pray that He will give them a prosperous journey and that as they travel, they will praise Him in all His creatures; that they will experience God's own goodness in the hospitality they receive and bring the Good News of salvation to all they meet; that they will be courteous toward all; that they will greet the poor and afflicted with kindness and know how to comfort and hep them.

All: All powerful and merciful God; you led the children of Israel on dry land, parting the waters of the sea; you guided the Magi to your Son by a star. Help our Sisters and give them a safe journey. Under your protection let them reach their destination and come at last to the eternal haven of salvation. We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Blessing by the Prioress with holy water: In the paths of peace may the Lord guide you, and may He send His holy angel Raphael to accompany you on your way: that safe and sound, in peace and joy, you may return to those who love you. We ask this through Christ, our Lord.

Response: Amen.

The Liturgy of the Hours

Official Public Prayer of the Church

and

The Heart of Contemplative Monastic Life

This last week has gone by rather quickly. In most monasteries each sister has a regular work assignment(s). These are formally given out after the election of a new prioress. In addition to this responsibility, each sister has other tasks to fulfill on a rotating basis with all the other nuns. These tasks include kitchen clean-up after meals, answering the door and the telephone, and fulfilling specific roles at the recitation of the Divine Office or the Liturgy of the Hours. One of those roles includes that of leader of prayer for the week. That was my assignment in this busy week - Transfiguration which we celebrated as a solemnity, the feast of the martyr St. Lawrence, memorials for St. Dominic and St. Clare and an optional memorial which I chose to incorporate on August 9, the feast of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein). Without going into the endless details this meant picking out the hymns, selecting special prayers and following the guidance of the rubrics for the materials (psalms, intercessions, etc.) required for each. The community relies on the leader of prayer to set this up, post the information and conduct the Office in fitting fashion.

There are many websites which will give the history and details of the Liturgy of the Hours. But I will try to sum up here. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the Sacraments, and the celebrations of the Liturgical Year, AND the Liturgy of the Hours or the Divine Office comprise the official public worship of the Church. At specific times of the day (most commonly morning, noon, evening and nightfall) a selection of psalms, a canticle, intercessions interspersed with antiphons (scripture verses) are read or recited. In the earliest days of the Church these 'offices' were public, often in a church or a cathedral. Over time they gradually moved more exclusively into the realm of the monastery and also given as a specific assignment for clerics. That was pretty much the situation before the Second Vatican Council. I remember seeing a priest walking up and down the rectory garden path reading his breviary (the book containing the prayers of the Divine Office) - it was all in Latin too. With the Council mandate for the reform of all Liturgy the Office was simplified, translated into the vernacular and highly recommended to ALL the faithful as "The People's Office". Today there are significant numbers of lay people who find that the Liturgy of the Hours 'grounds' their prayer life.

The Liturgy of the Hours, especially the 'hinge' hours of Morning and Evening Prayer, ideally provide the setting for daily participation in the Liturgy of the Eucharist. The prayers of the Hours are both preparation for reception of the Eucharist and thanksgiving afterward. For contemplative nuns and any monastic, the Liturgy of the Hours along with the time of Mass provide the horarium or daily schedule around which everything else must center. In our monastery we pray the Office of Readings along with Morning Prayer at 7am; Midday Prayer at 11:40am; Evening Prayer or Vespers at 6pm; and Night Prayer or Compline at 8:15pm. During the summer our daily Mass is at 8am while during the rest of the year it is at 5pm. Some orders like the Trappists and the Carthusians rise at around 1 or 2am for a sung or recited Office in the middle of the night. Each monastery follows the Church's official design or rubrics for the Offices but variations will appear from place to place. At one time this community sang every Office, that is, they chanted the psalms. Today we chant the Offices from Saturday evening to Sunday night and on feasts or solemnities. On other days they are recited. But there is singing at every Office for the opening hymn and the gospel canticle (Benedictus at Morning Prayer, Magnificat at Evening Prayer and Nunc Dimitis at Night Prayer).

As a lay woman I found that private reading of Morning and Evening Prayer helped me to settle down, to put myself at a remove from the activities of the day, and then enter into a more contemplative mode of prayer. As a contemplative nun, these times of prayer with my community are very precious and very beautiful. They are not to become routine and automatic. At these times we stand together before the throne of God praying for the world, for the intentions coming to us constantly, and for our own great need and desire to remain faithful and persevere.

The illustration above is a page from a medieval Book of Hours, an illuminated manuscript of the psalms and prayers for the Liturgy of the Hours. This is King David, commonly thought of as the author of the Book of Psalms. Such lavishly illustrated prayer books hold honored places in many museum collections.