Rule of St Benedict Reading for June 18, 2009

February 17, June 18, October 18

Chapter 14: How the Night Office Is to Be Said on the Feasts of the Saints

On the feasts of Saints and on all festivals
let the Office be performed
as we have prescribed for Sundays,
except that the Psalms, the antiphons and the lessons
belonging to that particular day are to be said.
Their number, however, shall remain as we have specified above.

Please remember, on our website in the files section there is a file called Commentaries on the RB written by Sister Joan Chittister, Abbott Philip Lawrence and Brother Jerome Leo. URL is in my sig.

Some thoughts

I love observing saints' days and the various feasts of the church year. Doing so reminds me that I already live in the Kingdom of God. It has been at hand since Jesus rose from the dead. Which I believe He did bodily, historically and literally. I digress.

I love also to learn of the Great Saints of Yore, canonized or not. Of course we Episcopalians of the USA don't canonize anyone and as far as I know the Church of England only canonized one person: King Charles I. The Roman Catholics have of course since forever and the eastern Orthodox also have their ways of remembering. Sorry I can't speak more coherently on the last point.

In the Lectionary in the BCP of TEC, we have a Saints' Days Lectionary with special Psalms and Scriptures to commemorate many of those who have gone before us. We are in the world but not of it. What we are of is the Kingdom of God. It is all around us. One of the theological ideas for a church is that when we enter, we also enter Heaven. The Christian life is one of tension: we have one foot on this earth, another in Heaven the Kingdom of God.

The RB really helps me bridge the two. What works for you?

Reading 02/17/08

February 17, June 18, October 18
Chapter 14: How the Night Office Is to Be Said on the Feasts of the Saints

On the feasts of Saints and on all festivals
let the Office be performed
as we have prescribed for Sundays,
except that the Psalms, the antiphons and the lessons
belonging to that particular day are to be said.
Their number, however, shall remain as we have specified above.

Some thoughts

It may seem to some that there is too much picayune detail to all these instructions about how to say this or that office on this or that day. It may seem to some that this is an outmoded, archaic approach that we no longer need in the 21st century. To any who would think this, I'd say, hold on a minute. Are you perhaps confusing the letter of the passage with the spirit?

What do we think is going on in these passages on the offices? If we look at them as a bunch of hard and fast rules, we will be mistaken, I think.

One thing I notice is that Benedict is attuned to the rhythms and currents of not only the Church year, but also of the natural year. Of creation. I daresay we already know about how the Church year is structured to take us into the life of Jesus but aside from changing our attire to suit the weather, most of us are pretty well insulated from the rhythms and currents of nature. What with our electricity, central heating, office buildings with windows that won't open.

Benedict's monks lived more closely attuned to God's creation than do we. I suspect they felt more a part of it and it more a part of them than we do. I suspect that they did not take if for granted the way we do.