Second Nocturn

In the late pre-Conciliar period, Sunday Matins had its number of lessons reduced from nine to three; the three Scriptural lessons of the first Nocturn were retained (the third lesson being united to the second), but – foolishly – of the three homiletic lessons of the third Nocturn, commenting upon the Gospel of the day, only the first was retained (and, as it was oft but introductory to the main import of the commentary, this truncated passage is generally uninformative); and, worst of all, the Patristic lessons of the second Nocturn were completely omitted. 

It is doubtless in reaction to this too-radical reduction in the lessons read at Matins that the Council Fathers decreed that "The hour… shall be made up of fewer psalms and longer readings" (Sacrosanctum concilium, 89, c) and likewise ordered that "Readings excerpted from the works of the fathers, doctors, and ecclesiastical writers shall be better selected" (Sacrosanctum concilium, 92, b).

Having said Matins of this, the last Sunday of the Church's year, I thought to see what the former readings of the second Nocturn were; and, turning first to a Monastic Breviary (having the same lessons, though with the first of them divided into two, since in the Benedictine Office Sunday Matins has not nine but twelve readings), then to a handy online translation after I had enjoyed the rich Latin translating the author's Greek, I thought to post this sobering passage, intended since it was written over 1600 years ago to act as an antidote to sin, by turning our thoughts to that most just and strict judgement we all of us shall face, when we depart this world:

Sermo sancti Basilii Magni in Psalmum trigesimum tertium. 

Cum te appetitus invaserit peccandi, velim cogites horribile illud et intolerabile Christi tribunal, in quo præsidebit judex in alto et excelso throno; astabit autem omnis creatura, ad gloriosum illius conspectum contremiscens. Adducendi etiam nos sumus singuli, eorum quae in vita gesserimus rationem reddituri. 

Mox illis, qui multa mala in vita perpetrarint, terribiles quidam et deformes assistent angeli, igneos vultus præ se ferentes atque ignem spirantes, ea re propositi et voluntatis acerbitatem ostendentes, nocti vultu similes, propter mærorem et odium in humanum genus.

Ad hæc cogites profundum barathrum, inextricabiles tenebras, ignem carentem splendore, urendi quidem vim habentem, sed privatum lumine: deinde vermium genus venenum immittens, et carnem vorans, inexplebiliter edens neque umquam saturitatem sentiens, intolerabiles dolores corrosione ipsa infigens: postremo, quod suppliciorum omnium gravissimum est, opprobrium illud et confusionem sempiternam. Hæc time, et hoc timore correptus animam a peccatorum concupiscentia tamquam freno quodam reprime.

Hunc timorem Domini se docturum propheta promisit. Docere autem non simpliciter promisit, sed eos, qui eum audire voluerint: non eos, qui longius prolapsi sunt, sed qui salutem appetentes accurrunt: non alienos a promissionibus, sed ex baptismate filiorum adoptionis verbo ipsi conciliatos atque conjunctos. Propterea, Venite, inquit, hoc est, per bona opera accedite ad me, filii, quippe qui per regenerationem filii lucis effici digni facti estis: audite, qui aures cordis habetis apertas; timorem Domini docebo vos [Ps. 33, 12]: illum scilicet, quem paulo ante oratione nostra descripsimus. 

[From] the Sermon of St Basil the Great, upon the Thirty-third Psalm.

Whenever the desire to sin cometh over thee, I would that thou couldest think of the awful and overwhelming judgment-seat of Christ. There the Judge shall sit upon a throne high and lifted up. Every creature shall stand before Him, quaking because of the glory of His presence. There are we to be led up, one by one, to give account for those things which we have done in life. 

Presently there will be found, by the sides of those who have in life wrought much evil, dreadful and hideous angels with faces of fire, and burning breath, appointed thereto, and showing their evil will, in appearance like the night, in their despair and hatred of mankind. 

Think again of the bottomless pit, the impenetrable darkness, the lightless fire, burning, but not glowing, the poisonous mass of worms, preying upon the flesh, ever feeding, and never filled, causing by their gnawing unbearable agony; lastly, the greatest punishment of all, shame and confusion for ever. Have a dread of these things, and let that dread correct thee, and be as a curb to thy mind to hold it in from the hankering after sin.

This fear of the Lord the Prophet hath promised to teach. But he hath not promised to teach it to all, but only to such as will hear him, not to such as have fallen far away, but to such as run to him, hungry for salvation, not to such as have no part in the promises, but to such as by baptism are born children of adoption, set at peace and oneness with the Word. Come, ye children, saith he, that is to say, Draw nigh unto me by good works, all ye who by the new birth have become the worthy children of light, hearken unto me, all ye who have the ears of your heart opened, I will teach you the fear of the Lord, [Ps 33:12] even the fear of that Being of Whom we have just been speaking.

