The Little Office of Our Lady; a treatise theoretical, practical, and exegetical

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THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

THE

Little Office of our Lady

A TREATISE

THEORETICAL, PRACTICAL, AND EXEGETICAL

BY
I

ETHELRED L. TAUNTON

Priest of the Archdiocese of Westminster

"/ have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, who shall never
hold their peace day or night." — ISAIAS Ixii. 6

ILonbon
JOHN BALE, SONS & DANIELSSON, Ltd., 83-89, Gt. Titchfield Street, W.

R. & T. WASHBOURNE, 4, Paternoster Row, E.G.

Dublin New York

BROWNE & NOLAN 1903 F. PUSTET & Co.

24, Nassau St. 52, Barclay St.

TO

MISS C. P. BOYD,

FOUNDRESS OF THE ORPHANAGE OF THE INFANT SAVIOUR,

KILBURN, N.W.
IN REMEMBRANCE OF MUCH KINDNESS.

NIHIL OBSTAT

Joannes Gilbertus Dolan, O.S.B.,
Censor Debutatus.

IMPRIMATUR

4- Herbertus Cardinalis Vaughan,

Archiepiscopus Westmonasteriensis.

Die 1 6 Martii, 1903.

INTRODUCTION.

I HAVE written this treatise especially for those who by
their vows are called upon to share in the public prayer of the
Church. To my knowledge no adequate treatise, such as 1
have aimed at, exists in any language. And when one con-
siders the thousands of souls who are bound to pay their
service to God through the Little Office of our Lady, it is
strange that the want has not been hitherto supplied by hands
more competent than mine. However, if the perusal of this
book help to a better understanding of words so frequently
on the lips of religious, if it make them value more and more
the priceless privilege of joining in the public prayer of the
Church, and if it cause them to realise some of the wider
doctrines of the spiritual life, then, indeed, the labour of
several years will have been well spent and my reward made
exceeding great.

But although this book has been written primarily for the
use of religious, I have borne in mind the wants of that ever-
increasing number of the laity who prefer to find their devo-
tion in the Church's prayers, where all is staid and sober
and short, rather than in the utterances of private individuals,
which are often the reverse. In days gone by the Little
Office in English was the favourite devotion of our Catholic
forefathers. Happy for England when our prayers once
more take such forms, and we build our spiritual life on the
simple direct spirit of Holy Mother Church, instead of on
those so-called devotions which the late saintly Cardinal
Manning was wont to count as some of the greatest evils
of the Church to-day.

viii. INTRODUCTION

As to the book itself. I have divided the treatise into three
parts : —

In the THEORETICAL part, I inquire into the nature and
excellence of Liturgical Prayer ; and then discuss the materials
which compose the Little Office ; lastly, I give an historical
account of the growth and development of the Prayer as we
have it to-day.

In the PRACTICAL part, I consider the best means of saying
the Office with fruit and according to the mind of the Church,
and I also make various suggestions to this end, and treat of
some difficulties.

The EXEGETICAL part consists of a full and complete
Commentary, drawn from the Fathers and great mystical
writers, on every verse of the Psalms, together with a full
explanation of the hymns, lessons, responsories, antiphons,
versicles, and prayers. To this is added by way of Appendix
a Ceremonial and the latest decrees of the Sacred Congregation
of Rites upon the subject.

As to the use to be made of this book. It is not intended
to be read through once and then laid aside, as a mere book
of reference. But, as the Office is a daily work, so should
this treatise be made a daily handbook for reading and studying
now one part, and then another. I recommend that first
of all the book be read through, in order to grasp the
general subject. Then that portions of the Third Part be
studied daily. On retreat days, the First and Second Parts
may be read with advantage. Again, a verse of a Psalm with
its commentary may be usefully taken as the subject of mental
prayer, and the lights which are gained during the recitation
will prove abundant food for this time. And for spiritual
reading, slow and thoughtful, what can be better than a com-
mentary on the Psalms ; for here we have the Holy Ghost
speaking to us directly in the words of the Scripture ; and His
saints explaining them to us. The main point I want to arrive
at with those who use this book is the value of the Public
Prayer above all private prayer, and the consequent necessity
of making a deliberate study thereof.

As regard the materials of this book. I have drawn them
from all manner of sources. Whatever is good I have made

INTRODUCTION ix.

use of, according to my lights, irrespective of country and
person. One work, largely quoted, is The Myroure of our Ladye,
written by an unknown author in the old days for the
Brigittine nuns of Sion Abbey at Isleworth. This venerable
English community after three hundred years' exile on the
Continent have returned to England, and are settled at Sion
Abbey, Chudleigh, Devon. As their form of Office is entirely
different from the Roman use, I had to content myself
with extracting from the Myroure such parts as would apply
to the Little Office to-day. While preserving the pious
author's quaint phraseology I have modernised his spelling,
and in a few — very few — instances changed, here and there,
a word which would not be intelligible to most of my
readers. I have invariably quoted from the edition of The'
Myroure of our Ladye published by the Early English Text
Society. The Commentary on the Psalms is a cento made
up from all sources. Like the late Archabbat Wolter of
Beuron in his Psallite Sapienter, I have used largely that most
beautiful and complete work, Dr. Neale's Commentary on the
Psalms (1860). There are few who have had so intimate a know-
ledge of the devotional spirit and aspect of the Middle Ages,
or were so thoroughly imbued with their tone, as the lamented
author. Joining to this an immense patristic and scriptural
knowledge, he, with infinite patience, wrote before his death
a commentary on the first fifty-eight Psalms, which is all gold.
While borrowing largely and freely from this priceless work, I
have not hesitated to alter, to abbreviate, and often to enlarge
the matter wherever I thought proper. While the Commen-
tary I give is solely devotional, I have pointed out, without
being critical, the generally received opinion about the origin
of the Psalm and the circumstances under which it was written.

I must express my heartfelt thanks to my valued and well-
proved friend, Dom. J. G. Dolan, O.S.B., who in the midst of
mission cares has found time to be of great service to me,
not only by acting as Censor Deputatus for the ecclesiastical
authorities, but also by making excellent and thoughtful sug-
gestions, which I have gladly carried out.

It only remains to add my earnest prayer that those holy
virgins who, forsaking all things, follow the Lamb whitherso-

x. INTRODUCTION

ever He goeth, and, by their good works, fill our land with
the sweet odour of Christ, thus recalling the days when a
Hilda, an Edith, an Ethelreda, a Mildred, a Werburgha, found
union with God by doing for Him a woman's work in the
world, that they, when using this book, will remember me
and mine, alive or dead, in their prayers before the Throne of
Grace.

London, E. L. T.

November 5, 1902.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

INTRODUCTION ... ... ... ... ... ... vii.

PART I— THEORETICAL.

CHAPTER I. — On the Nature of Liturgical Prayer... ... ... i

CHAPTER II. — On the Formation of the Liturgical Prayer ... ... 17

Note on the Interpretation of the Psalms ... ... 34

CHAPTER III.— On the History of the Little Office ... ... 37

PART II.— PRACTICAL.

CHAPTER I. — On Saying the Office as the Church wishes ... ... 48

CHAPTER II.— On Recollection before Beginning... ... ... 55

CHAPTER III.— On Particular Intention ... ... ... ... 59

CHAPTER IV. — On Attention ... ... ... ... ... 67

CHAPTER V.— On Some Aids to Attention ... ... ... 74

CHAPTER VI.— On Distractions... ... ... ... ... 78

PART III.— EXEGETICAL.

CHAPTER I.— Preparatory Prayer ... ... ... ... 84

CHAPTER II.— At Matins, or Night-Song ... ... ... 88

CHAPTER III. — At Lauds, or Morning Song ... ... ... 233

CHAPTER IV.— At Prime: the First Hour ... ... ... 315

CHAPTER V. — At Terce : the Third Hour ... ... ... 335

CHAPTER VI. — AtSext: the Sixth Hour... ... ... ... 350

CHAPTER VII.— At None: the Ninth Hour ... ... ... 361

CHAPTER VIII.— At Vespers, or Evensong ... ... ... 375

CHAPTER IX. — At Compline, or Night-Song ... ... ... 409

APPENDIX ON CEREMONIAL ... ... ... ... ... 433

THE

LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY.

PART I.
CHAPTER I.

ON LITURGICAL PRAYER.

THE Little Office of our Lady is one of the liturgical prayers
of the Church ; and she imposes it on many of her children.
For them it takes the place of that greater office known by
the distinctive title of the Divine Office. Although the Little
Office of our Lady is considerably shorter than the ever-
varying Office which the clergy and religious of both sexes
in solemn vows have to say, yet, coming as it does from the
same authority which regulates and prescribes its use, it is as
much a liturgical prayer as the other, and has the same claims
to be considered as part of the public official worship which
the mystical Spouse of Christ, the Church, daily offers to her
Divine Head.

In these last words we have the whole idea of Liturgical
Prayer ; and, in order that it should be properly understood,
and secure in our heart its true value, we propose to consider,
somewhat at length, the nature of prayer, especially in its
relation to the recitation of the Office.

We cannot get a better definition of prayer than that
found in our catechism, which is the one given by the great
Angelical doctor St. Thomas : Prayer is the lifting up of the

2 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

heart and mind to God. It is, in its simplest form, an act of
the soul which calls into play the powers of understanding
and will, or, in other words, the reason and the affections.
The understanding has to be directed to God ; the will has
to be moved towards Him. Faith must illuminate our under-
standing so that we may know Him Whom we address ; while
Hope and Charity must inflame our will so that we may love,
praise, adore, thank, and beseech Him in Whom we believe.
There can be no prayer, properly so-called, of the under-
standing without a resulting motion of the will ; neither
can there be a prayer of the will without the preliminary
exercise of the understanding. Both must be employed ;
for, as God is One, so is the soul. He has made man
to His Own image and likeness. He does not wish us to
have a dry knowledge of Himself, but such an understanding
as will make us turn to Him as the sole Object that can
adequately fill a creature's heart. Again, He does not ask us
to love Him blindly, not knowing Who or What He is. He
demands a reasonable service [i], a love based on knowledge.
Without the use of reason we debase His service into a mere
superstition. Hence it can be seen, from the definition of
prayer, that it is the work of the soul acting through under-
standing and will. It is well to get this principle deeply
rooted in the mind from the outset, for it proves how necessary
it is for each one, as far as means allow, to make a con-
scientious study of the subject of prayer; and especially of
the Liturgical Prayer. For those bound to its recitation
this must be a serious duty, since the Office is a daily task,
laid upon us by Holy Church under a grave obligation.

Prayer is divided into two great classes : mental prayer
and vocal prayer. Mental prayer is that in which the soul
itself works without the aid of any exterior instrument. Vocal
prayer, as its very name implies, calls in the use of the human
voice as an external means of praying. But there is this
important point to bear in mind. If the soul can pray
without the help of the body, the body cannot pray without
the help of the soul. Vocal prayer must find an echo
in the heart, otherwise it is but an empty form, and merits

[i] Rom. xii. 2.

ON LITURGICAL PRAYER 3

the contempt which our Lord shows for the prayers of the
Pharisees, who expected to be heard for their much speaking
[i]. It would be but a lip-service which He does not want :
These people know me with their lips and not with their hearts,
says the Lord by His prophet [2]. This strict dependence of
vocal prayer on mental prayer is in keeping with our human
nature. Our bodies can only be said to act in a reasonable
manner when prompted by the soul. There is nothing in the
nature of things that can prevent the soul from acting, that
is to say, from knowing and loving, without making use of the
organs of the body : a proof, by the way, making for the
immortality of the soul. It is on account of this truth that
Holy Church bids us, before beginning our Office, pray that
we may say it attentively and devoutly ; that is, with due
application of the body and the soul.

Of vocal prayer, which mainly concerns us in this book,
the division is two-fold — public and private ; and both have
to be considered from the point of view of the prayer itself,
and the one who prays. Public vocal prayer, strictly so-called,
is that prayer which is the official act of the whole body of
the Church. Private vocal prayer is that which individuals,
by themselves or with others, say according to their own
private devotion. It, therefore, cannot be looked upon as the
public act of the whole body of the Church. Now as regards
those who pray : the individual may be either a public servant
of the Church who in her name is charged with making
intercession ; or a private individual [3] who bears no official
position, and is not appointed, like Aaron, to stand between
the living and the dead [4]. Those who, either by their state
or by vow approved of by the Church, are charged with
saying the Office, whether it be the Divine Office or the
Little Office of our Lady, say it as public servants of the
Church who, officially, stand before the Throne of God and
make intercession for the whole body of Christ's Church.

[l] Matthew vi. 7. [2] Isaias xxix. 13.

[3] Though forsaking his own fancies, he may find both his security and profit in
following the formulas which are publicly authorised by the Church, and thus
unite himself with the public praying of the Church.
[4] Numbers xvi. 48.

4 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

When performing this duty, even when alone, they cease to
be private individuals : they are invested with the public
character of ambassadors to the heavenly court. He is consti-
tuted in those things which appertain to God [i]. But although
invested with a public character, those who recite the Office
do not lose the merit of their own personal action according
to the words of the Apostle : Who sows in blessings the same
also shall reap in blessings ; [2] or that other saying : From the
fruit of his month shall a man be filled with good things [3].
And there is no prayer so efficacious as that of the Office,
for it has a peculiar and great merit before God for a reason
we shall give below. "A single psalm said well excites all
the powers of our soul and makes us produce a hundred
acts of virtue. One hour said with devotion implies at the
bottom of the heart a thousand good desires, a thousand
pious affections" [4]: thus St. Alphonsus. Is it any wonder
that St. Benedict tells his monks : " Let nothing be preferred
to the work of God " ? [5]

But there is a deeper view of the public prayer of the
Church and of those who are privileged to take part therein.
We must look more closely into the matter and endeavour to
search out honey and oil out of the Rock [6] . Now the Rock
was Christ [7] ; and He, the same yesterday, to-day and for ever-
more [8], is the soul of the Liturgical prayer. It is Jesus
Christ Who prays in us ; it is He Who prays by us ; it is He
Who prays with us. This is the great truth which gives the
value to Liturgical prayer and sets it so far above any private
devotions. It is this sublime truth which makes St. Alphonsus
say that one Pater Nosier said in the Office is worth a thousand
said out of private devotion.

We must go back to our baptismal Creed for the founda-
tion of all this. We profess our belief in the Almighty
Father, in the Incarnate Son, and the Holy Ghost ; and then
in the mystical Body of Christ, quickened by the Abiding
Presence, the Holy Catholic Church, which is the Commu-

[i] Heb. v. i. [5] Holy Rule, Cap. 43.

[2] 2 Cor. ix. 6. [6] Deut. xxii. 13.

[3] Prov. xiii. 2. [7] I Cor. x. 4.

[4] The Divine Office. Introduction. [8] Heb. xiii. 8.

ON LITURGICAL PRAYER 5

nion of Saints. This is the doctrine of the Mystical Body
which the Holy Ghost by St. Paul thus explains : —

For as the body is one and hath many members, and all the
members of that one body, being many, are one body ; so also
is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptised into one Body,
whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free;
and have been all made to drink of one Spirit. . . . Now yc
are the Body of Christ and members in particular [i],

And again : —

For there is one Body and one Spirit, even as ye are called in
one hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one

God and Father of all (That) speaking the truth in

love (we) may grow up in all things into Him who is the Head,
even Christ, from whom all the body fitly framed and knit
together through that which every joint supplieth, according to
the working in due measure of each several part, maketh the
increase of the body unto the building up of itself in love [2].

And once more : —

And He is before all things and in Him all things consist.
And He is the Head of the Body, the Church. . . . for it
pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell [3].

On these words of the Apostle the whole structure of the
Liturgical prayer is built. It is the outward manifestation of
the real life of the Church, the mystical Body of God the
Son. And in this way our Divine Lord has united to Him-
self, as members of a body to the head, all those who live by
grace. This forms what is called the Mystical Body of
Christ. As He has a real human body born of the Virgin
Mary so He has also a Mystical Body begotten by grace
born of the Water and the Blood [4] and quickened at Pente-
cost by the coming of the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Life-
giver. Those who are members of His Body live with His
life and act through with Him according to the saying :
/ live; no longer I but Christ lives in me [5] ; and that other :
Of His fulness we all have received [6]. When this Mystical
Body acts it is always in union with its Divine Head, Jesus

[i] Cor. xii. 12, 13, 27. [4] I John v. 6.

[2] Eph. iv. 4, 5, 6, 15, 16. [5] Gal. ii. 20.

[3] Col. i. 17,18. [6] John i. 16.

6 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

Christ. Its acts become His acts, for they are guided by His
Spirit. They are thus invested with a dignity and a worth
far beyond their natural power. They become the acts of
the Infinite God Himself. On the other hand, when Jesus
Christ works He acts as the Head of the Church, of that
Mystical body which He has united so closely to Himself
and which only exists in Him. He makes use of the Body
Mystical for carrying out His Own gracious ends ; and plays
on it as a skilful harper who touches the strings of a well-
tuned instrument and is sure that they will respond to the
feelings which sweep over his soul.

What, then, is the work of Jesus Christ as the Head of the
Church ? He is the great Adorer of His Father, or, as the
saintly founder of St. Sulpice was wont to say, the Sole
Religious [i]. Through the Incarnation, God is able to
receive from Creation a homage and a worship which perfectly
befit Him, and which otherwise could never have been found.
Finite creatures, be they the holiest and highest, can never
worship God as He deserves ; for to Him is due a worship
without bounds. How, then, can creatures, who are limited
on all sides, pay such a homage ? No one but God Himself,
the Infinite One, can offer a worship which has the perfection
that is required. It was therefore necessary, if He is to have
a fitting worship, that God the Son, of the very same substance
and equal to His Father in all things, should become Man, so
that as the God-Man He, in His created nature, and in the
name of all creation, should pay a homage which, on account
of His Own Divine Person, is infinite and worthy of all
acceptance by the Eternal Father. But while on the one
hand God receives from Jesus Christ a worship without end-
ing, according to the words : Great is the Lord and exceed-
ingly to be praised [2] ; on the other, the life of the God-Man
is also destined for us, to supply the wants of our race.
He is decreed to be our Head in order to enable us through
Him to worship our Maker. Not only during the thirty-three
years of His mortal life was He to worship His Father, but

[l] Religion in its real meaning is that bond which binds the creature to the
Creator (Religo — I bind).

[2] Ps. xlvii. i.

ON LITURGICAL PRAYER 7

that homage has to be paid for evermore. The life of Jesus
now in Heaven is concerned with the same work : Living for
ever to make intercession for us [i]. He is the Lamb slain
from the beginning of the world [2] ; the Eternal Sacrifice
to which we are associated. The Mystical Body ever needs
to pour forth its homage to the Eternal ; and Jesus Christ,
her Divine Head, is ever making intercession for us in Her
name. We have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ,
the Righteous [3]. This position of our Lord, as the Mystical
Head of the Church, the Adorer of the Father in the name of
His brethren, must be understood if we are to appreciate
the Liturgical prayer at its proper value, and to understand
our share therein. Let us, then, with the eye of faith, pene-
trate within the veil and, with adoring look, gaze on the
worship of heaven. Let us enter into His courts with praise [4]
and listen to the morning stars singing together and the Sons
of God shouting for joy [5]. The Beloved disciple, St. John,
shall be our guide.

And after this I looked and behold a door was opened in
heaven ; and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a
trumpet talking with me ; which said : Come up hither and I
will show thee things which must be hereafter. And immediately
I was in the spirit : and, behold, a Throne was set in heaven and
One sat on the Throne. And He that sat was to look upon like
a jasper and a sardine stone ; and there was a rainbow round
about the Throne, in sight like unto an emerald.

And round about the Throne were four and twenty seats ;
and sitting upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders, sitting
clothed in white raiment ; and they had on their heads crowns
of gold.

And out of the Throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings
and voices : and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the
Throne which are the seven Spirits of God.

And before the Throne there was a sea of glass like unto
crystal : and in the midst of the Throne, and round about the
Throne, were four living creatures, full of eyes, before and behind.

[i] Heb. vii. 25. [4] Ps. c. 4.

[2] Apoc. xiii. 8. [5] Job xxxviii. 7.

[3] John ii. i.

8 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

And the first living creature was like a lion, and the second
living creature like a calf, and the third living creature had a
face as a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying-
eagle.

And the four living creatures had each of them six wings
about him : and they were full of eyes within : and they rest not
day or night, saying : Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty,
Who was, and is, and is to come.

And when those living creatures gave glory and honour and
thanks to Him that sat on the Throne, Who liveth for ever and
ever, the four and twenty elders fell down before Him that sat on
the Throne, and worshipped Him that liveth for ever and ever,
and cast their crowns before the Throne, saying: Thou art worthy,
0 Lord, to receive glory and honour and power : for Thou hast
created all things, and for Thy pleasure they were and arc
created [i].

And I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the Throne and of the
four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, a Lamb
standing as if it were slain, having seven horns and seven eyes,
which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.
And He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him
that sat upon the Throne.

And when He had taken the book, the four living creatures
and the four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having
every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which
are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a New Song: Thou
art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof : for
TJwu wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy Blood out
of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation ; and hast
made us unto God kings and priests : and we shall reign on
the earth.

And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round
about the Throne and the living creatures and the elders : and
the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and
thousands of tJiousands ; saying, with a loud voice : Worthy is
the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom,
and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.

[i] Apoc. iv. i-ir.

ON LITURGICAL PRAYER 9

And every creature which is in heaven, and on earth, and
under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that arc in
them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power,
be unto Him that sitteth upon the Throne, and unto the Lamb
for ever and ever: and the four living creatures said: Amen.
And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped Him
that liveth for ever and ever [i].

And the four and twenty elders who sat before God on their
seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, saying : We give
Thee thanks, 0 Lord God Almighty, Who art, and wast, and
art to come, because Thou hast taken to Thee Thy great power,
and hast reigned.

And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was
seen in His temple the ark of His testimony : and there were
lightning, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and
great hail. And there appeared a great sign in heaven : a
Woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and
upon her head a crown of twelve stars [2].

And I looked, and lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and
with Him an hundred and forty and four thousand, having His
Father's name written in their foreheads. And I heard a Voice
from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a
great thunder : and I heard the voice of harpers harping with
their harps : and they sang as it were a New Song before the
Throne, and before the four living creatures, and the elders : And
no man could learn that Song but the hundred and forty and
four thousand who were redeemed from the earth. These were
they who were not defiled with women for they are virgins. These
are they who follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. These were
purchased from among men, the first-fruits unto God and to the
Lamb ; and in their mouth was found no guile, for they are with-
out ^blemish before the Throne of God [3],

And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the taber-
nacle of the testimony in heaven was opened. . . And the temple
was filled with smoke from the Glory of God, and from His
power [4].

And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in

[l] Apoc. v. 6-14. [3] Apoc. xiv. 1-5.

[2] Apoc. xi. 16-19 ; xii. I. [4] Apoc. xv. 5, 8.

io THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

heaven, saying : Alleluia I Salvation, and glory, and honour,
and power, unto the Lord our God. . . And the four and twenty
elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshipped
God that sat on the Throne, saying: Amen; Alleluia. And a
Voice came out of the Throne saying : Praise our God, all ye His
servants, and ye that fear Him, both small and great. And I
heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice
of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying,
Alleluia : for the Lord our God the Almighty reigneth. Let us be
glad and rejoice, and give glory to Him : for the Marriage of the
Lamb is come, and His Spouse hath made herself ready [i].

And I heard a great Voice out of heaven saying, Behold the
tabernacle of God with men, and He will dwell with them, and
they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them,
and shall be their God.

And He thai sat upon the Throne said, Behold, I make all
things new. And He said unto me : Write : for these words are
true and faithful. And He said unto me, It is done. I am
Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End [2].

In this picture of the worship of heaven, which fills our
heart with a reverential awe, we have all the elements of the
Liturgical prayer. He Who sits upon the Throne is the object
of all worship ; the mystic living creatures are continually
pouring forth their adoration ; the elders are for ever casting
in abasement their crowns before the Throne ; the glorious
angelic host in their varied choirs, each a very world of beauty,
of intelligence and love, join in the mighty song of praise ;
the one Voice from all creation, animate and inanimate, is
always giving expression of their love and worship to their
Maker, harping as harpers on the mystical harp of the Heart
of the Lamb, Who has redeemed them to God and is in their
midst as the Leader and Director of all the adoration, and the
Voice Himself which comes from the Throne, the Alpha and
the Omega, the Beginning and the End. For it is deep down
in the Heart of the Lamb that are found all the prayers of
the Saints. He first conceives them as the expression of His
own worship to the Father, and then instills them into our
souls ; thus causing us to have the same mind that is in

[l] Apoc. xix. I, 4-7. [2] Apoc. xxi. 3, 5, 6.

ON LITURGICAL PRAYER n

Himself [i]. He is the eternal Praise and the Glory of His
Father. It is through Him alone that we have access to the
Throne of Mercy [2].

Thus the public prayer of the Church is nothing else but
the prayer which the Divine Head of the Church is ever
pouring forth on our behalf to His Eternal Father. Sharing
as we do in His life, forming but one body with Him, He
makes use of our souls as so many instruments by which He
can praise God. The words we utter are His in very truth ;
it is He Who prays in us and by us, if we place ourselves
wholly at His disposal. Hence no exaggeration can be found
in the words we say when we remember it is He Who is saying
them, and that on His lips they are perfectly exact and true.
But if we are His instruments, we are reasonable ones. To
refer to a former simile, we are not like a mute harp which is
responsive only when the musician touches it, but we are
like a harp of living strings — of strings which willingly place
themselves under the master's power and share in his sentiment
as far as possible. We have to love God with our whole soul,
with our affections, and with our reason ; and so we must
know what is our part in the Divine worship the Head of the
Church is always pouring forth, and what part is His. Our
part is a deliberate purpose of praising God in union with
Jesus Christ, and it is all summed up in these glorious words
said in the Mass just before the Pater Noster : " In Him and
with Him and by Him, is all honour and glory to Thee, God,
Father Almighty, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, through the ages
of ages."

M. Olier has tried to bring out this great truth by means
of a seal made from the designs of the French artist Lebrun.
The upper part represents Heaven and the Holy Ghost,
the source of all homage and of every blessing of which
God is the object here below. Beneath, appears David with
his heart enlightened, and transported by the light of the Holy
Ghost. In him we recognise the face of his son, Jesus Christ,
upon Whom the Holy Ghost reposes with all fulness, and
Whose every aim is directed to the glory of the Divine Majesty.
The harp the King holds in his hand, and which bears the

[I] Phil. ii. 5. [2] Eph. ii. 18.

12 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

words : Magnificate Dominum mecum (" Praise the Lord with
me "), represents the soul of Our Lord, Who, by a never-ending
love toward His Father, desires that every word of His should
be repeated by all His brethren.

Around David, but a little lower down, are priests clad in
their choral dress, kneeling, with eyes raised heavenwards ;
they also carry harps, upon which is inscribed the second half
of the verse, Exaltemus nomen ejus in idipsum (" Let us exalt
His name in the selfsame"). These represent the ministers
of the Church and others charged with praising God in the
name of their brethren ; they unite themselves to Our
Lord's Spirit and join in His tribute of praise. They wear
the surplice, to show the purity required in those whom Our
Lord deigns to use as His instruments. They are on their
knees, to show that they ought to live in the spirit of
worship. Their eyes are cast to heaven, and on their harps
are the words In idipsum (" in the selfsame "), because their
sole desire should be to praise God in and through Jesus.
On the lowest part of the seal are the words of the Apocalypse :
/ heard a voice from heaven as the voice of many waters, as
of harpers harping on their harps. It was a voice, not voices
that were heard. Only one Voice goes up before the Throne
of God, only one worship does God attend to. It is the
Voice of Jesus which is heard for His reverence [i], "He
alone," says M. Olier, "has the right to intone the Song of
Zion, and to bid us, His children, join therein."

This, then, is the life of our Blessed Lord in heaven.
As our Head He gives to His Father and to our Father,
to His God and to our God [2], the worship we ourselves
are not able to give. "As in each man the head speaks,
sees, and thinks for the whole man, and thus makes up for
the weakness of the rest of the body, so does Jesus Christ
supply for the defects of the body of the faithful, the bulk of
Christians, who of themselves are blind, insensible, and dumb.
He lays before God the wants of the entire body. He speaks
for it, sees, and hears for it — in a word, being its Head, He
does everything for it " [3],

To quote M. Olier, and applying his words to the public

[i] Heb. v. 7 [2] John xxi. i. [3] Bacquez: The Divine Office, p. 283.

ON LITURGICAL PRAYER 13

prayer of the Church : "This is what Jesus Christ does in-
visibly in heaven. This is what His ministers are called to
do in a visible manner here below ; or, rather, what our Lord
does unceasingly through them on earth. To this end He
places in their hands the Office, the expression of His senti-
ments, and of the duty of His members toward the Father ;
and whilst, as Head and High Priest, He communicates His
Spirit to enable them to perform it, His Church puts them
under the obligation of reciting it in His name. Thus the
priest, the representative of our Lord, is at the same time the
living symbol of the unity of the members of the Body
Mystical. The Church, represented in him, addresses herself
by Jesus Christ to the Eternal Father, and, by the power of
the Holy Ghost, our Lord gives life to the prayers of the
Church and makes them worthy of God, even as in the Mass
He uses His priest to consecrate the mystery of His Body
and Blood and offer them as a victim meet for the divine
regard."

This intimate union which exists between the Head and
the members of the Body Mystical, and which makes us, as St.
Paul says, One body and one spirit [i], is the fulfilment of
our Lord's promise made the night before He suffered : In that
day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I
in you [2]. And : Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also
who shall believe in Me through their word ; that they all may be
one ; as Thou, Father, art in Me and I in Thee : they may also be
one in us [3]. Not only was it His parting wish, but it was
the subject of His last discourse : Abide in Me and I in you.
As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the
vine, no more can ye except ye abide in Me. I am the Vine, ye
are the branches [4].

This, then, is our position when, in the name of the
Church, we take up our Office book and say our hours. As
the Apostle says : We put on the Lord Jesus Christ [5]. We
become His mouthpiece, and give voice to the feelings of
adoration, thanksgiving, supplication, and atonement which

[i] Eph. iv. 4. [4] Ibid. xv. 4, 5.

[2] John xiv.2O. [5] Rom. xiii. 14.

[3] Ibid. xvii. 20, 21.

i4 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

are for ever welling up from the Sacred Heart as Jesus lifts up
His five wounds before the Father and intercedes for us.
We give voice to that great cry which, amidst the toil and
bustle of the day, and in the stillness and solitude of the
night, is ever ascending from that same Sacred Heart in the
countless tabernacles where in sacramental life Jesus abides
in our midst. His prayer is ours ; ours is His. Thou art
my praise [i], says the Prophet. Christ is our life [2],
says the Apostle. Not only does He pray for us as our
High Priest, but He also prays in us, as our Head ; and,
filling us with His feelings, He joins our hearts to the
homage He pays His Father. As the flame consumes every
thread of wick in the same light and fire, so does our Lord's
Spirit spread throughout the Church, enlightening each soul
with the splendour of the one faith, and consuming it with
the ardour of the one charity. He maketh His ministers a
flaming fire [3]. This is why the Church always ends our
prayers with the words, " Through Christ our Lord " — to
unite us with Him Who prays in us, and to remind us of
His promise that anything we ask the Father in His name
shall be presently granted to us [4].

An important result follows from the consideration of the
doctrine of the Mystical Body. It is one that fills us with
great consolation. As long as we keep our mind and heart
lifted up to God — that is to say, as long as we keep ourselves,
as it were, basking in the sunshine of His presence — the weak-
nesses of human nature, such as distractions, cannot harm us
or take away from the value of our prayer. Our Lord con-
tinues to use us as His instruments until we, by a deliberate
act of our will, break off the union and, of set purpose, with-
draw ourselves from His influence.

That great Benedictine soul, St. Gertrude, being once, in
spite of all efforts, more than ordinarily distracted, lost heart,
and began to be much troubled. Our Divine Master vouch-
safed to appear to His servant and consoled her by saying :
Daughter, behold My Heart ; for the future look to it and
supply your defects. When you mould pray, ask it to help you

[i] Jeremiah xvii. 14. [3] Ps. ciii. 4.

[2] Col. iii. 3. [4] John xv. 16.

ON LITURGICAL PRAYER 15

to give to My Father the worship you owe. I shall ever be ready
to second you as soon as you call Me to your aid. St.
Bernard learned the same lesson. " David rejoiced of old to
have found his heart to pray to his Master and to his God [i].
" And I have found the Heart of the King, of the Brother, and
Friend, of the loving Jesus. And therefore shall I not adore ?
Yea, I will pray. For His Heart is with me, yea, boldly will
I say it, for my Head is Christ" [2].

"The Spirit of our Lord," says M. Olier, "is like a river
that flows into the vast bosom of the Eternal, and in the
rapidity of its course carries along everything it meets with.
It is enough that by our will we give ourselves to Him, and
are sensitive under His touch. He will then carry us along
with Himself into the abyss of the Divinity, there to be
absorbed for ever."

To sum up, then, the Liturgical Prayer, such as we have it
in the Office, and is laid upon us by the Church, is no private
devotion, but it is the Prayer which the Word Incarnate is ever
pouring forth on behalf of the Mystical Body of which He
is the Head. Those who say it are the willing instruments
placed at His disposal by His Spouse, the Church. We abide
in Him and He in us. The words we speak, we speak not of
ourselves, but in His Person. In the Liturgical Prayer we
have the most perfect means of adoring, and thanking God,
and of making supplication, atonement, that the Eternal
Wisdom could provide. By Jesus Christ, therefore, let us
offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the
fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name [3]. From this
point of view there is nothing to be added to make us esteem
and love our Office. No one who knows what it is can
hesitate in putting it far above any private devotion ; for
nothing can compare with it, save and except the Mass, with
which it is so closely connected that one cannot be understood
without the other [4]. Therefore, to spend time over our

[i] 2 Kings vii. 27.

[2] Migne, P. L., vol. 184, p. 642. [3] Heb. xiii. 15.

[4] The Sacrifice of Prayer to be perfect must never be separated in thought from
the great Eucharistic Sacrifice of the New Law. The Office and the Mass form but
one whole, and one can understand the Office only when it is studied in the light of

16 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

Office, to taste more and more of its sweetness, to find in it
food for our souls, to form all our spiritual life on it, to get
the matter for our mental prayer from it, to make its phrases
those with which we habitually approach the Throne of
Mercy, to make it regulate our whole life, even if, for this
purpose, we have to abandon our self-willed and private
devotions, which, valuable in themselves for others, are per-
haps not fitted for us, into whose hands the Church puts the
Office book as her public servants ; to do all this is surely
the highest wisdom.

the Altar ; for it is the setting of rich gold which surrounds and sets forth the price-
less jewel of the Mass. When we consider that the Prayer of our Lord, like His
Sacrifice, has the same four ends, viz., adoration, thanksgiving, supplication, and
atonement, we can immediately see that the Mass must be steadily kept in view in
any study of the Office we may undertake. The whole Office must, therefore, always
be referred to the Mass either as preparation or thanksgiving, both for priests who
have to say it, and for others who take part in the offering by their presence.

CHAPTER II.

THE FORMATION OF THE LITURGICAL PRAYER.

As my intention in writing this book is, above all, to
be practical, and to give what help I can for understanding
the Office, I must now treat of the formation of the Liturgical
prayer, and discuss the materials which the Church uses. A
knowledge of these points is of capital importance for all
who wish to enter intelligently into the mind of the Church,
and to use rightly the great privilege of being her represen-
tatives. The more we know about the Church and her ways,
the more shall we value everything she sets her seal upon.
Psallite sapienter ("Sing ye wisely"), says the Psalmist [i] ;
and wisdom is knowing.

Our Divine Master Himself has given us the form upon
which all public prayer must be based. The Pater Noster
is the simplest and most perfect expression of the relations
between a creature and the Maker. Thus shall ye pray [2]
said He in answer to the disciples' petition Lord teach us
how to pray [3]. The Divine Wisdom having deigned to
show us what manner of petition becomes us and is pleasing
in His sight, it follows that every other prayer, to be pro-
fitable, must be laid on the lines of the Lord's Prayer ; for,
as St. Augustine says : If we pray rightly and fittingly, then,
whatever words we may use, we offer no petition but those
that are found in this prayer of our Lord's. The Office, then,
is only the Pater Noster carried out into detail, expanded and
commented upon.

From the earliest ages of the Church Christians were
accustomed to meet together for religious exercises. Naturally

[I] Psalm xlvii. 7. [2] Matt. vi. 9. [3] Ibid.

i8 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

they would take what was at hand and add to it certain features
of their own. It is certain that the form of worship which
prevailed in the synagogues (in centra-distinction to that
observed in the Temple) and in which the earliest Christians
were wont to join [i], consisted mainly of singing psalms,
reading Holy Scripture, exhortation, and common prayer.
These features the Christians retained what time they
separated from, or were driven out of, the synagogues. To
this liturgical form of prayer they joined, on the Lord's
Day at least, the Eucharistic Sacrifice of the New Law, and
grouped their vocal prayer around this central act of worship.
At early dawn and at eventide they assembled to sing praise
to God. Pliny the Younger, writing [2] to Trajan, says of
the Christians in his province of Bythnia, that they were a
law-abiding folk, and did no harm ; their only peculiarity
being to meet early in the morning of the first day of the
week and sing hymns to Christ as to a God. Thus Lauds,
the song of praise at day-break, and Vespers, the even-song,
are the two original Offices of the Church. These two hours
were to consecrate to God the whole day, the beginning and
the end : And the evening and the morning were the first day [3].
David had said, To Thee do I watch at break of day [4] ; and
Let my prayer ascend to Thee, 0 Lord, like incense in Thy sight,
and the lifting tip of my hands as an evening sacrifice [5]. In
the service of the Temple, too, there were the morning and the
evening sacrifices ; and so it was natural that at those two
hours the sacrifice of lips praising His name [6] should be also
offered. As time went on and Christians became more
numerous, when the custom arose of keeping festivals at the
tombs of martyrs on their anniversary, the pious lay-folk and
the religious of that time used, out of private devotion, to
keep vigil at the sacred spot ; and, by singing psalms and
reading the Scriptures, pass the time until the bishop and his
clergy arrived at dawn for the Lauds and subsequent sacrifice.
These Vigils, which were in the beginning entirely voluntary
and the spontaneous action of the laity and religious, were

[l] Acts ii. 42, 46; iii. I ; xv. 21. [4] Ps. Ixii. i.

[2] Book x., n. 97. [5] Ps. cxli. 2.

[3] Gen. i. 5. [6] Heb. xiii. 15.

FORMATION OF THE LITURGICAL PRAYER 19

soon taken up by the Church and regulated ; while preserving
their popular form of psalm and spiritual reading with singing
of responsories, she turned this private and voluntary prayer
into an official act of her clergy. Hence the Matin service,
which to this day shows its origin by its close connection with
Lauds. When the monastic system developed in the Church,
the monks added, for their own private devotion, Prime, as a
prayer before the day's work began ; and prayer at the Third
hour, in remembrance of the descent of the Holy Ghost at
that time ; prayer at the Sixth and Ninth hours in remembrance
of the custom of the Apostles to pray at these times; Now
Peter went to pray about the Sixth hour [i] ; and — Now Peter
and John went up together into the Temple at the hour of
prayer; being the Ninth hour \_2\. The Holy Father Benedict
in the Rule, which has been the guide for so many millions
of souls, and has perhaps done more to form the mind of
the Church than any other book save the Bible, instituted
the hour of Compline as the night prayer for his monks.
Thus was the cycle of prayer completed ; and what was
the private devotion of monks became in due time part and
parcel of the Church's public prayer. The historical order
then was : Lauds and Vespers ; Vigils or Matins, Prime ;
Terce, Sext, and None ; then Compline [3],

[i] Acts x.-9. [2] Acts iii. I.

