{"id":4974,"date":"2012-04-20T00:36:00","date_gmt":"2012-04-20T00:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/2012\/04\/20\/it-is-good-to-give-praise-to-the-lord\/"},"modified":"2023-05-10T02:01:43","modified_gmt":"2023-05-10T02:01:43","slug":"it-is-good-to-give-praise-to-the-lord","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/2012\/04\/20\/it-is-good-to-give-praise-to-the-lord\/","title":{"rendered":"It is good to give praise to the Lord"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\nBonum est confiteri Domino: et
\npsallere nomini tuo, Altissime<\/o:p><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/div>\n
\n
\n<\/em>Ad annuntiandum mane
\nmisericordiam tuam: et veritatem tuam per noctem (Ps 91: 2-3)<\/o:p><\/em><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n
\n<\/em>It is good to give
\npraise to the Lord: and to sing to Thy name, O most High<\/o:p><\/em><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n
\n<\/em>To shew forth Thy mercy
\nin the morning, and Thy truth in the night<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\nOne of the first
\nthings that strike a stay-in visitor or a newly-arrived postulant at our
\nconvent is the amount of time dedicated to the recitation of the Divine
\nOffice.  <\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\nAs teaching
\nsisters who have to devote a considerable portion of our time to our apostolate
\nof educating youth; it would appear, at first sight, fairly incongruous to give
\nup to two-and-a-half hours each day in choir to an exercise that seems to be
\nthe one distinguishing characteristic of the monastic orders. On a practical
\nlevel, wouldn\u2019t planning lessons and the never-ending chase after late homework
\nrequire all of our time?<\/span><\/div>\n
\n
\nIndeed, much
\nemphasis in terms of time and attention is given to the recitation of the
\nBreviary in our community. We begin before the crack of dawn appears, and our
\npraise does not cease till after the sun has set, ushering in the night. Our
\nrecollection is further enhanced by the bell being rung five minutes before
\neach Office in order to prepare ourselves in choir. But above all, why is it
\nour immense privilege and happiness to be able to do so eight times each day?<\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\n
Firstly, one
\nmight perhaps point out that our joy in assisting at these prayers comes from
\nthe sublime beauty of the psalms, canticles, hymns, not forgetting the lessons
\ntaken from the Gospels and Church Fathers. The entire range of all possible
\nhuman sentiment in our worship of God is expressed vividly through the psalms
\nalone; petition, adoration, thanksgiving, desire and contrition in every season
\nof joy, sorrow or desperate need find an adequate medium through the psalter.  <\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nTwo brief
\nexamples illustrate this clearly. The exuberant joy in the Ouam dilecta tabernacula tua Domine virtutum: concupiscit et deficit
\nanima mea in atria Domini <\/i>(How lovely are thy tabernacles O Lord of hosts:
\nMy soul longeth and fainteth for the courts of the Lord) of Psalm 83 speaks of
\nour delight in appearing before the throne of Our Lord in the Blessed
\nSacrament. The same God who is our delight is however also a Man of Sorrows, as
\nseen in Psalm 54 which gives a description of His desolations. The qui simul mecum dulces capiebas cibos: in
\ndomo Dei ambulavimus cum consensu<\/i> (Who didst take sweet meats together with
\nme: in the house of God we walked with consent) of this Psalm poignantly
\nportrays the heart-rending pain of Our Lord when he was betrayed and denied by his
\nfriends during His Passion. It is aptly chosen by the Church for Terce on
\nWednesday, the day when He was sold by Judas. <\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n
\nFurthermore, the
\nvarious antiphons, hymns and short lessons in the Breviary which change according
\nto the liturgical season also keeps us united to the liturgical life of the
\nChurch. Through the Divine Office, further expression is given to the
\nsentiments which animate the Church as the entire life of Our Saviour unfolds
\neach year. These mysteries which include the expectation of His coming during
\nAdvent, the sorrow at His approaching death during Passiontide and the
\ntriumphant joy at His Resurrection during the Paschal season are then brought
\ncloser to our souls. We are thus united more intimately to Jesus who continues
\nto live thus in His Church, and as we progress in the spiritual life, we would
\nalso identify more and more with the sentiments of the Church as one of her members.