As the Byzantine Liturgy sings time and again,

Christianum vitæ nostræ finem, sine dolore et dedecore, pacificam, et bonam ante terribile tribunal Christi defensionem [a Domino] petamus. — Concede, Domine.  

For a Christian, painless, unashamed, peaceful end of our life, and for a good defence before the fearsome judgment‐seat of Christ, let us beseech [the Lord]. — Grant this, O Lord. 

Blessings on our Rest

Eager students of liturgical minutiæ will have noted the absence, in an earlier post, of blessings for each Lesson at Matins according to the Dormitionist Rite.  This lacuna, overlooked before, I now supply; with the suggestion that these short prayers may be of great use to every man betaking himself to bed – they certainly gained me a deep and lengthy sleep last night!

Benedictio I. Qui requievit ſeptimo die, det nobis requiem ſine fine.

Benedictio II.  Ut dormiamus in ſomno pacis, benedicat nos Filius Patris.

Benedictio III.  Sanctificator omnium nobis det Dominus ſpiritum ſoporis.

It is often overlooked that the blessings in the Office rhyme (a typically mediæval feature): here is the first done into doggerel, as the Marquess of Bute rejoiced to do when he translated the Roman Breviary over a hundred years ago:

He who rested the seventh day, give unto us rest for aye.

(Of course, in this case "aye" rhymes with "day", as it bears its meaning of "evermore"; when it means "yea and amen", it is homophonous with "I" and "eye".  Isn't English spelling great?)

I leave it to the ingenuity of the reader to do likewise with the second and third blessings.

The Cry of Job

The plaints of Job: how appropriate for sinful man.  To-day, being Friday in the first week of September, the Lessons at Matins in the Dominican Breviary are as follows:

Militia est vita hominis… usque ad tenebras.  (Job 7:1-4)

The life of man upon earth is a warfare, and his days are like the days of a hireling.  As a servant longeth for the shade, as the hireling looketh for the end of his work; so I also have had empty months, and have numbered to myself wearisome nights.  If I lie down to sleep, I shall say: When shall arise? and again I shall look for the evening, and shall be filled with sorrows even till darkness.

Induta est caro mea… et non subsistam. (Job 7:5-8) 

My flesh is clothed with rottenness and the filth of dust, my skin is withered and drawn together.  My days have passed more swiftly than the web is cut by the weaver, and are consumed without any hope.  Remember that my life is but wind, and my eyes shall not return to see good things.  Nor shall the sight of man behold me: thy eyes are upon me, and I shall be no more.

Sicut consumitur nubes… amaritudine animæ meæ. (Job 7:9-11)

  

As a cloud is consumed, and passeth away: so he that shall go down to hell shall not come up.  Nor shall he return my more into his house, neither shall his place know him any more.  Wherefore I will not spare my mouth, I will speak in the affliction of my spirit: I will talk with the bitterness of my soul.

When I took up the Office to pray, I was struck by these readings, which are so similar to those passages also from Job appointed for the Office of the Dead.  They are the cries, I repeat, of sinful man, sinful man awaiting his Redeemer: "I know that my Redeemer liveth..."

Only a few days ago, I heard from my sister a very sad tale: the 16 year old daughter of a friend's sister had done away with herself.  That poor lost soul had been most unhappy recently, lured into drink and drugs and treated cruelly.  Her mother found her body – she had hanged herself.

"...when a divine instruction and the hope of life eternal are wanting, man's dignity is most grievously lacerated, as current events often attest; riddles of life and death, of guilt and of grief go unsolved with the frequent result that men succumb to despair."  (Gaudium et spes, 21.)

Of your charity, dear reader, pray for God's mercy in this terrible circumstance.

Lessons and Lauds

This week, as Matins is beyond me, I have taken up praying the Lord's Prayer, then reading the day's Lessons, together with their blessings, responsories, and the Te Deum if appointed, before going straight into the versicle before Lauds and Lauds itself (with Pretiosa).  In other words, by prefixing the second part of Matins to Lauds, I have profited from a good deal of Scripture.  (The readings have been from St Paul to the Philippians, chapters 2 and 3.)

Furthermore, what happy feasts: Bl Jordan of Saxony, O.P., first successor of St Dominic as Master of the Order of Preachers, on Monday (with Memory of St Valentine); Bl Henry Suso, O.P., that ascetic mystic, on Tuesday; a feria yester-day; and feria with Memory of Bl Reginald of Orleans, O.P., he whom the Blessed Virgin cured and  to whom she revealed the habit of the Order, to-day.  A pleasant run through the week of the Sixth after Epiphany, with Septuagesima to come this Sunday: "Alleluia our transgressions make us for a while give o'er" and all that.