[3] The public prayer in old Anglo-Saxon days in England is thus described by
the learned Dr. Rook : —

" Like the rest of Christendom, then, seven times within the day did each church
bell ring and bid its clerks — from the sub-deacon upwards — to come thither and sing
God's praises, morning, noon, night ; and the parish priest who forgot either of
these duties was liable to be punished by a fine. Amongst those most conspicuous
for their learning or high position in the Church at that period, such men as Beda,
Ecgberht, and ^Elfric, we find telling this country, each in his own time, of this ritual
usage and how it ought to be followed. Beda's notice of the "hours " in general, or
of some particular part in them, is curious ; while the archbishop of York, and the
abbat who was afterwards called to the primatial chair of Canterbury, both lay down
the canon law upon this matter. So thoroughly do these prelates' opinions agree,
that Ecgberht's Latin ordinance seems to have been put into Anglo-Saxon by .^Elfric,
who says : — ' Seven canonical hours they (the first four general Councils) appointed
for us to sing daily to the praise of our Lord ; as the Prophet David said in his pro-
phecy, Septies in die, &c. Seven times, my Lord, said he, / have said my praise in
one day, for the righteousness of Thy judgments,' The first canonical hour is uht-song

20 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

Counting Lauds, with the preparatory vigils as one, we
have seven hours of prayer ; " seven visits to the heavenly
Court," as the saintly Cardinal Manning said in his " Eternal
Priesthood" [i] Why was this number chosen ? It was not
of fixed purpose from the beginning ; but having so developed,
many reasons could be given why the number should not be
exceeded. Seven is a very mysterious figure, and seems to
represent God's dealings with mankind. Did He not make
the world in six days and rest on the seventh ? Are there not
seven gifts of the Holy Ghost ; seven sacraments ; seven spirits
standing before the throne of God [2] ; seven deadly sins ;
seven virtues, theological and cardinal ; seven petitions of the
Pater Noster ; seven ages of man, all to be sanctified with
prayer ; seven scenes in our Lord's passion ; seven sorrows
of Blessed Mary our Lady ? Did not David say, praise God
seven times a day ? [3] and did not Elias pray seven times
before the heavens opened and rain fell on the drought-
stricken earth ? [4] and does not even a just man fall seven
times a day [5] ? There are many other like reasons why
the Church cherishes the mystical number of seven and re-
gulates her prayers thereby [6].

(or matins), with the after-song (lauds) thereunto belonging. Prime-song, undern
(terce) song ; mid-day (sext) song ; none-song, even-song, night-song (compline).
These seven canonical hours ye should sing with great attention to the praise of
your Lord, daily in church, always at the hour appointed, and in like manner
celebrate Mass at the appointed time." Church of our Father, vol. iii., p. 2.

[i] p. 62. [4] 2 Kings xviii. 43.

[2] Apoc. viii. 2. [5] Prov. xxiv. 16.

[3] Ps. cxviii. 164.

[6] Christian ingenuity has loved to occupy itself with rinding out in the mysterious
science of numbers something that recalls God and the spiritual life. Thus : —
Otte (represents) the Unity of the Godhead ; two, the two natures of our Lord ;
three, the ever-blessed Trinity ; four, the four evangelists (hence the preaching of
the Gospel); five, on the one hand, a full knowledge of Christian mysteries (the
doctrine of the Trinity, that of our Lord's two natures), on the other, the state of
ordinary sinners, who break and observe half the law (compare the five brethren of
Dives) ; (also naturally the five wounds}; six, the Passion, from our Lord's being
crucified in the sixth hour of the sixth day ; also, temptation, from the peculiar
reference to that contained in the sixth day of the Creation ; seven, the sevenfold
graces of the Holy Ghost, and later, the seven Sacraments (and seven sorrows of our
Lady) ; eight, regeneration, as being the first number that oversteps seven, the
symbol of the old creation ; nine, the angelic choir ; ten, the Law ; eleven, iniquity
as transgressing the Law. And not only were simple numbers thus explained ;

FORMATION OF THE LITURGICAL PRAYER 21

And this seven-fold praise of God through our Lady is
particularly suitable. The pious author of the " Myroure of
Our Ladye " applies them in this manner : " Now in case ye
think that these are good causes why God should be served in
these hours, but since all your service is of our Lady ye would
wit (know) why her service should be said in these same hours.
And as to this ye ought to think that it is full convenient
(that) her holy service should be said in time according to
His, for her will was never contrary to His blessed will. And
furthermore some say that for at matin time there appeareth
a star in the firmament whereby shipmen are ruled in the sea
and bring themselves to (a) right haven, and for our merciful
Lady is that star that succoureth mankind in the troublous
sea of this world and bringeth her lovers to the haven of
health ; therefore it is worthy that she should be served and
praised at matin time. At prime time there appeareth a star
before the sun, as if it were the leader or bringer-forth of
the sun, and our Lady came before and brought forth to
mankind that Son of Righteousness that is our Lord Jesus
Christ. At (the) hour of terce labourers desire to have their
dinner, and our Lady hath brought forth to us Him that is
the Food and Bread of Life, our Lord Jesus Christ, comfort
and refection to all that labour in His service. At (the) hour
of sext the sun waxeth more hot ; and by means of our Lady
the everlasting Son hath showed the heat of His charity more
largely to mankind. At (the) hour of none the sun is highest ;
and the highest grace and mercy that ever was done to man
on earth was brought in by means of our Lady. At evensong

compound numbers yielded a composite sense. Twelve was the Faith preached
throughout the world — the doctrine of the Three dispersed into four quarters (by
the twelve Apostles) ; forty or eighty-eight, the struggle of the regenerate with the
old nature ; five into eight, or eleven into eight ; sixty~sixt the extreme of wicked-
ness ; six, in the sense of temptation, into eleven (and compare this with the
number of the Beast in the Apocalypse xiii. 18, the quintessence of all temptation).
And even still more remarkably were numbers compounded ; as in the 153 fishes,
which in so many sermons (Migne, P. L., vol. xxxviii., p. 1170) St. Augustine always
explains in the same way of the whole congregation of the elect. Seven stands for
the Spirit, ten for the Law, seventeen is therefore the fulfilment of the Law by the
works of the Spirit : sum the progression, 1+2 + 3 + 4. . . .16+17 and
you get 153. Cf. Neatts Commentary on the Psalms (ed. 1860), vol. I, pp. 390-1.

22 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

time the day faileth much ; and when all other succour faileth
our Lady's grace helpeth. Compline is the end of the day ;
and in (the) end of our life we have most need of our Lady's
help, and therefore in all these hours we ought to do her
worship and praising" [i].

The chief and oldest part of the Office consists of the
Psalter, or book of Psalms ; and, in the mind of the Church,
the whole one hundred and fifty should be gone through once
a week. It is on this portion of the Office we shall chiefly
spend our time. The Author of the Book of Psalms is the
Holy Ghost, who made use of David, the royal singer, and of
others, to write the collection which has come down to us
under the general title of the Psalms of David [2].

They have ever been the favourite formula of prayer for
both the Jewish and the Christian Churches, and are our most
cherished heritage. Says St. John Chrysostom : " If we
keep vigil in the Church, David comes first, last and midst.
If early in the morning we seek for the melody of hymns,
first, last, and midst is David again. If we are occupied with
the funeral solemnities of the departed, if virgins sit at home
and spin, David is first, last, and midst. O, marvellous
wonder ! Many who have made but little progress in litera-
ture, nay, who have scarcely mastered its first principles, have
the Psalter by heart. Nor is it in cities and churches alone
that at all times, through every age, David is illustrious. In
the midst of the forum, in the wilderness and uninhabitable
land, he excites the praises of God. In monasteries, amongst
those holy choirs of angelic armies, David is first, last, and
midst. In the convent of virgins where are the bands of them
that imitate Mary ; in the deserts where are men crucified to
this world, and having their conversation with God, first,
midst, and last is he. All other men are at night overpowered
by natural sleep. David alone is active, and congregating the
servants of God into seraphic bands, turns earth into heaven
and converts men into angels."

[i] pp. 14-15.

[2] It is admitted by all now-a-days that David is not the author of the whole
collection. The first fifty and most likely others are credited to him. Solomon and
Esdras are among the other authors.

FORMATION OF THE LITURGICAL PRAYER 23

Let us try and get an exact idea of the purpose of the
Psalms, and then we shall be able to deduce certain principles
of interpretation which will be of use to us hereafter. Whose
voice do we hear in the Psalms ? It is a three-fold voice.
David, or the other authors ; Jesus Christ in His own person ;
and our Lord speaking in the person of His creatures. The
first voice is clear, and, generally speaking, can be recognised
easily. But David spoke in prophecy ; and he himself was
the type of Him who deigned to be called the Son of David.
So the literal and first meaning which applies to David
only finds its full significance in our Lord, Who is the real
speaker in the Psalm. St. Augustine says : " Let us commend
oftener and oftener, and it does not weary us to repeat what
is useful to you to know, that it is our Lord Jesus Christ Who
frequently speaks in His Own Person as our Head : often in
the person of His Body which is ourselves and His Church ;
yet as that the words seem to come from the mouth of but
one man, we may understand that the Head and the Body
are integrally one and cannot be separated : as that union
of which it is said: They shall be in one flesh [i]. If there-
fore we acknowledge Him in one flesh let us acknowledge
Him in the one voice " [2].

" Thus do we explain," says the learned Sulpician, M.
Bacquez, " what the holy doctors teach : the Psalms are full
of Jesus Christ ; they are His instrument, His voice, His lan-
guage, they are the language of the members as well as of the
Head. It is a single, yet at the same time a manifold, Voice in
which are expressed and mingled all the blessings of heaven
and earth, all the yearnings of love, all the tones of gratitude,
all the prayers of the needy. In this way can we also under-
stand what our Lord says so clearly, that He is the object of
the Psalms, and that they speak of Him [3]. This also
explains why He makes such frequent use of them, particu-
larly on the Cross, and applies their words to Himself [4].
. . . . Thus we see the aim, the object, the Divine reason
of the Psalms. We hold the key to them, and bear in hand

[i] Gen. ii. 25. [2] Migne, P. L., vol. xxxvi., p. 453.

[3] Which were written in the Psalms concerning me (Lukexxiv. 44).
[4] Matt, xxvii. 46 ; Luke xxiii. 46 ; John xv. 25.

24 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

the torch that sheds light upon all their difficulties. We
know now how to search out their depths, measure their
breadth, and comprehend their variety, harmony, and general
meaning. It is always Jesus Christ, the Mediator, the great
High Priest, the only worthy Adorer of His Father Who
stands before the Throne. It is always He Who prays, He
Who speaks through us. As the sweet Psalmist of Israel said :
The spirit of the Lord spake by me and His Word was through
my tongue [i]. Sometimes it is in His own name exclusively
as the only Son of God ; on these occasions His words taken
literally apply to Him alone, and His members can only
appropriate them so far as their union with their Head makes
them sharers in His greatness and destiny. Thus He Himself
explains His eternal generation, His birth in time, His priest-
hood, His kingdom and His different mysteries. More fre-
quently He speaks in the name of the Church and of all her
children, as the Head of the Body whose members are ever
undergoing the vicissitudes of their mortal life. The voice of His
words like the voice of a multitude [2]. Then His thoughts
expand and generalise as His language approaches ours.
Sometimes He seems to be referring to one nation only, or
limiting His words to some special circumstance or event.
But in truth His thought goes beyond His words. What
seems the object is only an image, a symbol or a type of the
widest significance. Israel means all God's faithful people ;
Jerusalem, seated on a mountain and set upon a rock, means
the Church ; Sion, where the tabernacle was, the holy of
holies, is Heaven, the eternal sanctuary wherein the Lord
dwells and is ready to listen to our prayers [3], He echoes
every feeling and prayer and places Himself in every possible
relation. One moment He humbles Himself before the
Majesty of the Father, and groans in sorrow bewailing our
sins, and beseeches pardon and forgiveness. He is the
World's Penitent, bearing the weight of our sins, and His
mighty Heart is broken for our repentance. Then, at the

[i] 2 Kings xxiii. 2 [2] Daniel x. 6.

[3] The generality of mystical writers takes those two, however, in the opposite
sense ; Jerusalem, the " vision of peace," meaning heaven ; and Sion, the fortiSed
rock, the Church Militant.

FORMATION OF THE LITURGICAL PRAYER 25

thought of the goodness of God Whose mercy is without end,
He breaks forth into cries of joy and gratitude. Never
weary of thanksgiving, He calls upon all to rejoice with Him.
Then, mindful of our weakness, seeing our poverty and know-
ing our needs and dangers, He implores help from above,
beseeching His Father to listen to His cry. For there is none
other to fight for us, save only Thou, 0 Lord [i]. Every Psalm
is a picture of the Soul of Jesus in Himself, and in His
Mystical Body. As M. Olier says, the Divine Word hidden in
the Church (which He has taken for His Spouse in order to
further His design and help Him to praise God) expresses
through her the beauty of God which she bears within her-
self. He clothes Himself with her to praise God more
tenderly ; and she clothes herself with Him in order to praise
Him truly ; so that the Word and the Church are one single
praise of God, and the Word and the Church are like a
voice repeated by as many echoes as there are saints. It is a
wonderful Word and a marvellous Praise ; a Harmony and
a Voice beyond understanding. Oh, that I may be lost in
lost in thee, O Divine Word ! " [2]

This exalted view of the Psalms sets them far above every
other formula of prayer, and explains why for so many thousand
years God's people have found in them the food of their
souls. Says an old writer : " If you are sad the Psalmist
weeps with you ; if you are joyful he gives your joy wings
that lift you up to heaven ? Do you mourn ? he is ready
to comfort you. Are you depressed, betrayed, forsaken, or
ill treated ? he is by your side ever ready to meet your want."
And is this any wonder when we remember they are the
words, the expression of the Sacred Heart, of Him Who was
acquainted with sorrow, and like to us in all things except
sin ?

There is another principle in reference to the Psalms to
be drawn from the doctrine of the Mystical Body, viz., that if
the words are absolutely true of our Lord they can also, in
measure, be referred to us who are His members. In measure,
I have said. For in proportion as we approach to Him and

[I] Ant. pro Pace. [2] The Divine Office, pp. 106-108.

26 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

the more we are likened to Him in all things, the clearer will
be the application of the Psalms to us and the nearer shall we
be to having the same mind that was in Christ. Following
out this thought and bearing in mind these other words : — For
whom He foreknew He hath predestinated to be made con-
formable to the image of His Son [i] — we may ask who,
out of all creation, has been predestinated to a higher
union with Him, and who bears the closest resemblance to
Jesus ? Surely, it is She who bore Him, who nursed and
tended Him, who cared for Him during all His mortal life,
who kept all His words in her heart, who stood by His Cross,
and was the object of His last love and care. Mary, our
blissful Mother and most gracious Lady, is the example of
what a creature can become by grace. She, as the Mirror
of Justice, shows to what a perfection a creature can attain,
and how far he can become an image of the Word made
flesh. If Jesus bears in His human form her likeness, so
that He can be recognised as the Son of Mary, His mother
bears His mark as being the chief work of the Author
of Grace, His very masterpiece. She is the great Sign ap-
pearing in the heavens — a Woman clothed with the sun, and
the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars
[2] ; the wonder of all God's creatures, who marvel that
anyone can be raised so high, that anyone can be so great and
glorious, and yet remain what they are themselves, a mere
nothing in comparison with her Maker. To Mary, then, we
can make such application of the Psalms as can be referred to
the highest of all creatures ; and what is true of the Mystical
Body of Christ will be especially and more appropriately true
of her who is described as the Neck which joins the Body
on to the Head — or, as Wordsworth says, " Our tainted
nature's solitary boast."

It must be remembered that, according to the mind of the
Church, the Office is a choral service : that is, a public service
sung or recited with a certain ceremonial. This should be
borne in mind carefully by those who, for any reason, are pre-
vented from joining in the recitation in choir. As regards

[i] Rom. viii. 29. [2] Apoc. xii. i.

FORMATION OF THE LITURGICAL PRAYER 27

he Psalms, the practice of singing them antiphonally, that is,
by two choirs, each taking a verse in turn, is said to have been
first introduced by St. Ignatius, the third bishop of Antioch,
on account of a vision in which he had heard angels praising
the Blessed Trinity in alternate choir [i]. Compare the vision
of Isaias : / saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted
up, and His train filled the temple. Above it stood the Seraphim
. . . and they cried one to another and said : Holy, Holy,
Holy, the Lord of Hosts: all the earth is full of His glory [2].
The custom appears to have been introduced into the West
by St. Ambrose at Milan [3].

After the Psalms comes spiritual reading ; and this (as far
as concerns the Little Office) is from the Sacred Scripture.
This follows the same course of interpretation as the Psalms,
being, like them, the Word of God. Jesus is again the explana-
tion of the Scripture, both Old and New ; for they both refer
to Him. He was looked forward to in the Old and set forth
in the New. Many prophets and righteous men have desired to
see the things that you see and have not seen them [4], He said ;
and once more : Search ye the Scriptures .... for the
same are they that give testimony of Me [5]. And what is true
of Him is, in due measure, true of His members, and princi-
pally of our ever dear and blessed Lady. We need not, at
present, linger over the consideration of the extracts from the
Scriptures to be found in the Office, as they will be treated
fully in their proper place.

From an early time, at least from that of St. Ambrose,
hymns were introduced into the public prayer of the Church.
St. Hilary of Poitiers (368) is the earliest hymn-writer in the
West. St. Benedict makes use of them in his Office. Hymns
in the Office are employed to rouse the soul by their cheerful-
ness and jubilation. St. Augustine gives this definition of a
hymn : " A song in praise of God ; if it be not addressed to
God it is no hymn, nor is it a hymn except it set forth His
praise." The three hymns in our Office of our Lady answer
well to that definition ; for in singing the praises of God's

[l] Amalarius De eccles Off., iv. 7. [2] Isaias vi. I, 2, 3.

[3] Rabanus Maurus, Migne, P. L., vol. vii. p. 363.

[4] Matthew xiii. 17. [5] John v. 39.

28 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

sweet Mother-Maid we are praising Him Who hath done such
mighty things to her [i] and has made her all she is. The
three hymns we make use of, the Ave Maris stella, Quern terra,
pontus, sidera, and 0 gloriosa Virginum, are sometimes attributed
to Fortunatus, of Poitiers, who died 600. In the form used
at the present day the two last have suffered from revisions
made in the time of Urban VIII., and have lost something
of their old rugged beauty. For thirteen hundred years they
have been sung in God's Church, and are hallowed by the
memories of countless saints and servants of God who have
greeted Christ's Mother in their sweet strains. They seem
to sum up in their short, concise, lines thoughts too deep
for expression, thoughts that will only bear the slightest ex-
pression. We seem to treat her as she treated her Son ; in all
simplicity indicating her want. She said : They have no wine
[2] ; we say, Bona cuncta posce, Ask for us all good things.

Other features which need a word of explanation are : the
Antiphons, the Invitatory, the Responsories, the Versicles and
Responses, and the Prayers. "The object of the Invitatory is
to kindle within us the spirit of prayer by fixing our thoughts
upon Him Who is the object of our adoration and praise. It
is to the Office what a text is to a discourse, the primary
thought to which everything else is subordinated. We repeat
it many times, so that we may thoroughly understand it, grasp
all its shades of meaning and be penetrated deeply with it.
. . . The 94th Psalm is the development of the Invitatory ;
as this is the refrain of the psalm and its special application.
. . . . In it we hear Jesus inviting us and calling upon us
to bless with Him our Sovereign King. To kindle our fervour
He recalls the works of God and His infinite perfections, and
awakens in our heart reverence and love, two sentiments
which react one on the other and are essential to the spirit of
religion. The first part of the Psalm inspires a lively desire to
praise God, and the second cautions us against indifference
and heedlessness in His service" [3]. The Invitatory, as its
name implies, is an invitation or a calling. Its form, consisting
of a psalm (the 94th) with a short phrase repeated between

[i] Luke i. 49. [2] St. John ii. 2, 3. [3] Bacquez, pp. 336-8.

FORMATION OF THE LITURGICAL PRAYER 29

each verse, is an interesting survival of the oldest way of
singing a psalm. The verses of the psalm were sung by a
lector, or cantor, and the people, who neither had books, nor,
at night-time, light, contented themselves with listening to
what he sang and repeating, after ;every verse, the phrase
which, as it were, gave the key to the whole psalm and kept
up the fervour of the listeners. In the case of the Little Office
the Invitatory is, Ave Maria gratia plena, Dominus Tecum,
" whereby," says the devout author of the Myroure, " each of
you stirreth and exhorteth others to the praising of God and
of our Lady" [i].

The Antiphons are to the Psalms what the Invitatory is to
the Venite ; they give the key to the application of the Psalm.
Durandus thus discourses on the Antiphon : "It is begun
before the Psalm, signifying action ; and this sets forth
the bond of charity or mutual love without which labour
avails not and whereby labour has its merit. Rightly, there-
fore, according to its melody is formed the tone of the Psalms ;
because love shapes our words. So the Psalm is intoned
according to the melody of the Antiphon, and the hand works
according to that which the spark of love hath excited. . .
. The Antiphon is said imperfectly before, and perfectly
after the Psalm, because Charity here below is imperfect ; here
it is begun ; but in heaven, our true country, it is made perfect
by good works which flow from love, according to the words
of Isaias : The Lord Whose fire is in Sion and His furnace in
Jerusalem [2]. Yet in the greater of our feasts the Antiphon is
said entire before the Psalms also, to teach us that in those
times we should shew ourselves more perfect in good works.
It is begun by one of one choir and ended by many of both

[i] P. 83, " After certain verses of the psalm the Invitatory is repeated entire; and
after others, imperfectly, because although all are thereby invited to the praise of God,
yet some accept this invitation perfectly, and some imperfectly. It is said six times
in its entirety because they receive the invitation entire who render perfectly praise
to God. Because six is the first perfect number, being formed by I, 2 and 3, there-
fore it is repeated six times entire. And it is repeated three times imperfectly on
account of those three sorts of men who did not accept the invitation to supper, viz.,
the covetous, the haughty, and the unclean, or by reason of our three-fold imper-
fection of heart, word, and deed." Durandus, Rationale, Lib. V., cap. III.

[2] xxxi. 9.

30 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

choirs ; first because love begins from one, that is Christ, and
through Him is perfected in His members. As He saith in
St. John's gospel : A new commandment give I unto you, that
ye love one another [i]. God first loved us, and therefore we
must correspond in common to His love. Moreover, the
Antiphons after the Psalms are sung by all in common,
because from common love ariseth joy. The song is of two
choirs alternately to signify mutual love or charity, which
cannot exist among fewer than two. Thus the Antiphon joins
the two choirs as love joins two brothers by good works.
Isidore saith the Greek word "Antiphon " signifies a reciprocal
voice, because two choirs answering each other alternate the
song of the melody as the two seraphims and the two
Testaments call one to another. Wherefore clerks singing
Antiphons turn not to the altar, but towards one another,
which manner of singing was introduced by the Greeks and
is from them derived " [2].

The Responsories are the complement to the Lessons. " It
is a return of the soul or a lifting up of it to God on account
of what has been said. The Responsory is to the Lesson
what the Antiphon is to the Psalms ; but it has a more
practical motive. It serves to fix the soul upon the special
object of the Office, and it suggests useful application of the
words. It recalls an important truth, viz., it is not sufficient to
hear God's word, we must keep it, meditate on it, and try to
fathom it, and put it into practice." In the Office of our
Lady they form beautiful prose hymns in her honour and
are full of a peculiar sweetness. "The Responsory is
added to the Lessons ; and by it is signified that by good
works we must respond to the doctrine, that we may not
be cast into outer darkness with the slothful servant who
hid his Lord's money. They are, as it were, spiritual songs ;
for those things are called songs which are sung ; and they
are spiritual because they proceed from the jubilation of the
spiritual mind. But they are sung that in the recitation of
the Lesson our minds may be lifted up to the heavenly Father-
land, and therefore Gloria Patri is inserted [3]. The

[i] St. John xiii. 34. [2] Of. cit., cap. II.

[3] St. Benedict seems to have been the first to introduce the Gloria Patri into
the Responsories.

FORMATION OF THE LITURGICAL PRAYER 31

Responsory is begun by one, to be joined in by others,
whereby we understand the mutual exhortation of brethren
to serve God. It is repeated imperfectly after the verse, to
signify that those who cannot attain to the Mountain, that is,
to the state of perfection, may yet be saved in Zoar, that is
in another way and in a state of imperfection [i]. It is also
repeated imperfectly to signify that what we do while being
in this world is imperfect . . . but on festivals it is again
repeated perfectly to signify the joy and perfection of the
saints [2].

The Lessons said at Matins in the Office of our Lady
are three in number, and are followed by Responsories. The
same pious author says respecting the Lessons : " Three
things are needful to the common health of man. The first
is that the understanding be enlightened with knowledge of
the truth to know what is good or what is evil. And for this
knowledge is had by reading and hearing of wholesome
doctrine, therefore is it understood by the Lessons. The
second is good use of the free will that the will assent to love
that is known (to be) good, and to hate that that is
known (to be) evil. And for the will answereth thus to the
knowing : therefore it is to (be) understood by the Response,
that is as much (as) to say, an answer ; for it answereth in
sentence to the Lesson as is before said. The third is work,
so that that thing that the understanding knoweth (to be)
evil, and the will hateth, be fled indeed, and eschewed. And
that thing that the understanding knoweth (to be) good and
that the will ruled by grace loveth, be done indeed. And
this is understood by the Verse that is as much (as) to say as
a turning, for the knowledge and will ought thus to be turned
into deed ; and after the Verse a part of the Response is sung
again. For as good will causes good deeds, so good deeds
help to establish and to strengthen the good will.

" The Lessons are heard and the Response are sung sitting,
for knowing of truth and right ruling of the will may not be
put in a restful soul. But the Verse is sung standing, for
good deeds may not be done without labour. The Response

[i] Gen. xix. 22. [2] Durandus, Loc. cit.

32 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

is sung of all, for every man may have a good will that
is understood by the Response. But the Verse is sung but
of a few, for all folk may not fulfil their good wills in deed,
that is understood by the Verse, so much so as the holy
Apostle St. Paul saith that he might not do the good that
he would [i]. The Lesson is read of one and heard of all,
in token that each congregation ought to live under one
governor that shall teach them and rule them after God's
Law. For each man, namely religious, ought not to do after
his own wit or knowing, but after the obedience and teaching
of Holy Church and of his sovereign " [2],

The Versicles and Responses are short ejaculations which
help us by a sudden change to recover our recollection if our
minds have wandered during the psalmody or after a long
hymn [3].

The Liturgical prayer of the Church always ended with the
special petitions of those present. This was either in silence,
or with the Pater Nosier as St. Benedict orders ; or after an
interval of silence, heralded by the word Oremus — let us pray ;
the one who presided collected, so to say, the aspirations and
petitions of all present into some short and comprehensive
formula, which he, in their name, presented to God. Hence
the name of Collect [4] often given to these prayers. They are
beautiful examples of vocal prayer, short, pithy, and to the
point. There is not much speaking [5] in them. That won-
derful series of collects in the Sunday Masses throughout the
year, is a very mine of sweetness and serves admirably as
a foundation for mental prayer in its true form. The form
of a collect is simple in the extreme ; it embraces but one main
petition, and consists of only one sentence : " Ordinarily we

[l] Rom. vii. 15. [2] Myroure, pp. 114-5.

[3] The word Versicle, a little verse, means a "turning" of the mind to
God.

[4] Most of the Collects in the Missal (whence those of the Breviary are
taken) are the arrangements of St. Leo the Great (461), St. Gelasius (496), and St.
Gregory the Great (604). A recent writer says : " The Collect form, as we have it,
is Western in every feature, in unity of sentiments and severity of style ; in its
Roman brevity and majestic conciseness, its freedom from all luxurious ornament,
and all inflations of phraseology."

[5] St. Matthew vi. 7.

FORMATION OF THE LITURGICAL PRAYER 33

address God the Father, because He is the origin of all things,
and all things flow from Him even in the Blessed Trinity ;
then He is only invoked through the Son according to our
Lord's recommendation, Whatsoever ye ask ask in My Name [i].
We never directly invoke the Holy Ghost because we consider
Him as dwelling in the Church and praying by the mouth of
her ministers" [2].

These collects are models for our own private prayers.
The long addresses to God, so much affected in modern
books of devotion, seem to savour of that much speaking repro-
bated by our Lord. In the prayers of the Church there is no
false sentimentality, no exaggeration ; but a sober, simple
statement of our want without going into close particulars,
and a mention of the grounds upon which we base our
prayers.

" Orisons (Collects) are said at the end of each hour ; for
the Apostles, whenever they were together, they knelt down on
their knees and prayed ere they departed asunder. And she
that sayeth the orison standeth turned to the East ; for Para-
dise, from whence we are exiled, is in the East, and therefore,
thinking what we have lost, and where we are, and whither
we desire, we pray turned towards the East " [3].

Having thus treated of the general materials used in the
Office of our Lady, we proceed to indicate the form in which
they are used.

First as to Matins : after the introductory versicles and
invitatory with the hymn, three psalms, changing with the
day of the week, tpgether with their own antiphons, are
said or sung. Then follow three lessons with responsories.
The third lesson, however (out of Advent), being followed
by the hymn Te Deum. Then follows Lauds, which is com-
posed of the usual Sunday psalms of the Divine Office.
These are of immemorial use at this hour. There are eight
psalms altogether sung under five antiphons. These are
followed by the little chapter, or short lesson, which is in
turn succeeded by the hymn. After a short versicle, the
Gospel canticle Benedictus Deus is chanted, together with its

[i] St. John xiv. 13. [2] Bacquez, p. 414. [3] Myroure, p. 134.

3

34 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

own antiphon. Then follow the prayers. The four Little
Hours are based on another plan. After the introductory
versicles a hymn, then three psalms under one antiphon. A
short lesson, versicles, and prayer. Vespers is developed on
the same lines as Lauds, but with only five psalms. The
formation of this hour shows its ancient connection with
Lauds as being with it the original public prayer of the
Church. Compline stands by itself ; special introductory
versicles, three psalms, without any antiphon, as in the Bene-
dictine use, a hymn, a canticle, with its own antiphon, which is
followed by versicles and prayer. Needless to say that the
formation of these hours is taken mainly from the Roman
pattern of the Office. It will be noticed how the number
three runs through the whole Office. In it we may see our
worship to the Blessed Three in One, or an incitement to
praise God for the threefold relationship of our Lady, as
Daughter of the Eternal Father, Mother of the Eternal Son,
and Spouse of the Eternal Spirit ; or as the expressions of our
Faith, Hope and Charity.

ON THE INTERPRETATION OF THE PSALMS.

Holy Scripture admits of a four-fold interpretation : the Literal, or historical
sense ; the Allegorical, or that which refers to faith or the Church Militant ; the
Anagogical, referring to eternal life in the Church triumphant ; the Tropological, or
moral sense, concerning the manner of reaching heaven. Durandus gives this
example : " In like manner Jerusalem is understood literally of that earthly city
whither pilgrims journey ; allegorically of the Church Militant ; tropologically of every
faithful soul ; anagogically of the heavenly Jerusalem which is our country."

But these four may be reduced to two ; the literal and the mystical, and both of
these may be the sense originally intended by the Holy Ghost when inspiring the
writers. Our Lord Himself used the mystical interpretation when He took the case of
Jonas, and applied it to His own resurrection, and when He spoke of the Temple, His
Body. In the many parables He was intending a mystical sense, e.g., in the parable
of the Good Samaritan, or that of the Prodigal Son. The Apostles, following His
example, often give a mystical sense to the Scripture, and quote this sense as being,
without controversy, the real meaning of the text. For instance, St. Paul says : Let
the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour
in the word and doctrine ; for the Scripture saith : Thou shalt not muzzle the ox
that treadeth out the corn [l Tim. v. 17, 18]. And again : Saith not the law the same
also ? For it is written in the law of Moses : Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that
treadeth out the corn. Doth God care for oxen ? or saith He it not altogether for our
sakes? For our sakes no doubt this was written [l Cor. ix. 9, 10.] Then, again, in
that famous saying of Osee : When Israel was a child then I Ioi>ed him and called
my son out of Egypt [xL i] ; which St. Matthew unhesitatingly takes in a mystical

FORMATION OF THE LITURGICAL PRAYER 35

sense and applies it to our Lord, saying distinctly that the return from the sojourn in
Egypt was its fulfilment.

This kind of interpretation the Church has always admitted ; and, guided by the
same Holy Spirit that inspired the writers, she has not hesitated to declare, in
certain cases, that the mystical interpretation is the primary one intended by the
Holy Ghost. For instance, the whole of the Canticle of Canticles, she takes as
referring to the mystical Espousals of God and the soul, although the literal sense
refers to an earthly bride and bridegroom. And the description of Wisdom Holy
Church applies officially in the Missal and the Breviary to our Lady. We are bound
to accept this interpretation, not only as lawful, but also as true, as it is given by her
who is the sole interpreter of Holy Writ. This is also an application of the old
principle that from the Church's prayers can be gathered the Church's belief.

The piety of Christians has been fed on mystical interpretation for hundreds of
years ; and souls have grown in holiness by its means. The work has been that of
God's saints and has resulted from their interior light and close union with God. It
may seem to us, at first sight, that a few of the writers have gone rather wide of the
mark and that their interpretations are somewhat far-fetched ; but a closer atten-
tion to their meaning and to the steps by which they arrive at their conclusions
will often show us that they have had a far deeper insight into the meaning of God's
Word than we have who criticise them.

Following out the theory that the Psalms all speak of Jesus, that they are His
words, we get at once into the mystical sense, and such phrases as these : The
righteous one ; the poor man ; thy servant ; the Word; the good thing — will all
have new depths of meaning when we apply them to Him Who was on earth the
righteous man, and so poor that He had nowhere to lay His head ; the faithful
servant Who did his Father's will ; the Eternal Word which gives us here below the
Good Thing of the Blessed Sacrament and hereafter eternal life.

Again, we may take the case, so often occurring, of the names, Jerusalem and
Sion ; the first, " The Vision of Peace," being interpreted of the Church Trium-
phant ; the second " Expectation," of the Church Militant. As for example : That
they may declare the name of the Lord in Sion and His worship in Jerusalem, when
the people are gathered together and the kings also to serve the Lord [Ps. ci. 22]. Or
another : Deal favourably, 0 Lord, in Thy goodwill with Sion ; and then, by a very
beautiful sequence, And the walls of Jerusalem shall be built up [Ps. 1. 18],
because through God's love and mercy to the Church here, those spiritual stones are
prepared by which the walls of the Eternal Temple are to be built on high [Neale,
vol. i., p. 451]. And once more. May the Lord from out of Sion bless thee that tkou
mayest see the good things of Jerusalem all the days of thy Life [Ps. cxxvi. 5], that is,
by the means of grace stirred up in the Church we may attain the good things of life
eternal. It is seldom in Scripture that these two words, either used separately or in
contrast, cannot be thus explained in the mystical sense. The same applies to Jacob
and Israel. The supplanter, he that has a hard struggle to attain his inheritance, is
a figure of the Church on earth ; while Israel, He that sees Cod, at once suggests
the Church in heaven. \

This brief note will be enough to give us a warrant for a solid ground for inter-
preting the Psalms in a mystical sense as given in the Commentary which forms the
third part of this work. The holy writers, from whose work the Commentary is
woven, arrived at their interpretation, after years of prayer, after days of penance.
Is it too much to say that, if we wish to understand the Psalms as they understood

36 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

them, we must follow some way, at least, along the path they trod ? God alone,
Who inspired the Scriptures, can open our understandings that we may understand
the Scriptures, as He did to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus ; and the
dignity of our work, when saying Office, demands that we should pray Him to give
us also light to penetrate the sense of the words we utter.

One last word. Except where the Church has officially adopted one meaning
before any others, and this is the mystical sense in the proper meaning of the word,
the interpretations given in the writings of the Fathers are not to be considered as
infallible ; they are only private explanations which we are free to use or reject as
they appeal to us. They are often based on analogy and explain the Scripture in
what is technically called an "accommodated" sense. The Angelical says: "It
belongs to the dignity of Holy Scripture to contain in one letter many senses . . .
Hence, if some things not understood by the author are fitted by interpreters of Holy
Scripture, it is not doubtful but that the Holy Ghost understood them in that sense,
for He is the principal Author of Holy Scripture."

37

CHAPTER III.

THE HISTORY OF THE LITTLE OFFICE.

BEFORE concluding the theoretical part of our study on
the Little Office, we must trace out its history ; for the lessons
of the Past are the best means of understanding the Present.

The earliest account of the Office is to be found at Monte
Cassino, of which Cardinal Bona says : " I have the testimony
of Peter the deacon, a Casinese. He wrote a remarkable
commentary on the rule of St. Benedict, the manuscript of
which is kept at Rome by Don Constantine Cajetan. In this
book Peter, speaking of the consecration of the abbat of
Monte Cassino, says : ' On this day the abbat must take
nothing but bread and water, and must not omit the seven
canonical hours in commemoration of holy Father Benet,
besides that which it is customary to perform in honour of
the holy Mother of God, which Zachary, the Pope, commanded
under strict precept to the Casinese monastery, ordering that
all the year round, in summer, as well as in winter, before
the night or day office, the brethren, as soon as they enter the
choir, should begin the Office of St. Benet, and that finished,
they should commence the Office which the Rule prescribes,
adding thereunto the Office of the holy Mother of God and
Virgin Mary.' This aforesaid Peter elsewhere refers the insti-
tution to Gregory II. But as Gregory, according to Baronius,
began his pontificate in the year of salvation 715, after whom
came Gregory III. in 731 ; and then Zachary, who succeeded
in 741 ; the use and ordering of this Office is therefore more
ancient than is commonly thought " [i].

From the way Peter the deacon speaks of it, a form of

[i] Cf. Bona, De Divina Psaimodia, ed. (1677), p. 327.

38 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

Office of our Lady must have been already in use. In the
Acta Sanctorium we read that St. Ildephonsus, the great
servant of our Lady in Spain, composed an office in her
honour, the greater part of which is embodied in the modern
Liturgy for the feast of the Expectation. St. Ildephonsus
lived in the latter part of the seventh century. How much
further back the devotion can be traced we cannot safely say.
But the Carmelites, who claim to have kept up a continued
succession on Mount Carmel from the very days of Elias, may
have, traditionally, an earlier date for their Office. In the
Eastern Church the earliest example of an Office of our Lady
is that of the Greek Church, which, it is said, can be traced
back to St. John Damascene (730). It is called the Paracle-
tica, and consists of fifty-six sets of Vespers, each containing
several hymns, lessons, and prayers.

The above is sufficient to show that a liturgical form of
prayer in honour of our Lady is of early times ; but what
precise form it had we have not, at present, the means of
saying. For it must not be supposed that it was the same
as what we have to-day or anything like it. What, then, is the
origin of our Little Office ? Here we begin to tread on surer
ground. Mr. Edmund Bishop, the greatest living authority on
Liturgy, in the masterly essay which he wrote for the Early
English Text Society's edition of the "Primer or Layfolk's
Prayer-Book," has given a patient and masterly account of the
origin ; and, so far, he shall be our guide. It must be
remembered that the English " use " differs from the Roman
in certain particulars, such as antiphons, lessons, &c., but the
general structure is the same and points to a common origin.

In the great Benedictine revival which began in England
in the days of St. Dunstan, St. Ethelwold and St. Oswald,
we find introduced certain customs which had already found
place in continental monasteries. These are contained in the
Concordia regularis of St. Ethelwold, which represents the
practice of English monasticism of about the middle of the
tenth century. They consisted mainly of the addition of
prayers to the Divine Office.

In England, where we find customs taken from the great
abbeys of Fleury and Ghent, the additional prayers were :

39

the Gradual Psalms said before Matins (during the longer
hours of winter extra psalms were said, sometimes to the
number of thirty) ; the Penitential psalms with the Litany of
the Saints said after Prime ; the Office of the Dead [i] ; the
Office of All Saints (lauds and vespers only) ; and after each
hour the psalmi familiares, that is, two psalms with Collects
said for the king and queen and other benefactors [2], " The
devotional accretions, whereby the Divine Office was so greatly
lengthened, were not said in full in Eastertide or on feast-days
of a high grade ; speaking technically, they were only said in
full on ferial days" [3].

