No; we are, none of us, perfect. And this goes too for the holy pontiff S Pius X. He 'reformed' the Breviary ... not least, the distribution of the Psalms. But, ever since, there have been people who have pursed critical lips when this subject (or Papa Sarto's name) comes up.
The problem particularly involves the last three psalms: 148; 149; 150. You see, there is evidence that the daily use of these three psalms, lined up together at the end of worship, goes back to the worship of the Jerusalem Temple, and, thus, of the Incarnate LORD himself.
Anton Baumstark wrote sarcastically that "to the reformers of the Psalterium Romanum belongs the distinction of having brought to an end the universal observance of a liturgical practice which was followed, one can say, by the Divine Redeemer himself during his life on earth." Laurence Hemming reminded us that the "roots [of the Liturgy] are manifold, but above all they are in the religion of Israel and in the Temple ... What has been of greatest importance is the disturbance and loss of the order of recitation of the psalmody in the Breviary, an order which in at least some of the offices appears to have been taken over from the Jerusalem Temple and predates Christianity itself." In 2010 Bishop Andrew Burnham wrote about the need for "A cursus, recovering some of the richness of the pre-1911 breviary (for example the daily use of the Laudate Psalms (148-50) at Lauds, the omission of which in 1911 has been much lamented ever since)".
A glance at these three psalms will reveal the wealth of joyful ecstasy in their vocabulary, especially in terms of the collections of words (in heavy type in the following) which I analysed recently on this blog. Praise the LORD from the heavens ... angels, sun, moon, stars, heavenly waters; sea monsters, deeps, fire, hail, snow, frost; mountains, hills; kings, young, old: "let them praise the NAME of the LORD, for his NAME alone is exalted ...
And the TEMPLE SANCTUARY introduces the climax, with all manner of musical instrument: and so, finally, "Let everything that breathes praise the LORD.
4 comments:
I think particularly glaring that they didn't keep the three original Lauds psalms not even once in the Church year. There are plenty, plentissimy of occasions where the day is festive enough to get "the Sunday psalm" (no. 148), but not one of them gets all three of them.
If we do take the momentous decision of breaking up the traditional Lauds psalms in order to say the Psalter much more entirely during a week than before the reform while having less prayer-work, then why don't we get the three psalms at least on Easter and Pentecost with their Octaves? It's not like 149 and 150 would be said on a different day in that week. It's also not like this particular Office would be too burdensome; Matins is extraordinarily short (which is fascinating in and of itself, but that is another matter).
Of course, on first class feasts, at least Christmas, Epiphany and Ascension, we might like that too... or indeed on all days, as per tradition.
Also, if we do take the momentous decision of breaking up the traditional Lauds psalms, and 148 and 150 (which is under this condition logical) get to be the Lauds Psalm for Sunday and Saturday respectively, why can't 149 be the Lauds psalm for some other day between? What business does it have in non-Lauds-psalm part of Saturday Lauds?
I know a fellow who 'cheats' and repeats Psalm 150 in Greek, Aineite ton Theon..., at Lauds. And the Sanctus Deus, the Trisagion, in the preces at Prime, too. "We are, none of us, perfect"--ain't it the truth.
The use of Psalms in Jewish and Christian life was a gradual process, personally and socially. As late as Rashi in the 11th century, the singing of three psalms 145, 148, 150 in the morning was considered personal prayer, not liturgical. Maimonides thought the same thing, that Jewish morning prayer begins with Kaddish and Shema.
This may be a key to understanding Baumstark's observation that the three Laudate psalms would have been sung in the morning "by the Divine Redeemer himself during his life on earth": as a practice he would have shared with other Jews and which was continued by the early Christians in their personal morning prayers.
If we may believe St Jerome (circa 342-420), that father of the early Church who lived in Bethlehem and occasionally conversed with rabbis, the Palestinian countryside reverberated with the sounds of Psalms: “All the rustic villages are silent except for psalmody. Wherever you turn, the cultivator holding a plow handle sings Alleluia, the sweating reaper distracts himself with Psalms, and the vineyard worker trimming grapes
with a pruning knife chants something from David.”
It would have been a natural step to bring these morning psalms from the home to the monastery and the church, which made them properly liturgical before the Jews did.
Folks, just use the Monastic Diurnal (St. Benedict’s specifications) and be done with it.
Post a Comment