Thursday
at Vespers [1]
Psalm 132 (133)
Behold, how good and how delightful it is,
for brethren to dwell together in unity.
It is like unto precious ointment upon the head,
which runs down over the beard;
the beard of Aaron,
which ran down to the hem of his robe,
like the dew of Hermon,
which descends upon mount Sion;
for there the Lord has bestowed His blessing,
and life for evermore.
The communion of the people of God in prayer is a powerful manifestation of the unity of the Godhead: the perfect giving and receiving of divine love without beginning or end. The love that binds us together as one body in praise of the Most High is that same divine love, who took our flesh that it might be transformed into His Mystical Body. And so, what delight, what great good shall emanate from the common prayer of our lips and united yearning of our hearts; for what is heard on high is not the supplication of one man’s voice but the worship of all the saints, our bodies not our own but His, our communion not among corruptible flesh, but a communion in spirit and truth with God Himself.
For with Christ the anointed as the head, the whole body in communion with Him receives every blessing in abundance from God. The holy oil of divine grace that anoints His brow with the power of God, is our own strength as it flows freely over the entire Church, consecrating us forever priests to the Temple of His Body, beloved lovers of the Lord our God, and recipients of the gift of everlasting life in His love.
So it is that whatsoever is injurious to our communion as brothers in Christ is brought into this place to receive the salve of God’s healing; for left outside these walls, it will confront us again when our prayer is complete and fester in the darkness of the night. But here, in the unity of God’s love, we may see clearly how the deceiver has sought to turn brother against brother and forsake the will that tends to anger and jealousy, pride and recrimination. And He who is the perfection of love will perfect our love with His blessing and make us one, as our voices are one in worship of God, and as our communion is one in the one Lord Jesus Christ.
at Vespers [2, 3]
Psalm 135 (136)
Praise the Lord for He is good:
for His mercy endures forever;
Praise the God of gods:
for His mercy endures forever;
Praise the Lord of lords:
for His mercy endures forever.
Who alone does great wonders:
for His mercy endures forever;
Who in wisdom made the heavens:
for His mercy endures forever;
Who established the earth upon the waters:
for His mercy endures forever;
Who made the great lights:
for His mercy endures forever;
The sun to rule the day:
for His mercy endures forever;
And the moon and the stars to rule the night:
for His mercy endures forever.
May this, our litany of thanksgiving rise to the throne of the Father, who in His mercy has not allowed us to succumb to our sins’ just deserts, but has, through the ages, made Himself known to those who would see His wisdom in creation, and believe in His providential love.
In our days, how often have we rendered our thanks to God for the wonder of the created world – that we should live, and have been provided for from the bounty of His great love? We would take each day for granted, when each breath is in fact a miracle and each thought a witness to a power that directs and designs according to the pattern of divine love. Would that we should see His countenance in the light of the sun, His mercy in the cooling waters and His wisdom in the moon that tames their ebb and flow. For in all these things is a wonder that the senses perceive in awe but the mind can only understand in the light of faith.
So it is with the gift of faith that we see the depth of His mercy, that we, whose parents spurned the perfection of creation and cast off the mantle of His protection, have been chosen by the grace of God for lives of hope in His love.
Who smote the firstborn of Egypt:
for His mercy endures forever;
Who led out Israel from their midst:
for His mercy endures forever;
With mighty hand and invincible arm:
for His mercy endures forever;
Who into two parts divided the Red Sea:
for His mercy endures forever;
And led out Israel through its midst:
for His mercy endures forever;
And threw Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea:
for His mercy endures forever;
Who led His people through the desert:
for His mercy endures forever;
Who smote great kings:
for His mercy endures forever;
And slew mighty kings:
for His mercy endures forever;
Sehon, king of the Amorites:
for His mercy endures forever;
And Og, the king of Basan:
for His mercy endures forever;
And who gave their land as an inheritance:
for His mercy endures forever;
For an inheritance to Israel, His servant:
for His mercy endures forever;
For He remembered us in our affliction:
for His mercy endures forever;
And redeemed us from our foes:
for His mercy endures forever;
Who gives food to all flesh:
for His mercy endures forever.
Praise the God of heaven:
for His mercy endures forever;
Praise the Lord of lords:
for His mercy endures forever.
For never was there a time when He did not reach out to His children and call them to turn back to Him. From age to age He has worked wonders to rekindle the flame of love we once had for the One who created us in His loving image. Content not that we should be forever lost, nor, moved by the love that is His nature, wont to condemn the work of His hand, He made plain His favour to our fathers, bringing them from captivity to His Promised Land; subduing kings and nations to show the great strength of His love – a strength that never waned, though His people rejected His covenant and, time and again, strayed far from His Laws, and reviled His Prophets.
Still, His mercy only found ever more profound depths when, in our own times, His loving mercy became compassion as The Word took mortal flesh to finally bring the work of creation to its perfect end, through a death that would end the death of man’s sin forever. Suffering more than mortal man had ever suffered, Christ completed the work of salvation upon the altar of His heart, pierced with the sins of every man: the priest and victim immolated to reconcile man to God.
This same sacrifice we remember most especially this night, when the Lamb of God instituted the perpetual sacrifice of His passion and death as food to all flesh for eternal life; prefiguring the heavenly joy of the Supper of the Lamb. We, the most needful recipients of His mercy, now raise our voices in remembrance of the great love of our God, whose mercy to our fathers through all time has never wavered until now, condemned by our own transgressions, He yet lifts us to set us above the degradation of our sin, as He once did the earth above the raging waters, bringing us to the bliss of His Kingdom forever.