By the close of the tenth century, perhaps before, these
additional prayers were in use throughout the Benedictine
monasteries in England, France, Germany, and most likely
in Italy. But while here are the facts, how are we to account
for them ? Their origin is thus : —

" It will be readily conceived that such devotional addi-
tions and accretions will not easily have found their origin
with the secular clergy engaged in the active duties of the
ministry and generally dispersed, or at most but loosely
organised ; whilst, on the other hand, such additions to the
prescribed divine service almost inevitably must ensue upon
the decrease of manual labour in the monasteries, such as
already had taken place by the ninth century ; and any revival
or reform of monastic discipline would, in such circumstances,
be naturally accompanied as a dictate of piety, by the adoption
of novel and extraordinary devotional practices in addition to
the traditional Office " [4].

This we find, as a matter of fact, was one of the results
of the reforms made by St. Benedict of Aniane ; and it is

[l] " The origin of this office is obscure," says Mr. Bishop, " a recent writer
has declared it to be purely Roman and a creation of the beginning of the eighth
century. Extant testimonies by no means warrant so confident a tone ... It
is probable that these offices of the dead, at least in the general way, represent
practices prevailing in Italian monasteries also" (p. xvii.). "It is after all not
improbable that Benedict of Aniane may actually have introduced and practised the
devotion of a daily recital of the Office of the Dead " (p. xx.).

[2] Reyner's Apostolatus, iii. 77. It is worth noting the frequent use of the
Psalms as prayers for all occasions. The Psalter was the general Prayer-Book.

[3] p. xxiv. 5. [4] p. xiv.

40 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

almost certain that the custom of saying the fifteen Gradual
Psalms before Matins dates from him. Some of his ideas had
a wide influence. " By the second half of the tenth century,
as has been observed, the testimony of monastic custom books
is uniform, that the recitation of the fifteen gradual Psalms
before Matins obtained everywhere " [i].

It will be noted that some of these extra prayers took the
form of Offices, e.g., of the Dead, of All Saints. " Themselves
an imitation of the original Divine Office, or Cursus as it was
from long tradition called, such offices . . . once fairly
established, were in the then temper of men's minds sure to
call forth imitations. And in fact, ingenious piety invented
many a new cursus ; those of the Blessed Virgin and of the
Holy Cross are the first to appear ; to which by-and-bye were
added those of the Incarnation, of the Holy Trinity, and of
the Holy Ghost. Each represented a special devotional
attraction of some individual, and each was said in the same
way in which the customary recitation of the Office of the
Dead and of All Saints had made familiar, viz., as a private
daily devotional addition to the Divine Office itself, in strict
imitation of it, and like the Office, as a daily exercise through-
out the year [2], Of these numerous later products of an
exuberant piety, only one, the Office of the Blessed Virgin,
was destined to take its place as an additional cursus to the
Divine Office, alongside of the Office of the Dead, and, like
it, secure public recitation in the Church, eventually ousting,
even in the monasteries, the long-established, older cursus of
All Saints " [3]. This last only remained, as in the " Use "
of the Sarum, in the form of commemorations after Lauds
and Vespers, and in the present Roman use by the Com-
memoration of All Saints.

But when exactly are we to locate its origin ? When

[i] Reyner's Apostolatus.

[2] "The Einsiedeln Customs, drawn up not long after the year 970, as it would
seem, and certainly before 990 or 995, not only confirm the existence and the spread
of such a cursus of the Blessed Virgin in Germany at this time, but they also show
that the transition from the stage of a mere private devotion to an actual place in
the public office of the Church was already accomplished " (p. xxviL).

[3] PP- xxv.-vi.

THE HISTORY OF THE LITTLE OFFICE 41

the Norman Conquest took place the English Church was
thoroughly reorganised according to the ideas of the new
masters. As part of the work, Lanfranc drew up a set of
Statutes for the use of the monks of the primatial Church of
Canterbury. These very Statutes are a clear proof that the
Office of our Lady was not introduced into English monas-
teries by Norman monks. They are a further proof that, if
it had been in vogue in these monasteries before the Conquest,
the foreigners, who posed somewhat as models of regular
observance, had not hesitated to abolish it as " mere Eng-
lishry." They did so, we know, as regards the purely English
feast of the Conception of our Lady, which took its origin at
Winchester [i]. There can be but little doubt that the Office
of our Lady is connected with that great spread of devotion
to her which was so marked a feature of the English Church,
from the days of SS. Dunstan and Ethelwold, and of which
the above-mentioned feast is a striking evidence. The trend
of all the evidence points to English Benedictism as one, if
not the one, origin of the Little Office of our Lady.

St. Udalric, Bishop of Augsburg (about 970), is an early
example of its use : " The daily cursus with his clerics he
carefully observed in the choir of the mother-church. More-
over, unless some inevitable necessity prevented him, he was
accustomed every day to say one cursus in honour of Holy
Mary, the Mother of God, a second in honour of the Holy
Rood, and a third in honour of All Hallows, besides many
other psalms, and the whole Psalter " [2].

In the Chronicon of Hugh, Abbot of Flavignyfj] there is
a story of Berengarius, Bishop of Verdun (940-962), going one
night, as was his wont, to the Church of our Lady to pray
before the Office, and there, in the darkness, stumbling over
the prostrate form of the provost of that Church — Bernerius
by name — " who, then prostrate on the ground, was saying
the Matins of our Lady " [4].

[i] Not only was the feast of the Conception of Our Lady kept in Anglo-Saxon
England on December 8th, but also those of St. Joseph (March iQth), and St. George
(April 23rd). The testimony of an Anglo-Saxon Calendar in the British Museum is
explicit on this point. The Normans abolished all three.

[2] Reyner's Apostolatus, xxvi.

[3] His life by his disciple Gerard (Migne, P. L., vol. cxxxv., p. 1016).

[4] Migne, P. L., vol. cliv., p. 197.

42 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

But be this as it may, the devotion rapidly spread. In the
year 1095 Pope Urban II., the friend of St. Bruno, held a
council at Claremont for the purpose of stirring up Christen-
dom to undertake the Crusades. On this occasion, to obtain
a special blessing from heaven, he ordered that all clerics
should follow the example of the monks and add the Little
Office of our Lady to the Greater Office. And, at the same
time, he earnestly recommended its use to the faithful laity [i].

St. Peter Damian, O.S.B. (1072), was a great promoter of
the Little Office of our Lady. Writing to the hermits of
Gamonium he speaks of the monastery of our Lady of
Monte Petra Pertusa, where, for three years the Little Office
had been daily added to the ordinary cursus ; and where at
the suggestion of a certain monk it was discontinued : but
presently, storms and attacks, and losses of all kinds fell on
the monastery in punishment, and only ceased when they
resumed the pious practice [2]. In a beautiful letter to one
Stephen, a monk, he exhorts him to say the Office of our
Lady every day ; and quotes the example of a certain French
cleric of Nivers who said it every day, and in reward was
specially helped by our Lady at his death [3].

In the next century we can trace it somewhat further.
The White Monks (Cistercians) began to sweep away the
accumulations of extra prayers which had gathered round the
Greater Office ; and they were followed by the White Canons
of Premontre", but with different results, the White Monks
keeping only the Little Office of our Lady, and the White
Canons that of the Dead.

It seems to have come down to the clergy through the
Black or Austin Canons, a body that formed, as it were, the
link between the monks and the clergy. This was in keeping
with the past, as we have pointed out in the case of Matins,
which were adopted from the monks and imposed on the
clergy. These later accretions to the Divine Office were also
at first taken up by the clergy, in imitation of the monks, and
finally became an acknowledged part of their daily duty. The

[i] Mansi, torn, xx., p. 827. [2] Migne, P. L., vol. cxliv., p. 431.

[3] p. 420.

THE HISTORY OF THE LITTLE OFFICE 43

date of this was in the course of the twelfth and thirteenth
centuries, thus coinciding with the establishments of cathedral
Chapters on the new model, and with that magnificent outburst
which would naturally give rise to a revision of the Church
offices in general. By the end of the thirteenth century the
Little Office and that of the Dead were established in secular
use. Sarum and Lincoln bear witness to this; and from the
books of these two churches we learn that Matins, Lauds, and
Vespers of our Lady were said in choir ; the " LittleHours " in
the Ladye Chapel before the daily " Ladye Mass," while Com-
pline was said privately after the Compline of the day. When
the Council of Trent left the reformation of the Missal and
Breviary to the Pope, St. Pius V. in the bull Quod A. Nobis
(1568) released the clergy from an obligation which had for
so many hundred years been laid upon them. The Pontiff
says : " On account of the various businesses of this life and
indulgent to the occupations of many, we have thought it
well to remove the occasion of sin from this matter ; but,
warned by the weight of the Pastoral care, we vehemently
exhort all in the Lord, that seconding our remission as far as
can be done, by their own devotion and diligence, they should,
by these prayers, suffrages, and praises, endeavour to provide
for the salvation of themselves and of others." And he grants
to all who say the Office of our Lady, on the days mentioned
in the Rubrics, an indulgence of one hundred days for each
recitation. The days prescribed are on all simples and ferias
throughout the year, except Saturdays, which, from old custom,
had a special votive office in honour of our Lady [i].

This Office of our Lady, the growth of many years, is
largely practised in the Church. The older order of monks
and friars keep up its recitation on fixed days ; and the
numerous congregation of women called to special active
work have no other office but this. St. Francis of Sales says
of it in the order which he founded that : " The Office of our
Lady is the soul of devotion in the Convents of the Visitation."
Many of the newer orders say the Office in choir, carrying out
as far as possible all the choral ceremonies. Some others, who

[i] In the customs of Einsiedeln, we find the Votive Office of our Lady assigned
to the Saturday.

44 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

are called away for hours by the nature of their work, have to
content themselves with private recitation, keeping choir with
their guardian angels.

Having thus traced the origin of the Little Office, it will
not be amiss to see what evidence there is for its recitation
among the laity ; and, confining ourselves to England, we may
easily gather that in the Dowery of Mary it was a favourite
devotion. The rise of the art of printing naturally gave a
great impulse to the recitation ; for manuscript books of the
Hours, such as are still kept in our museums, would be too
costly for the generality of lay folk. But when printing made
it possible, we find an extraordinary growth ; and this, too, in
a remarkable way. Not only was the Little Office available
for the body of the faithful, but it was given them in the
vernacular, in books called the Primer or Lay Folks' Prayer-
Book [i].

Caxton's " Boke of Courteseye" (1477) contains some
verses to " Little John " concerning his behaviour. Among
them is the direction : —

" And while that you be about honestly
To dress yourself and do on your array,
With your fellow well and tretably
Our Lady matins look that you say ;
And this observance use ye every day
With praise and hours withouten drede
The Blessed Lady will quit you your mede " [2].

The Eton statutes prescribes that the scholars, after rising
and making their beds, should say the Matins of our Blessed
Lady after " Sarum use." Henry VI., the munificent founder
of the College, had a special devotion to the Office, which he
said every day. Cardinal Fisher, in his funeral sermon on the
Countess of Richmond, mother of Henry VII., says : " First
in prayer every day at her uprising, which commonly was not
long after five of the clock, she began certain devotions ; and
so after them with one of her gentlewomen, the Matins of

[i] The one recently reprinted by the Early English Text Society is from a MS.
of about 1420.
[2] P. 5-

THE HISTORY OF THE LITTLE OFFICE 45

our Lady," besides the greater Office which she said with her
chaplain, and heard four or five masses [i].

The Venetian Ambassador, in A relation of the Island of
England [2], about the year 1496, tells his Government about
the life of our Catholic forefathers and says : " Although
they all attend Mass every day and say many paternosters in
public (the women carrying long rosaries in their hands, and
any that can read taking the Office of our Lady with them,
and with some companion reciting it in the church verse by
verse after the manner of churchmen), they always hear Mass
on Sunday in their parish church and give liberal alms,
because they may not offer less than a piece of money of
which fourteen are equivalent to a golden ducat ; nor do they
omit any form incumbent upon good Christians."

About the period of the Reformation we find editions of
the Primers printed in 1538, 1546, and several between 1551
and 1558. When Elizabeth destroyed the work restored by
Mary, many of the people still clung to their old practices of
devotion. In 1569, "Thomas Wright, vicar of Seaham, con-
fesses that he says daily in his house, with certain others, the
Offices of the Blessed Virgin " [3]. One of the earliest pub-
lications of Dr. Allen was a Primer for the use of the perse-
cuted Catholics. This came out in 1571, and was followed in
1599 by Richard Verstegan's edition and many others [4]. It
was the favourite prayer of our brave confessors, and shows
that they formed themselves on the simple, bold, direct prayer
of the Church, and were thus able to cultivate a spirit of solid
catholicity which withstood all shocks from within and
without.

Nowadays, many pious lay-folk use the Little Office as
their daily prayer. It is part of the rule for Dominican, Car-
melite, and Augustinian Tertiaries. The Franciscan Third

[I] "The English works of John Fisher" [E.E.T.S.], p. 292.

[2] Camden Society's Publications, p. 23.

[3] " Depositions," p. 199, Surtees Society.

[4] Besides those in the text, there are editions of 1604, 1615, 1619, 1632, 1650,
1658, 1684, and 1685. All these were printed abroad. The first one printed in
London was 1687. In 1706 appeared one with hymns translated by Dryden, and
there are editions of the years 1717 and 1732.

46 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

Order used it; and when Leo XIII., by his late Letters
Apostolic, brought the tertiary rule more into harmony with
the state of modern society, although he does away with the
obligation of j its recitation and orders instead the recital of
twelve paters, he wishes that all who have time and oppor-
tunity should say the Little Office as heretofore.

47

PART II.

PRACTICAL.

He who fears the Lord neglecteth nothing, says the Holy
Ghost [i]. The more important the work, the more necessary
is it that it should be done properly. And are we called to
any higher and more important work than that of being used
by the Incarnate Word in His worship of the Eternal Father ?
Yet, from the weakness of human nature, from the instability
of our minds, from the daily recitation of the selfsame words,
we often say the Office in a careless, perfunctory manner, our
lips repeating words which find but little or no echo in our
heart.

There is, and must be, this danger for every one ; and half
of the remedy is to recognise our liability to fall short of our
Lord's gracious designs. It will therefore be useful to gather
together various practices, examples and thoughts, which have
been found useful for guarding against the deadening effects
of routine. They will help us to make our Office a living
reality.

[i] Eccles. vii. 19.

48

CHAPTER I.

•

ON SAYING THE OFFICE AS THE CHURCH WISHES.

THE idea of the Office is that of a public prayer of the
Church ; public, not only because we are public ministers of
the Church ; but public, because it is designed to be said in
a public manner. Careful of St. Paul's words : Let everything
be done decently and in order [i], Holy Church has surrounded
the recitation of her Public prayer with a minute code of rules
and ceremonies, all of which are eminently calculated to help
our soul to retain or regain the thought of God's Presence.
In reciting the Office we should endeavour to make use of
all the ceremonial she has ordained ; and let these forms do
the work for which they are intended. Bowing the head
and the body, signing ourselves with the Cross, standing up,
sitting down, kneeling, facing the altar, or facing one another,
are all ceremonies full of life and meaning to those who use
them intelligently ; while those who neglect them, or carry
them out carelessly, are misusing a great means of entering
more perfectly into the dispositions of Jesus Christ. The
author of the Myroure says : "Therefore the holy observances
are not only to be kept of them that sing in the choir, but
also of all others, to their power ; wherever they say their
Service. For a religious person ought to be governed reli-
giously over all, whether he be alone or with others and
whatever he do, and namely, in the saying of this Holy
Service. Nevertheless, they that have no convenient place
to keep all observances and therefore say their Service in
continual and reverent kneeling, or sometimes standing, I
trow they are excused. But for to say it sitting or lying

[l] I Cor. xiv. 40.

ON SAYING THE OFFICE 49

(without need of sickness), or walking up and down ; it were
a token of little love and of little reverence to God. For
our Holy mother, St. Brigit, had in revelation, and wrote
to a secular clerk that such walking to and fro in service
time is a showing of an unstable and a vacant heart, and of
a slow soul, and of little charity and devotion. And since it is
so in seculars much more is it blameable in religious. And
therefore the books that say how some have most devotion
sitting, or else whether it be sitting, or kneeling, or going or
standing, a man should do as he can feel most devotion ; such
sayings are to be understood of the prayers and devotions that
a man chooseth to say or to do after his own will. But in Our
Lord's Service we ought to labour for devotion in such manner
as Holy Church and religion hath ordained to be kept
therein " [i].

The Carthusians, who say the Little Office every day, recite
it in their cells ; but strictly carry out all the choir cere-
monial. They know that they do not say it alone. For
when the bell rings the whole Charter-house turns into a
great choir and the monks in the sight of the angels [2] com-
mence to praise Him Whose mother was Mary.

There is a point to which special attention ought to be
drawn ; and that is, the fact that the first idea of the Office is
that it should be sung. It is a choral office, and there is good
reason for this. The author of the Myrourc says : —

"And no marvel that the fiend be busy to hinder folks
from the song of this holy Service ; for in devout singing
and hearing thereof is manifold profit to man's soul. First,
for it stirreth a man's soul sometime to contrition and com-
punction of his sins. For the holy doctor St. Isidore saith
thus : ' Though the sweetness of the voice or song ought not
to delight nor stir a Christian man's heart, but the words of
God that are sung, yet I wot not in what wise more compunc-
tion ariseth in the heart than by the voice of singing. For
there are many,' he saith, ' that by the sweetness of the song
are stirred to wail and to weep their sins. And the sweeter
that the song is, the more they follow out in weeping tears.'
The second, it melteth the heart into more devotion, and

[i] pp. 62-63. W Psalm cxxxvii. 42.

4

5o THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

therefore saith Saint Augustine to God Himself in his con-
fession : 'Ah, Lord,' he saith, ' how I was stirred to joy and I
wept in hymns and songs of Thy Church that sounded sweetly.
The voices flowed into mine ears and truth was molten into
my heart, and thereby the affection of piety and of love was
made hot in me, and tears ran out of my eyes and I was full
well with them.' The third, it causeth sometime devout souls
to be ravished and to receive spiritual gifts from God, as ye
read in St. Maud's (Mechtildd) book, how she had many
of her revelations in time of God's Service. And therefore at
a time when Elias the prophet had not ready the spirit of
prophecy he got him a singer of psalms on the harp or on the
psaltery ; and while he sang the spirit of God came upon the
prophet, and then he told by the spirit of prophecy to them
that came unto him what they should do. The fourth profit
of Holy Church song is, that it doth away (with) indiscreet
heaviness. And therefore, saith the Apostle Saint James : //
any of you (he saith) be heavy ; let him sing and let him pray
with an even heart [i]. For as the Gloss saith there — the
sweetness of singing and of psalmody putteth away noxious
heaviness ; and Isidore saith that devout singing in Holy
Church comforteth heavy hearts and maketh souls more
gracious ; it refresheth them that are weary and tedious ; it
quickeneth them that are dull, and it stirreth sinners to bewail
their sins. For though the hearts (he saith) of fleshly people
be hard, yet when the sweetness of that song soundeth in
them their souls are stirred to the affections of piety. The
fifth is, that it chaseth and driveth away the fiend ; and that
was figured in David when the fiend vexed King Saul and
David smote on his harp and the fiend fled away. And much
more he fleeth where the Psalms of David and other Divine
service is devoutly sung The sixth profit is, that it con-
foundeth and overcometh the enemies of Holy Church and of
God's servants as well bodily as ghostly ; and this is shown
in holy scriptures by King Josaphat that was King of Jeru-
salem [2]. For when his enemies came against him in so
great power that he knew well that he might not by man's
power withstand them, he ordained singers of God's service

[ij St. James v. 13. [2] II. Paralip. 20.

ON SAYING THE OFFICE 51

to praise God and to go before his host singing. And when
they began to praise God, God turned the enemy each of
them against the other, and each of them slew the other, so
that none of them all escaped alive. A marvellous working
of God's service. . . . And thus you may see that there
is no better armour of defence against all enemies than devout
singing of our Lord's service ; wherefore David the prophet
said thus : Laudans invocabo Dominum et ab inimicis meis
salvus ero ; that is, I will call upon our Lord in praising, and
so I shall be safe from all mine enemies. For it hath not been
seen that ever any place was mischiefed where God's service
was devoutly kept. The seventh profit of Holy Church song
is, that it pleaseth so much God that He desireth and joyeth
to hear it. And therefore He saith to His spouse, Holy
Church : Sonet vox tua in auribus meis ; that is, Let thy voice
sound in mine ears [i]. Glad, then, ought ye to be to sing
that song that God Himself desireth to hear. But so it ought
to be sung that it sound well in His ears, for else it availeth
but little. For He taketh more heed of the heart than of the
voice ; but when both accord in Him then is it best. And if
either should fail it is better to lack the voice than the heart
from Him. Therefore, they that would praise God with voice
of singing and cannot or may not, our Lord will hold them
excused, so that they say devoutly such service as they can,
and keep their hearts clean in meekness and in obedience.
For as our Lady said to St. Brigit : A clean heart and a meek
pleaseth God in silence as well as in singing " [2].

This will show that it is profitable to follow out the
Church's idea and to sing our Office ; and that it is a loss to
neglect it altogether. There are few convents that cannot aim
at singing each day or at least on Sundays and festivals the
Office, either wholly or in part. The practice of fervent com-
munities may here be recommended. If they cannot sing every
day the whole of the Office they at least sing a part — such as
Vespers every day — and on Sundays Lauds as well. On feasts
of the second class, the Invitatory, Hymn and Te Deum at
Matins, with the whole of Lauds and Vespers. On the Great
feasts the whole of the Office. Some make a point of at least
singing the Antiphon of our Lady after Lauds and Compline.

[l] Cant. 2. [2] Myroure, pp. 32-35.

52 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

God does not want fine singing, but prayerful singing :
not singing which tickles the ear, but that which raises up the
soul ; singing which will not remind us, by earthly music, of
the passing joys of this world, but rather a kind of unearthly
music like that which is ever resounding through the heavenly
courts. The Plain Song of the Church is most perfectly
adapted to the spiritual needs of mankind when it is sung by
those who know and love it. Nothing could be better and
more fitting for religious than this chant which, we may add,
requires a religious person to sing it properly. It is, then,
indeed, a sweet echo of that New Song which no man can
utter, as it should be uttered, unless he be taught by the Lamb
Whose very Own Song it is.

Beautiful voices are God's gift and have to be used for
Him ; and the music of God's worship should be of the very
best. But loving hearts form a sweeter harmony before the
Throne than the rarest voices, if full of self-love. He sings
well, says St. Bernard, who sings to God. There is a beautiful
story, told in the annals of a certain monastery, where the
monks, all old men, sang as best their quavering, uncertain
voices would let them. But once, when some high feast came
round, they bethought themselves of getting the services of
a skilful singer to chant the Magnificat in honour of the
solemnity. He came. His voice, wondrously beautiful,
clear and pure, and round in tone, like a flute, soared upwards
and, ringing around the vaulted roof of the old minster,
enchanted the hearers. " Would that we could have that fair
singer with us every day," said the abbat to one of the ancients,
who nodded his approval. But that night as the abbat lay
a-bed, lo ! a great light, as of many suns, filled his cell, and in
the midst thereof a Vision of One stood before him. It was
the Mother of God, Mary ever blissful. " Why," said she,
" have you on this high festival omitted my song, the
Magnificat f " " Lady ! " said the abbat, " it was sung to-day,
and in strains sweeter than we have ever heard before ; for as
we be but a handful of feeble, croaking old men, with no music
in our voices, we sought the rarest and most beautiful voice in
the land to sing thy praise." " I heard it not," said the Vision.
'' No sound came from the minster at Even-Song, and mine

ON SAYING THE OFFICE 53

ears missed the music they are accustomed to hear daily from
you and your brethren. That singer sang for himself and not
for me ; so his song could not rise to my throne, but fell back
earthwards again."

The liturgical spirit, so necessary to be cultivated now-a-
days, is, when we look at it simply, only that of mere obedience
to the Church. It consists in doing the Church's work in the
Church's way. If, therefore, occupations hinder us from
keeping choir still, in this spirit of desiring to carry out the
Church's ideas as far as possible, we should endeavour to say
our Office in church ; and for these reasons which the Myroure
gives : " This holy service ought also to be said in due place ;
that is, in the church ; except if sickness, or such reasonable
cause, hinder that you may not come thither. For churches
are hallowed and ordained for prayer and for Divine service to
be said and heard therein as our Lord saith Himself : Domus
mea domus orationis vocabitur [i], that is to say : ' My house,
that is Holy Church, should be called a house of prayer.' And
it is most profitable for you to pray in that place for many
causes, (i) One for more worship of our Saviour Jesus Christ,
and of His blessed Mother our Lady in whose worship the
church is hallowed. (2) Another cause, for the blessing and
the prayer of the bishop at the time of the hallowing of the
church which helpeth and furthereth much the prayer of them
that pray therein. (3) The third cause, for the Angels of God
dwell there to help us in time of prayer, and to promote our
prayers towards God. . . . And, therefore, saith St.
Bernard : ' Oh, whoso had open eyes and might see with how
great care and joy angels are amongst them that sing devoutly
and pray ! ' [2] Wherefore he saith : ' I admonish you my
most loved friends that you stand purely in the praising of
God, and that you do it reverently and gladly. (4) The fourth
cause is, for the fiends have less power to hinder prayer there
than in any other place ; and therefore the patriarch, St. Jacob,
after he had seen the vision said : Quam terribilis est locus
iste [3], that is, How fearful is this place. For the holiness of the
church and the devoted prayers made therein, and, namely,

[i] Matthew xxi. 13. [2] Super. Cant. serm. 7. [3] Gen.xxviii. 17.

54 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

the presence of the holy Sacrament of the Altar ; rebuketh the
boldness of the fiend, and maketh him afeard. (5) The fifth
cause is, for our Lord will take heed of them and hear their
prayer that pray in holy church as He saith Himself : Oculi
mei erunt aperti et aures mece ad orationem ejus qui in loco isto
oraverit [i], that is to say, Mine eyes shall be open to see Him
and Mine ears dressed up to hear his prayer that prayeth in
this place, that is Holy Church " [2].

And one more especial reason which should prompt us to
say our Office in Church is the Abiding Presence of Jesus in
the Blessed Sacrament. From the lowly tabernacle is ever
going up before the Father the most perfect worship of adora-
tion, of thanksgiving, of atonement, of prayer ; for Jesus is
verily and indeed there. As we are chosen to give expression
to these acts, as it is in union with Him as our Divine Head
that our prayers have value in God's sight, we should delight
to add our worship (which is indeed His) in union with
that Life, all glorious and immortal, which He lives in the
Sacramental state of the Eucharist [3]. Oh magnify the Lord
with Me [4], He cries to us from the tabernacle. And there
at His feet we can best obey His invitation.

[l] II. Paralip., vii. 15. [2] Myroure, pp. 27, 28.

[3] The idea which a false sentimentality is trying to introduce, of the Prisoner
of the Tabernacle is untrue, and against the very idea of the Adorable Mystery.
Christ rose again never to die, never to suffer ; Death shall no more have dominion
over Him (Rom. vi. 9). Therefore, in His sacramental Life the glory of light
inaccessible, in which God dwells, surrounds Him in the Tabernacle. He is on the
Altar, as He is in Heaven, the King of Glory ; but the manner of His presence
is otherwise. There He is present naturally ; here, sacramentally. The Church
has no other way for expressing His state in the Holy Eucharist but by saying it
is a sacramental state, that is, one after the manner of a Sacrament which is an
outward sign of inward grace. To bring in materialistic views into our ideas about
the Blessed Sacrament is sure to do harm ; and the history of the Church is full
of the mischief done thereby. St. Thomas the Angelical has set forth the dogma
as far as human wit can fathom. With him we are safe, mindful of the words
of Holy Writ, Search not the things that are too high for thee, and search not into
things above thine ability', but the things that God hath commanded theet think
on them always, in many of His -works be not curious (Ecclesiasticus iii. 22). Faith
and adoration is all we can do, aught else is but failure.

[4] Psalm xxxiii.

55

CHAPTER II.

ON RECOLLECTION BEFORE BEGINNING.

Before prayer prepare thy soul and be not like a man that
tempteth God [i]. Do not let thy heart be swift to pour forth
thy words before God. For God is in heaven and thou upon
earth [2],

The consideration of what the Office is, should be quite
enough to make us realise the necessity of due preparation
before we begin. "For by the wound of original sin and
by our own actual sin and evil custom, the corrupt body is
so heavy and loath to all virtue and the heart so unstable
that without great inward labour, and without we do a manner
of violence to ourselves, we can neither make the rebel and
disobedient flesh to do reverently ; nor gather the mind in
unity to (the) feeling of devotion " [3].

The Abbat Cisneros of Montserrato (about 1500), says in
the " Directory for the Canonical Hours" : "When we have
risen from our beds and are dressed, staying awhile in our
cell and standing where we are wont to pray, we should
gather up our thoughts as best we can, and think thus within
ourselves ; what are we going to do, and why have we risen
from our beds? For whosoever does not think before acting
must needs be careless in his work. And what are we about
to do, brethren, at the time of the Office unless it is to appear
before the sight of God and His holy angels in the company
of our just and holy brethren ? Wherefore we must diligently
bear in mind that we are going to (i) adore God ; (2) give
thanks to Him ; (3) and pray to Him. . . . Therefore
after dwelling on the aforesaid three points let us on our knees

[i] Ecclesiasticus xviii. 23. [2] Ecclesiasticus v. I. [3] Afyroure, p. 63.

56 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

humbly beseech the Lord to grant us worthily to adore Him
in the judgments of His justice, and devoutly to pay Him the
duty of our homage. When, therefore, the sound of the bell
has struck upon our ears, rising from prayer, we should say :
This is the sign of the great King ; let us go and seek His
face and offer Him gold, incense and myrrh, the gold of
devotion, the incense of attention, the myrrh of respectful
and manly demeanour."

St. Charles Borromeo attached so much importance to his
Office that he always spent at least a quarter of an hour
in mental prayer before he ventured to begin, and then said
it on his knees [i] ; and St. Bonaventure used to tell his
novices : " Never begin to say the Office without preparing
yourself by a collect and a prayer. We are tepid and slothful
in the Divine Office, because we have not roused ourselves
beforehand by acts of devotion; hence, as we have entered
cold, so do we leave the choir dissipated in heart " [2].

As it is a special grace from God to say the Office well,
for we cannot, St. Paul tells us, Say the Lord Jesus except by
the Holy Ghost [3], we must ask for this grace humbly and
fervently. Origen writes : " We must beseech the Lord that
the Lamb of the tribe of Juda may come and deign Himself
to open the sealed book. For it was He who, opening the
Scriptures, set on fire the hearts of the disciples so that they
said : Did not our hearts bum within us while He opened to us
the Scriptures f " [4]

Now of the preparatory prayer. Our first should be to
make acts of the presence of God who abides in our heart if
we are in a state of grace. There is nothing that empties the
heart more of creatures than the thought that the ever adorable
Trinity is really and truly present with us. // any man love
Me. . . . We will come to him and make Our abode with him
[5] » savs °ur Divine Master. And St. Paul presses home this
truth : Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost

[l] Giussano's " Life of St. Charles Borromeo," Eng. ed., vol. i. p. 90 ;
ii. p. 292.

[2] De Institutions Novitorum. [4] Migne, P. G., vol. xii. p. 385.

[3] I Cor. xii. 3. [5] John xiv. 23.

ON RECOLLECTION BEFORE BEGINNING 57

Who is in you f [i] We need not go outside of ourselves to
find the Divine Presence. He is within us : The kingdom of
God is within you [2] . The thought of this Presence brings
a hush over our soul. God alone becomes our one object.
He and our soul are the two realities which stand out clear
and distinct. This act of faith in the Presence of God within
us cannot be made without reminding us of our utter un-
worthiness in His sight. It begets in our soul, therefore, acts
of sorrow for our sins. Purified by these we adore Him with
our whole soul and put ourselves at the disposal of Jesus our
Lord to pay that adoration, thanksgiving, atonement, and
prayer with which He worships the Divine Majesty. Such
acts as these before beginning our Office are the best form
of mental prayer. To these may well be joined such vocal
prayers as appeal to our own devotion. The shorter the better.
The Aperi Domine is excellent ; but at times, others may, with
advantage, be substituted for it. The hymn to the Holy
Ghost, the Veni Creator, was often used by St. Francis Xavier
before his Office. The prayer said by the deacon at high Mass
before singing the Gospel, the Munda Cor meum ; or else the
prayer before the Orate Fratres, the Suscipe Sancta Trinitas ;
or the Collect, Deus cui omne cor patet ; or the Gloria in
Excelsis Deo. Any of these may be used as our devotion
prompts.

We may make up a little list of such vocal prayers for our
own use together with short invocations of our Lady, our
Guardian Angel, and patrons ; and vary the prayers according
to the day of the week, or the feast day. By such pious means
we shall avoid that sense of routine which is one of the great
difficulties we have to contend against.

We may sometimes add to our mental prayer before the
Office considerations upon the excellence of our ministry ;
such as that we are the instruments by which Jesus the
God-Man worships His Father ; that we are representatives
of Holy Church ; that we are placed between the living and
the dead to supplicate for all the graces mankind stands in
need of ; that we are taking a part in the heavenly worship

[i] I Cor. vi. 19. [2] Luke xviii. 21.

58 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

which goes on for ever before the great Throne, and are
lending our voices to all creation to praise Him Who sits
thereon. With such thoughts as these we shall enter upon
our Office with a heart attuned to the work we have to do
and we shall get from it the profit that our Lord intends.

59

CHAPTER III.

ON PARTICULAR INTENTION.

ALTHOUGH we are representatives of the Church we must
not forget that when in union with our Lord we deliberately
set ourself to do His work of worship, we are doing an
act not only good in itself and profitable to all the members
of the Body Mystical, but also one full of advantage to our-
selves. In other words, we have in the fruit of the Office
a special share which is wholly ours. This we can dispose
of as we please. From this comes the advantage of having
some special intention for which we say either the whole or
part of the Office. And, indeed, no better prayer can be used
for the special intentions we may have at heart ; for it is the
highest of all prayers and is said in the very best circum-
stances for receiving a favourable answer. Spiritual writers,
such as St. Bernard and St. Bonaventure, recommend us not
to neglect this practice of making intentions ; for long and
frequent prayers expose us to the danger of negligence, and
therefore the practice serves to guard our attention.

What intentions should we use ? There are, first, the four
intentions of our Lord's Prayer in Heaven and in the Blessed
Sacrament : adoration, thanksgiving, atonement, and suppli-
cation. We may sometimes say our Office or part of it as
a distinct act of adoration to the Eternal God. Prostrated
before His throne and abasing ourself in His sight, we confess
that He is all and we are nothing ; that all we are and have
is from Him ; that He alone is worthy of all honour, all glory,
and all worship, for He hath made us and not we ourselves.
Then there are many occasions when our heart is full of
gratitude for some favour which God has given us. Second

60 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

to the Mass there is no act of thanksgiving so pleasing to Him
as the Office. And have we not much to be grateful for ?
Our vocation, our sacraments, our graces, our crosses, our
joys, our successes, our sorrows, our hopes, our losses ; all
these are distinct subjects for thanksgiving. What better act
of thanksgiving, for instance, than to say Lauds with this
intention ? Or does the remembrance of former sinfulness
oppress us ; or are we weighed down with the thought of our
own daily unfaithfulness to grace, or of our coldness and want
of love in God's service ; or are we moved by the shock that
comes from some fall more serious than usual ? There is
an atoning power in the Office said in union with our Lord
that is sure to win grace, forgiveness, peace, and purity. Or
do we hear of some great scandal and sin, of stars falling
from heaven [i], the interests of our Lord disregarded and
injured in various parts of the Church ? We have a perfect
means of making atonement to His dear glory by means of
Office. Or are we in want, or do we pray for others ? Is it a
conversion that we ask, saying as Esther said to the king : If
it please thee give me my life for which I ask and my people for
whom I beseech [2]. Or is it our daily occupation, whatever it
may be, that makes us anxious and full of care ? Or do we
wish to pour forth our prayers for our friends and relations,
our community and superiors ? We have no better means of
helping them than by saying our Office for these particular
intentions ; for we say it with Jesus, and He is heard for His
reverence [3]. There is, therefore, no better way than to say
our Office, whatever our intentions may be, in union with the
Glorious and Eucharistic Life of our Lord and with reference
to the ends for which He prays. Thus will our Office be
linked on to the Mass and will get its light and life from that
adorable Sacrifice, the centre itself of all light and life [4].

[l] Cf. Apoc. viii. 10. [2] Esther vii. 3. [3] Heb. v. 7.

[4] The English mystic, Walter Hilton, died 1396 (?), says of the Office :
"This prayer is always heard by Jesus. It yieldeth grace unto Jesus and receiveth
grace again from Him. It maketh the soul familiar, and, as it were, companion
unto Jesus and all the Angels in heaven. Use it whosoever can ; the work is good
and grace-bestowing in itself. . . . This prayer is a rich offering filled with
all the fatness of devotion, received by Angels and presented before the face of
Jesus." — The Scale of Perfection (ed. 1870), p. 244.

ON PARTICULAR INTENTION 61

We can say the Office in union with the spirit of the feast
which the Church celebrates, to adore God in that particular
mystery or saint ; to thank Him for all the graces given
through that mystery or saint, or to that saint making him to
be what he is ; or offering that mystery or the holiness of the
saint in the spirit of atonement, or urging the mystery or the
patronage of the saint as an extra plea for our petition. And
how our ever-dear and blessed Lady enters into all this can
easily be seen. Under all circumstances, when saying her
Office we must place our hand in her's and, together with her,
approach the Throne of Grace.

It is useful to write in our Office books some general
intentions which we should observe, unless any special reason
makes us change our plan. As there are seven hours in
the Office and seven days in the week, we may make use of
these tables, either for a day or for a week, for the Office as
a whole, or for each separate hour. The following lists may
be altered and changed to suit each one's devotion.

I. — GENERAL INTENTIONS.

(i) The Blessed Trinity : or the Incarnation ; (2) The
Holy Angels : or our Guardian Angel ; (3) The Apostles : or
our Patron ; (4) St. Joseph : or the Souls in Purgatory ;
(5) The Blessed Sacrament : or the Clergy ; (6) The Passion :
or all sinners ; (7) Our Blessed Lady : or all religious.

II. — To HONOUR THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD.

(i) His wisdom ; (2) His omnipotence ; (3) His goodness ;
(4) His providence ; (5) His mercy ; (6) His justice ; (7) His
patience.

III. — IN HONOUR OF THE HOLY GHOST.

(i) For the gift of wisdom ; (2) For the gift of under-
standing ; (3) Lor the gift of counsel ; (4) For the gift of
knowledge ; (5) For the gift of fortitude ; (6) For the gift of
piety ; (7) For the gift of fear of the Lord.

62 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

IV.— OUR LORD'S LIFE.

(i) Our Lord's Nativity ; (2) His hidden Life ; (3) His
public Ministry ; (4) His Passion ; (5) His Death ; (6) His
resurrection ; (7) His Ascension.

V. — THE PASSION.

" At Matins bound, at Prime reviled,
Condemned to death at Terce,
Nailed to the Cross at Sext,
At None His blessed Side they pierced,
They take Him down at Vesper tide,
In grave at Compline lay,
Who henceforth bids His Church observe
These seven-fold hours alway."

VI. — OUR LADY, MIRROR OF JUSTICE.

(i) For knowledge of Mary ; (2) For more love of Mary ;

(3) For more confidence in Mary ; (4) For more union with
Mary ; (5) For more joy in Mary ; (6) For a larger share in
her compassion ; (7) For true devotion to Mary.

VII. — FOR THE CHURCH.

(i) Our Holy Father the Pope ; (2) The cardinals ; (3) The
bishops ; (4) Our diocese ; (5) The clergy ; (6) missioners ;
(7) religious.

VIII. — THE CHURCH'S INTERESTS.

(i) For good pastors ; (2) For the persecuted ; (3) For
unbelievers ; (4) For bad Catholics ; (5) For the conversion
of sinners ; (6) For foreign missions ; (7) For our schools
and children.

IX. — FOR THE HOLY SOULS.

(i) For the most desolate soul ; (2) For the soul nearest
to its release ; (3) For the souls suffering through our sins ;

(4) For the souls of our parents, friends and benefactors ;

(5) For the soul that has to remain longest in purgatory ;

(6) For the soul most devout to the Passion ; (j) For the
soul most devout to our Lady.

