tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16185910560920602.post4603223857207924824..comments2024-03-16T16:09:35.045+11:00Comments on Saints Will Arise: The liturgical genius of St Benedict: why Psalm 18 on Saturday?**Kate Edwardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01000040465724868745noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16185910560920602.post-9893336708386476982014-04-04T05:25:31.387+11:002014-04-04T05:25:31.387+11:00Thank you Chaps, glad you found this of interest a...Thank you Chaps, glad you found this of interest and can see where I'm coming from.<br /><br />I agree that whether or not it was a conscious choice the effect can still be there, and I'm hoping that drawing out some of those features is helpful for those praying it.<br /><br />All the same, the question of whether it was a conscious decision-making process is I guess where I'm focusing, because I actually do think it was. When you look closely awful lot of his decisions look very deliberate indeed.<br /><br />RB 1980 notes, for example, that the inclusion of a Third Nocturn in the Sunday Office seems to have its origins in the weekly 'Resurrection Vigil' observed by the fourth century nun Egeria during a pilgrimage to Jerusalem [399-400; 388]. RB 1980, however, fails to link this insight to the other changes St Benedict made to Sunday Matins compared to the Roman Office, namely in the selection of the specific psalms to be said on Sunday. This is something of a major oversight it seems to me, for whereas the Roman Office started at Psalm 1 and ends on Psalm 26, St Benedict starts at Psalm 20. Why Psalm 20? Perhaps it is because it is preeminently a song of the Resurrection taking its cue from its final line 'Rise up, O Lord, in your strength...' In fact the whole set of psalms that follow are filled with the promise of the Resurrection, culminating in Psalm 31, whose conclusion St Benedict's contemporary Cassiodorus puts in the mouth of Christ, a promise of mercy to the sinners to whom the way to heaven has been reopened by his Resurrection.<br /><br />Similarly RB 1980 notes that the Roman Cathedral tradition tried to select psalms for their appropriateness to the time of day, and to underscore the Christological meaning of the psalms [386]. St Benedict, I think, worked very much in this tradition, taking the programmatic elements implicit in the Roman Office (particularly the Office canticles) several steps further. <br /><br />Most modern commentators have struggled to find much evidence of this beyond a few references to light in many of the psalms of Lauds. There is a reason for this, I would suggest, and it goes to the approach to Scripture that has prevailed from the seventeenth century onwards, together with the effects of that peculiarly twentieth century agenda of seeking to justify 'aggorniamento' over the preservation of the patrimony.Kate Edwardshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01000040465724868745noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16185910560920602.post-48059966228735520082014-04-04T03:50:58.352+11:002014-04-04T03:50:58.352+11:00Re: the liturgical genius of Benedict, “Is this a ...Re: the liturgical genius of Benedict, “Is this a stretch?” I have been around artists my whole life. The liturgy is a sacred art form, sacred but still art. Great works of art are inspired in a complex dynamic and usually envisioned as a whole. Conscious, analytical decisions are then made to give a coherent expression to the vision. One does not have to demonstrate that a particular element of the artist’s work was part of the conscious, analytical decision making process before one can say that it belongs to the vision of the artist. Benedict was clearly a religious genius. The office is a masterwork that has inspired untold numbers of souls for 1500 years. Your insights are supported by the texts and the writings of the patristic fathers of the age. Not a stretch. Illuminating.Chapshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04521950495036680744noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16185910560920602.post-57492023861210408392014-03-29T05:11:18.900+11:002014-03-29T05:11:18.900+11:00Seems to be only available in German. And as I ha...Seems to be only available in German. And as I haven't actually read it yet (which may be a slow process as my German is a bit rusty!), it may not be as relevant as I'm hoping. But if anyone has read it, do let us know!Kate Edwardshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01000040465724868745noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16185910560920602.post-31957656288898081052014-03-29T03:07:49.434+11:002014-03-29T03:07:49.434+11:00Is the Braulik volume only available in German, or...Is the Braulik volume only available in German, or was an English translation ever published? Thanks as always--Brian Mhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05923575766779901002noreply@blogger.com