Therefore it is our duty and our very salvation to intone our thanksgiving song of praise for the gift of life created and redeemed by The Word of God: sustained from His bounty, protected by His invincible arm, freed from the captivity of sin by His mercy, and brought to life eternal through our participation in His sacrifice .
at Vespers [4]
Psalm 136 (137)
Upon the banks of the rivers of Babaylon
we sat and wept,
when we remembered Sion.
Upon the willows in our midst,
there we hung up our harps:
For there, they that led us into captivity
asked of us the words of our songs;
and said those who had carried us away:
“Sing for us a hymn, a song of Sion”.
How should we sing the song of the Lord
in a strange land?
If I ever forget you, O Jerusalem,
may my right hand be yielded unto oblivion.
May my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth,
if I remember you not;
if I hold not Jerusalem
as my first and greatest joy.
Remember the actions of the children of Edom
O Lord, in the day of the fall of Jerusalem;
who said: “Raze it! Bring it down
even to its foundations.”
O desolate daughter of Babylon:
blessed shall he be who requites
the evil you have done to us.
Blessed shall he be who seizes
and dashes upon a rock your little ones.
For each man who has gazed upon his Lord in the sanctuary and seen the glory of His presence in our midst, we are indeed in exile, here, on our earthly sojourn. We have glimpsed only the glorious reflection of the heavenly Jerusalem and the bountiful wedding feast of the Lamb upon the wings of angels who kneel before our altars in adoration at the sacrifice of our Lord and our God, and yet it has become for us our only desire: to be united, in the glory of His Kingdom, with the One who died for us.
It is no wonder that we feel as souls held captive by a world of sin and depravity, and yet it was to this world that the Lord deigned to come, to redeem it from its degradation. Shall we, then, mourn our exile and loathe our captivity, hanging up our harps in despair? Shall we concede defeat to our captors and forsake our home? Or should our desire ring louder still in the ears of those who would taunt us, asking the depth of our love for the God they seek to destroy?
How easy is the way of the disheartened, who too soon forget their heritage; who defeated, forsake their inheritance for the promise of foreign riches. But more insidious are those whose abode is a no-mans-land, who await the legate’s news of the battle’s victor before committing to one side, and all the while court the affections of both captor and captive, singing with us, sharing our bread, while feasting on our spoils with the foe.
May our love for God be constant, pure and sincere, for the instruments of our praise are as nothing if our heart does not truly desire God. Better that our hand wither and our throats dry up than to sing a hymn our hearts have forgotten. Instead let us draw strength to heal even the slightest of our weaknesses and to remind our oft careless hearts of the joys of our homeland – strength from the voices of the strong, that our stubborn hearts may attune to the voice of their prayer; that we may be forever strangers in this land and yet seek its redemption in our suffering shared with Him who suffered here first. And then, with vigour renewed by the strength of your holy ones, may I, the least of your children, mortify the human passions that still cling to this land of our exile, against the rock, which is Christ, my salvation.
at Vespers [5]
Psalm 137 (138)
With my whole heart I give You,
O Lord, my thankful praise:
for You have heard the words of my mouth.
I will sing Your praise
in the sight of the Angels:
before Your holy temple
I will give my adoration,
my thanksgiving praise of Your name;
because of Your mercy and your faithfulness;
by which your Holy Name
is glorified above all others.
In whatever day I shall call upon You, hear me;
you will fortify the strength of my soul.
Let all the kings of the earth, O Lord,
acknowledge Your glory;
who have heard all the words of Your mouth.
And let them sing of the ways of the Lord;
for great is the glory of the Lord.
For the Lord is the Most High
and yet looks upon the lowly;
the proud He knows from afar.
If I should walk in the midst of tribulation,
You will quicken me;
and upon the wrath of my enemies extend Your hand,
Your right hand has saves me.
The Lord is my vindication;
Your mercy, O Lord, endures forever;
despise not the work of Your hands.
For what does the whole heart yearn that it is overcome with thanksgiving upon its reception, but the love of God; that gift most inestimable, which pours from the Sacrament of Love? What else is the fount of the Father’s great mercy and testament to His faithfulness other than the sacrifice of His Only Begotten Son; that gift of life first rejected by Adam; the gift of Himself we have so often scorned for the false promise of greatness that would rival God’s? For who may be greater than the One who gave him life with His own breath?
And so man laid himself low and learned his humility before God by the toil of his hands and the sweat of his brow. And though never rejecting the one who first deceived him, the love of the One rejected never left him, but like a seed growing providently in arid soil, watered on the dewfall of the prophets, the faithful love of God awaited the day of our turning. And amidst the sinfulness of our lives, when we called from the very brink of the abyss, He heard and answered; the roots of the seed He planted a tether secure to save us from our fall.
So our praise resounds from the very heart that has been redeemed by the love of God, for we have been given His Holy Temple, the One with the Name above every name. The Word of God that formed the earth has become the salvation of all its nations, lifting the lowly from the dust – whose hearts are not too puffed up to receive Him – to the heights of His glory.
And though this earth is still the place of our toil and our suffering, our walk through this land so full of every tribulation is now sustained and sanctified by the sacrifice of Christ – made holy by the source of holiness taking our flesh, and our souls fed and strengthened by His command to take and eat of that same flesh for eternal life. In the words of St Albert the Great: “He could not have commanded anything more beneficial, for this sacrament is the fruit of the Tree of Life, and anyone who receives it with the devotion of sincere faith shall never taste death.”
So the Tree of Life that Adam spurned was never uprooted but remains the choice for every man who hears and receives The Word, and the testament to the faithful and merciful love of God, who never despised the work of His hands but has sought, with the love in which we were created, to bring us back to our final rest in Him.