ON PARTICULAR INTENTION 63

X. — FOR THE VIRTUES.

(i) Humility ; (2) Liberality ; (3) Chastity ; (4) Mildness ;
(5) Charity ; (6) Brotherly love ; (7) Diligence.

XI. — AGAINST SINS OF

(i) Pride ; (2) Covetousness ; (3) Lust ; (4) Anger ; (5)
Hatred ; (6) Envy ; (7) Sloth.

XII. — FOR OUR WORK.

(i) That it may be to God's Glory ; (2) That it may be
done thoroughly ; (3) That it may be blest ; (4) That it may
benefit others ; (5) That it may keep us humble ; (6) That it
may be done in the spirit of penance ; (7) That it may be
done in the Divine Presence.

Other tables we can make use of are the following taken
mostly from FF. Mayer and Drexel, S.J.

I.

(1) On Sunday, or Matins any day — (i.) For the whole
church ; or (ii.) the clergy ; or (iii.) our own community.

(2) On Monday or at Prime — (i.) For the conversion of
infidels ; or (ii.) forgiveness of sins ; or (iii.) a generous,
cheerful spirit.

(3) On Tuesday or at Terce — (i). For the conversion of
unbelievers ; or (ii.) true mortification ; or (iii.) grace of the
Holy Ghost.

(4) On Wednesday or at Sext — (i.) For all in mortal sin ;
or (ii.) the spread of Christ's kingdom ; or (iii.) grace to be
faithful.

(5) On Thursday or at None — (i.) For the perseverance of
good ; or (2) grace to be heavenly-minded ; or (iii.) increase
of faith in the Blessed Sacrament.

(6) On Friday or at Vespers — (i.) For parents, relations,
benefactors, friends and enemies ; or (ii.) grace of prayer ; or
(iii.) love of the cross.

(7) On Saturday or at Compline — (i.) For the faithful
departed ; or (ii.) for peace ; or (iii.) for perfect charity.

64 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

II.

Matins may be said in commemoration of (i) the Nativity ;
(2) the Betrayal in the Garden ; (3) the Last Judgment [i].

Lauds in commemoration of the Resurrection.

Prime in commemoration of the Leading to Pilate.

Terce in commemoration of (i) the Crowning with Thorns ;
(2) the Scourging ; (3) the Coming of the Holy Ghost.

Sext in commemoration of (i) the Fall of Man [2] ; (2)
the Crucifixion ; (3) The Calling of the Gentiles [3].

None in commemoration of (i) the Death of Christ ; (2)
the Binding of Satan.

Vespers in commemoration of (i) the Burial of our Lord ;
(2) the Giving of the Holy Ghost [4].

Compline in commemoration of (i) the Institution of the
Eucharist ; (2) Eternal Rest in Paradise.

III.

Matins, in honour of Our Lord before the high priest :
for the conversion of those in mortal sin.

Lauds, in honour of Our Lord in prison : for all enemies
and persecutors.

Prime, in honour of the Scourging : for pardon of one's
own sins ; for the virtue most needed.

Terce, in honour of the Crowning with Thorns : for all
Christian states and rulers.

Sext, in honour of the Crucifixion : for all afflicted and in
sorrow.

None, in honour of the Death of our Lord : for all in
their last agony.

Vespers, in honour of the Mother of Sorrows : for all that
have died to-day.

Compline, in honour of all Saints : for final preseverance.

But as " all your service is of our blessed Lady ; therefore
it is good that ye intend specially therein her praising and
worship, and that God be thanked and praised for all the gifts

[i] i Thess. v. 2. [3] Acts x. 9.

[2] Gen. iii. 8. [4] John xx. 19, 23.

ON PARTICULAR INTENTION 65

and benefits that He hath given to her and by her to all
mankind "[i]. So we can say our hours in honour of her
Seven Joys : (i) The Annunciation ; (2) the Nativity ; (3) the
Adoration of the Magi ; (4) the Finding after the Three Days'
Loss ; (5) the Resurrection ; (6) the Ascension ; (7) the
Assumption.

Or at times her Seven Dolours will appeal to our devotion,
and we can say our hours in honour of (i) Simeon's prophecy ;
(2) the Flight into Egypt ; (3) the Three Day's Loss ; (4) the
Meeting on the Way to Calvary ; (5) the Crucifixion ; (6) the
Taking Down from the Cross ; (7) the Entombment.

Or at other times her Seven-fold Glory attracts us and we
say the hours in honour of (i) her Stainless Conception ;
(2) the Annunciation ; (3) her Maiden-Motherhood ; (4) the
Thirty Year's Life at Nazareth ; (5) our Lord's first Miracle ; (6)
her Sanctification at Pentecost ; (7) her Coronation in Heaven.

It is a good practice to have a series of these intentions
drawn up by week or by day, so that as each time comes
round we have something new to honour, something new
to ask. But we must be most careful not to let them
degenerate into mechanical aids and allow ourselves to think
that once having written them down, all is done. We are
intelligent beings and not machines ; and we must act by
reason and not by clockwork. Helps of the kind we have
suggested are only useful when used intelligently ; otherwise
they become superstitious, and hinder the influence of God
upon the soul.

I will conclude this chapter by some more words from
the Myroure of Our Lady : " It is also profitable that you
intend in saying of this holy service the fulfilling of your bond
and duty inasmuch as you are bound thereto by your rule and
by your holy profession" [2]. This injunction need not lead
to scruples. We always say our Office because it is our duty.
The mere fact of saying it is the fulfilment of a duty ; so the
taking up the book to read it out of and the very act of
recitation imply that we are doing it to fulfil our obligation [3].

[i] Myroure, p. 61. [2] p. 6r.

[3] Scruples on this head can be easily removed by the question — Why did I
say my Office ? Out of mere pleasure or duty, or because I have to say it f

5

66 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

Our pious author goes on : " And as the prayer of these
holy hours is rather sped and heard of our Lord than other
prayers, as I said before, therefore it is good that, in the saying
or singing thereof, ye intend to get the forgiveness of your
own sins and such help and graces and virtues as you feel
needful to you and also to the health and profit of all that
you are bound or have devotion to pray for. And the more
specially and often that you offer up these intentions to God
with meek and fervent desire in Him, the better profit shall
you have of that thing that you desire and pray for. Never-
theless you ought to dress your hearts after these intentions
before you begin, for in time of this holy service you ought to
stable your mind only on God and upon none other things,
as I have said before " [i] .

[i] pp. 61-62.

67

CHAPTER IV.

ON ATTENTION.

" IN order to perform the Office it is not necessary to have
in mind the precise sense of the prayers we say. The texts
are sometimes difficult, and the attention is not always under
our control. Besides, the mind may legitimately exercise
itself upon other suitable objects. Yet, speaking generally,
we cannot pay too great attention to the sense of the words :
Whoso readeth let him understand [i]. This is most natural, and
is conformable to the mind of the Church, and to the example
of the saints. In fact, when we address ourself to God and
bless Him, or when we utter certain forms of prayer, it is only
natural to attend to the words we pronounce and join to the
letter the thoughts and affections it expresses. To neglect
this source of inspiration and seek elsewhere for ideas does a
kind of violence to our mind by laying on it a double, needless
labour, and making it well nigh impossible to do either in a
proper manner. Again, by so doing we lower the dignity of
the Office and misunderstand its aim. For the Church has
only given us this book for some wise purpose ; and what
end can she have in putting her words on our lips except to
put her thoughts into our mind and her feelings into our
hearts ? " [2]

The example of the saints is clear upon this point ; they do
not seem to understand any meaning between strict mental
application to the words and distraction. St. Bernard tells
his monks : " During the psalmody think of nothing else
but what the psalmody suggests " [3]. St. Bonaventure says :

[l] Matth. xxiv. 15. [2] Bacquez, pp. 206-207.

[3] Migne, P. L., vol. clxxxiii. p. ion.

68 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

"As far as possible say no word without attention and under-
standing it" [i]. St. Theresa, always so practical and full of
common-sense, gives the same advice : " When I say /
believe, it is proper, methinks, that I should understand what
I believe ; and when I say Our Father, love requires I should
understand who this Our Father is " [2].

Now attention may be verbal or mental : that is, directed
to the words we pronounce or to the thoughts they express.
On the point of verbal exactitude, then, let us hear the author
of the Myroure : " And as it is so great peril to leave aught
of this holy Service, as is before said, therefore all that are
bound thereto ought not only to ascertain their heart to
have their mind thereon, but also to use their tongue to
say it, suitably and distinctly, without failing or over-skipping
of word or syllable. For like as a good harper smiteth all
the strings on his harp each in his own kind, and if he
smote the first and the last, or if he smote recklessly over
all at once, he should make no good melody, right so God's
service is likened to the song of a harp as the prophet
saith : Psallite Domino in cithara — that is, Sing to God on
the harp [3]. And therefore in this harp of our Lord's
service ye ought to smite all the strings, that is to say, all the
words and syllables, each in his kind and in his place, and not
hurry them out together as though you would say them all
at once. For the praising of God in His Church ought to
accord to His praising in heaven, whereof St. John in the
Apocalypse after he had heard it, he said thus : Et vocem quam
audivi sicut citharcedorum citharizantium in citharis suis — that
is, The voice that I heard in heaven was (as) the voice of
harpers harping on their harps [4]. Therefore, when Aaron
by our Lord's commandment offered a calf upon the altar,
he cut it up into pieces and then offered it up with the head
and with each member thereof. By this calf is understood
the source of our Lord's praising which is more acceptable
to Him than the offering of any calf, as the prophet saith :
Laudabo nomen Dei cum cantico et magniftcabo Eum in laude.

[i] Reg. Novit. [3] ps. xcvii. 5.

[2] Way of Perfection (ed. 1852), p. 118. [4] Apoc. xiv. 2.

ON ATTENTION 69

Et placebit Deo super vitulum novellum ; that is, I will praise
the name of God with song, and I will make much of Him
in praising ; and it will please God more than the offering
of any young calf[i]. But when this calf of our Lord's
praising is offered it must be cut into pieces ; for all the words
and syllables ought to be said distinctly from the beginning
unto the end in each member and in each part thereof. For
like as clippers or falsifiers of the king's money are punished
by death, even so they that clip away from the money of God's
service any word or letters or syllables, and so falsify it from
the true sentence, or from the true manner of saying thereof,
deserve to be grievously punished against God.

"And therefore the fiend sendeth readily his messengers
to gather all such negligences together and to keep them in
accusation of the soul, as we read of a holy abbat of the order
of the Cistercians, the while he stood in the choir at matins
he saw a fiend that had a long and a great bag hanging about
his neck, and [who] went about the choir from one to another,
and waited busily after all letters and syllables and words and
failings that any made, and them he gathered diligently and
put them into his bag. And when he came before the abbat,
waiting if aught had escaped him, that he might have gotten
and put into his bag, the abbat was astonished and afeard
of the foulness and misshape of him, and said unto him :
' What art thou ? ' and he answered and said : ' I am a poor
devil and my name is Titivillus and I do mine office that is
committed unto me.' ' And what is thine office ? ' said the
abbat ; he answered, ' I must each day,' he said, ' bring my
master a thousand bags full of failings, and of negligences in
syllables and words that are done in your order in reading and
singing, or else I must be sore beaten ' " [2].

This quaint story of the " poor devil Titivillus " at any rate
will serve to remind us that, if at the Last Day we shall have
to give an account of every idle word we have said, we
surely shall have to account for, as worse than idle words,
all careless recitation of the Office. We must be on our
guard against " clipping the money of God's service." This,

[l] Ps. Ixviii, 35. [2] Myroure, pp. 52-54.

7o THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

again, need not generate scruples. All that is required is that
we should give to the verbal recitation that ordinary amount
of care and exactness we use in any important matter of our
daily life. St. Francis of Assisi used to punish himself very
rigorously for the least voluntary distractions ; and St. Joseph
of Cupertino, whenever he found himself drifting into careless-
ness, repeated the verse. These were not cases of scruple ;
but of a stern purpose which aimed at bringing the mind into
obedience according to the words of the Apostle : Bringing into
captivity every understanding unto the obedience of Christ [i].

It is useful to recognise the cause of our faults from the
beginning ; the remedy then is easy. Now the faults that
beset us come chiefly from a desire to hurry over the Office.
" Dissipation of mind, routine, the desire for liberty, preoccu-
pation, and above all that restless activity which hinders us
from fixing our thoughts upon anything whatever and makes
us always long after some new object, all these go to make
the ' Office ' time inconvenient and to shorten it. To recite
the Office with suitable gravity and attention we must love
it and know its attractions ; and to love and relish it we must
have the spirit of prayer, of self -recollection and fervour. Any-
thing which tends to weaken this spirit tends also to lessen
our love for the Office and makes us hurry over it. ...
There is no fault more common and none more fatal, nor in
its effects more difficult to cure than hurry. ' Haste is the
destroyer of devotion ' says St. Francis de Sales. If we allow
ourselves to get into the habit, the interior spirit, which is the
source of all merit, becomes dried up ; and instead of the
highest use of our intellect, there is only a lip-worship, and
holy thoughts and noble feelings are replaced by a blind and
mechanical repetition. Once a slave to this habit, it is vain
to multiply words of prayer. . . . The words that rise to
our lips mean nothing to our heart and leave no impression
on our soul. They are nothing but a useless set of words
like those for which our Lord blamed the heathen : When ye
pray, speak not much as do the heathen, for they think in their
much speaking they may be heard [2]. . . . To reduce the

[i] 2 Cor. x. 5. [2] St. Matth. vi. 7.

ON ATTENTION 71

highest function to a purely mechanical exercise, to turn to
harm what was meant to preserve and develop both prayer
and piety, cannot be indifferent and without reproach in God's
eyes. Let the awful imprecation of God warn us : Let his
prayer become sin ; and let us heed the woeful punishment
foretold by the psalmist : Let the labour of their own lips cover
them, let burning coals fall upon them " [i].

If the cause of hurry is the whirl of many kinds of occupa-
tions which nowadays is heaped up upon us (as though our
salvation depended upon the amount we do, and not how we
do it !) the remedy is very easy. The Office is of obligation,
private prayers and special devotions are not. Rather than
say the Office badly, for hurried saying is bad saying, omit or
shorten every other private devotion and give the time thus
gained to the Office. It is most important that we should
realise that the devout saying of the public prayer is much
more useful to the Church than all the rosaries, medi-
tations, litanies, and novenas of private devotions. St.
Bonaventure tells us it is an illusion to think that we can
compensate by our private devotions for voluntary defects in
the prayer the Church imposes on us. If we say our Office
properly we have mental prayer in a most perfect form and
a vocal prayer we can apply to every intention.

But looking at the question from the point of time, what
is gained by a haste so unbecoming ? " Some short moments
in an hour ; ten minutes at most on the day's Office. Does
it compensate — I do not say for the fault we commit, for the
merit of which we deprive ourself, for the scandal we cause,
or for the punishment we incur — but for the happiness we can
feel in so sweet and consoling an exercise ? Is it reasonable
for so small a gain to dry up in our heart the fountain head
of grace and make the most precious hour of the day un-
fruitful, wearisome and painful ? " [2]

The example of the saints is to the point. St. Alphonsus
made a special vow never to lose time ; yet he never hurried
over his Office. He carried out what he recommended to
others, viz., to say it with calmness, attention, and respect.

[i] Ps. cviii. 7 ; cxxxix. 10 ; Bacquez, 230. [2] Bacquez, p. 234.

72 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

St. Francis Xavier, too, although a whole world lay before
him to convert, never hurried over the Office ; he even added
special prayers to obtain the grace to say it well.

The Office should not be made a burthen. I do not
advocate the slow and measured recitation used by some of
the contemplative orders. This would not sort well with the
active life. The recitation should be grave, and so justly
measured, that the sense of the verse and the meaning of
the words can have a chance to penetrate our heart. When
the Office is made, as St. Benedict calls it, "the Work of
God," and nothing is preferred before it, then the times of
Choir are the happiest hours in the day. They are all too
short for the sweetness we can gain in the sacred psalmody.
And shall we sacrifice this by wasting our time upon other
works which are not so necessary or profitable ?

One remedy against hurrying is that followed by such
great saints of God, and such busy men, as St. Charles
Borromeo, St. Philip Neri, and St. Vincent de Paul. They
never said any part of the Office by heart, but read line by
line even the psalms and prayers they knew best. This prac-
tice, although it may not suit all persons, is useful to those who
are overburthened with exterior work ; " For by this means
the words, striking the eye and the ear at the same time, are
less exposed to pass unperceived, and the care taken to
discover the word we pronounce is one more safeguard
against the tendency to routine " [ij.

But attention is not confined to mere verbal accuracy.
Words are only the outward clothing of the thought. A
machine, such as the phonograph, can produce the mechani-
cal effect of words, but it cannot think. We are not machines ;
our mind has to go with our voice. St. Benedict says : " Let
the mind concord with the voice " [2] ; and the Psalmist
adds : To Thee hath my heart said [3]. Our heart must speak
to God if we would be heard. Therefore let the Psalmist
lead you : " If he pray, pray with him, if he sigh, sigh ye
also ; and if he rejoice, joy ye too ; should he express hope,
fill your heart with trust ; or if fear pervades him, tremble.

[i] Bacquez, p. 239. [2] Migne, P. L., vol. Ixvi. p. 476.

[3] Ps. xxvi. 8.

ON ATTENTION 73

For all things what are written here are as a miroir for us "
[i]. Thus says St. Augustine : —

"Let it not be objected that the words of the Office are
not our own, that the Psalms were not composed for us,
that they suppose thoughts, circumstances, and dispositions
that are not ours. For the Office has been compiled for us.
The Psalms (we repeat it again) have Jesus, the Incarnate
God, not David, as their first and principal object. What
they express is not the mind of any one man in particular,
but the mind of all Christians considered in Him Who is
their divine Head. The feelings contained in the Psalms are
those which were wrought first in the soul of our Lord by
the Holy Ghost, and then through Him in all those who are
members of His Mystical Body. Therefore they are ours as
well as David's, or any of the saints. So it was for us the
Psalms were written. The Holy Ghost had us in view when
He inspired them. He speaks of our perils, of our warfare ;
He mourns over our sins ; and in true and touching words,
He speaks of our repentance, our hope, our zeal, our gratitude
and our love. For, according to St. Paul : All things arc
yours; but ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's" [2] [3],

[i] Migne, P. L., vol. xxxvi. p. 248. [2] I Cor. iii. 22.

[3] Bacquez, pp. 209-210.

74

CHAPTER V.
ON SOME AIDS TO "ATTENTION.

No matter how careful we may be at the beginning of the
Office to fix our attention and secure our wandering thoughts,
we soon find, in spite of all precautions, that we become
distracted and our fervour dwindles away. Holy Church, as
far as she could, has tried to remedy this by weaving her
Office out of Psalm, Antiphon, Hymn, Versicle, Lessons, and
Prayers, in order to give variety. She, moreover, orders that
at one time we should sit, at another, stand, or kneel, or bow,
or cross ourselves. This variety of posture is one of the
practical advantages that saying Office in Choir has above
private recitation. But as these means fail when we say our
Office by ourselves, we want others to help the infirmity of
our minds.

A great means, and I am speaking now of private recita-
tion, is to be careful of the place in which we say the prayer.
There is no place where God cannot be found ; but there are
places where He is to be found more easily. The Lord is in
His holy Temple : The Lord's throne is in heaven [i]. But we
have already spoken of this in a preceding chapter.

Wherever we say our Office there is one thing we can always
control — unless sickness or something exceptional makes it
impossible — and that is our attitude. But there are few things
about which we feel less scruple or so easily listen to excuses.
And how glibly we quote to ourselves St. Theresa's saying
that one of the conditions favourable to a good prayer is a
comfortable position 1 Now, what the saint means is that a
physically uncomfortable position will naturally direct our

[i] Ps. x. 5.

ON SOME AIDS TO ATTENTION 75

mind to the pain we feel [i] ; and, therefore, a position free
from these inconveniences should be secured before beginning
to pray. She did not mean that sofas or armchairs are the
best places for prayer, unless it is God's will we should occupy
them.

Sancta sancte : Holy things should be done in a holy
manner. Our body, as well as our soul, has to give its
meed of service to God. Our Divine Master gives us the
example of a reverent posture in prayer. The Evangelists
tell us : He raised His eyes to heaven [2] ; He prostrated on the
ground [3] ; And kneeling down He prayed [4]. And such of His
servants as St. Vincent Ferrier, St. Charles, St. Vincent de
Paul, St. Francis de Sales, the Venerable Cure d'Ars, said their
Office on their knees. St. Paul of the Cross always said his
Office bare-headed ; and one of the successors of St. Francis
de Sales, Mgr. de Bernex, used, at the end of his prayer,
to prostrate himself and kiss the ground out of piety and
humility. M. Bacquez states that the late Pope, Pius IX.,
used to say all the Divine Office kneeling without any support.

But if we are not able to kneel for any length of time, and
have to change our position, we can always adopt one that is
reverent and recalls to our mind that we are speaking with
God. To get this, the real truth about the Office, well into
our mind, is a sure means of securing reverence, no matter
what position we are obliged to take up ; for where the heart
is regulated there the body will correspond.

As to the proper time for prayer, God is always ready
to hear us. However, as the Church has fixed seven hours
for prayers, the Office, as far as possible, should be said either
at these hours, or as near to them as possible. Happy he
who can (and how few there are who cannot if they would !)
snatch a few minutes every three hours to take part in the
prayer fixed for that hour. Custom has, however, sanctioned
a division into three parts. The three parts are — Matins

[i] The unwise, I would almost say wicked, practice of giving as a penance
certain prayers to be said kneeling on the hands, or in some other hard position, can
only be tolerated by those who do not know what prayer is. Under such circum-
stances it is impossible to pray well, and what is said degenerates into a superstitious
gabble.

[2] John xvii. I. [3] Mark xiv. 35. [4] Luke xxii. 41.

76 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

and Lauds said over night, the Little Hours in the morning,
and Vespers and Compline in the evening or afternoon. The
objection to this is, that it makes a night prayer of Lauds,
and thus loses sight of the fact that it is the original morning
prayer of the Church. We would therefore suggest — as a
better division — Matins over night, Lauds, Prime, Terce, and
Sext in the morning ; Nones, Vespers and Compline in the
evening. Compline might be said before Matins, with only a
short interval for mental prayer.

But when we foresee a day before us fuller of engagements
and occupations than usual, it will always be well to get all
our Office said at once in the early morning so as to secure
" that nothing be preferred to the work of God." The Office
must be our first care. An old writer says : " To pray before
the time is providence ; at the fixed time obedience ; but to post-
pone it is negligence."

" Is it useful to have a companion and say the Office aloud
and alternately ? " asks M. Bacquez. And he thus replies :
" It is good sometimes, to use this method, in order to prevent
the bad effects of habit and to stir up our fervour. If true
piety is present, each one is excited and edified like the
seraphim of whom Isaias speaks. The more they conform to
the usages of the Choir, the less difficulty also will they have
in entering into the spirit of the Office" [i].

Another useful way of guarding our attention is to mark in
our books some fixed places, such as certain verses or words.
These will serve as signals to recall our soul if wandering.
For instance at the Gloria Patri, St. Mary Magdalene of
Pazzi told one of her sisters that she had been taught by her
confessor to make offering 'of her life to the Holy Trinity
whenever she bowed her head at these words : " As though I
were presenting my head to the executioner to undergo
martyrdom." The blessed Jordan, the second general of the
Dominicans, used at these words to implore in a special
manner the blessing of the Most Holy Trinity. Once at
Matins, when the Invitatory was being sung he saw our ever-
dear and blessed Lady coming down from heaven and bearing

[i] Op. at., p. 225.

ON SOME AIDS TO ATTENTION 77

in her arms her Son. A throne was set up for them by the
Angels. During the Venite, our Lord and His blissful Mother
regarded the friars with great benignity, and whilst they were
bowing at the words Gloria Patri the holy man saw God's
Mother take the tiny hand of her Son and make the sign of
the cross over the brethren.

The word Oremus is a direct invitation to recollection ;
the Per Dominum nostrum, with which so many prayers end,
recall our union with Jesus Christ; the Amen, a word so
often used, and its meaning so little realised ; these and others,
at choice, are some of the obvious places at which we can
regain our attention. Then some verse or some particular
word sheds one day a special light into our soul. This should
be marked to recall the light we have had. Two of those great
spiritual writers in which the French Church has been so
prolific, Cardinal Berulle and Pere de Condren, tell us that
when saying the Office alone we are to remember that we do
not interrupt or distract ourself if we pause at some particular
passage which there and then affects us. We rather are obey-
ing Holy Writ, which tells us to meditate day and night upon
the Word of God and to find in it all the light we require.
The Holy Ghost has a message to give us, and we must listen
to it. How can we listen to His voice if we are always
speaking ?

CHAPTER VI.

ON DISTRACTIONS.

DISTRACTIONS are the bane of prayer. Timid, scrupulous
souls often find them the destruction of all sweetness and
peace. In their case distractions change the light and sweet
burthen of the Office, into a daily weight and a painful yoke.
Now as a matter of fact, common sense tells us that this is
unreasonable. We must look at facts as they are, not as we
should like them to be. We often lose sight of this important
truth : God has not made us angels but human beings, with
all the weaknesses, not only of our nature, but of our fallen
nature, which is prone to evil from our childhood, often seeing
the good, yet not doing it, as St. Paul says [i]. The work
of sanctification consists in aiming at being good men and
women, not at making ourselves an indifferent sort of angels !
Sanctification is to put on the Lord Jesus [2] ; to form His
image in our heart [3]. We must not strive after a perfection
which, in God's providence, is not destined for men and
women. We must not try to root out the nature which God
has given us. The whole work consists in raising ourself up
to the standard towards which He leads us. The work is not
one so much of repression as of education, that is, of bringing
out the details of the image of God given to us in Baptism, or,
in other words, of developing our good qualities. This will do
away with bad qualities. A gardener who sets his heart upon a
bed full of choice flowers, is, of course, careful to keep down
weeds and noxious insects. But his endeavour is not so much
to destroy these as to cultivate the other. So it is in the
spiritual life. The positive view, that is, the cultivation of

[i] Cf. Romans vii. 19. [2] Ibid. xiii. 14. [3] Cf. ibid. viii. 29.

ON DISTRACTIONS 79

virtue, is the point ; the negative aspect, the repression of
vice, is a secondary result which follows naturally from the
first. Any other view sets all spirituality topsy-turvy ; and
is, as far as we are concerned, unreasonable and doomed to
end in failure. Now, to continue the simile. The gardener
who spends his time and labour in producing rare, choice
flowers, may see that in spite of all his care weeds make
their appearance along with the flowers. As a matter of
fact, he never can get rid of them entirely; the very richness
of the soil he cultivates with so much care conduces to their
growth. But he knows that even weeds have a use of their
own. Nature never works without reason. So, although he
is careful to prevent them from draining and impoverishing
the soil, yet their presence, if kept in check, does not alarm
him ; for, when killed, they add to the richness of the ground.

Now what has all this to do with distractions ? A good
deal ; for in the garden we have a picture of our soul. The
flower of prayer is what we are trying to cultivate ; distrac-
tions are the weeds. The sensible plan is to follow the
example of the gardener who, while keeping them under
check, realises that they are not without their use.

What does distraction mean ? It is " a drawing away "
of the mind from the object upon which our attention is
fixed. Whence come distractions ? Principally from the
very weakness of our human nature, which God made and
which He knows is weak. We are so constituted that appli-
cation, steady and prolonged, is both hard and painful to us.
We need frequent change. This, by the way, is a proof
that no created thing can satisfy us. How many of us can
for five minutes concentrate attention upon any one subject,
and not find our mind working out sideways and, perhaps
half unconsciously, following other trains of thought beside
the one we desire ? The work of attention, we make bold
to say, can never be perfect in this life ; for while, say, our
eyes are fixed upon a book, our other senses, which like the
eyes are avenues to the soul, are open and receptive of out-
side influence. Even if we do succeed in a measure (and it
can only be attained by dint of stern will and downright
hard, persevering work) in obtaining concentration of the

8o THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

mind for some time, fatigue and weariness follow. This
shows that perfect attention (the absence of distraction) is
something beyond our present human nature, which revolts,
according to its own laws, against being driven to attempt
what is above its ordinary power.

Hence, in prayer, there are distractions which are purely
natural, and it is vain to hope to be ever free from them. It
is not God's will that we should be free. But if these dis-
tractions, which come to us without any fault on our part, are
deliberately entertained, that is to say, if we follow them with
our mind wide awake, realising, then and there, the fact that we
are not attending to our prayers, then, and only then, do they
become harmful to our souls. They must be entertained
deliberately before they become sinful. And the sinfulness
consists in this : when we are distracted wilfully (and every
reasonable person can know whether distractions are wilful or
not) we are mocking God by giving Him only a lip-worship,
while our heart is far away from Him. This is a pretence
and dishonours His attribute of Truth. We pretend to pray
and are not praying.

From what has been said it will be seen that wilful distrac-
tion is a deliberate undoing of the attitude of the mind towards
God in prayer. Prayer is the lifting up of our heart and mind
to God ; Distraction is the drawing away of our heart and
mind from God. The sinfulness, we must notice, consists in
the wilfulness which consents to the distraction, not in the
weakness of our nature which causes it. Going back, for a
moment, to what we have said about Prayer itself, it is
an attitude towards God, a basking in the sunshine of His
presence. Therefore, as long as we do not wilfully withdraw
ourselves from His presence, or from His sunshine, we remain
in a state of prayer. The easiest cure for distractions, when
we realise them, is to renew our act of Faith in God's
presence. So, then, common sense teaches us the following
conclusions about distractions : —

(1) We must do our best to avoid the occasions of dis-
tractions. In the preceding chapters we have certain means
suggested for this end.

(2) We must have more confidence, and take a larger view

ON DISTRACTIONS 81

of the subject. God is a loving Father ; He is not a task-master,
always on the look-out and laying traps to catch us tripping.
Let our heart be guided by reason, and we shall know that
there is little chance of us offending God by real distractions.
For why do we pray ? What is our very object in saying the
Office ? To please Him. We do not wish to displease Him.
Therefore distractions that occur, and which are not wilfully
entertained, do not displease Him, and do not rob our prayer
of its value in His sight. M. Bacquez says : " It depends
entirely upon ourself to avoid them ; if our will falters, our
conscience will warn us. There is no reason for being
uneasy about distractions which are not voluntary. He who
lives a pious life and adopts the ordinary precautions, may
live in peace ; and whilst deploring the instability of his
mind, and seeking perfect recollection [as far as he can],
he should see in the wandering of his mind only a natural
defect, or the result of the occupations which are lawful to
his state of life " [i].

(3) There are some who fancy there must be in themselves
some fault to cause the multitude of distractions which
torment them so persistently. But this is an error, as we have
pointed out above. Common sense and experience tells us
this. St. Teresa wrote to her director that she was as much
distracted as he was doing the Office, but she tried to think it
came from the weakness of her head. And she added this
comfortable thought, that Our Lord knows that when we
perform this duty we wish to do it with all possible attention.
When one comes to look at it, there is nothing surprising in
distractions during prayer. What is really surprising is, that,
being what we are, we can ever attain to recollection for even
a few moments.

(4) " It is true that exercise of mind increases its in-
stability, and that many of our distractions are concerned
about our ordinary occupations, and may therefore seem to
be occasioned by them. Doubtless they are ; but does it
follow that we are responsible for them, or that they can be
imputed to us as a fault? By no means [2]. These volun-

[i] P. 571- [2] Bacquez, p. 573.

82 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

tary occupations which cause the distractions are either law-
ful or unlawful ; and we are only bound to put away those
occupations which are unlawful. The question of distractions
is not bound up, then, with the lawfulness or unlawfulness
of the occupation, but of the consent we give to the distrac-
tion. We cannot expect one who, by following God's will, is
immersed in the cares of life and in the petty details of every-
day administration, to come to the Office with the recollection
of a Carthusian or a Trappist. But because we cannot attain
to their recollection, there is no reason why we should
abandon the work God has given us. To give way to such
ideas is to go against His will, by aiming at a perfection which
is not meant for us. Take to heart these golden words of St.
Thomas : ' He can be said to pray in spirit, and in truth, who
approaches prayer at the inspiration of the Holy Ghost ; even
if, on account of some infirmity, the mind afterwards wanders.
. A wandering mind which is not voluntary does not
take away the fruit of prayer," [i].

(5) To fear whether distractions are voluntary or not, is
altogether foolish. Reason is given us as a guide. If we
ask simply, it will tell us plainly whether we have given con-
sent or no. It is a question of plain, common fact, and admits
of a plain, common answer. From this we can draw an
important rule of conduct.

We must never repeat any part of our Office on account
of these unreasonable fears. Unless we know for certain that
we have failed there is no failure on our part, and therefore
there is no necessity for repeating anything. Conscience is
the heaven-appointed director for all practical questions. St.
Francis de Sales is, as usual, matter-of-fact. Suppose, says
he, that at the end of the psalm you are not quite sure
whether, on account of distraction, you have said it or not ;
well now, don't trouble yourself about it. Because a distrac-
tion has lasted for a long time we must not always conclude
that it is the result of our own negligence. Such a state of
things might last all through the Office without any fault on
our part [2]. The Church does not require us to repeat

[i] Migne, P. L., vol. ii. p. 637. [2] Cf., Entretien, 18.

ON DISTRACTIONS 83

what we fear may not have been said as might be. Prudence
forbids such a repetition. It is a bad habit to repeat the
Office ; and those who give way to this failing will soon find
it impossible to say it with satisfaction. Thus what ought to
be a comfort becomes only a subject of trouble and disgust.

(6) We said that weeds are not without their use, and that
a wise gardener can get profit even from them. So it is with
distractions. If we use them properly, they will do us two
good turns. Firstly, they will make us humble and force us
to recognise that the Gift of Prayer is a great grace, and that
we must guard it carefully. Secondly, by resisting these
distractions, when we become fully aware of them, they turn
to so much occasions of merit.

(7) The great ornament of the French Church in the
sixteenth Century, Bossuet, the Eagle of Meaux, writes : " It
is not necessary to bind our mind to the Breviary or to give
more attention to it than to Masses of obligation. We should
not hurry ; but putting away all scruples, set to work fairly,
cheerfully and simply as in other prayers" [i].

(8) As to the preparation and dispositions for saying Office
given in this and other books, we must be careful to distinguish
between counsel and command. We can approve of what
is good without being obliged to follow it. " We should
aspire to perfection ; but we must not feel disquieted if we
find ourselves still far from reaching it "[2]. After all, per-
fection is a relative term, and though star differs from star
in glory, yet each is perfect in its own way. Then, as a matter
of fact, we shall never reach even our own degree of perfection
except through the gates of Purgatory.

(9) And lastly. The Office being an institution of the
Church, we are always certain to fulfil our obligation properly
when we set about it in the way She approves. The example,
I do not say of the saints, but of our fellow-men whom we
recognise to be in earnest in serving God, and who try to find
their delight in prayer, will be sufficient for us to imitate,
without worrying ourselves any more. Conscience will soon
tell us whether we are fulfilling our duty in a reasonable
manner ; and by Conscience we stand or fall in God's sight.

[l] Lettres de Piete et de Direction, N. 148. [2] Bacquez, p. 576.

PART III.—EXEGETICAL.

CHAPTER I.

PREPARATORY PRAYER.

A Prayer to be said for the Office.

Aperi, Ddmine, os meum ad
benedic£ndum nomen sanctum
ttium : munda quoque cor
meum ab dmnibus vanis, per-
versis, et alitnis cogitatidni-
bus : intellectum illiimina,
affectum infldmma : ut dignc,
attente ac devdte hoc Officium
recitdre vdleam, et exaudiri,
mtrear ante conspectum di-
vincB majestdtis tuce. Per
Christum Ddminum nostrum.
~R}. Amen.

Ddmine, in unidne illtus di-
vtnce intentidnis, qua Ipse in
terris laudes Deo persolvfsti,
has Tibi Horas persdlvo.

Open, 0 Lord, my mouth
that I may bless Thy Holy
Name : cleanse my heart from
all vain, perverse, and hurtful
thoughts : enlighten mine
understanding, kindle mine
affections, that I may say
this Office worthily, attentively,
and devoutly, and merit to be
heard before the Presence of
Thy Divine Majesty. Through
the Christ our Lord. B?.
Amen.

Lord, in union with that
Divine Intention wherewith
Thou Thyself, whilst on earth,
didst pay praises to God, I pay
these Hours to Thee.

(1) This prayer is not of obligation ; but it is useful for
it reminds us of the dispositions we should have in our hearts
when saying Office.

(2) Open, 0 Lord, my mouth. — We cannot do anything
towards our salvation without the help of God. We cannot
even pray to any purpose without His Grace. We are

PREPARATORY PRAYER 85

before Him as the dumb child in the Gospel [i], or as
Jeremias when the word of the Lord came to him. A, A, A,
Lord God ! behold I cannot speak ; for I am a child [2]. He
opens our mouth by giving us grace to praise Him as He
desires. Our mouth is the instrument wherewith the Divine
Head of the Church worships the Father in our name ;
according to the word of Isaias : / have put My words in thy
mouth and I have covered thee in the shadow of My hands [3].

(3) Cleanse my heart. — For out of the heart, our Lord tells
us, proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts,
false witness, blasphemies [4]. Having, then, been the seat of
all iniquities it must be cleansed by contrition, before being
filled with the feelings and intentions of our Lord.

(4) From vain, perverse, and hurtful thoughts. — These are the
three kinds of thoughts that spoil prayer. Vain thoughts, as
the word implies, mean empty thoughts. At all times, but
specially in prayer, our heart ought to be filled with thoughts
of God. Perverse thoughts are those which are "turned away"
from their proper object. Hurtful thoughts are such as are
unfitting to the time, place and object of our prayer.

(5) Enlighten mine understanding. — Four of the gifts of
the Holy Ghost, to wit : Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel,
Knowledge, are given us for the perfection of our intellect by
knowing the things of God. They shed upon the soul a
light which sin, if mortal, quenches, or if venial, dims. This
is a prayer for a good use of these four gifts which are always
in our soul when we are in a state of grace.

(6) Kindle mine affection. — That is, stir up my cold heart
to will the things which my Reason, enlightened by the Four
Gifts, tells me are right and fitting. To move the will is a
special work of the Holy Ghost, who gives us another Three
Gifts for the very purpose, viz., Fortitude, Piety, and the
Fear of the Lord. The word " kindle " suggests the idea of
a fire. It is the same thought that we have in the hymn Veni
sancte spiritus, " Warm with Thy fire our hearts of snow."

[i] St. Mark ix. 7. [3] Ibid. li. 16

[2] Jer. i. 6. [4] Matt. xv. 19.

86 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

The love of God, which is the perfect operation of our will,
is a fire that burns out all sin. We cannot have to do with
God without becoming better or worse ; more on fire with
His love, or colder : For He is like a refiner's fire [i].
" Death to the wicked, Life to the good," as St. Thomas sings
in the Lauda Sion. So we pray that our heart may burn
within us, and that our will may be powerfully moved by
the Three Gifts of the Holy Ghost.

(7) That I may say this Office. — Let these words remind us
that we have to put on the Lord Jesus Christ [2] when we
begin to praise God in our Office, for all the merit and power
of the Church's Prayer comes from the fact that it is said in
union with the Incarnate Word.

(8) Worthily, attentively, and devoutly. — The three condi-
tions of public prayer are : That we should be worthy to appear
as representatives of the Church, that is, free from sin ; that we
should attend to the nature of our prayers ; and that we should
be devout, that is, acting in accordance with the will of Him
Who uses us.

(9) That I may merit to be heard. — Speaking in the name
of Jesus and in His very Person, we merit to be heard as He
was for His reverence [3] .

(10) Through the Christ. — The definite article has been in-
serted here to call attention to a point which is often over-
looked. Christ is an adjective, and not a noun or proper
name. It is one of the titles of our Lord and means "the
Anointed." Through the Anointed One our Lord. We get the
idea of the anointing of our Lord from the unction of the
Holy Ghost, which filled the Sacred Humanity, and made Jesus
the Priest, the King, and the Prophet of God's people. There
is a reference to this in one of the Psalms of the Little Office.
Therefore God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of glad-
ness [4] ; and in the prophecy of Isaias : The Spirit of the Lord
is upon Me ,' wherefore the Lord hath anointed Me to preach the
gospel unto the meek [5]. This thought, then, that Christ is an
adjective, reminds us of our Lord's Office of Priest, King, and
Prophet, by which He fulfils His mediatorship.