\nDoes this not especially pertain to us religious who have the privilege to be completely
\nconsecrated to the love and service of God and His Church?<\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\n
\nYet, the most significant
\naspect of the Divine Office is its quality as the Church\u2019s official prayer.  <\/span>Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange O.P notes that it is simply
\na continuation and extension of the Holy Mass, which is the great prayer of
\nChrist who renews His Sacrifice at Calvary daily until the consummation of the
\nworld. Similarly the Church, who is the spouse of Christ, does not cease day
\nand night her own prayer of adoration, thanksgiving, reparation and petition
\nbefore God: Sempiterna sit beatae
\nTrinitati gloria, aequa Patri, Filioque; par decus Paraclito, unius Trinique
\nNomen laudet universitas. <\/i><\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThe professed
\nreligious or cleric thus becomes the ambassador of the Church when praying the
\nOffice; he or she does not pray as an individual but enters into the sentiments
\nof the Church as her mouthpiece. <\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n <\/span>Its dignity further increases when we consider
\nthat the words used are those of the Holy Ghost Himself; given directly through
\nthe Sacred Scriptures or else indirectly through the authority of the Church,
\nfor it was she who directed the arrangement of the breviary and the composition
\nof the various hymns and lessons.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n
Who can then doubt
\nthe favourable reception given by God to those deputed by the Church to praise Him,
\nif they do so devoutly? St Mary Magdalene de Pazzi mentions that a single
\npetition of the Office, on account of it being the prayer of the entire Church,
\nis worth more than a hundred private prayers. Dom Chautard adds that Church
\nherself supplicates with and through us for her varied and pressing needs,
\nalways having her prayers answered and heard in some way as the dearly beloved
\nSpouse of Our Lord.<\/span> <\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\n\n<\/div>\n
\nThe Office then
\nbecomes a cherished tool in the hands of the Dominican for the accomplishment
\nof her vocation. This powerful weapon (for we are in a spiritual battle,
\nclearly!) draws down the graces which sustain our apostolic thirst for souls
\nand the desire that God be better known and loved, especially by those who are
\nentrusted to our care. <\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\nOne of the most
\noutstanding features of the Office in the Dominican rite consists of the bodily
\nmovements that accompany our prayer. As outlined in our ceremonial, these
\ninclude processions, the profound and medium inclinations of the body,
\nkneeling, standing in alternate choirs, full prostrations on the ground,
\nturning to the altar and back to a choral position. St. Dominic, who preached against
\nthe Albigensian heresy which taught that matter and the body was evil, chose
\nrather to use the body in prayer as something good. These are significant aids to
\nmaintaining the reverence due to God during both the public and interior
\nworship of so adorable a Being. <\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n
Above all, the
\nmost beautiful of these must be the profound inclination or bow made at every Gloria Patri,<\/i> especially at the end of
\neach psalm or portion thereof. It is truly a compact summary of what the Divine
\nOffice is: the continuation of the adoration and praise offered by Our Lord to
\nHis Father during His mortal life by the Church, and the beginning of the
\npraise and thanksgiving that will occupy her for all eternity before the Holy
\nTrinity, in saecula saeculorum<\/i>.<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bonum est confiteri Domino: et psallere nomini tuo, Altissime Ad annuntiandum mane misericordiam tuam: et veritatem tuam per noctem (Ps 91: 2-3) It is good to give praise to the Lord: and to sing to Thy name, O most High To shew forth Thy mercy in the morning, and Thy truth in the night One … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-convent-life","infinite-scroll-item","masonry-post","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4974"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4974\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5177,"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4974\/revisions\/5177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opsisters.org.nz\/preview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}