[i] Mai. iii. 2. [4] Ps. xliv. 9.

[2] Rom. xiii. 14. [5] Isaias Ixi. I.

[3] Heb. v. 7.

PREPARATORY PRAYER 87

(n) Lord in union with that Divine Intention, &c. — All
sanctity consists in having our will in union with that of
our Lord. This prayer brings us at once into harmony with
Him. As He deigns to use us, we are bound to enter
intelligently into His designs : otherwise, we are not giving
the reasonable service [i] He requires. His intention on earth
was to do His Father's Will, and to worship Him with
Adoration, Thanksgiving, Reparation and Entreaty. We
must share in these ends to do His work. Mark the words
didst pay praises. Jesus paid, on behalf of all Creation, the
debt of worship to His Eternal Father.

(12) / pay these Hours to Thee. — The Office is a debt we
owe to God and man. Like St. Paul we must say : I am a
debtor to the Greek and barbarians, to the wise and the foolish [2];
that is, as vowed to Christ, and set by His Church to offer up
her Prayer ; we have to pray in the name of all men, therefore
we are debtors to those who do not pray for themselves or
who know not how to pray. We come before the Throne
of Grace as representatives of all Humanity and we discharge
our debt by the Office.

[i] Rom. xii. i. [2] Rom. i. 14.

88

CHAPTER II.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG.

MATINS, the night Office of the Church, is originally of
monastic institution, and was a private devotion in preparation
for the early morning Office of Lauds. During this solemn
hour we may think of some of the events connected with this
time. The Annunciation, the Birth of our Lord ; His Own
frequent prayers on the hill-tops of Judea ; St. Peter's denial
and repentance ; our Lord in the tomb ; the desolation of
our Lady ; the coming to judgment like a thief in the night
[i] ; the cry at midnight : Lo, the Bridegroom cometh [2], and
other such thoughts.

Ave Maria, grdtia plena, Hail Mary, full of grace,

Ddminus tecum : benedicta tu the Lord is with thee. Blessed
in milieribus, et benedictus art thou amongst women, and
fructus ventris tui, Jesus. blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Sancta Matia, Mater Dei, ora Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of
pro nobis peccattiribus nunc et God, pray for us sinnets now
in hora mortis nostrce. Amen. and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

(i) After having united ourself to our Lord's intention,
the Church sets before us, as the most perfect model of the
union which can exist between the Creator and the Creature,
Mary, the Mother of God made man. The Church seems to
say to us, with St. Ambrose [3]: " May there be in every one
the spirit of Mary, that he may magnify the Lord." And what
this spirit was the Gospel tells us in these words : But His
Mother kept all these words in her heart [4].

[i] i Thess. v. 2. [3] Migne, P. L. vol. xv., p. 156.

[2] Matt. xxv. 6. [4] Luke ii. 51.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 89

(2) Hail Mary. — The pious author of the Myrourc thus dis-
courses on the Hail Mary : " The salutation is taken from the
gospel of the greeting of the angel Gabriel and of Elizabeth ;
and it was the beginning of our health. And therefore this
word Ave spelt backwards is Eva ; for like as Eve's talking
with the fiend was the beginning of perdition, so our Lady's
talking with the angel, when he greeted her with this Ave,
was the entrance of our redemption. And so Eva is turned
Ave ; for our sorrow is turned into joy by means of our Lady.
For Eva is as much [as] to say as ' Woe ' ; and Ave is as
much [as] to say as ' Joy,' or without woe. Therefore meekly
and reverently thanking this glorious Queen of Heaven and
Mother of our Saviour for our deliverance, say we devoutly
to her : Ave Maria, Hail Mary. Mary is as much as to
say ' Star of the Sea/ or ' enlightened,' or ' Lady.' For all
that are here in the sea of bitterness by penance for their
sins, she leadeth to the haven of health. Them that are
rightful she enlighteneth by [the] increasing of grace. And
she showeth herself ' Lady ' and Empress of power above all
evil spirits in helping us against them both in our life and
in our death. Therefore we ought often and in all our
needs call busily upon this reverend name, Mary" [i].

(3) Full of Grace. — " Divers saints had divers gifts of grace,
but never creature had the fulness of all graces but our Lady
alone. For she was filled in body and in soul with the Lord
and Giver of all graces." [2] From the first moment of her
being she was prevented and so girt about with grace that
original sin could find no place. The Lord possessed me from
the beginning of His ways [3]. The garden enclosed, the spring
shut up, the fountain sealed, that Solomon sings of, and likens
his beloved to [4], are types of our Lady's soul ; and the
grace within her was ever welling up in its fulness. The
Psalmist refers to her in these words : In the Sun He hath set
His tabernacle [5] ; for more glorious than many suns, was the
soul of her who for nine months was the living tabernacle
of God, and was adorned with the fulness of grace which was
possible to any creature.

[i] Pp. 77, 78- [4] Cant. iv. 12.

[2] Myroure, p. 79. [5] Ps. rix. 4.

[3] Prov. viii. 22.

90 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

(4) The Lord is with thee. — " For with her He was in her
heart by excellence of grace, and in her reverend womb [by]
taking there a body of our kind" [i]. These words were
also used by the angel who appeared to Gideon when he
was threshing wheat by the vine-press to hide it from the
Midianites : The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour
[2]. They were also the greeting which Boaz gave to his
reapers: The Lord \be~\ with you [3] ; and they are enshrined
in the Mass and Office in the oft-repeated words Do minus
vobiscum.

(5) Blessed [art] thou amongst women. — " For by thee both
men and women are restored to bliss everlasting" [4]. Other
women in Scripture have had these words applied to them :
Blessed above women shall Jael be [5], sings the inspired
prophetess, Debora, of Heber's wife, who with her hammer
smote Sisera, the foe of Israel [6] ; and Ozias, the high priest,
in like manner addresseth Judith after her triumph over
Holophernes : Oh, daughter, blessed art thou of the most high
God above all the women upon the earth [7] . These were
types of our Lady. The words were said to Blessed Mary
first by the angel at the Annunciation [8], and were repeated
at the Visitation by St. Elizabeth, filled with the Holy
Ghost [9], showing us that her blessedness is far above that
of other women who were declared so only by their fellow-
men. Our Lady receives the testimony not only of man, but
of an angel sent by God [10].

(6) And blessed be the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. — "Blessed
be the womb, and blessed the fruit thereof, which is life and
good to angels in heaven and to men on earth ; that is, Jesus,
that is to say, Saviour. For He hath saved us from sin and
from hell ; He saveth us daily from the malice of the fiend,
and from perils, and He hath opened to us the way of
endless salvation. Therefore, endlessly be that sweet fruit
blessed "[n].

[i] Myrourf, p. 79. [7] Judith xiii. 18.

[2] Judges vi. 12. [8] Luke i. 28.

[3] Ruth ii. 4. [9] Mid. 42.

[4] Myroure, p. 29. [10] Ibid. 26.

[5l Judges v. 24. [ll] Myroure, ibid.
[6] Ibid. iv. 21.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 91

(7) Jesus. — This, like the name " Mary," is an addition to
the words of Scripture, linking in one salutation the two
names.

(8) Holy Mary, Mother of God. — These words are of Eccles-
iastical origin and should be very dear to us ; for they proclaim
that privilege for which all her graces were designed — the
Divine Maternity. When Nestorius, Bishop of Constantinople,
taught that there were two persons in Jesus Christ, and that
therefore Mary should not be called the Mother of God, the
Council of Ephesus [431], held under St. Cyril of Alexandria,
representative of Pope Celestine, declared the true doctrine of
the Incarnation and that Mary, by rightful title, was to be
called " Mother of God." These words are, therefore, an act
of faith in the Incarnation ; for the Mother is ever the guardian
of the Child: — And they found the Child with Mary His
M other [i].

The remainder of the prayer is a natural act of the heart,
and was formulated about the sixteenth century. The Francis-
cans, in 1515, seem to have been the first to add them to the
Breviary.

y Ddmine Idbia mea aptries. Oh, Lord open Thou my lips.

E? Et os meum annuntidbit And my mouth shall show forth

laudem tuam. Thy praise.

y Deus in adjutdrium meum 0 Lord, incline to my aid.

intende.

ty Ddmine ad adjuvdndum 0 Lord make haste to help me.

me festina.

Y Gldria Patri, et Filio, et Glory be to the Father, and to

Spirttui sancto. the Son, and to the Holy

Ghost.

~Bf Sicut erat in princtpio, et As it was in the beginning,

nunc, et semper : etinscecula and now, and always ; and

sceculdrum. Amen. in ages of ages. Amen.

Alleluia, (vel) Laus Tibi Alleluia (or), Praise to Thee —

Ddmine, Rex ceternce\gldrice. 0 Lord, King of 'eternal glory.

(i) 0 Lord open thou my lips are words taken from the
great Psalm of penitence, the Miserere . " This verse is only

[i] Matt. ii. II.

92 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

said at Matins, and is the beginning of God's service, in
token that the first opening of your lips or mouth should be
to the praising of God ; and all the day after they should abide
open and ready for the same and be so occupied and filled
therewith that nothing contrary to His praising might enter
us" [i]. The sign of the Cross is here made on our lips,
to consecrate them to the service of Him Who was crucified.
It reminds us, too, of that fiery coal which purified the lips of
Isaias in the vision, the year King Uzzias died : Woe is me !
for I am undone ; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I
dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips : for mins eyes have
seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Then flew one of the seraphim
unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with
the tongs from off the altar: And he laid it upon my mouth, and
said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips ; and thine iniquity is taken
away, and thy sin purged. Also I heard the Voice of the Lord,
saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us ? Then said
I : Here am I; send me\_2~]. The prophet gained courage
after his purification ; so do we when the love of God, known
to us by the Cross, touches our heart and kindles the fire
within us.

(2) Lord incline to my aid are words from Psalm Ixix. i.
" As we cannot do anything well any time of the day without
His help, as He says Himself in His gospel : Without Me you
may do right nought [3], therefore both at Matins and at the
beginning of each hour you ask His help and say : God take
heed unto my help. And forasmuch as he that is doing of
a thing and cannot bring it about hath need of hasty help,
therefore feeling your need you pray our Lord to haste Him
and say : Lord haste Thee to help me. And take heed that
all this verse, both that part that is said by one alone and that
that is answered by all together, is said in the singular number,
as when you say 'mine' or 'me,' and not 'our' and 'us,' in
token that you begin your praising and prayer in the person
of Holy Church, which is one and not many. For though
there be many members of Holy Church as there are many
Christian men and women, yet they make but one body, that

[i] Myroure, p. 81. [2] Isaias vi. 5-8. [3] John xv. 5.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 93

is, Holy Church, whereof Christ is the Head. And because
that prayer that is said in the person and unity of Holy Church
is never left unsped ; therefore, trusting that our Lord hath
heard your prayer and is come to help you, you begin
all together, lowly inclining, to praise the Blessed Trinity, and
say : Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy
Ghost. One glory to all Three. For the Three Persons are
one God. This word 'Glory' is no common English, and
therefore you shall understand that 'glory' is called a good
fame spoken of with praising. Therefore when you bid ' glory '
to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, you ask
and desire that the Blessed Trinity should always be praised
and thanked, and worshipped, for His endless goodness that
is in Himself, and for all the benefits that He hath done and
shall do to His creatures, both in making of creatures in the
beginning and continually keeping of them in their being, and
in the perfect end He shall bring all things to ; and, therefore,
you add to, and say : As it was in the beginning, and now,
and always, and without end " [i].

(3) Alleluia. — "And you shall not in praising delight you
in [the] melody of the song nor of the notes, nor in your own
voices ; but all your joy and delight must set only in God ;
therefore anon after Gloria Patri you say Alleluia [2] which is
a word of joy and praising ; and especially it betokeneth that
unspeakable joy that is in heaven endlessly in praising and
lauding of God. Therefore praising our Lord with such
ghostly joy as you can have in Him here and desiring to
praise Him in everlasting joy, you say Alleluia. Doctors say

[l] Myroure, pp. 8l, 82.

[2] Alleluia is a word supposed to be of Hebrew origin. It is one of those terms
which cannot be translated. It is a cry of joy, admiration, and triumph, and is
equivalent to Praise the Lord, Some writers have looked upon it as a word escaped
from heaven : as in the hymn Alleluia duke carmen, sung in former days on the
Saturday before Septuagesima, when Alleluia ceases until Easter.

'* Alleluia, song of sweetness,

Voice of joy that cannot die ;
Alleluia is the anthem

Ever dear to choirs on high ;
In the house of God abiding

Thus they sing eternally."

94 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

that Alleluia is as much to say as 'Praise God,' or 'The
Praising of God/ or ' Lord make me safe,' or ' Sing praising
to God,' or 'Father and Son and Holy Ghost,' or 'Light,
Life, and Health.' But because it is a word of joy therefore
in times of penance, that is from Septuagesima till Easter, it
is left, and instead thereof you say : Laus Tibi Ddmine, Rex
aterncz gldrice, that is, Lord, praising be to Thee, King of
endless bliss. For though penance doing be praising to
God, yet it is done in sorrow of heart and sharpness of body,
and not in gladness and joy, namely, for sinful people. And
therefore, in time of penance we say Laus Tibi not in joy, but
in praising of God, and not Alleluia, which is a word both
of praising and joy " [i].

THE INVITATORY.

Ave Maria, grdtia plena : Hail Mary ! full of Grace,

Ddnrinus tecum. the Lord is with thee.

" But for it sufficeth not to you to praise and to joy in
God alone but you must stir others to the same. Therefore,
after Alleluia, or Laus Tibi, you begin the Invitatory, that is as
much as to say, a ' calling ' or a ' stirring,' whereby each of you
stirreth and exhorteth others to the praising of God and of
our Lady. And thereby also you call them that hear you and
desire the others that are absent to come and praise with you.
And thereto accordeth the Psalm Venite that followeth and is
sung with the Invitatory" [2].

As these words were said by the Angel, it will be well to
say them with the same feelings of joy, love, and reverence
with which he greeted our Lady.

PSALM XCIV.
Title — A Prayer of a Song for David.

Argument.

Cardinal Tomasi [3] in the collection of arguments
collected from Origen, gives the following as meanings of
this psalm. That Christ, the Good Shepherd, predestinates

[l] Myroure, pp. 82, 83. [2] Ibid. [3] Opera omnia, vol. ii. p. 46.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 95

His sheep with eternal rest. The voice of the Church to the
Lord touching the Jews. The voice of Christ to the Apostles
touching the Jews. The voice of the Church advising to
repentance.

Venerable Bede (?) (735) in his exposition of the Psalms
[i] says concerning this one : " Praise denotes devotion of
voice ; song, cheerfulness of mind, for David, Christ our
Saviour, to the end that we may come together and rejoice,
not in vain delights, but in the Lord. The prophet foreseeing
the rejection of Christ, invites the chosen people to come and
praise God. Secondly, the Lord Himself speaks that the
aforesaid people should not harden its heart lest that befall
them which befell their fathers who did not reach the Land
of Promise."

(i) Venite, exsult/mus Oh, come let us sing unto

Ddmino, jubilemus Deo salu- the Lord. Let us heartily
tdri nostro : prceoccuphnus rejoice in God our Saviour.
fdciem Ejus in confessidne, et Let us come before His Face in
in psalmis jubittmus Ei. confession, and in psalms let

us rejoice before Him.

St. Augustine (430) [2], commenting on this verse, remarks
that the prophet invites us to rejoice, not in the world, but in
the Lord. In saying Oh come, he means that those who are
far off are to draw near. But how can we be far off from
Him Who is present everywhere ? By unlikeness to Him, by
an evil life, by evil habits. A man standing still in one spot
draws near to God by loving Him, and by loving that which
is evil he withdraws from God. Although he does not move
his feet, he can yet both draw nigh and retire ; for in this
journey our feet are our affections. Come, as sick men to
a doctor to obtain relief, as scholars to a master to learn
wisdom, as thirsty men to a fountain, as fugitives to a sanc-
tuary, as blind men to the sun. Thus writes the Carmelite,.
Michael Angriani [3]. Let us sing unto the Lord. Why then do

[l] Migne, P. L. vol. xciii., p. 478.

[2] St. Augustine's Ennarationes in Psalmos are to be found in Migne, P. L.
vol. xxxvi.

[3] Angriani was General of the Carmelites, died 1416. He wrote a very
beautiful Commentary on the Psalms (published in 1581), the authorship of which
was for a long time unknown. He is followed by Father Le Blanc, S.J., in a
Psalmorum Davidicorum Analysis in six volumes. 1744.

96 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

we find it said : Blessed are they that mourn [i] and Woe to
you that laugh [2]. Surely because they are blessed who
mourn to the world, and the woe is to them that laugh to
the world ; but blessed are they who exalt unto the Lord,
who know not how to be glad of rapine, of fraud, of their
neighbour's tears. He joys in the Lord, who in word, deed,
and work, exults not for himself but for His Maker. Thus
St. Peter Chrysologus (d. 450) [3]. Our Saviour. St. Jerome in
his version of the psalms translates these words simply as
" Jesus our Rock."

Let us come before His face, that is, says St. Augustine,
let us make haste to meet Him, not waiting till He sends
to call us before Him. Not that we can in any way fore-
stall His grace and bounty to us, but that we may offer
our thanksgiving with sufficient promptness to avoid the
charge of ingratitude.

In confession, which may either be the confession of God's
might and goodness, or of our frailty and sin, the confession
of praise, or the confession of grief. In this second sense we
are called upon to come away from our sins, to come in
penance to God before He comes in judgment. Confession
in the psalms is often used as equivalent to thanksgiving, for
if we confess our unworthiness we must be filled with gratitude
to God for His mercy in granting us forgiveness and restoring
us to His favour. The Face of God often stands in Holy Writ
for His wrath, e.g., Turn away Thy Face from my sins [4] ; and
also for offering sacrifice, e.g., Wherewith shall I come before the
Lord and bow myself before the high God ? shall I come before
Him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old ? [5] The
sacrifice of thanksgiving under the Mosaic code was an obla-
tion of cakes of fine flour and wafer bread ; and thus h. this
place, says Fr. Lorin, S.J. [6], we see a prophecy of the
Sacrifice of the New Law, that Eucharistic oblation of praise
and thanksgiving wherein Christ is Himself offered to the
Father.

[i] Matt. v. 4. [3] Migne, P. L. vol. lii. p. 328. [5] Michias vi. 6.

[2] Luke vi. 25. [4] Ps. 1. 9.

[6] Fr. Lorin, a learned French Jesuit (1634), wrote a large and most valuable
Commentary on the Psalms, taken chiefly from the Greek and Latin Fathers. It is
in three volumes, and was published 1611 — 1616.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 97

And in psalms let us rejoice before Him. — Psalms, says St.
Ambrose (397) denote the combination of will and action in
good works because the word implies the use of an instru-
ment as well as of a voice [i]. And, says Denis, the Carthu-
sian, [2] we may rejoice in psalms when we are alone, as well
as when joining with others in the offices of the Church,
saying, Oh come all ye powers of my soul, my whole being
and all that is within me, especially my reason, memory and
will, let us be glad together in the Lord.

(2) Quoniam Deus Magnus For the Lord is a great

Dominus, et Rex Magnus God and a great King above
super omnes deos : qu6niam all gods : For the Lord will
non repellet Dominus plebem not repel His people, for in His
suam, quia, in manu Ejus sunt hands are all the ends of the
omnes fines terrce, et altitu- earth, and the heights of the
dines Montium Ipse cdnspicil. mountains doth He behold.

Says Fr. Corder [3], To us the words teach the mystery
of the Eternal Son, pointing out that our Lord even in His
mortal body is a great God, by reason of the Hypostatic
Union, and also because He is the express Image of the
Father ; whence we find this very title given Him by the
Apostle saying : Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious
appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ [4]. Christ,
says St. Bruno (1125), is moreover the King whom all the gods,
all those saints and rulers of His Church whom He hath made
partakers of Him, obey and love : / have said ye are gods [5].

For the Lord will not repel His people, that Christian folk,
says Cardinal Hugo [6], which He hath purchased with His

[i] Migne, P. L., vol. xiv.

[2] This great writer, called " the Ecstatic Doctor," was a voluminous writer. His
Commentary on the Psalms (published 1558) is, as would be expected from a Car-
thusian, one of his very best works. He flourished about the year 1471.

[3] Father Corder, another Jesuit writer (1605), has written three volumes of
a Commentary on the Psalms which he has drawn from the Greek fathers, adding
further explanations of his own. The work is full of beauty and unction. Published
>n 1543-

[4] Titus ii. 13. [5] John x. 34.

[6] Hugo of St. Cher, was cardinal of the title of St. Sabine, and is credited with
being the first to divide the Bible into chapters. He commented on the whole
Bible, and his exposition of the Psalms was published in 1498. He was a Domini-
can, and died 1268.

7

98 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

own Blood, He will not reject it, crying, praying, seeking or
knocking to Him.

In His hands are all the ends of the earth. — If we take this
as descriptive of the power of God over creation there is no
better commentary on them than the words of Isaias : He
hath measured the waters in the hollow of His hand and meted
out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of
the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales
and the hills in a balance [i]. But the fuller explanation is to
take it as showing that whilst false gods are worshipped in
special places, He alone is Lord everywhere. And thus we
see here a reference to the Church, no longer confined to the
narrow limits of one people, but made up from all the nations
of the earth. The ends of the earth may denote all the powers
and faculties of man, a notion which is brought out better by
the Hebrew — all the deep places of the earth.

The heights of the mountains are types of the exalted citizens
of heaven : thus Lorin. St. Bruno says the earth is often put
for men of earthly and grovelling minds, mountain for saints
lifted high by contemplation of Divine things.

(3) Qudniam Ipsius est mare, For the sea is His and He

et Ipse fecit illud, et dridam made it, and His hands formed

fundavgrunt manus Ejus : ve- the dry land. Come let us

nite adoretnus, et prociddmus worship and fall down before

ante Deum : ploremus coram God : Let us weep before the

DSmino, qui fecit nos, quia the Lord who made us, for He

Ipse est Dominus Deus noster : is the Lord our God : but we

nos autem pdpulus Ejus, et are His people and the sheep

oves pdscuce Ejus. of His pasture.

Besides the obvious interpretation concerning the wonder
of creation, the sea, says St. Augustine, denotes the Gentile
nations tossed about in the bitterness and barrenness of
heathendom when the Jews, in their spiritual pride, refused
to believe God's children. Yet He made them, as it is
written : Doubtless Thou art our Father though Abraham be
ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not : Thou, 0 Lord,

[i] Isaias xl. 12.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 99

art our father, our Redeemer [i]. And His hands have
formed the dry land. This land, differing from the sea in
stability and in capacity of fruitfulness, denotes the Church
or any holy soul. It is dry, says St. Bruno, because without
the grace of God it can do nothing, as land will not bear unless
it be watered, but gaspeth for Him as a thirsty ground [2].
He formed it, which means more than He made it, implying
that He gave shape and beauty and fulness to that which before
was without form and void [3] by reason of Adam's sin.

We are to worship, that is, to bend the head as servants to
their master, to fall down as subjects acknowledging their king.
To weep, for as Cassiodorus (562) says [4] : God calls His people
first to rejoice, while they, as yet, do not know the spiritual
life, lest they be alarmed and repelled by its sorrows and aus-
terities ; but when they have once accepted the faith, He then
summons them to repent of their sins. But, says St. Peter
Chrysologus, they are tears of joy ; for gladness, as well as
sorrow, brings weeping, and grief for our past sins is blended
with the hope of blessing and glory to come. Some com-
mentators, who take this Psalm as having special reference
to our Lord's nativity, see here a command to adore Him
in the manger, undeterred by the tokens of mortality and
poverty around.

But we are His people and the sheep of His pasture. — St.
Augustine tells us that we are hereby taught that we, even
as people, are sheep, in respect of God, needing Him as a
Shepherd, and only to be satisfied with His green pastures.
Yet we are not unreasoning sheep to be driven with a staff.
We are guided with God's Own hand, the very hand which
made us and is so loving and ever heedful to prevent any
harm that may come from the negligence, ignorance, or
malice of those inferior shepherds, to whom He commits,
in a measure, the task of tending His flock. He feeds us,
says St. Bruno, with Bread from heaven, as He once fed our
spiritual forefathers with manna in the wilderness ; and He
cares for us as a shepherd cares for his flock, so that we need

[i] Isaias Ixiii. 16. [2] Ps. cxliv. 6. [3] Gen. i. 2.

[4] His Expositio in Psalterium is to be found in Migne, P.L., vol. Ixx.

ioo THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

not be solicitous, but cast all our care on Him. Says St.
Bonaventure (1274), we must be like sheep in trustfulness,
patience and innocence, and yet men in understanding,
according to His Own saying : And ye My flock, the flock of My
pasture, are men, and I am your God, saith the Lord God [i].

(4) Hodie si vocem Ejus To-day if ye shall hear His

audieritis, nolite obdurdre voice harden not your hearts,

corda vestra, sicut in exacer- as in the provocation and as

batione secundum diem tenta- in the day of temptation in the

tionis in deserto : ubi tentave- desert : Where your fathers

runt Me patres vestri, proba- tempted Me, proved Me and

verunt, et mderunt opera Mea. saw My works.

To-day, that is, daily while it is called to-day, as the writer
of the Epistle to the Hebrews explains in one of his threefold
citations of this verse : But exhort one another daily while
it is called to-day [2]. So long as the night has not come,
so long as the door of mercy is not shut. To-day, at once, not
deferring till to-morrow.

If you will hear His voice is the reply to the assertion in
the previous verse : We are the sheep of His pasture ; for the
proof of being one of Christ's flock is according to His
own words — My sheep hear My voice and I know them and
they follow Me [3]. This flock He gave in its entirety, both
sheep and lambs, to His apostle Peter to be fed for Him [4].
So, if we are fed by Peter we are fed by Christ, and belong
to His one fold. You call yourself His sheep ; prove your
claim, then, by hearing His voice. And yet, as St. Bernard
(1155) tells us, there is no difficulty at all in hearing His
voice ; on the contrary, the difficulty is to stop our ears
effectually against it, so clear is its sound, so constantly does
it ring in our ears. The Jews, remarks the Carmelite, sinned
by refusing to listen to the voice of our Lord ; and we also
sin in the same way when we put off or refuse to repent.
Satan's counsel, observes St. Basil (379) is, " To-day for me,
to-morrow for God" ; whereas, He that hath promised pardon
to repentance hath not promised to-morrow to the sinner.

[l] Ezek. xxxiv. 31. [3] John x. 27.

[2] Heb. iii. 13. [4] Ibid. xxi. 15, 16, 17.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 101

Harden not your heart. — For in so doing, says Albert the
Great [i], you set yourselves in direct opposition to the will
of God, which is to soften those hearts, in that He said : My
doctrine shall drop as the rain, My speech shall distil as the
dew [2] to moisten the dry ground that it may bring forth
the tender buds of grace ; whereas it is said of sinners that
their hearts are stony : / will take the stony heart out of
your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh [3] ; and of
Leviathan, the type of evil power, His heart is as firm as a
stone ; yea, as hard as a piece of nether millstone [4] .

As in the provocation and as in the day of temptation. — Some
commentators refer the word provocation to the resistance of
the Jews to the authority of Moses and temptation to their
unbelief in the providence of God : And he called the name of
the place Massah and Meribah, because of the chiding of the
children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying,
Is the Lord among us or not f [5] Cardinal Hugo points
out that the words which follow in the wilderness, are an
aggravation of guilt, because it was exactly there, in the
absence of all other help, that the thoughts of the Jews should
have been most firmly set on God Who had so wonderfully
brought them out of Egypt. Those who come out of the
Egypt of sin or worldiness, who begin a life of repentance,
are at first in the wilderness. They are deserted by those they
have left behind ; and, not attaining yet to what they seek, they
are much exposed, in that stage of spiritual progress, to the
risk of rebellion, of unbelief in God, and of resisting the
pleadings of the Holy Ghost.

Where your fathers tempted Me. — There is a stress on your
fathers, implying that we are the same nations which sinned in
a former period of its history and are therefore likely to fall
again. The Carmelite remarks, we may tempt God in several
ways : His mercy, by careless prayer ; His patience, by
remaining in sin ; His justice, by desiring revenge ; His
power, by not trusting Him during perils ; His wisdom, by

[l] Albert the Great, a Dominican friar, was the master of St. Thomas Aquinas,
the Angelical doctor. He died 1280.

[2] Deut. xxxii. 2. [4] Job xli. 24.

[3] Ezek. xxxvi. 26. [5] Exod. xviL 7.

102 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

undertaking to teach others without previous study and
meditation.

Proved Me. — This is more than tempting, which denotes the
bare experiment, whereas proving implies its success, for the
God, whose power they doubted, slew them all in the
wilderness.

And saw My works. — That is, says Lorin, although they
saw them, and that during forty continuous years, yet they
did not believe and were never subdued, but renewed their
experiment after each miracle and each judgment.

(5) Quadraginta anni prox- Forty years was I nigh to

imus fui generationi huic, et this generation, and said, these

dixi, Semper hi errant corde : do always err in heart ; i n

ipsi vero non cognoverunt vias truth they have not known My

Measf quibus jurdvi in ira ways. Unto whom I swore in

Mea, si introibunt in requiem My wrath that they should not

Meam. enter into My rest.

Forty years. — The writers do not fail to point out the
mystical meaning of the number forty, repeated in the fasts of
Elias and our Lord, and in the great forty days after Easter ;
and they tell us that as ten is the first limit we meet in com-
putation, so that this number and its multiples give all the
subsequent names to sums, it serves as the type of fulness ;
while four, as denoting either the seasons of the year or the
quarters of the heavens, extends that fulness to all time and
place ; and thus forty years stands here for the entire span of
our earthly sojourn. Remigius, monk of St. Germain (908) [i],
points out the stress on years, because the journey of Elias [2]
teaches us that the Israelites could have passed through the
desert in forty days had they only been obedient.

Nigh. — Some commentators take this word in the sense'.that
one who punishes is near the criminal, or of a teacher who
keeps beside an idle and refractory pupil to compel his atten-
tion. St. Augustine explains it of God's continual presence
in signs and miracles ; while St. Bernard interprets it of an
inward voice and inspiration. The cause of God's anger was

[ij Migne, P. L., cxxxi. [2] 3 Kings xix. 8.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 103

the ingratitude of the children of Israel for His unceasing
watch over them.

This generation. — And whereas this applies literally to the
60,000 who came up out of Egypt, and then by accommodation,
to all living men at any time while it is called to-day, there is also
a special fitness in taking it of the Jews after the Passion of
Christ ; for, says Perez of Valentia [i], the interval which lay
between that and the final destruction of Jerusalem was almost
precisely forty years, up to which time the door of hope was
still open for Israel, and it was still to-day ere that terrible
night set upon the Temple worship.

Always do these err in their heart. — This is much more
forcible, observes Cardinal Hugo, than if it were said, they err
in act ; for the error of an act has a definite end, whereas the
error of the will has no end. Death puts an end to the evil
doing of a sinner, not because he has lost the will to sin, but
because he has no longer the power to do so.

For they have not known My ways. — The word known does
not here signify that acquaintance with God's ways which may
be gathered from reading or meditation, but that knowing
which comes from a careful keeping to His ways themselves,
that is, from living lives fruitful in good works. And the ways
of God, as St. Bonaventure remarks, are all reducible to one,
that is fesus Himself, the Way, the Truth, and the Life [2] ;
moreover, they all lead to the same heavenly country. They
are one way in their making, their Master, and their end ; they
are many ways according to the diversities of the working of
grace, the variety of vocations and of disposition among those
who journey home through the wilderness.

Unto whom I swore in My wrath that they should not enter
into My rest. — This He did when the spies brought back evil
reports of the Land of Promise and the children of Israel pre-
pared to elect a leader to take them back to Egypt [3]. It is
a terrible warning, comments St. Augustine. We began the
Psalm with rejoicing but we end with awful dread. It is a

[i] He was Bishop of Christopolis in the fifteenth century. His work on the
Psalms was published 1518.

[2] John xiv. 6. [3] Num. xiv. 26.

104 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

great thing that God should speak ; but how much more that
God should swear. A man who hath sworn is to be feared,
lest he should, for his oath's sake, do aught against his will.
How much more then ought we not to fear God Who cannot
swear rashly ? Let no one say in his heart, that which He
promiseth is true, that which He threateneth is false. As sure
as thou art of rest, happiness, eternity, immortality, if thou
keep the commandments, so certain shouldest thou be of
destruction, of the burning of everlasting fire, of damnation
with the devil, if thou despise His Law. He hath sworn that
these shall not enter into His rest, and yet, it remaineth that
some must enter therein [i], for it could not be designed for no
occupant. And this rest, which meant the earthly Canaan to
the Jews of old, means for us that Sabbath of the Heavenly
Fatherland whereof the Epistle to the Hebrews tells us : Now
there remained a rest to the people of God [2], Even here, on
earth, says the Carmelite, before reaching that blessed Land,
there remaineth a rest for God's people, whereof the weekly
Sabbath is a sign and a pledge. This is the rest from sin,
common to all the just, and the rest from bodily cares and
stilling of temptation, which come in measure to contempla-
tive saints ; while, crowning all, there is the rest of the blessed,
whence sorrow is banished for evermore. Let us labour
therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same
example of unbelief [3] and be included under the terrible
oath of exclusion ; and in prayer for grace that it may not
be so, 0 come let us worship and fall down and weep before the
Lord our Maker. Thus the Carthusian.

GLORIA PATRI [4].

Glory be to the Father, the great King above all Gods ;
Glory be to the Son, the Strength of our salvation ; Glory be
to the Holy Ghost who saith, To-day if ye hear His voice harden
noi your hcatts.

[I] Heb. iv. 6. [2] Ibid. 9. [3] Ibid. 11.

[4] These ascriptions of praise, weaving into the Gloria thoughts suggested in
the Psalm, are from the Golden Commentary of Gerohus, Prior of Reichersperg
(1169), published in 1728.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 105

THE HYMN [l].

(i) Quern terra, pont us, sidera The God, Whom earth and sea

and sky,

Colunt, addrant, predicant, Adore and laud and magnify ;
Trinam regentem mdchinam Who o'er their threefold fabric

reigns,
Claustrum Marice bdjulat The Virgin's spotless womb

contains.

Creation, as we see it, consists of earth, sea, and sky, and
the three form, as it were, the machinam by which God works
out His will. The Claustrum Marice " understandeth her
reverend womb" [2], which for nine months did carry the
Lord of all things. Mary was the Tabernacle of Emmanual
— God with us — and the Most High sanctified His resting
place [3], The Ark of the Covenant in the Temple of
Solomon was of incorruptible wood covered with plates of
massive gold. It only contained the tables of the Law, a
pot of manna, and Aaron's flowering rod. But Mary, the
true Ark of the Covenant, incorruptible by her immaculate
Conception and adorned with the gold of charity, contained
within her, as in a most peaceful cloister, the very Giver of
the Law, the very Bread of Life, and the true High Priest,
Himself, Whom all creation worships, adores, and proclaims.

(2) Cut luna, sol, et dmnia The God Whose will by Moon

and Sun,

Deserviunt per tempora, And all things in due course is

done,

Perfusa cceli gratia Is borne upon a Maiden's breast,

Gestant puellce viscera. By fullest heavenly grace pos-

sessed.

That is : Our Lady, filled with heavenly grace, doth bear
Him, Whom moon, sun, and all things serve according to the
seasons and times appointed to them : And God made two great
lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule
the night : He made also the stars. And God set them in the

[i] The translation of this hymn is by Dr. Neale.
[2] Myroure, p. 220. [3] Cf. Ps. xlv. 4.

io6 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, and to rule
over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the
darkness : and God saw that it was good [i]. Notice the word
per/lisa, i.e., bathed through and through, soaked ; like Gideon's
fleece was soaked with the dews of heaven [2] ; so Mary was
full of grace.

(3) Bedta Mater miinere, How blest that Mother in whose

shrine

Cujus supernus Artifex, The Great Artificer Divine,

Mundum pugillo cdntinens, Whose Hand contains the earth

and sky,
Ventris sub area clausus est. Vouchsafed, as in His ark, to lie.

" That is : Blessed by the gift of the Holy Ghost is that
Mother whose High Maker, that holdeth the world in His
hand, is borne within the ark of her womb. Our Lord is said
to hold the world in His hand, for all the world is full little
in regard to His greatness. And as a man may do with a
thing that he hath in his hand what he will, so is every-
thing in the power of His hand and all is kept in being by
Him [3]." Artifex, i.e., artificer — one who works according to
Art, according to design. Art is the showing forth of the Beauti-
ful ; and in the Incarnation to which the verse refers, we have
the most perfect manifestation of God's art in adapting means
to an end, in exhibiting the beauty of His power, and of
His love, and of His wisdom.

(4) Bedta cceli nuntio, Blest, in the message Gabriel

brought ',
Fecunda sancto Spiritu, Blest, by the work the Spirit

wrought ;
Desiderdtus gentibus From whom the great Desire of

Earth
Cujus per ahum fusus est. Took human flesh and human

birth.

Nuntio cceli — the message of Gabriel : Fecunda. The Holy
Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the Most High shall

[i] Gen. i. 16, 17, 18. [2] Judges vi. 38.

[3] Myroure, p. 220.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 107

overshadow thee [i], Desiderdtus gtntibus. Our Lord was the
Longed-for ; the Desired of the nations : And the Desired of
all nations shall come [2]. His Advent was the prayer of
the prophets and holy ones of Israel : Drop down ye heavens
from above and let the skies pour forth the Righteous, let the earth
open and bring forth the Saviour [3]. And when He came He
told men that many kings had desired to see the things they
saw [4] ; and that Father Abraham rejoiced to see His day,
and saw it and was glad [5]. Fusus est, poured forth as oil, or
as light passing through a most pure crystal.

(5) Jesu, Tibi sit gldria, All honour, laud and glory be,

Qui natus est de Virgine, 0 Jesu, Virgin-born, to Thee !

Cum Patre, et almo Sptritu, All glory, as is ever meet,

In sempiterna scecula. To Father and to Paraclete.

Amen. Amen.

This Doxology, or ascription of praise to the Adorable
Trinity, is used for all the hymns in the Little Office. Jesu,
Tibi sit gldria : Our Lord as He is our thanksgiving, our
Eucharist, so is He also our Praise. Therefore to Him and
through Him we give our praise to the Blessed Three in One.
The remembrance of His Mother, Qui natus est de Virgine,
gives us the reason for the special act of worship — one of
gratitude for the Incarnation which is Mary's gift to mankind.
For, chosen herself by God, she freely consented to become
the Mother of the Word made flesh. Almo Spfritu : the revela-
tion of the Holy Ghost to us is that of infinite love. The Love
of God is poured forth in our hearts by the Holy Ghost who is
given to us [6] . In sempiterna scecula. The glory we give to
God lasts for ever ; for He is the Father of lights with Whom
there is no variableness neither shadow of turning [7] ; the
Eternal God, The Great I Am [8]. This thought makes our
act of worship deeper and fuller and brings a stillness over
our soul as we think of the never-changing, never-ending
glory, which, as an everlasting fire, surrounds the Eternal.

[i] Luke i. 35. [5] John viii. 56.

[2] Aggeus ii. 8. [6] Rom. v. 5.

[3] Isaias xlv. 8. [7] James i. 17.

[4] Luke x. 24. [8] Exod. iii. 14.

io8 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

FIRST NOCTURN.

For Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays.

ANTIPHON.

Benedicta tu in mulieribus Blessed art thou amongst

et benedictus fructus ventris women, and blessed is the
tui. Fruit of thy ivomb.

The following psalm being concerned with the wonders
of creation, the Antiphon directs our mind to Our Lady as the
choicest and most perfect creature of God. For if man be
made a little lower than the angels and crowned with glory
and honour, how much more honourable and glorious is She
whose Office and holiness is far above that of the highest
Angel ? For which one of them could say to their God as
She could say : Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten
Thee ? [i]

PSALM vin.
Title — To the end : for the wine-presses, a psalm of David.

Argument.

Tomasi. That Christ, the Son of Man, was made in His
Passion a little lower than the angels. The voice of the
ancient Church speaking of Christ and of faith. Also of the
Ascension of our Saviour and of the infants that glorified Him
and that said Hosanna in the Highest ! The voice of the
Church giving praise to Christ for the faith of all creatures.

Venerable Bede. For the wine-presses ; that is, a vintage
song of thanksgiving. As in the wine-press when the grapes
are bruised and the hardest pips crushed the sweetest wine
pours forth, so when obstinacy and pride are crushed in the
Church the sweetest tears of penance are beautifully expressed.
The Church, true wine-press, at the commencement of the
Psalm sings the praises of her Lord God, setting forth His
majesty and the greatness of His operations. Then she
speaketh more plainly of the nature of man which, from the

[i] Heb. i. 5.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 109

low and depraved condition whereto Adam's fall had reduced
it, He raised to the height of glory ; and the one Person of
Christ in its two distinct and inconfused Natures is unhesitat-
ingly acknowledged.

(1) Domine Dtiminus nosier, 0 Lord, our Lord, how ad-
quam admirdbile est Nomen mirable is Thy Name in all
tuum in univ^rsa terra ! the world.

0 Lord, our Lord. God's name is twice repeated ; for He
is twice our Lord, in that He made us and in that He re-
deemed us. He is our Lord also through our knowledge and
love of Him. We also are His servants ; by the special claim
He has to our life, by our holy vocation ; therefore His in-
terests are in a special sense ours. Again, our Lord naturally
suggests Him Who by mortal birth is bone of our bone and
flesh of our flesh [i] ; our Elder Brother, Who has shown to us
the infinite tenderness and love of the Father.

How admirable is Thy name : The name of God implying
perfection, all beauty, all riches, all power, all wisdom, and
implying also that sweetest of all relations, taught to us by
our Lord Himself, the Divine Fatherhood. But the name
of our Lord is still more admirable ; for it is the Name of
Jesus, name above all other names at which every knee shall
bow [2] ; the name which is the joy of the faithful and the
true revelation of the Father.

In all the world, not in Judea alone, says Cassiodorus, see-
ing that in the fulness of the time the Gentiles were also to be
added to the Church. And that Name when set up as a title
over the Cross was written in three languages, as a sign that
hereafter it should be preached, and should be worshipped by
every tongue and nation.

(2) Quoniam elevdta est For Thy magnificence is
magnificentia Tua super caelos. lifted up above the heavens.

Commentators take this for the most part literally of the
Ascension according to the words of St. Paul : Who descended,
He it is also Who ascended above all the heavens that He might
Jill all things [3] ; for then Christ, sitting at the right hand of

[i] Gen. ii. 23. [2] Phil. ii. 10. [3] Eph. iv. 10.

no THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

God the Father, sent the Holy Ghost and charged His Apostles
to speak salvation in His Name as the only means of reaching
heaven, and that He was constituted Judge of the living and
the dead [i]. Others, and especially the Angelic doctor, see
here implied the infinite distance between Christ Who is the
power of God and the wisdom of God [2], and the very highest
of the saints ; not only the Apostles or the angels, but even
Her who bare Him, Her whom Christian singers delight in
styling the " new heaven." Father Lorin takes these words as
implying that the magnificence of glory of God is far beyond
what we can gather from the Scriptures, which tell us of the
mysteries of heaven, or from those wonderful manifestations
of His power and wisdom, the seven sacraments.

(3) Ex ore infdntium et lact- Out of the mouths of babes

entium perfedisti laudemprop- and sucklings Thou has per-
ter inimicos Titos, ut destruas fected praise because of Thine
inimicum et ultdrem. enemies, that Thou mightest

destroy the enemy and the

avenger.

Literally, the Holy Innocents who thus glorified Christ
by their death, and they that cried Hosanna by their acclama-
tions, as He Himself hath taught us [3]. Spiritually, the
weaker members of the Church of whom the Apostle writes :
/ have fed you with milk and not with strong meat [4]. And
again, those who had the innocence and simplicity of babes ;
as the first-born of the Church, the Apostles, who, taught by
their Lord to speak, fed by Him like new-born babes with
the sincere milk of the word [5], and called by Him His
children [6]. So the Carmelite Angriani and Perez. Also
we may understand it of all religious souls who, in simplicity
and innocence, look to God alone and receive from Him their
meat in due season, the food of their souls, by the teaching of
the Holy Ghost ever whispering to their conscience.

Because of thine enemies — for their conversion ; or, if they
will not turn, from their destruction, as it is written : The
arrows of the little ones are made their wounds [7].

[i] Acts x. 42. [5] i Peter ii. 2.

[2] i Cor. i. 24. [6] John xxi. 5.

[3] Matt. xxi. 16. [7] Ps. Ixiii. 8.
[4] I Cor. iii. 2.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG in

That Thou mightest destroy the enemy : for God has chosen
the weak things of this world to confound the wise. Note ;
He chooses this sign rather than any other for the greater
confusion of the Jews.

Avenger : Not only tyrants and unbelieving nations whom
God has at various times raised up to chastise a sinful people,
but the evil spirit himself who is only an instrument in his
Creator's hands, and whose power, like those other avengers,
will be destroyed when the good designed to be done
through them is accomplished.

(4) Quoniam videbo ccelos For I see Thy heavens, the

Tuos, opera digitorum Tuo- works of Thy fingers : the moon,
rum : lunam et Stellas, quce and the stars, which Thou hast
Tu fundasti. established.

Thy heavens, the works of Thy fingers : The whole course of
events under God's Providence, Who has declared that all
things should work together for good to them that love Him [i].
Thy fingers, not hands, because, as St. John Chrysostom says,
this is but a small thing for God's omnipotence.

The moon, that is, the Church, which is constantly
renewed and receives all her light from the true Sun. The
stars, the saints of God, as it is written : They that turn many
to righteousness shall shine as the stars for ever [2]. Note: He
mentions not the sun, because the Sun of Righteousness [3]
was begotten not made. Thus St. Ambrose. Again, the moon,
says Jorgius [4], Confessor of Edward I., denotes our ever dear
and blessed Lady ; and that for various reasons : As the moon
draws all its brightness from the sun, and yet it is the most
luminous object next to him, so Mary, made full of grace by
Him whose countenance is as the sun shining in his strength [5],
is the brightest of all the saints. And yet, as the moon is
nearest to the earth, so our Lady is the lowliest of all in her
humility. As the moon rules the tides, so Mary by her prayers
helps those who are tossed on the bitter surges of the world.

[i] Rom. viii. 28. [2] Dan. xii. 3. [3] Malachi iv. 4.

[4] Jorgius, better known as Thomas of Wales, a Dominican, made Cardinal by
Clement V. in 1305. Among many other works he wrote a Commentary on the
Psalms, published in 1611 (p. 80).

[5] Apoc. i. 16.

H2 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

And as Easter, the festival of the Resurrection, follows the
course of the moon, so the spiritual arising of the Man by the
Incarnation followed the consent of Mary's will to the message
of the Angel. The choirs of angels which are her fellows [i]
and bear her company, are rightly compared to the stars ; only
less than the moon in glory and beauty.

(5) Quid est homo, quod What is Man that Thou

memor es ejus f autfilius hominis, art mindful of him f or the
quoniam vtsitas eum. Son of Man that Thou visit-

est him ?

When, therefore, the prophet considers all the things
tending to man's salvation, the Providence whereby all events
work together for his good, the Church given him as a mother,
the saints as examples and friends, his thoughts are naturally
carried back to the one source of all, which is the Incarnation.
What is Man f The Psalmist answers in another place, Every
man is but vanity [2] ; and again, All men are liars [3]. Man :
taken absolutely, as a sinner : the Son of Man, those who are
endeavouring to keep the law of God. Thus St. Augustine.
Also the Son of Man, our Lord's own description of Himself.
In this sense the term is to be understood of His headship
over the mystical Body.

Visitest the Incarnation, was God visiting His people, as
it is written : Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He hath
visited and redeemed His people [4]. And again, Thou visitest
the earth and blessest it [5].

(6) Minuistieumpaulo minus Thou hast made him a little

ab dngelis, gloria et honorc lower than the angels, with
coronasti eum : et constituisti glory and honour hast Thou
eum super opera mdnuum crowned him : and Thou hast
tudrum. set him above all the works

of Thy hand.

The Carmelite says : For as much as Christ went not up
unto joy, but first suffered pain, so here we see Him in

[i] Ps. xliv. 15. [4] Luke 5. 68.

[2] Ps. xxxix. 12. [5] Ps. Ixv. 9.

[3] Ps. cxvii. 10.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 113

His low estate first, and then in His glory ; for the humility
of His Passion was the merit of His exaltation.

Lower than the angels, in that He condescends to become
mortal and passible. A little lower. And what marvel, then,
of speaking in respect of His humanity, He saith : My Father
is greater than I ! [i]

With glory, as respects Himself ; with worship, in reference
to others. Thus St. Basil. Again, a little lower, for it was but
for a short time — a little, because He was mortal and passible
of His own free will, and not like us, of necessity. Glory, in
the victory of the Resurrection ; honour, on the throne of the
Ascension. And note, as Albert the Great says, Christ is said
to have many crowns [2], of which the chief are : the Crown of
Mercy, wherewith He was crowned in the Incarnation and
Nativity ; the Crown of Sorrow, when the thorny diadem of
the passion was given Him ; that of Glory in the Resurrection
and Ascension ; and that of Dominion, which He will receive
when the Court of the Redeemed gathers around Him.

Over the works of Thy hands ; and therefore over those
angels than whom for a season He was made a little lower.

(7) Omnia subjea'sti sub All things Thou hast put be-

pedibus ejus, oves et boves neath His feet, sheep and all

universas : insuper et pecora oxen, yea, and the beasts of the

campi. field.

All things Thou hast put beneath His feet. Let the Apostle
interpret : In that He put all in subjection under Him, He left
nothing that is not put under Him [3]. But when He saith
all things are put under Him, it is manifest that He is excepted
Who did put all things under Him [4]. Note in these three
verses of the Psalm we have the four living creatures of the
Apocalypse [5] (for these may denote the four parts of Christ's
work of mercy), as well as the four evangelists. What is man f
Here we have the face of a man. Thou hast made Him a little
lower than the angels, there the ox, the animal fit for sacrifice ;
Thou hast crowned Him with glory and honour, there the

[l] John xiv. 28. [4] I Cor. xv. 27.

[2] Apoc. xix. 12. [5] Apoc. iv. 7.

[3] Heb. ii. 8.

ii4 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

victorious lion ; Thou hast put all things under His feet, there
the eagle that soars above everything else. So Rupertus [i].

Beneath His feet. As the head of Christ is His Divinity, so
His feet are His manhood ; and to Him, as Man, is given the
empire, which, as God, was always His, Who is the image of
the invisible God, the first born of every creature . . . that
in all things He might have the headship [2].

Sheep : By these we understand those whose business in
Christ's Church is not to teach but to learn : My sheep hear My
voice [3].

And all oxen : Those who labour in His word and doctrine ;
according to that saying of St. Paul, quoting from Deuteronomy
[4], Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth
out the corn [5]. For by these great profit is obtained in
His Church ; as it is written : Much increase is by the strength
of the ox [6].

Yea : The word shows that a change of subject is made,
namely, from the good to the wicked.

The beasts of the field : Those that own no master, ""but
follow their own hearts' lusts, like brute beasts, as St. Peter
teaches, made to be taken and destroyed [7]. For the wicked as
well as the good are made subject to Christ. Thus St. Bruno,
of Aste-Perez remarks, not only are the sheep, the lowly and
the docile who hear the voice of the Shepherd, put under Him,
but even the oxen, the powerful rulers of the earth ; and the
beasts of the field, the wandering and barbarous tribes which
knew no law before.

(8) Vdlucres cceli, et pisces The fowls of the air and the

marts, qui perdmbulant semi- fishes of the sea, and whatsoever
tas maris. walketh through the paths of

the seas.

The fowls of the air are the saints who rise above the world,
but only by means of the sign of the Cross [8].

[i] Ven. Abbat Rupertus, O.S.B., of Deutz, died in 1135. His Commentary on
the Apocalypse is printed in Migne, P. L., vol. clxix. (See p. 912).

[2] Col. i. 15-18. [5] i Cor. ix. 9.

[3] Jonn x- 27- [6] Prov. xiv. 4.

[4] v. 4. [7] 2 Peter ii. 12.

[8] A bird with extended wings is in the shape of a cross.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 115

The fishes of the sea : Ordinary Christians regenerated of
water and of the Holy Ghost, and who are made fellows of
Jesus Christ, the Divine Fish [i].

And whatsoever bad, as well as good, unholy, no less than
holy ; walketh through the paths of the seas, that is, exposed to
the waves and storms of this troublesome world. Thus
Cassiodorus. But St. Augustine will have the fowls of the air
to be the proud and ambitious, the fishes those who are
restless and acquisitive. While others see in the winged
fowls the angels ; in the fishes the evil spirits of the Abyss ;
or again, in a good sense the dwellers in the isles afar, and
mariners in them who walk through the paths of the seas. So
Perez.

(9) Domine Dominus noster, 0 Lord, our Lord, how ad-

quam admirdbile est nomen mirable is Thy Name in all
Tuum in universa terra. the world.

Admirable, not only because He is very God, as set forth in
the first verse, but also because He is very Man, as taught
in the succeeding verses. The beginning and the ending of
this Psalm is the same, as being in His praise Who is the First
and the Last [2], the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever

[3]-

GLORIA PATRI.

Glory be to the Father Who hath put all things under the
feet of the Son of Man ; Glory be to the Son Who vouch-
safed to become Son of Man, made lower than the angels,
but now is crowned with glory and honour as Priest and
King and Prophet ; Glory be to the Holy Ghost, the Finger
of God's right hand (Digitus Paternce dextrce, cf. Veni Creator),
by Whom the heavens were made.

ANTIPHON.

Sicut myrrha electa odorem Like choice myrrh Thou hast

dedisti suavitatis, sancta Dei given forth Thy perfume, 0 holy
Genitrix. Mother of God.

[l] The old symbol of our Lord, so frequently found in the catacombs, is a fish,
the Greek word is ix0"s, which, read as an acrostic, means Jesus Christ, Son of
God, Saviour.

[2] Apoc. xxii. 13. [3] Heb. xiii. 8.

u6 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

Myrrh was one of the mystic gifts of the three kings
brought to the Holy Child. It denotes mortification, which
is a necessity if we would be united to our Lord : Always
bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus Christ,
that the life also of Jesus may be manifest in our body [i].
We will dwell more upon the subject when commenting
upon the lessons whence this antiphon is taken. But now
it seems to foreshadow the 8th to the i3th verses, and gives
us a thought about the Queen of Martyrs, in whose mouth
the Church puts the words of the Canticle of Canticles : A
bundle of myrrh is my beloved to me [2]. And this thought
teaches us that it is by penance alone that we can repair the
destruction sin has brought upon God's creation.

PSALM XVIII.

Title : A Psalm of David.
Argument.

Tomasi : That Christ entered the virginal shrine and pro-
ceeded from it in order that He might make known the
secrets of men. Concerning the preaching of the Apostles
and the Advent of Christ and His Ascension.

Venerable Bede : Through the whole psalm they are the
words of the prophet. In the first place he praises the
preachers of the Lord ; he then uses the loveliest comparisons
concerning His Incarnation. Secondly, he lauds the precepts
of the Old and New Testament. Thirdly, he prays that he
may be purged from his secret faults and may be made a
worthy psalmist.

(i) Coeli endrrant gloriam The heavens declare the

Dei, et opera mdnum Ejus glory of God, and the firma-
annuntiat firmamentum. ment shows forth the work of

His hands.

By the word of the Lord were the heavens made and all the
hosts of them by the breath of His mouth [3]. What heavens,
asks St. Gregory the Great, are these, except the holy
Apostles ? [4]. And in this light all the fathers interpret the

[i] 2 Cor. iv. 10. [3] Ps. xxxii 6

[2] i. 13. [4] Migne, P. L., vol. Ixxvi. p. 33.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 117

verse : that as the visible heavens set forth the glory of the
Creator, so these spiritual heavens declare the praise of the
Redeemer. The firmament, St. Augustine takes to be that
firmness in speaking the Apostolic message even before kings
and not being ashamed, that fearing not them that kill the
body [i] but cannot touch the soul. Like the Apostles, who
were weak, indeed, till they received the Holy Ghost on the
day of Pentecost, but then they declared the work of His hands,
the work of salvation wrought by the Incarnation.

(2) Dies diet eructat verbum, Day unto day breathed out

et nox nodi indicat scientiam. the Word and night unto

night dedareth knowledge.

Day unto day, that is, saint to saint, prophet to prophet,
apostle to apostle, Christ Himself (the King of apostles, the
Inspirer of prophets, the Saint of saints), to each and all.

The Word, the Second Person of the Adorable Trinity ;
for the days, the saints filled with the light of the wisdom
and glory of God, declare the mystery of the Incarnation to
men.

And night unto night, the teachers here below, speaking of
the same mystery and leading their hearers on to His love.
Again, for the nights we may understand, with St. Augustine,
the trials and afflictions of the martyrs and confessors, the
struggles and self-denial of every upright soul, which speak to
us in the night of our own affliction and distress and tell us
that the loving kindness that delivered them can deliver us
also ; for The Lord's arm is not shortened, that it cannot save ;
neither His ear heavy, that it cannot hear [2]. That night speaks
to us in no unintelligible voice : Look at the generations of
old and see : did ever any trust in the Lord and were con-
founded f [3] Or again, we may take it, with the Carmelite,
of the work of the Six Days and the Rest of the Seventh,
which we can compare with the Seven Gifts of the Spirit ; or,
(as St. Augustine truly says : " Some words of scripture have,
from their obscurity, this advantage, that they give rise to
many interpretations : had this been plain, you would have
heard some one thing ; but as it is, observe, you will hear

[i] Cf. St. Luke xii. 4. [2] Is. lix. I. [3] Eccles. ii. ir.

n8 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

many"), it cannot be more beautifully taken than of the
seasons of the Church's year. Festival speaking to Festival,
Fast to Fast, the faithful soul by Advent prepared for Christ-
mas, by Lent for Easter, by the great Forty Days of Paschal
joys for the Descent of the Holy Ghost ; and by all these days
of transitory holiness, made ready for that Eternal Day, the
Festival which shall never be concluded [i].

(3) Non sunt loquelce, neque There is neither speech nor
sermones, quorum non audi- language ; neither are their
dntur voces eorum. voices heard.

And we may take the verse in two senses : either no speech
or language among the nations of the earth to which these
voices did not go forth, which must be their sense if we
refer the clause to the Apostles ; or there is no real speech in
the preaching of the stars, and yet their language is intelligible
to all nations. An old Portuguese divine, referring to this
verse, says: "The most ancient preacher in the world is
the sky. If the sky be a preacher it must have sermons, and
it must have words. So it has, says David. And what are the
sermons and words of the sky ? The words are the stars : the
sermons — their composition, order, harmony, and cause" [2].
Then again, as a recent writer remarks, "God's Word sounds
silently in the heart. There is neither speech nor language ;
for, when the soul is alone with its Maker it is heart to heart,
and words are spoken that are beyond human utterance. But
the low, still voice is lost by worldliness and by too much
serving and solicitude that is beyond God's will."

(4) In omnem terram exivit Their sound hath gone forth
sonus eorum : et in finis orbis into all the earth : and their

errce verba eorum. words unto the ends of the

world.

The quotation of that text by St. Paul: But I say, have
they not heard ? Yes, verily, their sound went out into all

[i] "The Church on earth with answering love

Echoes her mother's joys above :

These yearly feast days she may keep,

And yet for endless festals weep."

— Adam of St. Victor : Superna Matris gaudia.
[2] Vieira, Obras, vol. i. p. 40.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 119

the earth, and their words to the end of the world [i] is, as
is well noticed by Jansen, the bishop of Ghent [2], a sufficient
warrant for the explanation that would understand the Apostles
who were doers as well as hearers. And how did their sound
then go forth ? By the silent force of the example of a godly
life. The power of a simple, natural life of one seeking
God, with a single eye, is far greater than that of one who
deliberately sets out with the intention of edifying his neigh-
bours. He who so regulates his life, runs a great risk of
being but a tinkling cymbal and sounding brass. But he
who looks to God alone, and does his duty simply and natur-
ally, without pretence or posing, does really edify ; for deeds
speak louder than words, and example tells more than preach-
ing. Edification for edification's sake is the bane of the
spiritual life of some who neglect the liberty wherewith Christ
has made them free [3]. They have edified, as they are
pleased to call it, and the good repute of men is their reward.

(5) In sole pdsuit taber- In the sun He hath set His

ndculum suum : et ipse tarn- tabernacle : and He Himself

quam sponsus procedens de as a Bridegroom coming forth

thdlamo suo [4]. from His chamber.

In this and the following verse the Church has, from the
beginning, seen a marvellous type of the Incarnation. In the
sun He hath set His tabernacle. In the literal sense, of natural
objects, the sun is the best and clearest representation of the

[i] Rom. x. 18.

[2] Cornelius Jansen, Bishop of Ghent (1510-1576), must not be confounded with
bis namesake of Ypres. He wrote a Paraphrase on the Psalms (published 1514), with
valuable annotations.
[3] Gal. iv. 31.

[4] St. Ambrose, in his beautiful hymn, Vent Redemptor Gentium, thus makes
use of this verse : —

" Forth from His Chamber goeth He,
The Royal Hall of Chastity,
In Nature two, in Person one,
His glad course, giant-like, to run.

From God the Father He proceeds,
To God the Father back He speeds ;
Proceeds — as far as very Hell,
Speeds back — to Life ineffable."

120 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

Creator. So the wise man in Ecclesiasticus : The sun when
it appeareth declareth at his rising a marvellous instrument, the
works of the most High [i]. In it many nations of the earth
have seen the image of the God they adore. But for us,
knowing that it shall pass away and the elements shall melt
with fervent heat [2], it is but God's tabernacle. The true
Sun is that which shall no more go down, when the Lord
shall be our everlasting Light and the days of our mourn-
ing shall be ended [3]. Then, in the mystical sense, the
sun and the tabernacle are the Lord's abiding in the Womb
of Mary ; and the writers do not fail to quote from Ecclesias-
ticus that text : As the sun when it ariseth in the high heavens
so is the beauty of a good wife in ordering her house [4]. The
sun is also the spotless soul of Mary shining with the splendour
of her pre-eminent redemption, a meet resting place for the
most High God, the tabernacle He Himself hath made holy [5].
The tabernacle is the flesh of the Lord which was united for
ever to His Divinity. Or again, as they who go out to war
dwell not in houses or tents, so our Lord going forth to His
war with Satan dwelt in the tabernacle of His flesh while
He entered into the conflict with and when He overcame
His enemy.

As a Bridegroom cometh out of His chamber. And here
none can fail to see the Lord's entrance into the world from
the Womb of Mary. The Bridegroom, hereafter to be be-
trothed to the Church on the Cross, came forth, as it were,
in the morning of that day of which the sufferings of Calvary
were the evening. The Eternal Light, says St. John of
Damascus (c. 756), which, proceeding from the Co-eternal
Light, had His existence before all worlds, came forth bodily
from the Virgin Mary, as a Bridegroom from His chamber. [6],

(6) Exsultdvit ut gigas ad He rcjoiceth as a giant to

currendam mam, a summo run His course ; His going
coelo egressio ejus. forth is from the uttermost

heaven.

[l] xliii. 2. [4] xxvi. 21.

[2] 2 Peter Hi. 10. [5] Cf. Exod. xxix. 44.

[3] Is. Ix. 20. [6] Migne, P. L., vol. xcvi. p. 663.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 121

As a giant. The commentators go back for the full
solution of this mystery. For instance, St. Bernard reminds
us that it was from the union of the Sons of God with the
daughters of men [i] that those ancient giants sprang, who
may thus properly be called of twofold substance. It was
the two Natures of our Lord by which the work of our
salvation was accomplished. Thus the word giant in itself
sets forth to us the whole scheme of salvation. I see, says
St. Proclus of Constantinople, His miracles, and I confess
His Divinity : I behold His sufferings, and I cannot deny
His manhood. Emmanuel opened the gates of Nature as a
Man, but it was as God He left His mother ever a virgin. He
came forth from the womb of Mary as by a word He had
entered ; without human corruption did He come forth [2].
St. Ambrose explains more fully the type of the giant. Him,
Holy David the prophet describes as a giant, because, being
One, yet He is double nature. He is both divine and human,
and like a Bridegroom coming forth out of His chamber,
rejoiceth as a giant to run His course. The Bridegroom of
the soul is the Word ; the Giant of the earth, because fulfilling
all the offices of Nature. Being God eternal He undertook
the Mystery of the Incarnation.

His going forth. The Divine Master says : / came forth
from the Father, and am come into the world : again, I leave
the world, and go to the Father [3] ; on which St. Gregory
the Great asks : Would you know the steps by which He
thus came ? From Heaven into the Womb ; from the
Womb to the Manger ; from the Manger to the Cross ; from
the Cross to the Grave ; from the Grave to Heaven. Behold,
to make us follow Him He took these steps, that we might
say from our very hearts, Draw me, we will run after thee [4].
Compare the type of the giant with the description of the
Beloved : Behold He cometh leaping upon the mountains,
skipping upon the hills [5] ; the work of Redemption was far
beyond human strength, and needed a divine Giant to over-
come the mountains and hills which lay in His way.

[i] Gen. vi. 4. [4] Cant. i. 4.

[2! Migne, P. L., vol. Ixv. p. 691. [5] Ibid. ii. 8.

[3] John xvi. 28.

122 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

(7) Et occursus ejus usque And His course is to the end
ad summum Ejus : nee est qui thereof : neither is there any
se abscondat a calore Ejus. one who can hide from His

heat.

Carrying on in this verse the image of the sun, as the
dwelling place of God, or, in other words, of the Incarnation,
we see how beautifully the going forth and the course are
joined. He Whom we love has now gone up to heaven ;
therefore our hearts burn within us while thinking of the
glory which is His, and which is to be ours. No one is hid
from the heat of the Divine Sun, from that fire which He
came to kindle on the earth ; for His grace waits on every
soul. And the thought of our Eternal Home with Him tells us
that His Ascension belongs to us as well as to the angels [ij.
It is our joy as well as theirs ; for it is the opening of the
Father's House in which we look to find our mansion.

(8) Lex Domini immaculdta The Law of God is undefiled,
convertens dnimas : testimd- converting the soul : the testi-
nium Domini fidele, sapien- many of the Lord is sure, giving
tiam prcestans pdrvulis. wisdom to little ones.

(9) Justitice Domini rectce, The statutes of the Lord are
Icetificdntes corda : prceceptum right and rejoice the heart :
Domini lucidum : illuminans the precept of the Lord is light-
oculos. some and giving light to the

eyes.

(10) Timor Domini sanctus, The fear of the Lord is holy
permanens in sceculum sceculi : and cndureth for ever : the
judicia Domini vera, justifi- judgments of the Lord are true
cata in semetipsa. and righteous in themselves.

Christ is ascended into heaven, but His Law is left behind
as the guide and rule of the Church, even to the end. Now
there is a dead Law and a living Law. The letter killeth, but
the spirit quickeneth, saith St. Paul [2]. Then what is this

[l] " O common joy, O common boast,

To us and that celestial host ;

To them, that He regains the sky,

To us, that He to us is nigh."

— Optatus votis omnium.
[2] 2 Cor. iii. 6.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 123

living Law ? It is the abiding Presence of the Holy Ghost ;
in the Church to teach, in the soul to sanctify. It is by
this Presence we know and can fulfil the Law. This Law,
the Gift of the Holy Ghost, then, is the mantle which fell from
our Elias when He went up on high, and which, if we hold
steadfastly, will divide for us the Jordan of temptation [i].
Giving wisdom to the little ones, that is, says the Carthusian,
the humble, by submitting their intellect to the teaching of the
Holy Ghost, show in their deeds what they believe : / praise
Thee, Father, Lord of Heaven and earth, because Thou hast
hidden these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed
them to little ones [2].

Testimony properly belongs to things that are to be believed ;
Precept to what is to be done. And notice, says St. Bruno of
Aste, that the first character of Christ's Law is that it is un-
defiled : purity being put foremost as the foundation of all
the service of God, just as impurity occupies the first place in
almost every scriptural text of sin ; for, says Zigabenus (1125),
the greatest saints have taught more will be condemned at the
end of the world for more or less direct breaches of the sixth
commandment than all the other commandments put together.
Says St. Peter Damian : A certain simple-minded and honest
man, one that feared God, had been hearing Matins and was
returning from church. His disciples asked him, What did
you hear at church, father ? He answered, I heard four
things and observed six. A very subtle reply, and one which
showed his faith. He had heard four verses of this Psalm,
in which six things are noted : law, testimony, righteousness,
commandments, fear, judgment [3]. Now, observe the six-
fold division of these excellencies. Holy Scripture, as our
blessed Lord taught us in the wilderness, gives us weapons
of defence against temptation. But six is always the type
of temptation [4]. After purity, as so continually in script-

[i] 2 Kings ii. 13, 14. [2] Luke x. 21.

[3] Migne, P. L., vol. cxliv. p. 564.

[4] On the sixth hour of the sixth day the first temptation came into the world :
the sixth petition of the Lord's Prayer is, Lead us not into temptation : the sixth
blessing pronounced to the Seven Churches is : Because thou hast kept the word of my
patience, I will also keep thee from the hour of temptation (Apoc. iii. 10), and the

i24 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

ural lists of virtues, comes truth : The testimony of the Lord
is sure. Then, that which our Lord Himself made one of the
chief marks of His Gospel — that it should be preached to the
poor — is also mentioned here : Wisdom unto the little ones.
Notice further, the connection between purity (or lightsome-
ness) of heart and illumination : The commandment of the
Lord is lightsome and giveth light unto the eyes : exactly as in
the beatitude — Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see
God [i]. Yet it must be confessed to be rather marvellous
that holy writers on this Psalm seem unable to trace the
especial connection between these six characteristics of the
Word of God and do not see in them a ladder set upon
earth and reaching to heaven.

Rejoicing the heart of those who through charity observe
them ; for virtuous living is a natural delight.

The precept of the Lord is lightsome, that is, clear and
appealing to our reason as a ray of divine justice and of
eternal light giving light to the eyes of the heart, that is, to the
intellect and the memory, lest they become steeped in the
darkness of error.

The fear of the Lord is holy, that is, the Fear which is the
gift of the Holy Ghost, the fear of sons : and remaining for
ever, for bestowed while we are on earth the gift remains in
heaven. There, at this moment, the human Soul of Jesus is
penetrated with the reverential fear of God by the abiding
Presence of the Holy Ghost.

Righteous in themselves ; for not only do they come from
God, and therefore must be well ordered in themselves, but
as we are the objects of His judgments so we are bound
to acknowledge that these judgments are right and reasonable.
(u) Desiderabilia super More to be desired are they

aurum et Idpidem pretiosum than gold and much precious
multum, et dulciora super met stone, sweeter also than honey
etfavum. and the honeycomb.

In these three things some commentators see the chief

whole culminates in the 666, the mark of the Beast (Apoc. xii. 18), the most fearful
of the many tempters that shall ever rise up against the Church.

[i] Matt. v. 8.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 125

allurements of the world — riches, in the gold, power in the
precious stones, pleasure in the honey. But, says St. John
Chrysostom, the flowers that produce this honey were fed
by no earthly dew ; the gentle distillations of the Holy Ghost
gave them not only their beauty, but their sweetness [ij. And
here notice how the Psalmist constantly uses honey in a good
sense, or as a type of holy things. For instances of the
opposite treatment : Ye shall burn no leaven, nor any honey [2]
is the command of the Law ; It is not good to eat much
honey [3]. Perhaps, without being too minute, we may see in
the special reference to the honeycomb a connection between
the six-sided cell and the six-fold characteristics just men-
tioned of the Word of God.

(12) Etenim servus Tuus For Thy servant hath kept
custodit ea, in custodiendis illis them, in keeping them there is
retributio multa. much reward.

According to Gerohus, our thoughts are here to turn
to Him, the Servant of His Father, Who when tempted in
the desert drew from the same sacred Word a three-fold
quotation which put to flight the Devil in his three attempts.
Thy servant. Holy men have not feared to apply Well done,
good and faithful servant of the parable to our Lord Who came
to do the will of Him that sent Him; and Who had the praise
from the people, He hath done all things well [4]. In keeping of
them. Not for keeping of them, though that also ; but here
it is spoken of the promise of the Life that now is, rather than
that which is to come. It is the promise of the reward of
closer union with God which comes from a conscience without
a stain.

(13) Delicta quis intelligit ? Who can understand sins ?
Ab occultis meis munda me : et From my secret sins cleanse
ab alienis parce servo Tuo. me, and preserve Thy servant

from aliens.

Who, indeed, can fathom the depth of iniquity into which
he has fallen ? Who can estimate the baseness of his ingratitude
to God, his presumption, his selfishness ? Who can estimate

[i] Corder i. 364. [3] Prov. xxv.a;.

[2] Levit. ii. II. [4] Mark *"• 37

126 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

the insult sin gives to God by depriving Him of the service
due from every creature ? Who can understand the awfulness
of the chastisement in store ? Or who can gauge the price
of forgiveness, or the value of the drops of the precious Blood ?
My secret faults. These commentators dwell on the tribunal
of penance in which we are ourselves the accusers and our-
selves the culprits ; where we proclaim the most hidden thoughts
of our hearts in order that hereafter the Eternal Judge may
not say, Thou didst it secretly, but I will proclaim it before
all Israel and before this Sun [i].

Cleanse me, however bitter the medicine, however full of
shame the confession. From aliens, that is, from others who
see their own interests and not ours. So from the devil and
other enemies of our salvation who seek to drag us into their
own state of banishment from our true country. St. Bruno
distinguishes two kinds of sins : the secret sins, which arise
in us from original sin and from our own sinful nature ; and
the sins of others, the suggestions of bad spirits or of bad
companions external to the soul.

(14) Si mei non fuerint If they get not dominion

domindti, tune immaculdtus over me then shall I be unde-

ero : et emunddbor a delicto filed, and shall be cleansed

mdximo. from the great offence.

The terrible word dominion recalls the chain of sin, which,
link by link, binds the soul, until one day it surely ends, if
we repent not, in the great offence, that unforgiven sin, the sin
against the Holy Ghost — final impenitence : Woe to them when
I shall depart from them [2]. This is the second Death [3].

(15) Et erunt ut compldceant And the words of my mouth
eloquia oris mei : et meditdtio will be pleasing : and the
cordis mei in consplctu Tuo meditation of my heart always
semper. in Thy sight.

(16) Domine, adjutor meus, 0 Lord my Helper and my
et redemptor meus. Redeemer !

He begins with the fruit, the words of my mouth and goes
down to the root, the meditation of my heatt. It is singular

[i] 2 Kings xii. 12. [2] Osee ix. 12. [3] Apoc. xx. 14.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 127

that as this connection between the words and the thought
follow in the Psalm the mention of the great offence, so that
of the tree and its fruit [i] immediately succeeds in the
Gospel to that saying concerning blasphemy against the Holy
Ghost.

Always in Thy sight. If we lead a stainless life then our
thoughts are never far away from God's Presence.

So the Psalm ends. It began by telling how the heavens
declare the glory of God ; it ends by telling how we should
make known that glory. It began by recalling the perpetual
succession of days and nights, with their ceaseless showing
forth of God's praises ; it ends with the prayer that our suppli-
cations may be always pleasing before Him Who is our Helper,
now that He has made us His Own, as He was our Redeemer
when we were far off. Our Helper to enable us to reach the
Land flowing with milk and honey ; our Redeemer from the
land of Egypt and from the house of bondage.

GLORIA PATRI.

Glory be to the Father from Whom was the going forth of
the Son ; and to the Son Who cometh forth as a Bridegroom
out of His chamber ; and to the Holy Ghost the Spiritual
heat from which nothing is hid.

ANTIPHON.

Ante torum hujus Virginis Before the Maiden's conch

frequentdte nobis dulcia can- repeat to us the sweet songs of
tica dramatis. the play.

Under the guise of a nuptial song, Solomon, in the Canticle
of Canticles, sings of the spiritual espousals between Jesus
Christ and the soul, between the Head and the Members of
the Mystical Body. The Canticle is laid out in the form of a
drama between the Beloved and the Spouse ; and it is this
which seems to be the play referred to in the Antiphon. The
sweet songs would be those the Beloved sings to His Spouse,
such as : Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For, lo,
the winter is past, the rain is over and gone : the flowers have

[i] Luke vi. 44.

128 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

appeared on earth . . . Behold thou art all fair, my love ;
there is no spot in thee [i]. As our Lady is the highest of all
creatures and the one who has been brought into closer union
with her Maker than any one else, these sweet songs of the play
apply to her in a more perfect way than to others. Holy
Church has always delighted so to apply them and to draw out
their appropriateness to her who is fairest among the daughters
of men. The antiphon also accentuates the idea which seems
to pervade this nocturn, viz., God's design towards Mary,
the work of His hands, the sharer, by compassion, in the
Redemption, the type of union of the Creature with the Maker.

PSALM XXIII.

Title : The First of the Sabbath, a Psalm of David.

Argument.

Tomasi. That Christ sets the Church redeemed by His
Blood above the waves of the sea. The voice of the
Church after baptism. Concerning the beginning of the
Church in which the princes of idols are excluded, and the
kings of the same Church enter therein, and of the confirma-
tion of the believing people. The gates of which he speaks
are sins, or the gates of hell.

Venerable Bede. The first of the Sabbath signifies the
Lord's Day, which is the first day after the Sabbath, on which
day the Lord arose from the dead. And because the whole
Psalm is sung after the Resurrection, therefore this title is well
fitted to admonish the hearts of the faithful. After the Resur-
rection of the Lord the Prophet becomes more joyful ;
addresses the human race then labouring with various super-
stitions ; defining in the first part that the whole of the
universe is the Lord's and, as no one was excepted from His
empire, so none should believe anything opposed to His faith.
In the second place, he determines with what virtues they
are endued who are set in His Church. Thirdly, he speaks
lovingly to the heathen, that turning to the service of the true
God they depart from their harmful perversity.

[i] Cant. ii. 10; iv. 7.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 129

(i) Domini est terra, et pleni- The earth is the Lord1 sand

tudo ejus : orbis terrarum, et the fulness thereof : the com-
universi qui habitant in eo. pass of the world and all that

dwell therein.

Whether or not this psalm was composed, as is probable,
for the feast of bringing up the Ark from the house of Obed
Edom to Mount Sion, at all events it was appropriated by the
Jews to the first day of the week, and for many centuries has
been used by the Church in the Sunday matins. St. Paul
uses this verse to settle the controversy regarding meat offered
to idols [i], which, like everything else, belongs to God, and
could not really be affected by its pretended dedication to the
idols that are nothing in the world. It is used in a very beauti-
ful sense by the Greeks in the funeral service at the moment
when the coffin is let down into the grave, that is, of the multi-
tude of the bodies of the faithful who there are awaiting His
Second Coming ; Innocent III. made use of it as an argument
for the paying of tithes ; as if it were not much for man to
return the tenth of that which belongs to God entirely.

And all that is therein. Notice the difference between the
blessing of Jacob and Esau, which at first sight seems precisely
the same. God, says Isaac to Jacob, give thee of the dew of
heaven, and of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and
wine [2] ; while that of Esau was : Behold thy dwelling shall
be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above.
[3], The difference consists in this : in one, heaven is put
first, as imparting a true benediction to earth ; in the other
it is mentioned last, as having no real lot or portion in the
matter. Origen observes that till the time of our Lord's
Advent the earth's fulness was not as yet ; as it is written :
Of His fulness have we all received [4].

The compass of the world, or the round world as it is called
in another psalm. Albert the Great remarks that this
shows that the Church is not now, as of old, confined to
one land and to one nation, but spread abroad over the
whole face of the earth. The earth is the Lord's. And yet,

[i] i Cor. x. 26. [3] Ibid. 39.

[2] Gen. xxvii. 28. [4] John i. 16.

130 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

says Gerohus, the devil, the father of lies, ventured to say
to its rightful owner : All this will I give Thee and the glory of
it, for that is delivered unto me and unto whomsoever I will give
it [i]. Be, then, says the commentator, like Him Who did
not say in return: The earth is Mine and the fulness thereof!
and not like the great dragon, which said : My river is mine
own and I made it for myself [2]. And notice the different
way in which our Lord met two false claims of possession,
Satan's and Pilate's. Satan's boast — This is mine — was only
answered by a dismissal : Get thee hence, Satan. Pilate's
speech — Knowest Thou not that I have power? — was met with
an argument : Thou couldst have no power at all against Me
except it were given thee [3]. Satan, to whom no place was
left for repentance, was not thought worthy of a reply ; Pilate,
who might yet have been saved, was. The earth is the Lord's,
and therefore it was well and wisely ordered that, just before
her Lord and Possessor came to visit her, There went out
a decree from Ccesar Augustus that all the world should be
taxed [4].

(2) Quia Ipse super mdria For He hath founded it

funddvit eum : et super flu- upon the seas and prepared it
mina prcepardv it eum. upon the floods.

The literal sense of this verse is much disputed, but two
explanations stand prominent above the rest. The one, St.
Augustine's, is that since, by the Lord's command, the waters
were gathered together in one place, in order that the dry
land might appear, so, in a certain sense, the earth may be
said to be formed by, or founded upon, this gathering together
of the waters. The other explanation, which the Greek fathers
adopt, is that of. the earth being founded on, or fashioned by,
the admixture of water, without which they say it would
become dust and crumble away. But in the mystical sense,
the seas may be taken for troubles and temptations, in which
the earth, that is, the Church dispersed throughout the world,
is founded ; while the floods signify the effusion of God's
grace, by which also She is established. The bitter water

[i] Luke iv. 6. [3] John xix. 10, II.

[2] Ezek. xxix. 3. [4] Luke ii. I.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 131

and the sweet water, says Albert the Great, are both equally
necessary for her : The waves of the sea that are mighty and
rage horribly [i] on the one side ; the rivers of the flood
that make glad the City of God [2] on the other. St.
Ambrose understands both the seas and the floods of one
and the same thing, namely, tribulation. In tribulation, says
he, the Church is founded, in tempests and storms, in anxieties
and griefs ; and it is prepared in the floods of adversities.

(3) Quis ascendet in mon- Who shall ascend unto the

tern Domini ? aut quis stabit hill of the Lord f and who
in loco sancto Ejus f shall stand in His holy place f

It is, says Gerohus, as if we, yet tossed about by the waves
and storms of this world, these waves in which the Church is
founded, were asking the way to that Mountain of heavenly
peace, whither our Lord has already ascended as of old time,
to pray for us. It is the same thing that is written : Come ye
and let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord, to the House
of the God of Jacob [3]. Many will say, let us go up, but
here the prophets ask : who, of all that number, shall ascend ?
seeing that many are called but few are chosen [4]. And
having gone up, who shall stand in that holy place ? But the
interpretations of this hill are endless. Some take it for the
Church militant ; some the Church triumphant ; some under-
stand it of Christ Himself, in which they are authorised by
that prophecy of Daniel when Nebuchodonosor beheld the
stone cut out without hands which became a great mountain
and filled the whole earth [5]. Others, strangely enough,
explain it of Satan ; some of the state of perfection ; and
some of the Cross. But the explanation which sees in it
the heavenly mountain — the mount of God, the rich mountain
[6], Mount Sion, the City of the Living God, the heavenly
Jerusalem [7], as the Apostle writes, is by far the best and the
truest. And no doubt there is an allusion to those mountains
into which Moses, Lot, Aaron and Elias were commanded by
God to go.

[i] Ps. xciii. 3. [4] Matt. xx. 16.

[2] Cf. Ps. xlv. 4. [5] Dan. ii. 34.

[3] Isa. ii. 3. [6] Ps. Ixvii. 15.

[7] Heb. xii. 22.

132 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

(4) Innocens mdnibus et Even he that hath clean

mundo corde, qui non accepit hands and a pure heart, that
in vano dnimam suam, nee hath not lifted up his mind to
jurdvit in dolo proximo suo. vanity nor sworn to deceive his

neighbour.

Now we come to the four conditions requisite to render
such an ascent possible : (i) He that hath clean hands — absti-
nence from evil-doing ; (2) and a pure heart — abstinence from
evil thought ; (3) that hath not lifted up his mind to vanity —
who does that duty he is sent into the world to do : Fear
God and keep His commandments, for this is all man [i] ;
(4) nor sworn to deceive — and remember the vows by which
he is bound to God. Father Lorin remarks, that as in the
fullest sense there was but One in Whom all these things were
fulfilled, so, in reply to the question : Who shall ascend unto
the hill of the Lord, he might well answer : No man hath
ascended up into heaven save He that came down from heaven,
even the Son of Man Who is in heaven [2]. Therefore it is well
written, says St. Bernard, that such a high priest became us ;
because He knows the difficulties of the ascent to the heavenly
mountain. He knows the weakness of us that have to ascend.

He that hath clean hands. So clean that they cleansed the
leprosy ; so clean that they not only healed all manner of
sickness and all manner of disease, but were stretched out to
pardon sin ; so clean that the streams which poured from
them on the Cross are to the cleansing of all evil deeds till
the world's end. Thus Gerohus.

And a pure heart. Who, says St. Bernard, can conceive,
much more express, the purity of that shrine, that Heart,
where purity strove with love, which should have the pre-
eminence, in a most sweet and tender contest — never to be
decided ; that Heart, which, being opened by the spear, gave
access to all guilty, all polluted creatures ; offered a hiding-
place in the Rock from the anger that consumed a corrupted
world.

That hath not lifted up his mind to vanity. No, for being
in the form of God, and thinking it not robbery to be equal with

[i] Eccle. xii. 13. [2] John iii. 13.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 133

God [i], He yet made Himself a worm and no man [2]. Nor
sworn to deceive his neighbour. That promise to redeem man,
that declaration that the Woman should bruise the serpent's
head [3] was, as St. Paul says, a faithful saying and worthy
of all acceptation. And therefore that by two immutable things,
in which it was impossible that God should lie, we may have
strong consolation [4].

(5) Hie accipiet benedictio- He shall receive the blessing

ncm a Domino : et misericor- from the Lord : and mercy
diam a Deo salutdri suo. from the God of his salvation.

Whether like Abraham entertaining angels unawares, or
like miserable Lazarus, carried by the same angels into
Abraham's bosom, he shall receive the blessing from the Lord,
and righteousness, that is, love and mercy, so called, because
faithfully promised, and therefore righteously bestowed. So
Gerohus.

Of his salvation. And notice here, again, the appro-
priating pronoun ; the God of the salvation of all men is
spoken of as the God of his salvation only who is thus blessed.
Thus Father Lorin.

Mercy. And yet St. Augustine, commenting on such
passages as this and those others which the Lord, the righteous
Judge, shall give in that day [5], That they may have a right to
the Tree of Life [6], and the like, says beautifully : He, O Lord,
that enumerates to Thee his true merits, what else does he
count up but Thy gifts ? And in another place : When God
crowns our own merits He only crowns His own gifts. Yet
it is better to see in this and the following verse the connec-
tion of the Head with the members, of the Captain with His
soldiers, of the King with His people. He, that is, our Lord
and Saviour, shall receive the blessing ; and not only He but
faithful people with Him ; for it is written : —

(6) Hcec est generdtio quce- This is the generation of them

rentium Eum, qucerentium that seek Him, of them that seek
fdciem Dei Jacob. the face of the God of Jacob.

[i] Phil. ii. 6. [4] Heb. vi. 18.

[2] Ps. xxi. 7. [5] 2 Tim. iv. 8.

[3] Gen. iii. 15. [6] Apoc. xxii. 14.

134 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

Because this mountain is so difficult to climb, because this
Law of God is so hard for unaided nature to keep, therefore it
might well be thought that only two or three in an age, nay,
perhaps only He Who is righteous, had been able to ascend it.
This verse, Albert the Great remarks, shows how mistaken
such an idea is. St. Bernard distinguishes these generations :
The first, those who remain yet unbaptised, who neither seek
nor are sought by God ; the second, those who are sought by
God in baptismal regeneration, but who seek Him not because
not crucifying and utterly abolishing the whole body of sin ;
the third, those who both seek and are sought, having been
found by Him in baptism, and finding Him every day in
earnest prayer and holy life ; the fourth, those who seek Him
in a more special sense as having entirely given themselves up
to Him in the religious life.

That seek the face of the God of Jacob. He Whom we seek is
called the God of Jacob to signify that we also must struggle
and wrestle as did that patriarch until the breaking of the day
[i], if we would attain Him ; according to Jacob's words :
I will not let Thee go till Thou hast blessed me [2] ; which lesson
in earnestness of prayer is also taught by the double repeti-
tion : Them that seek Him ; even of them that seek the face of
the God of Jacob. On which says Venerable Bede : That seek
Thy face ! But what shall it be when the seeking shall have
passed and the finding shall have begun ? When we shall not
only behold the goodly pearl, but, having sold all we had, merit
to purchase it ; when the time of prayer is over and that of
praise shall have begun [3].

(7) Attollite portas principes Lif tup your gates 0 ye princes

vestras et 6levdmini portce ceter- and be ye lift up ye everlasting
ndles : et introibit Rex gldrice. doors ; and the King of Glory

shall come in.

[l] Gen. xxxii. 24. [2] Ibid. \. 26.

[3] St. Bernard says : —

" Jesu, the hope of souls forlorn,
How good to them for sin that mourn !
To them that seek Thee O how kind,
But what art Thou to them that find ? "

— jfesu dulcis memoria.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 135

There are six principal meanings of this verse. The first
applies to Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm
Sunday after His many wanderings, even as the Ark finally
rested on Mount Sion. The second, adopted by St. Gregory
the Great, refers it to our Lord's descent into hell, His bursting
the gates of brass, and smiting the bars of iron in sunder [i].
St. Epiphanius (536) has, in one of his sermons, a magnificent
passage in which he represents our Lord attended by an army
of angels, Michael and Gabriel in the fore-ranks, demanding
admission at hell-gate, bursting open the unwilling doors,
tearing them from their hinges, casting them forth into the
abyss, commanding that they shall never be raised any
more. Christ, he exclaims, Christ the Door is present ; unto
God the Lord belong the issues of death [2]. The third
signification would see in this verse the exclamation of the
angels attending our ascending Lord. O faith, exclaims
Gerohus, O eternal gate by whose present vision thou art
perfected and exalted ! And thou, O hope of the elect, which
fixed on eternal blessings canst never disappoint, now exult,
now rejoice, for lo, the King of Glory is about to enter in, to
disappoint His servants of no part of the blessings which have
been promised by thee. The fourth meaning, St. Augustine's,
is that the princes are the kings of the world who are called,
by accepting the Gospel, to permit the King of Glory to enter
into their several territories. This would give to the verse the
idea of a prayer for the Propagation of the Faith that the earth
which is the Lord's might be His by faith, hope, and charity.
The fifth meaning sees in the verse a prophecy of the Incar-
nation ; and on this account it forms the offertory in the
Mass for the Vigil of Christmas. This sense is adopted by
St. Jerome, though here also he would find a spiritual reference
to the virtual opening of the gates of heaven by the fact of our
Lord taking flesh. The sixth interpretation is in this wise :
Ye who were once the sharers of sin, but are now not only
free, but princes, as gods, kings, and priests, lift up your gates,
removing the barriers which sin puts between you and God,
and those once gone be ye lifted up ye everlasting doors of

[i] Isaias xlv. 2. [2] Migne, P. L., xliii. p. 458 (Inter dubia).

136 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

virtue and holiness which cannot pass away, and then the
King of Glory shall enter His palace of the believing soul. So
St. Bruno, and Richard Rolle [i], after Origen.

(8) Quis est Iste rex glories ? Who is this King of Glory ?

Dominus fortis et potens : D6- The Lord strong and mighty ;
minus potens in prcelio. the Lord mighty in battle.

The explanation of this must, of course, depend on the
meaning we have attached to the previous verse. If that
demand was addressed to the spirits of darkness, then the
attendant angels may well speak of the victories won by the
Lord in former days ; now for His people Israel when He
overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea ; when the
walls of Jericho fell down at the blast of the trumpet ; when
the seven nations were cast out before the chosen tribes ; the
victories over their enemies from the possession of the Holy
Land till the overthrow of Antiochus. If we see in the demand
the voice of the triumphant angels at the Ascension, well may
they speak of the Lord mighty in battle, when Satan and all his
hosts, when sin, and death, and hell have first been utterly
routed. The words of Vieira are well worth notice : When
Christ ascended in triumph to heaven the angels who accom-
panied Him said to those who kept guard : Lift up, 0 ye
Princes, your gates, and the King of Glory shall come in. They
think the term strange ; and before opening the portal they
enquire : Who is the King of Glory ? To the one and for the
other band St. Augustine replies with these noble words :
The heavenly spirits beheld Christ all glorious with His
wounds ; and bursting into admiration at those glittering
standards of divine virtue, they poured forth the hymn, Who
is this King of Glory ? Wonderful saying ! Christ our Lord
in the day of His Ascension went arrayed with glorious gifts
like the blessed One that He was ; but the angels call Him
not the King of Glory because they saw Him glorious, but
because they saw Him wounded. Far greater glory for Christ
and for the angels were those marks of His passion than the
endowments of His blessedness. Or again, if we refer the

[i] Richard Rolle of Hampoole (1290-1349) was a Yorkshire hermit and mystical
writer of great piety. He is sometimes called the English Bonaventura.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 137

former verse to the Annunciation, the question here is only
that of our ever dear and blessed Lady. Who is the King of
Glory? And herein we adore with her the greatness of His love,
that the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle, did
not abhor the Virgin's Womb and vouchsafed to dwell there
till her days were accomplished [i].

(9) AttGlite portas principes Lift up, 0 ye princes, your
vestras, et elevdmini portce gates, and be ye lifted up ye
ceterndles : et introibit : Rex everlasting doors, and the King
glorice. of Glory shall come in.

(10) Quisestlste rex Glorice f Who is the King of Glory f
Dominus Virtutum : Ipse est Even the Lord of Hosts, He is
Rex glorice. the King of Glory.

Only one observation remains upon the repeated demand
and reply. In the first, according to St. Augustine, the
Lord victorious over the grave, was ascending into heaven
alone, so far as human nature was concerned ; alone, so far
as regards His faithful servants, bearing the burthen and heat
of the day, while He was entering into rest. But now in this
verse we look forward to the end of the world. And behold,
He reascends, not now by Himself, but with all the multitude
of the Redeemed, with all His saints from the beginning
of the world to the last whose name is written in the Book of
Life. Fitting, then, is the reply to the first question, The Lord
strong and mighty ; for what greater proof of might than the
overthrow of death and hell ? And with equal force the
second reply is, The Lord of Hosts. For not as a single warrior
in triumph does He come, but as a mighty Chief, followed by
the throng of His victorious soldiers. And may the Lord of
Hosts, so an old preacher concludes a sermon on this subject,
the true David, the Victor over the spiritual Goliath, the
Founder of the everlasting City and Mount Sion, be to us the
pacific Solomon, the Lord, yet in another sense of Hosts, and
introduce us one day into that Land where Juda and Israel
shall be in multitude as many as the sand which is by the sea,
eating and drinking and making merry [2].

[i] Luke ii. 6. (2) Cf. I Kings iv. 20.

138 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

GLORIA PATRI.

Glory be to the Father Whose is the earth and all that is
therein ; and to the Son, the King of Glory ; and to the Holy
Ghost the Righteousness of the God of our salvation.

VERSICLE AND RESPONSE.
y. Diffusa est gratia in Idbiis Grace is poured forth on

tuis. thy lips.

ty. Propterea bcnedixit te Wherefore hath God blessed

Deus in ceternum. thee for ever.

This versicle is taken from the following psalm. Applied
here to our ever dear and blessed Lady, it turns back our
thoughts to the Annunciation, to that grace on her lips
which showed itself in that wonderful casting of herself at
the feet of her Maker, and abandoning herself entirely to His
will : Behold the handmaid of the Lord : be it done unto me
according to Thy word [i]. This was the grace of God, His
mighty favour that chose her to be His mother. With this
choice she had nothing to do ; but when the hour came,
grace was poured forth on her lips to enlighten her intellect
and assist her will to make the voluntary act of submission.
It was by this willing consent that she merited that He should
bless her for ever. In the three preceding psalms we have
had suggested to us, Mary, the work of God's hands, crowned
with glory and honour, sanctified as the divine tabernacle,
pure and clean of heart receiving blessings from God, her
salvation ; or, in other words, our ever dear and blessed Lady
as Daughter of God the Father, Mother of God the Son, and
Spouse of the Holy Ghost. And now the Versicle and
Response come to tell us the reason of it all was her full
consent, foreseen from all ages, to be the Mother of the Word
made flesh.

SECOND NOCTURN.
For Tuesdays and Fridays.

ANTIPHON.

Specie tua et pulchritudine In thy comeliness and thy

tua intende, prospere procede, beauty go fotward, fare pros-
et regna. perously and reign.

[i] Luke i. 38.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 139

The original idea of the Antiphon was the selection of
some one verse of the psalm to give a meaning to the whole.
And we have here a very perfect example. The Antiphon
fixes for us the idea of the glory and majesty of the Heavenly
Bridegroom, The King in all His beauty [i], and the reflected
glory which the Spouse hath, even as the moon reflects the
splendours of the sun. Our ever dear and blessed Lady is the
type and model of all spouses to God ; she alone is all fair,
and without the slightest stain. Therefore this psalm is
rightfully applied to the mystical union between God and
Mary and the relation which results to each one of the Blessed
Trinity.

PSALM XLIV. [2]

Title : To the end : for them that shall be changed : for the
sons of Core, to understanding. A Song for the Beloved.

Tomasi : That Christ, fairer in form than the children
of men, joined by God the Father to the Church, is to be
blessed. The Church is described as the Bride of Christ.

Venerable Bede : The prophet filled with heavenly meats,
promiseth that he will announce the tidings of the Lord's
Incarnation, that whence he himself was satiate, others might
also be fed. The first part contains the praise of the Bride-
groom, that is, of the Lord our Saviour ; in the second part,
the Bride, Holy Church, is praised for a like number of
mystical virtues.

[l] Isaias xxxiii. 17.

[2] This psalm is a marriage song celebrating the espousals of Solomon, the
King of Peace, with the Queen of the South. Some of its old titles are suggestive of
the same idea, such as, "A Song for the Beloved," and " Upon the Lilies." In a
psalm that speaks of the glory of the Virgin Church, of the glorious Queen of Virgins
"that be her fellows," the allusion to the Lilies among which the Beloved of the
Canticles feeds (ii. 16) is exquisitely beautiful.

" Among the lilies dost Thou feed
With virgin choirs accompanied
With glory decked, the spotless brides
Whose bridal gifts Thy love provides."

— Hymn : fesu, corona virginum.

140 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

(1) Eructavit cor Meum My heart bursteth forth the
Verbum bonum : dic6 ego opera Good Word : I tell my works
Mea Regi. to the King.

(2) Lingua Mea columns My tongue is the pen of a
scribce, velociter scribentis. ready writer.

This is the introduction of the psalm, My heart bursteth
forth, as though it could no longer contain the thoughts that
fill it ; Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh [i].
The good word. What can this good word be but the
Eternal Word Himself, Whose espousals are going to be
celebrated ? That same efficacious Word that spake and
it was made ; that commanded and it stood forth ; that
Word that was in the beginning, and was with God, and
was God.

I tell my works to the King. And so the Father tells all
the secrets of His Own eternity to that King anointed by
Him upon the holy hill of Sion ; tells Him the plan of
man's Redemption ; lays out before Him the mystery of
Death destroyed by Death, and the Tree atoned for by
the Tree. And do thou, in another sense, says St. Augustine,
tell thy works also to the King that suffered for thee on the
Cross ; thy works of weakness to the King Omnipotent, thy
works that have any sweet savour of His grace in them to the
King that will unite them to His Own Royal merits, and plead
these merits for thine.

My tongue is as the pen of a ready writer. Just as the
tongue when it speaks must part between the two lips, so
the prophetic tongue speaks under the guidance of the Two
Testaments. Mediaeval commentators are rich in their refer-
ence to these two portions of Holy Scripture. The two
points of a pen that form any one letter reminds them of
that verse : The Lord spoke once and these two things have we
heard [2] ; of the rod and the staff of which David sings ;
of the ladder of Jacob with its two uprights and many
rundles ; of the tongs of Isaias, which between them held
the burning coal. And again, in the double split of the pen
they see the Divine and Human natures of our Lord : the ink

Matt. xii. 34. [2] Ps. Ixi. 12.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 141

is the Blood of Calvary ; the pen, expressing the meaning of
the holder, sets forth Him Who is the express Image of the
Father and renders Him visible to mortal eyes ; and a faultless
pen, too, writing so quickly, so clearly, without blots or
erasures, because working under the guidance of the Holy
Ghost. As Theodoret (458) says : Of the Psalms the Holy
Ghost is author of all; and the tongues of those by whom
they were set down were the ready writers of what He uttereth
and spake unto them [i].

(3) Speciosus forma prce Thou art fairer than the

filiis hominum, diffusa est children of men. Grace is
gratia in labiis Tuis : pro- poured forth from Thy lips :
pterea benedixit Te Dens in therefore God hath blessed
ceternum. Thee for ever.

Most of the Eastern commentators, such as St. Athanasius,
St. Cyril of Alexander, &c., deny that the Incarnate Word
possessed human beauty, and based their teaching on the
words of Isaias : He hath no form nor comeliness, and when we
shall see Him there is no beauty that we should desire Him [2].
But these words surely refer to the disfigurements and sorrows
of the Passion. The more general opinion of the Western
Doctors is that of this Son of David also is that saying true :
In all Israel there was none so much to be praised for His beauty :
from the sole of His feet even to the crown of His head there was
no blemish in Him [3], This is the general tradition of the
Church and the almost universal teaching of Christian art.
St. Bernard, in many and many a passage, tells us of the
exquisite beauty of our Lord's humanity. St. Anselm expressly
blames a certain vision for denying it. St. Isidore breaks forth
with a rapture of admiration at the earthly glory of the
Incarnate Word ; and the Angelical seems to claim such a
belief as certain. But His human beauty had nothing of
mere sensual loveliness. It was in truth the outward reflec-
tion of the majestic soul within. There must have been a
sweetness and a tenderness, a gentleness, and yet a power, about
that Divine Face which could attract so many different people,

[l] Interpretatio in Psalmos, see Migne, P. L., Ixxx.
[2] Isaias liii. 2. [3] 2 Kings xiv. 25.

142 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

the little children, the workmen, the rich and learned [i].
But how that face altered ! Towards the end of that weary
three years and a half of public ministry His face was
marred by toil and exposure ; and when, in the Passion, it
had been smitten by the soldiers, and spat upon ; when that
Divine Head had been crowned with thorns and brought into
the dust of death, then was Isaias' prophecy made true : There
is no beauty that we should desire Him [2]. The sweet face of
the Babe of Bethlehem was lost in the pallor of the death-
stricken Victim.

Grace is poured forth on Thy lips, says the Bride : The lips
of my Spouse drop as the honey-comb : honey and milk are under
Thy tongue [3]. Blessed lips, indeed, that spake as never man
spake ; that said to the poor man sick of the palsy, Thy sins
are forgiven thee [4] ; that comforted the woman taken in
adultery with the assurance, Neither do I condemn thee [5] ;
that on the evening of the Day of Sorrow showed to the
longing eyes of Man that home whence he had been banished,
saying, This day thou shall be with Me in Paradise [6] ; that
by one word made Himself known to her that loved much,
Mary [7] ; that first gave a blessing to the little band of
Apostles ere they said aught further : Peace be unto you [8].
But to us how full of grace if those lips shall one day, after
all our falls, in spite of all our sins, notwithstanding all our
wanderings, bid us Come ye blessed of My Father [9].

Therefore God hath blessed Thee for ever ; that eternal bene-
diction which belongs essentially to the Co-eternal Word, and
that which as Man He merited by doing His Father's will
according to the words of the Prophet : He shall see the travail
of His soul, and shall be satisfied ; by His knowledge shall My
righteous servant justify many : and He shall bear their iniqui-
ties. Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great, and
He shall divide the spoil with the strong, because He hath poured
out His soul unto death [10].

[i] The one type of the face of our Lord, which has been so universally received,
must have had some real foundation.

[2] liii. 2. [5] John viii. II. [8] Ibid. 19.

[3] Cant. iv. n. [6] Luke xxiii. 43. [9] Matt. xxv. 34.

[4] Matt. ix. 2. [7] John xx. 16. [10] Isaias liii. II, 12.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 143

(4) Accingere glddio Tuo Gird Thee with Thy sword
super femur Tuum, Poten- upon Thy thigh 0 Thou most
tissime. mighty.

(5) Specie Tua et pulchri- In Thy comeliness and Thy
tudine Tua intende, prdspere beauty go forward, fare pros-
Procede et regna. perously and reign.

The Psalmist having in a rapture of holiness unveiled the
King of Kings as He is in His Own eternity, now proceeds to
arm Him for His wars on earth.

Thy Sword. St. Paul says, The sword of the spirit, which is
the Word of God [i]. In the highest and noblest sense that
Word is the Son of God, but most commentators agree in
applying to the message of the Gospel this sword of which
the Psalmist speaks. And in this sword bound on the thigh
they see these glad tidings wherewith, as by a mighty weapon,
the enemies of our race are to be hewn down. To this effect
we read in the Apocalypse, the King of Whom this psalm is
indited, hath on His vesture and on His thigh a name written :
King of Kings and Lord of Lords [2]. They take vesture of the
glory of His Divinity ; the thigh of the humility of His
Humanity : in both evermore to be victorious. With thy
sword. There are not wanting those who would see in this
sword the Dolour ; that bitter sword which pierced the heart
of His blissful Mother even from the days of Simeon's
prophecy [3], and pierced also His own, and wrung from
Him the cry : 0 my Father, if it be possible let this cup pass
from Me [4]. Yet, still as we may take it in reference to the
Incarnation ; because, says St. Jerome, had He not first been
true Man to suffer, He could not have thus proved Himself
true God.

Most mighty. God shows His might, as the Church says in
one of the Collects, " most chiefly in showing mercy and
pity." Thus is the sword the proclamation of His mercy
whereby He made His way amongst His enemies ; not in the
storm nor in the earthquake, nor in the fire, but in the still
small voice.

[i] Eph. vi. 17. [3] Luke ii. 35.

[2 Apoc. xix. 16. [4] Matt. xxvi. 39.

144 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

Go forward, fare prosperously and reign. These words
addressed to our Lord are best interpreted, it seems, by that
passage in the Apocalypse when the four living creatures
address their Lord in four different characters with Come [i] ;
and He accordingly appears successively as the Rider on the
White Horse, as the Conqueror on the Red Horse, as the
Warrior on the Black Horse, as the Judge on the Pale Horse
with Death and Hell led in triumph behind Him. Going
forth to conquer, He conquers and reigneth for ever Master
of Life and Death. Or with Denis the Carthusian : Set out
from the most chaste Womb of Mary ; fare prosperously in
establishing Thy Church ; and reign by faith and grace here
below in the hearts of the faithful, and in heaven by the
Beatific Vision.

(6) Propter veritdtem, et Because of Truth and

mansuetudinem, et justitiam : Meekness and Righteousness :

et deducet Te mirabiliter and Thy right hand shall

d/xtera Tua. lead Thee wondrously.

Thou shalt reign because of Truth and Meekness and
Righteousness. Here commentators find a glorious application
to the three orders of the saints : the truth of martyrs, the
meekness of confessors, the righteousness of just men. And
these all reflect back upon Him Who is the Martyr's crown,
Whose meekness was learnt by confessors and Whose righteous-
ness gives merit to all godly souls. Denis the Carthusian
explains the words : Because in truth, meekness, and righteous-
ness Thou wert confirmed, O Christ, from Thy Mother's womb,
therefore in all Thy conversation without fault shall Thy right
hand, that is, Thy Divine Nature, lead Thee wonderfully. Or,
Thy right hand, that is, the works of Thy right hand, shall lead
Thee wondrously ; from the form of a servant and the death of
the Cross to the express Image of the Father and the sharing
of His Throne. For here, the Psalmist gives, as it were,
a summary of the teaching of St. Paul, showing how the
suffering of the Incarnate Word merited the elevation of the
sacred Humanity.

[i] vi. 1-8.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 145

(7) Sagittce Tuce acutce, Thine arrows are sharp :
pdpuli sub Te cadent, in corda the people shall fall under
inimicorum regis. Thee : into the hearts of the

King's enemies.

Verily, sharp are the arrows of love which subdue the
hardest hearts among the people that imagine a vain thing
against the Lord and against His Anointed [i] ; O glorious
wound, cries St. Gregory Nyssen (c. 394), O sweet stroke
whereby life and love penetrate into the inner man ! Thine
arrows in very deed : Thou art the true Eliseus that must
command Joas to take bow and quiver [2] ; Thou must lay
Thy hands, Thy wounded hands, on his to strengthen them,
before each Joas among Thy people can shoot the arrow of
the Lord's deliverance. And all their virtue comes from Thy
Bed of Death, the hard Bed of the Cross. These were the
arrows that pierced the hearts of the martyrs, and therefore we
fools counted their life madness, and their end to be without
honour [3].

(8) Sedes tua Deus in see- Thy seat, 0 God, is for ever :
culum sceculi : virga direc- the rod of rule is the rod of
tidnis virga regni Tui. Thy kingdom.

Unto the Son He saith it [4]. The Holy Ghost, therefore,
teaches Who it is that speaks and Who it is that is spoken to.
It is not wonderful that the Jews and Arians should have been
perpetually pressed with the beginning of this verse as a formal
proof of the Divinity of the expected Messiah ; as a proof,
too, which no art of the devil or man can gainsay.

Thy seat. What seat is meant ? Is it the Seat of Judgment
which at the consummation of all things the Son, according
to St. Paul, will resign to the Father [5], Or is it the Seat
of Kingly Authority which will last for ever ? He shall reign over
the house of Jacob, and of His kingdom there shall be no end [6].

The rod. This is the rod that devoured the serpents of the
spiritual Pharaoh, itself esteemed as one of them when they
said, He hath a devil [7], This is the rod which divided the

[l] Ps. ii. 2. [5] Cf. I Cor. xv. 24.

[2] 4 Kings, xiii. 16. [6] Luke i. 33.

[3] Cf. Wisdom v. 4. [7] John x. 20.

[4] Heb. i. 8.
10

146 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

Red Sea in two parts and made its depths a way for the
ransomed to pass over. This is the rod which, stretched out
against Pharaoh and his hosts, overwhelmed them in the
mighty waters. This is the rod that smote the stony rock
and the waters gushed out and the streams flowed withal.
This is the rod that, laid up in the Tabernacle, bloomed
blossoms and yielded almonds. This is the rod or sceptre
which every trembling Esther must touch to live. This is the
rod we must hold forth in our hands when we eat the spiritual
passover. This is the rod wherewith we must pass with Jacob
over Jordan. This is the rod that breaks the staff of His shoulder,
the rod of His oppressor [i] ; that shatters the Assyrian, the rod
of His anger [2] ; through which the rod of the ungodly shall
not rest upon the lot of the righteous [3] ; that causes the
wicked to exclaim concerning the spiritual Moab : How is the
strong staff broken and the beautiful rod that overthrows the rod
of pride in the mouth of the foolish [4] . Finally, the rod is the
Sceptre rising out of Israel [5] that Balaam saw in the vision.

(9) Dilexisti justitiam, et Thou hast loved righteous-

odisti iniquitdtem : propterea ness and hast hated iniquity :
unxit Te Deus, Deus Tuus, oleo therefore God, Thy God, hath
Icetitice prce consdrtibus Tuis. anointed Thee with the oil of

gladness above Thy fellows.

Thou hast loved righteousness [6], An oriental commen-
tator says : Thou, O Christ, the King, hast loved righteous-
ness. To whom else should we address it ? How He loved
it He showed by the fulfilment of the promise made as soon
as the earthly paradise was lost, that the heavenly Eden should
be won by His own sufferings; that promise on which so
many prophets and righteous men anchored their hopes ; that
promise which, tried in Gethsemane, on the Way of Sorrows,
at Calvary, was triumphant over all the agony, endured all the
shame, lived through and prevailed by death.

[i] Isaias ix. 4. [4] Jer. xlviii. 17.

[2] Ibid. x. 5. [5] Numbers xxiv. 17.

[3] Ps. cxxiv. 3.

[6] These, in the first person, were the last words of St. Gregory VII., and he
added, " and therefore I die in exile."

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 147

Therefore. And that, the Angelical says, either as a final
or effective cause, therefore hast Thou wrought righteousness
that God might anoint Thee ; or, to this end hath God
anointed Thee as King, Priest and Prophet ; that Thy sceptre
might be the golden sceptre of mercy, or the iron one of
severity ; that Thy staff might bring forth living waters for
Thy people as did that of Moses ; and, as did not that of
Eliseus, raise the corpse, the human race, dead in sins, to a
better life.

The oil of gladness. We may take this clause in two senses.
The first, Wherefore, 0 God, Thy God hath anointed Thee ; where
we have, as St. Hilary (368) remarks, a manifest reference to
the Blessed Trinity ; the address being to the Son, 0 God, the
action from the Father, Thy God ; and the Holy Ghost repre-
sented by the oil of gladness, as it is written : How God anointed
Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost [i] ; and as the Church
sings in the hymn : Tu spiritalis unctio. But others, as St.
Athanasius, see in the redoubled nominative the Father and
the Holy Ghost, taking the oil of gladness rather of the
grace of that Blessed Spirit than Himself, and considering our
Lord's Person sufficiently expressed, though not absolutely
named. In this second explanation it may be asked : Why
is the Holy Ghost called Thy God ? The reason is not far to
find. It is on account of the particular relation the Third
Person has with the Sacred Humanity of Jesus. The work
of the Incarnation, the forming of the Sacred Body from the
most pure blood of our ever dear and blessed Lady was the
work of the Holy Ghost. "He was incarnate by the Holy
Ghost of the Virgin Mary," as we sing in the Credo. Thus
the Human Soul of Jesus Christ was sanctified not only by Its
union with the Godhead, but also by the special indwelling
of the Holy Ghost, the Sanctifier, Who filled it with His created
grace, adorned it with His seven Gifts, and produced in it His
Twelve Fruits. The act of oblation by which our Lord
redeemed the world was wrought by the help of the Holy
Ghost ; for our Lord, as the Apostle says, offered Himself by the
Holy Ghost [2]. So in a very special sense the Third Person

[i] Acts x. 38. [2] Heb. ix. 14.

148 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

can be called, in reference to the Man Jesus, Thy God. It
was this sanctifying grace which was the oil of gladness which
anointed the Sacred Humanity.

Above Thy fellows. Who are the fellows of Christ but His
brethren, who are co-heirs with Him in the kingdom of
God [i] ? We may take the words in the sense of a com-
parison of the Human Nature of our Lord with that of all
those who have been made partakers of the same grace,
angels as well as men ; they partly and imperfectly, He in
fulness from the beginning, though the manifestations grew
more and more glorious, as St. Luke formally teaches [2].

(10) Myrrha, et gutta, et Myrrh, and aloes, and

cdsia a vestimhiiis Tuis, a cassia from Thy garments, out

ddmibus eburneis : ex quibus of the ivory palaces : whereby

delectaverunt Te filice regum kings' daughters in Thine

in hondre Tuo. honour have delighted Thee.

What is myrrh but the bitterness of mortification and self-
denial. A Bundle of Myrrh is my beloved to me says the Spouse
in the Canticles [3]. Count up, says the Carmelite, this
bundle, O Christian, and reckon all the sufferings, all the
rejections, the fasts, the vigils, the doing good and bearing
ill of the Lord : My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto
death [4] ; Now is My soul troubled and what shall I say [5].

Aloes. Good, say the physicians, against tumours and
swellings. What do they set forth but that humility which is
the antidote of swelling pride ? Take My yoke upon you and
learn of Me : for I am meek and lowly of heart [6] .

And cassia : a reed that grows by the running brooks and
rises to an immense size, is a type of Faith which fixes its
roots in the waters of Baptism and extends until it fills the
world. Not that our Lord, in the strict sense, possessed or
could possess the virtue of Faith, because on account of the
Beatific Vision which filled His soul, He could not believe
that which He saw : but, being the Author and Finisher of
our Faith, He may be said thus to set it forth to us.

[i] Cf. Rom. viii. 17. [4] Matt. xxvi. 38.

[2] Luke ii. 40. [5] John xii. 27.

[3] i. 13. [6] Matt. iv. 29.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 149

Thy garments represent the Sacred Humanity whence we
are to take the example of penance, humility and faith. Out
of the ivory palaces. Hear St. Augustine : Would you under-
stand the spiritual sense of ivory palaces. Understand by them
those magnificent houses and tabernacles of God, the hearts
of the saints. Whereby kings' daughters in Thine honour have
delighted Thee : the Carmelite takes instead of palaces, the
word cabinets, and sees in the kings' daughters the bearers of
rich, precious ointments, who were very early at the sepulchre ;
and in the caskets the vessels in which they brought them to
anoint the Body of that dear Lord. Kings' daughters. If He
Whom they follow is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the
Apostles are kings over whom and by whom He rules ; as it is
written : All kings shall fall down before Him [i]. And it was
through their preaching, such as that saying of St. Paul, 7
count all things as loss so that I may gain Christ [2], that the
daughters are gathered together and set in their place among
the hundred and forty and four thousand who sing the New
Song before the Throne of God, by leading here lives of
penance, of humility, and of faith after the example of Him
their soul loveth, and having these virtues enshrined in the
ivory palace of chastity, they delight and honour Him Whose
gracious Voice they have followed.

(n) Astitit regina a dextris Upon Thy right hand did

Tuis in vestitu deaurdto : cir- the Queen stand in golden
cumdata varietdte. array : girt about with variety.

And to whom are we to give that glorious title ? Some
will behold the Church triumphant, the Jerusalem above that
is mother of us all [3], the happy assembly, so glorious with
the blood of the martyrs, so illustrious with the confessions
of snow-white virgins ! O former humility ! says St. Bernard,
O present sublimity 1 O whilom earthly dwelling, now a
heavenly mansion. O house once of clay, now temple of
light. O slave, once defiled and miserable with Egyptian
bondage, now glorious, now peerless, now beautiful, now all
beauty, now free. But together with most of the mediaeval
commentators, who is the Queen but our ever dear and blessed

[i] Ps. Ixxi. II. [2] Phil. iii. 8. [3] Gal. iv. 26.

150 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

Lady ? What the golden array but her peerless sanctity ; what
the variety with which she is girt about but the assemblage of
all those faithful souls who have ordered their life towards God
in imitation of her who kept all the words in her heart [i].
Thou, O Queen, art thyself the immaculate law, the faithful
testimony of the Lord, the lucid precept, the right judgment,
the holy fear of God, the sweet meditation, herald and inter-
preter of the entire God. It is to be noted, as St. Basil (379)
remarks, that the Hebrew word for queen here used means a
"queen consort" ; thereby teaching us that her dignity is derived
from Christ and not inherent of her own right or merit.
And observe, she stands at the King's right hand, denoting
the unassailable firmness of her position ; but she does not
sit, as our Lord does, at the Father's right hand. But the
place, as Bellarmine (1621) points out, denotes not only prece-
dence of honour, ranking above the angels themselves, but her
blessed and prosperous state in His kingdom. St. Gregory
and others behold in this queen every faithful soul ; but
more especially those blessed ones who, having embraced the
religious life here, are nearest to the Bridegroom of the virgins
there. Upon Thy right hand. O happy estate (cries a mediaeval
writer), which we know is incapable of change. O most
blessed place, which so many saints have gone through fire
and water to attain, which so many martyrs have, after the
manner of men, fought with beasts at Ephesus to come at,
which so many confessors have wandered about in sheepskins
and goatskins so as to possess at last.

(12) Audi filia, et vide, et Hearken, 0 daughter, and

inclina aurem Tuam : et obli- consider, arid incline thine
viscere pdpulum Tuum, et ear: forget also thine own
domum patris Tui. people and thy Father's house.

If we interpret the Queen of our Lady, we may see here
two persons who speak. It may be the Psalmist speaking
according to the flesh to her who was his descendant ; or it
may be God, the Father, speaking to her, the immaculate
Bride. But truly this is one of the passages which above all
others shows how inexhaustible are the meanings of the

[i] Cf. Luke ii. 19.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 151

Psalter. An Eastern writer calls this verse, and the following,
the bridal song of the Mother of God. St. Athanasius,
comparing the words of the Angel Gabriel with those of
the Psalmist, dwells on the daughter of the one contrasted
with the Mary of the other. If we take the Church to be
the " Queen " (and, indeed, the one explanation does not
interfere with the other, Mary being the Mother of the whole
Church, the " Neck " which joins the Body on to its Divine
Head), we may see here, with St. Augustine, an exhortation to
forget her Judaic origin, to cast behind her the coldness of
the letter and to enter into the liberty of the spirit. They who
see in it every penitent soul, find a magnificent exhortation to
the same effect as that of the Apostle : Old things are passed
away : behold all things are become new [i] ; the old desires,
the old pleasures, the old hopes ; and after the struggle,
arrayed with that beauty in which the King delights.

Forget also thine own people. St. Bernard says that the
Christian soul must not take pattern by the tribe of Manasses,
for half of that tribe, satisfied with the pasture and cornfields
of the eastern side of Jordan, asked to remain there ; and only
the other half pressed on to the Land of Promise [2]. The
prayer to be allowed to remain among the good things of this
life is frequently answered in anger ; just as when the
Gadarenes, having lost their swine, besought our Lord to
depart out of those coasts. He yielded at once and never
more returned [3].

And thy Father's house. Yet, that the Queen may not
suppose that she is thus made an orphan, she is accosted as
daughter in the beginning of the verse; for she becomes God's
own child by adoption and grace. Those who are called to
follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth must forget the ties
of earthly loves, which keep them back from obeying the
Vocation : A man's enemies are those of his own household, says
our Divine Master : and again : / am come to set a man at
variance against his father and the daughter against her mother.
. . . He that loveth father and mother more than Me is not
worthy of Me [4]. The creature's duty is God alone.

[i] 2 Cor. v. 17. [3] Matt. viii. 34.

[2] Josue xiii. 29. [4] Matt. x. 35-37.

152 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

(13) Et concupiscet rex de- So shall the King have plea-

cdrem Tuum : quoniam Ipse sure in thy Beauty : for He is
est Dominus Deus Tuus, et the Lord thy God, and they

adordbunt Eum. shall worship Him.

\

The call to the mystic espousals. The Carmelite, following

many of the mediaeval interpreters, takes thy beauty to refer to
the Blessed Sacrament, the Sacrament of all beauty as well as
of all love. The gift to the Bride is so much her own, that He
who gave it, as it were, desires it and has pleasure in it. So
they compare the text : With desire have I desired to eat this
Passover with you [i] ; and the words of this verse ; that is, this
Passover, this better than Passover, which is the source of
every great act of endurance or of daring, this Passover which
has prepared every elect soul for the Marriage Supper of the
Lamb — this belonging now rather to the Bridegroom to be
His special beauty— this I have pleasure in. As how should
He not, when such a multitude of petitions, arising from
every corner of the earth, are accepted in heaven by the beauty
and might of that Sacrifice in which, though Christ being
risen from the dead, dieth no more, yet He still vouchsafes
to offer Himself under the hands of sinful priests and, as the
great High Priest, to offer that same Sacrifice at the throne of
God the Father.

And they shall worship Him. Although the King of our
heart is so gracious and tender in His love, yet we must never
forget that He is the Lord our God. As a holy anchoress of
the days of Edward III., Julian of Norwich, says in her Reve-
lations : "Flee we to our Lord and we shall be comforted,
touch we Him and we shall be made clean ; cleave we to
Him, and we shall be secure and safe from all manner of
perils ; for our courteous Lord willeth that we be as homely
with Him as heart may think or soul may desire. But be we
ware that we take not so recklessly this homeliness, for to leave
courtesy ; for our Lord Himself is sovereign homeliness,
and so homely as He is so courteous is He, for He is very
courteous. [2]

[l] Lukexxii. 15.

[2] Sixteenth Revelation, chap. Ixxvi. I.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 153

(14) Et filice Tyri in mune- And the daughters of Tyre
ribus vultum Tuum depreca- entreat Thy favours with gifts ;
buntur : omnes divites plebis. and all the rich among the

people.

St. Augustine thus explains this passage : They who
came from the East to bring their offerings to Christ were not
its daughters but its sons. Why then does it speak of the
daughters of Tyre, the meaning being the same ? Because, as
the Apostle says, In Christ there is neither male nor female [i].
And, again, says the great Carmelite expositor, why the
daughters of Tyre ? Because Tyre, as the Empress of the Sea,
is a type of the powers of this world, seeing that in the next
there shall be no more sea [2]. But more truly, perhaps,
the Carthusian, who beholds in the daughters of Tyre, famous
for its purple, the self-oblation of the martyrs, according to
that saying of Nahum the prophet : The shield of His mighty
men is made red, the valiant men are in scarlet [3]. There is
much force, too, in the meaning of the word Tyre, strictly
a " rock," and thus taken for " strong " or " mighty." The
daughters of Him who was made the Rock of Holy Church
bring to our ever dear and blessed Lady the gifts which have
come to them from her intercession. They recognise her as
the Queen of Virgins, and honour and reverence her as such.
They are the rich among the people as being in a state of per-
fection and the objects of God's intimate love. The closer
the union which exists between the Bride and the Bridegroom
the closer must be the bond existing between them and His
mother ; and daily do they bring their tribute of love and
homage, their gifts, whereby they entreated her face to be
gracious unto them with her Son.

(15) Omnis gloria ejus filice The King's Daughter is all
regis ab intus, in fimbriis glorious within : in golden em-
dureis circumamicta varietd- broideries surrounded about
tibus. with diversity.

And first observe how this King, Who made the Marriage
for His Son, calls the Bride His daughter. O blessed soul,
so says an old writer, lifted up from the more earthly love,

[i] Gal. iii. 28. [2] Apoc. xxi. I. [3] ii. 3.

154 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

raised above the wretched cares of this world, changed from
Leah into Rachel, having the heritage of Israel instead of the
toils of Jacob, who art received in the loving arms of such a
Bridegroom, and made partaker of the kingdom of such a
Father. And why should it be said that the King's daughter
rather than the King's Bride is all glorious ? Truly, because
that most loving Bridegroom wooed and obtained His Bride,
not on the throne of His glory but in the depth of His
humility. The new Eve was created out of the side of an
Adam who slept no sleep of rest, but the hard slumber of
the Cross.

Within ; that is, as nearly all commentators take it, within
the palace, the inner chamber whereof the Spouse sings in the
Canticle : The King hath brought me unto His chamber [i]. An
emblem, this inner chamber, of the interior and contemplative
life in which is the real beauty which ravishes the heart of the
Beloved. All external work is as nothing in His eyes, save and
except as it is the outward manifestation of the beauty within.
The Carmelite remarks that in this verse there is a prophecy
of the history of the Church.

The King's daughter is all glorious within. There you have
the holiness of the Church so glorious with martyrs, so illus-
trious with confessors, so resplendent with ascetics. In the
rest of the verse we have that more dangerous period of her
history when the world bestowed her treasures on the Church,
and so many of her children, by receiving them, became
worldly and lost their savour. St. Gregory of Tours (595)
saw and lamented this, and said : In the days of old there
were crosses of wood, but bishops of gold.

In golden embtoideries. The royal robe of God's kingly
love which He throws over His Spouse.

Surrounded about with variety. The spirit of the Church
is not that of a hard, mechanical uniformity ; for where the
faith is one the outward expressions, or rather the practical
workings out of that inward unity, can be left to the Spirit
Who breatheth where He willeth [2]. The wonderful variety
which surrounds the heavenly Spouse ; the ever varying

[i] Cant. i. 3. [2] John iii. 8.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 155

sequence of fast and festival, the sevenfold hours, the grades
of the heirarchy, the natural instincts of various nations
manifesting itself in the liturgies, architecture, painting,
sculpture, music, and ceremonial ; all these are differences
in oneness, all unity in multiplicity [i].

(16) Adductntur Regi vir- After her shall virgins be

gines post earn : proximce ejits brought unto the King : her
afferentur Tibi. fellows shall be brought unto

Thee.

The Church, or our Lady, is fruitful to her Divine Spouse,
and brings to Him other virgins in her train whose spiritual
beauty gladdens His heart.

Her fellows. St. Bernard, in his sermons on the Canticle
of Canticles, which he preached to Cistercian nuns, thus
comments on these words: O Lord how am I to interpret
this fulness of meaning ? Am I to say that these my children
are her fellows, her equals, who is the fulness of Him that
filleth all in all ! Or, how can I say that they are equals of
Her who is the Mother of my Lord and my God ? So let us
rather take her as the type and representative of every faithful
soul ; the likeness and pattern of them, as Abraham is called
the Father of the faithful. The Virgins then, and what a multi-
tude they are, who follow her as she follows the King and
Lord of the Virgins, shall bear her company. Sweet society
of them that are called by the same name ; of them that
profess the same desire ! O most foul reproach and ignominy
of them who, while they profess the same wish, are yet torn
asunder by the various lusts of this world, of their own

[i] It was the largeness of mind, that eminently benedictine characteristic, which
made the monk, Pope Gregory the Great, write thus to St. Augustine when that
saint was laying deep the foundation of the English Church. "You know, my
brother, the custom of the Roman Church in which you remember you were bred up.
But it pleases me that if you found anything either in the Roman, or the Gallican,
or any other church which may be more acceptable to Almighty God, you carefully
make choice of the same and sedulously teach the Church of the English, which, as
yet, is new in the Faith, whatsoever you can gather from the several churches. For
things are not to be loved for the sake of places, but places for the sake of good
things" (Beds. Hist, EccL, Book i. cap. 27). This was the principle of girting the
heavenly Spouse about with diversity, each nation after its own kind giving forth
praise to God,

156 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

hearts, or of him (hat is the father and founder of all
divisions, Satan.

(17) Affertntur in Icetitia et With joy and gladness shall
exsultatidne : adducentur in they be brought, and shall enter
templum regis. into the King's temple.

And oh, what a joy will that be, says a mediaeval writer,
when they, who have so struggled among the thorns here, shall
be transformed by Him Who now wears the crown of gold
there. What when they, who have trod in the King's footsteps
below, shall be received to the King's embraces above ! What
when they who have thought it so much but to see the print of
His feet upon earth, shall be kissed with the kisses of His lips [i]
in the heavenly kingdom 1 What words can express, what
heart can devise these good things which the true Solomon
hath prepared for the soul that, like another Queen of Sheba,
comes from a far country to behold His glory ? And what
shall we say of them who, because of the six miserable lions
that wait on this side and on that, according to the six footsteps
of the throne [2], shall be afraid to approach to Him, the
Lion of Juda Who sitteth upon the Throne.

(18) Pro pdtribus tuis nati Instead of thy fathers thou
sunt tibi filii : constitues eos shall have children whom thou
principes super omnem terram. mayest make princes in all

lands.

Theodoret remarks that the Hebrew shows that these
words are spoken to the King, not to the Queen. Follow-
ing St. Augustine, we may here compare the Synagogue
with the Church, the Law with the Gospel, the letter with
the spirit.

Thy fathers. The types, the prophecies, the histories, the
miracles ; everything that might lean forward to Him in
Whom all types form their antitypes, in Whom all histories
find their fulfilment, in Whom all miracles are turned into
that chief of all miracles — God Incarnate. Or, with the Car-
melite, we may take this verse as recalling the doctrine
of the Apostolical Succession. As the wise man says : One
generation passeth away, and another generation cometh [3] ;

[i] Cant. i. I. [2] 2 Paralip ix. 18. [3] Eccles. i. 4.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 157

and all these are princes to carry on the government of the
Church, chiefs to extend its dominions among them that
serve other gods ; and yet obedient to that unchangeable Faith
and Authority, and offering the unceasing Sacrifice. It has
been well said by St. Augustine : Think not thyself undone
because thou hast not beheld Paul, because thou cannot see
Peter, because thou lookest not upon those through whom
thou wast born. Out of thine own offspring has a multitude
of fathers been raised up to thee. See how widely diffused
is the King's temple of which we read before. This is the
universal Church : this is she whose children go to the utter-
most islands of the seas, to call men to come to the one Body
and be led to the glorious temple of the King.

Princes in all lands. All those who share in the Kingly
priesthood of intercession, those who are chosen to be official
representatives of the Church, and are privileged to join in the
Liturgical Prayer. These words are used in both Office and
Mass in reference to the Apostles, and therefore to all who
share in the Apostolic work of teaching Christ and Him
crucified [i].

(19) Memores erunt nominis They shall be mindful of

Tui in omni generatidne et Thy Name from generation to
generationem. generation.

Thy name. That name which was prophesied in Josue,
the leader of the children of Israel into the promised land ;
still further honoured by Jesus, the son of Josedech, the high
priest, him who stood before the Lord, Satan standing at his
right hand to resist him [2] ; and lastly, as foretold by the
angel to St. Joseph, as of Him who should save His people
from their sins. It is of this name the Spouse speaks in the
Canticles, Let me hear Thy voice, for pleasant is Thy Name [3].
Thus the Carthusian.

They shall be mindful. We have here the Church's promise
to her Lord, calling all her children " Christians," and bringing
His Name in at the close of all her petitions before the Father's
throne.

[i] I Cor. ii. 2. [2] Zack. iii. I. [3] Cant. ii. 14.

158 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

(20) Propterea popidi con- Wherefore shall the peoples

fitebuntur Tibi in ceternum : give thanks to Thee for ever
et in sceculum sceculi. and ever.

The peoples ; that is, says the Carmelite, the ransomed peoples
who have cast off the dross and the dregs of this world. Here
is fulfilled what is written of the wise man : The remem-
brance of Josias (Jesus) is like the composition of a perfume
that is made by the art of the perfumer, it is sweet as honey
in all mouths, and as music at a banquet of wine [i] ; or in
the same chapter : So was Jesus, the son ofjosedech, Who in His
days builded the house and set up a holy temple to the Lord which
was prepared for everlasting glory [2] .

GLORIA PATRI.

Glory be to the Father, the God Who anoints the Christ ;
and to the Son the King, Who is the Bridegroom of our souls ;
and to the Holy Ghost the heavenly Unction, the Spirit Who
saith to the Bride, Come [3].

ANTIPHON.

Adjuvdvit earn Dens vultu God shall help her with His

suo : Deus in mtdio ejus, non regard : God is in the midst
commovebitur. of her, she shall not be moved.

If the last antiphon shadowed forth the spiritual beauty of
the Spouse of the Lamb, and pre-eminently that of our ever
dear and blessed Lady, the present one, which is also taken
from its own Psalm, gives us the source of it all. He hath
regarded the lowliness of His handmaiden [4], sang our Lady
in the joy of the Visitation, confessing that it was through no
merit of her own that she was chosen to the peerless dignity
of the Divine Maternity. Our good Master teaches us the
same ; for when a woman in the crowd, lost in admiration at
His teaching, called out, Blessed the womb that bear Thee and
the paps that gave Thee suck, He turned and said, Nay, rather,
blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it [5] ;

[i] Eccles. xlix. I. [4] Luke i. 48.

[2] Ibid. v. 54. [5] Luke ii. 28.

[3] Apoc. xxii. 17.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 159

meaning thereby that Mary had been chosen to be His
Mother by the free choice of God ; but it was by her hearing
the Word of God, when spoken by the angel, by her free and
generous consent, by her sincere submission of her whole
being to the designs of her Maker, that she merited blessings.
Her ceaseless union with God, ever keeping the Word of God
in her heart, that is, fashioning herself upon the model of her
divine Son, and making Him live in her, kept her immovable ;
so that though the storms came, and the wind blew, and the
rain beat upon that house, it stood — for it was founded on a
Rock [i],

PSALM XLV.
Title : For the Sons of Core.

Argument.

Tomasi : That Christ causeth the soul to rejoice by
His spiritual strength. The Prophet speaks of Christ to the
Church and the same Lord Christ speaks to the same Church.
The voice of the Apostles. The voice of the Faithful.

Venerable Bede : That Christ appears in the midst of the
Church which he hath founded as on a most solid Rock.
And from that the rivers of the flood thereof, the multitude of
them that believe are invited to behold the miracles of the
Divine Power ; or that might which breaketh the bow and
snappeth the spear in sunder [2].

(i) Deus noster reftigium et Our God is refuge and

virtus : adjutor in tribulationi- strength, a Helper in the
bus, qua invenfrunt nos nimis. troubles which have fallen

exceeding heavily upon us.

Our God. The One who shares our nature, the Advocate with
the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous [3].

Refuge. Here we have the Rock ; now the Rock was
Christ [4] — in whose cleft Side we may hide ourselves until

[i] Matt. vii. 25.

[2] A recent writer called this Psalm " a song of holiness, a guide along the
pathway to the land that is very far off" (Isa. xxxiii. 17).

[3] i John ii. i. [4] i Cor. x. 4.

160 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

calamity is passed, according to that saying : The high hills are
a refuge for the wild goats, and so are the stony rocks for the
conies [i] ; and again : The conies are but a feeble folk, yet they .
make their houses in the rock [2]. The words of our Saviour
are the refuge of the soul in all temptations, as we say in that
beautiful prayer, the Anima Christi : " Within Thy wounds
O hide me" [3].

Strength. In the Lord God is everlasting strength [4] ; and
His strength is communicated to us by that grace in which
we can do all things.

Helper. The word does not mean one who does all the
work for us, but one who assists our own efforts and by his
strength makes up for our weakness. We must do our part,
but Be not far from me, 0 Lord : 0 my strength, haste Thee
to help me [5].

(2) Propterea non time- Therefore we will not fear
bimus dum turbdbitur terra : when the earth is shaken : and
et transfergntur monies in cor the mountains be carried into
maris. the midst of the sea.

(3) Sonuerunt, et turbdtce Their waters rage and swell :
sunt aquce eorum : conturbdti the mountains are shaken at
sunt monies in fortititdine the tempest of the same.

ejus.

This Psalm is used in the Office of Many Martyrs, of those
who went through the deep waters of affliction, who were
tossed by a sea of pain, thereby to pass into the eternal calm
and the quiet haven where they would be. Some see in these
mountains the Apostles. They did indeed shake at the tempest
when they all forsook him and fled [6] ; the highest and most
glorious summit of all trembled at the voice of one poor
servant-maid, and much more have lesser saints been, for the
while, utterly carried away with the same sudden outbursts of
tempest, and carried into the midst of the sea of doubt and

[i] Ps. ciii. 18. [2] Prov. xxx. 26.

[3] This prayer is often called the " Prayer of St. Ignatius," on account of that
saint's devotion to it. It is of much earlier origin, and some writers say that St.
Thomas was the author.

[4] Isaias xxvi. 4. [5] Ps. xxi. 20. [6] Matt. xrvi. 56.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 161

temptation. So the Carmelite. Other commentators, such as
St. Athanasius, see in the mountains carried into the midst of
the sea difficulties of all kinds which are swept away by prayer,
more especially evil spirits, those mountains of pride, cast out
by the mighty hand of God. And yet in the general confusion
of this life, they liken the faithful soul to the halcyon, a bird
that not only brings her own peace into the rage of the storm,
but there also nourishes her young, cradling them, as it were,
on the foaming waves. So have the billows of persecution
cradled many a martyr and confessor till the time came he
should go home ; and of no one is this truer than of our ever
dear and blessed Lady in that martyrdom which made her
Queen of Martyrs. The Angelical takes it very mystically.
Waters, he says, signify prophecy ; their being troubled is
interpreted of the frustration and confusion of heathen
prophets and soothsayers, according to that saying : / will
destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the
understanding of the prudent [i].

(4) Fluminis impetus Iceti- The fury of the river maketh

ficdt civitdtem Dei : sanctifi- glad the City of God : the

cdvit taberndculum suum Most High hath made His

Altissimus. tabernacle holy.

The very fierceness of the storm of tribulation is a cause of
rejoicing in the City of God ; for it is only those who come out
of much tribulation and wash their robes and make them white
in the Blood of the Lamb, that are arrayed in white, and stand
before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His
temple [2]. This fury of the waters is that which Ezekiel
beheld in vision : these waters that came down from the right
side of the house, and rising first to the ankles, then as the
prophet passed onward, to the knees, even to the loins, and
then became a river which he could not pass ; for the waters
were rising, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed
over [3]. We may also see in this, with the Angelical, the
river of grace which burst forth from Mount Calvary, those
streams which branched off hither and thither to satisfy the
waste ground and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring

[i] Isaias xxix. 14. [2] Apoc. vii. 14-15. [3] Cf. Ezekiel xlvii. I, &c.
II

162 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

forth [ i ] . O fountain of gardens, well of living waters, streams
from Lebanon [2] ; ye, the nether springs [3] of this world,
bring to us something of the loveliness and peace of those
upper springs [4], beside which the fair flock of Christ now
feeds and lies down, none making them afraid. Or, with St.
Ambrose and St. Bernard, we may understand the verse of the
River of the Water of Life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the
Throne of the Lamb [5]. And then the fury or rush of that
water shall indeed make glad the City of God, the House not
made with hands, eternal in the heavens, where is the Temple
of Life that beareth twelve manner of fruits and yieldeth her
fruit every month [6]. There is another obvious interpreta-
tion to this verse. The fury of the flood of sorrow which
overwhelmed the Queen of Martyrs, never caused her, the
City of God, in which He was pleased to dwell, to lose for a
single moment the interior joy which made her ever keep
singing in her heart the Magnificat. The very fury of the
flood was an increase of joy, thrilling her with a grief beyond
compare, as it did, yet it was happiness also ; for in all she
saw God's holy Will, and knew that He was doing it.

The Most High hath made His Tabernacle holy. In tribulation
and sorrow there is a hallowing influence, for whom the Lord
loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son He receiveth [7].
Great mystery of suffering ! Eighth Sacrament ! We can only
understand thee when we look at the Crucified One ! In pro-
portion to God's love is the chastening. Far be it from us to
look upon it as a punishment. It is a refining of the gold, a
casting out of the dross. So our ever dear and blessed Lady,
of all creatures the nearest to God, was chastened above all
others in the mystical sea of sorrows, and by this means God's
tabernacle within her was made holy. The knowledge of this
truth explains St. Teresa's cry, Either to suffer or to die ; St.
Mary Magdalen of Pazzi's, More suffering O Lord ; and that
mystical thirst for sufferings which characterises so many of
the saints.

[l] Job xxxviii. 27. [5] Apoc. xxii. I.

[2] Cant. iv. 15. [6] Ibid. z.

[3] Josue xv. 19. [7] Heb. xii. 6.
[4] Ibid.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 163

(5) Deus, in media ejus, God is in the midst of her,

non commovebitur : adjuvdbit she shall not be moved : God
earn Deus mane dilnculo. shall help her, and that right

early.

God is in the midst of her. So He was in the beginning :
The Tree of Life in the midst of the Garden [i] ; thus when
Paradise was lost. So He was afterwards when the second
and better Tree of Life was set up between the penitent and
the impenitent on Mount Calvary ; thus when Paradise was
regained. So in the ancient Tabernacle when the visible
manifestation of God's presence, the Shekinah, rested between
the Cherubim ; so also in that Temple, of which it is said :
The glory of the latter house shall be greater than the glory of
the former [2]; for there His blessed feet trod, Who, as the
Psalmist says, wrought salvation in the midst of the earth [3],
Of course the verse is also to be taken of her of whom was
bom Jesus Who is called the Christ [4] ; and of the nine
months of overflowing grace and love when Mary had in her
midst her God [5],

And that right early. Therefore notice that all the great
deliverances wrought in Holy Scripture were wrought so
early as to have been brought to pass in the middle of the
night. So Gideon, with his pitchers and lamps against the
Midianites ; so Saul, when he went forth against Nahash the
Ammonite ; so Josue when he went up to succour Gideon ;
so Sampson when he carried off in triumph the gates of Gaza ;
so also the allied kings under the guidance of Eliseus in their
expedition against the Moabites, when they, according to
God's command, filled the wilderness with ditches, and then
beheld their enemies drawn to their destruction by the reflec-
tion of the rising sun upon the water. But in a deeper and
truer sense we see here the early prophecies of that Eternal

[i] Gen. ii. 9. [3] Ps. Ixxiii. 12.

[2] Agg. ii. 9. [4] Matt- >• J6.

[5] As an old hymn, Novae lucis hodie, has it : —

" The Monarch entered the hall
Of His sacred home alone ;
The steadfast gate is closed to all
With the key of Solomon.

164 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

Morning to which there shall be no Night ; that Eternal
Spring to which there shall be no Autumn. So the Carmelite.
The Angelical tells us here is to be seen the difference between
the help of God and the help of man. The first is in time ;
though not before the time ; the other so often late, late in
hope, late in promise, and late in effect.

(6) Conturbdtce sunt gen- The nations make much ado,

tes, et inclindta sunt regna : and the kingdoms are moved :

dedit vocem suam, mota est He hath showed His voice, and

terra. the earth shall melt away.

Notice here the two external enemies of men, says Father
Lorin : the heathen, that is, the world ; the kingdoms, that is, the
powers and principalities of the evil one.

But God hath showed His voice. First we can refer it to
the day of Pentecost, when God showed His voice, not as at
Sinai, from afar off, from the summit of the mountains, but
in the room where the Apostles were gathered together ; and
showed it not in dreadful lightnings, but in quiet tongues
of flame ; showed it, not so as to terrify the multitudes :
Let not God speak to us lest we die [i], but so as to allure
them to the unity of the Faith. Thus the Carthusian. St.
John Chrysostom observes : The punishment of tongues
dispersed men, the gift of tongues .brought them when
dispersed together again. And if we ask why it should be
said that God hath showed His voice, rather than that God
hath caused His voice to be heard, the Carthusian tells us
that to speak with Him is to act, to utter a command to be
obeyed : He spoke and they were made [2]. So that His order
may be as truly said to be seen as to be done. And then
most truly of all, as Peter Lombard [3], the Master of the
Sentences, teaches ; we speak of a visible word, of a Word
that was made flesh and dwelt among us [4].

And the earth shall melt away. And herein those mediaeval
writers who have looked forward to the consummation of all

[i] Ex. xx. 19. [2] Ps. xxxii. 9.

[3] Bishop of Paris (1164). He was Master of St. Thomas, the Angelical. His
works are in Migne, P. L., vols. cxci., cxcii.
[4] John i. 14.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 165

things, seem to themselves to find not the destruction of the
present world, but its regeneration and transfiguration into that
new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. // shall melt away.
But that which melts is not lost, only re-cast.

(7) Dominus virtutum The Lord of Hosts is with
nobiscum : susceptor nosier us : the God of Jacob is our
Deus Jacob. upholder.

He, the Captain of the Lord's host, is with us, that we may
overcome our Jericho, in that case to become, as the name
implies, a " City of Palm Trees" to us by the victory it enabled
us to win [i]. He, the Lord, Who caused the mountains
round Dothan to be full of chariots of fire and horses of fire [2],
for the defence of His prophet ; He Who sent one of His host
to smite in a night one hundred four-score and five thousand
in the camp of the Assyrians. But notice under what character
as regards ourselves : The God of Jacob. Now Jacob is by
interpretation a " supplanter " [3] or wrestler. Our upholder
He is only when we have wrestled with Him in prayer, as did
the patriarch ; wrestled, says St. Jerome, in the night of
affliction as he did in the darkness ; wrestled by the brook
of penitence as he did by the ford of Jabbok ; wrestled alone
as he did when he sent his family forward ; wrestled and said,
as he of old, "I will not let Thee go except Thou bless me [4].
The Carmeilte and the Carthusian, however, take these words
in another sense, that is, we must be supplanters of wicked-
ness, strugglers against and conquerors of temptation, if the
God of Jacob is to defend us.

(8) Venite, et videte opera 0 come hither and see the
Ddmini, quce pdsuit prodigia works of the Lord, what won-
super terram : auferens bella ders He hath placed on the
usque adfinem terrce. earth : Making war to cease

(9) Arcum conteret, et con- even unto the end of the earth,
fringet tfnna : et scuta com- He breaketh the bow and
buret igni. cutteth the weapons in sunder :

and burneth the shield in the
fire.

[i] Cf. Josue v. 14. [3] Gen. xxvii. 36.

[2] 4 Kings vi. 17. [4] Gen. xxxii. 26.

i66 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

The Carmelite remarks the difference between this invita-
tion and that of Psalm xciv. One to come and sing, and the
other to come and see. The two are separated on earth and
only to be joined in Heaven. To see here is to see sadness,
iniquity, faithlessness, impurity, every sin. To see there is to
see not only the Gates of Pearls, not only the Streets of Gold,
and the Sea of Glass ; but to learn the New Song of all
the Redeemed, to hear it, and to be joined to that strain
which knits together the angelic inhabitants of Heaven,
and those who, not only through much tribulation, but also
through much sin, have been redeemed from the earth. And
notice that the invitation is only to those who shall be
counted worthy to enter into that blessed place. Come hither ;
for, as St. Leo the Great says, in what other place can the
works of the Lord be so fully seen as in that where they are
perfectly glorious, gloriously perfect, where they know neither
limit to the efficiency, nor measure to their beauty ? And who
are they that shall be accounted worthy of that invitation ?
Read further and observe how he limits the call.

What wonders hath He placed upon the earth ? This, that
these present bodies, formed out of clay, moulded from earth,
must one day say to corruption : Thou art my father; to the
worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister [i] ; must be utterly
taken to pieces, must be like the grain of wheat, which, except
it die, yieldeth no increase.

Making war to cease. And therefore is He rightly called
the Prince of Peace, therefore rightly at His birth was peace
proclaimed by the angels, at His departure was peace be-
queathed to the Apostles.

The bow, the spear, the chariots. A trinity of evil here, as
so often. The bow ; some take of the fiery darts of tempta-
tion, injected, as it were, from a distance by evil spirits into the
fancy. The spears ; of the hand-to-hand fight with the world
that every faithful soul must carry on. The shields; those
earthly means of safety on which all are apt to lean, forgetful
of the God from Whom alone true help can come.

[l] Job xvii. 14.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 167

(10) Vacate, et videte quo- Be still and see, for I am

niam Ego sum Deus : exalt- God: I will be exalted among
abor in gentibus, et exaltdbor the Gentiles, and I will be
in terra. exalted on the earth.

(n) Dominus virtutum no- The Lord of Hosts is with

biscum : susceptor noster Deus us: the God of Jacob is our
Jacob. upholder.

Be stitl. Put not your trust in human means of safety, see
the works of the Lord and know that He has make Himself
our refuge and strength. Be still from idle fretting, from profit-
less worrying.

See that I am God. The past tells us that He is the God
Whose wisdom reacheth from one end to another, mightily
and sweetly ordereth all things [i], and that His Hand has
ever been over us. So, be still and see that I am God.

I will be exalted. This double declaration is to be com-
pared with the double declaration of our Lord : All power
is given unto Me in heaven and in earth [2! ; or still better : /
will be exalted among the heathen, namely, by the preaching of
that Cross whereon the Son of Man was lifted up.

And I will be exalted on the earth, the new earth, that is,
the Land of the Living, the earth where the saints shall reign,
the earth where there shall be no more sea.

The Lord of Hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our
upholder. This is a repetition of verse 7, and has been already
commented upon. But coming again at the end of this Psalm
of confidence, it seems to sum up all that has been said, and
with greater force insists upon the Divine truth that God, and
He alone, is our Refuge and Strength. And it is as well that
this should be repeated ; for although the past teaches us this
truth, yet we are apt in the darkness of the hour of trial to
forget it and cling for safety to that arm of flesh [3], instead of
to the Hand of Him Who walketh upon the waters and
chideth us for our little faith.

GLORIA PATRI.

Glory be to the Father Who is our Refuge and Strength :
and to the Son Whose City the River of Life maketh glad : and
to the Holy Ghost, the God Who is in the midst of Her.

[l] Wisdom viii. i. [2] Matt, xxvii. 18. [3] 2 Paralip xxxii. 8.

1 68 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

ANTIPHON.

Sicut Icetdntium dmnium As of all rejoicing ones our

nostrum habitdtio est in te dwelling is in thee, 0 holy
sancta Dei Genitrix. Mother of God.

This antiphon is taken from the Psalm that follows, and is
directly applied to our ever dear and blessed Lady. She is
called in the Litany " The Cause of our joy ; " and the spiritual
Sion, the Church, rejoices, for her Founder comes from her,
and by her. As in the first antiphon of this Nocturn we had
drawn out the beauty of the Bridegroom and the excellence of
the Bride, and in the second the secret of this excellence, the
grace of God ; so here the glorious results and our share
therein. The fuller meaning of the verse will be drawn out in
the course of the Psalm.

PSALM LXXXVI.
Title : A Psalm or Song for the Sons of Core.

Argument.

Tomasi : That Christ loves the gates of His Church set
upon the holy hills more than all the tabernacles of Jacob.
The voice of the Apostles touching the Church. The voice
of the Prophet, in the Holy Ghost, to the Apostles. The
voice of Christ, the Holy One, to the Apostles touching the
Church and the merits of the saints.

Venerable Bede : The sons of Core signify Christians to
whom the Prophet proclaims the City of God to increase their
yearnings for such glory. Otherwise : nearly all the psalms
which are inscribed For the sons of Core are full of rejoicing,
for they do not imitate the sins of their fathers and take to
themselves the fire of lust, strange to the Lord, but loving that
which the Lord desireth, speak glorious things concerning the
City of God. In the first part the Prophet proclaims the
heavenly City. In the second part, the Lord our Saviour
declares her future belief by referring to various names, and
reproaches the Synagogue because she knew not God, because
the devout faith of the Gentiles believed. The third part in
one verse toucheth on the blessedness of the world to come,

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 169

and these parts are divided from each other by the interposi-
tion of pauses [i].

(i) Fundamenta ejus in His foundations are upon

montibus sanctis : diligit the holy hills : the Lord loveth
Dominus portas Sion super the gates of Sion more than all
omnia taberndcula Jacob. the dwellings of Jacob.

The City that is set upon a hill is God's building, not
man's [2] ; and so we read in another place, The Lord hath
founded Sion [3], The abruptness of the opening verse,
remarks St. Augustine, suggests that something must have
preceded, not of necessity uttered aloud, but pondered in the
mind of the tuneful citizen, who, filled with the Holy Ghost
and thinking with love and desire of the City, breaks out in
this wise, and tells us of that heavenly Jerusalem whose
foundation is upon the holy hills, the Apostles and prophets,
whose Corner-stone is Christ, none other foundation than
Whom can any man lay [4]. The word holy is not super-
fluous, but, as St. Bruno the Carthusian says, distinguishes
the hills of the mystical Jerusalem from those of the mystical
Babylon, which are worldly power and ungodly wisdom.

The Lord loveth the gates of Sion. The gates are twofold :
the Apostles and their successors, by whose agency men
enter into the Church ; and the Sacraments, which are the
privileges of heavenly citizenship. God loves them more than
all the dwellings of Jacob, says the Carmelite with the Car-
thusian, because the saints and sacraments of the New Law
are higher than those of old ; the Church, far more noble
than the tabernacles of Moses and David, than the temples of
Solomon and Zorobabel ; for the Law was only a shadow of
the good things to come and not the very image of the things [5].
There are, observes Perez, four principal gates to the Holy
City : Baptism, to enter in ; Penance, to return by ; Holy
Order, to ascend by ; and Extreme Unction, by which we go
out ; while the twelve articles of the Creed are at once, like the

[i] A recent writer styles this Psalm: "The voice of the Holy Ghost touching
that City of God, of whom it is written in verse five : A Man was born in her and
the Most High founded her."

[2] Matt. v. 14. [4] Eph. ii. 20; I Cor. iii. n.

[3] Isaias xiv. 32. [5] Heb. x. i.

170 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

Apostles, foundations and gates, each a single pearl of great
price [i] ; fairer and more blessed than these tents of Jacob
which Balaam, wondering, saw and blessed [2]. Again, the
verse may be applied to our ever dear and blessed Lady,
herself sprung from the holy and lofty race of Hebrew saints,
prophets and kings, and loved by God more than all other
virgin souls, dwelling in the tabernacles of pure bodies which
wrestle, as Jacob, against all sin.

(2) Gloriosa dicta sunt de te, Glorious things are said of

civitas Dei. thee, 0 City of God.

How glorious does not appear till we recall the glowing
language of the Apocalypse and that of the many Christian
hymns, as to the joys of the Eternal City ; for in this Psalm the
Church Militant and Triumphant are so blended in idea into
one, that it is impossible to sever them or contemplate them
independently of each other. O blessed land of Paradise,
exclaims St. Bernard, O blessed land of gladness, for which
I sigh in this vale of mourning, where wisdom without
ignorance, memory without forgetfulness, understanding
without error, reason without darkness, will shine ! Blessed
are they who dwell there and who will praise God for ever.
Amen. So, too, are glorious things said of her, the mystical
City of God, wherein the great King deigned to tarry, and
endowed with all graces to make her a fitting abode for
Himself. Note, moreover, that every soul is, in its degree, a
City of God placed high on the Rock which is Christ ; and
having the gates of mind and body ever ready to open to the
Lord when He knocketh, but barred closely against His foes.
Of such an one shall glorious things be said, even : Well done,
thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy
Lord [3]; and this other glorious thing: Him that overcometh
will I make a pillar in the Temple of God, and he shall go no
more out : and I will write upon him the Name of My God, and
the name of the City of My God, which is the new Jerusalem [4].
St. Bonaventure remarks that the Church has in this Psalm six
titles : foundation, mountain, Sion, holy, gates, city. The first,

[i] Apoc. xxi. 21. [3! Matt. xxv. 21.

[2] Num. xxiv. 5. [4] Apoc. hi. 12.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 171

because of her firmness ; the second, by reason of her exalta-
tion ; the third, because of her looking for her God ; the
fourth, from her grace ; the fifth, to denote her security and
readiness to admit ; and the last tells us of the gathering
together of the multitude within her.

(3) Mentor ero Rahab, et I will be mindful of Rahab

Babylonis scientium Me. and Babylon, those that know

Me.

This verse is put into the mouth of God Himself. Rahab,
interpreted by St. Jerome as meaning " pride," or the " haughty
one," means Egypt, which is so styled by Isaias : Art ihon not
it that cut off Rahab ? [i]. Accordingly, we have a prophecy
of the same seer to the like effect : And the Lord shall be known
to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day [2].
How gloriously that promise was fulfilled the long list of
the great saints of the church of Alexandria and of the
Thebaid may tell us for JSgypt ; while the roll of the martyrs
under the fierce persecution of Sapor, who ruled where the
king of Babylon once held sway, is not less eloquent for
Mesopotamia. Accordingly, the verse is but another form
of Isaias' prophecy : In that day shall Israel be the third with
Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the
land, where the Lord of Hosts shall bless saying, Blessed be
Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel
Mine inheritance [3]. But nearly all the old commentators
suppose that Rahab, the harlot of Jericho [4], is here named,
and framed their interpretations accordingly. Seeing here
the calling of the Gentiles, they point out how Rahab
was the type of all converted sinners thronging amidst
publicans and harlots into the Kingdom of Heaven, while
Scribes and Pharisees remained without, still in that fated
Jericho, whence the true Josue delivers them that trust in
Him. Thus St. Augustine. Rahab, too, meaning " spacious-
ness," is a type, says St. Bruno, of those that once walked
along the broad way of destruction, but receiving and hearken-
ing to the Apostles, messengers of the Conqueror, entered

[i] li. 9. [3] Isa. xix. 24.

[2] xix. 12. [4] Josue ii. I.

172 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

on the narrow way when the world sinks in ruin at the
sound of the Archangel's trumpet. And Babylon, the city of
" confusion," is named, too, because from it there is a steady
tide of emigration of sinners justified by grace and drawn
into the fellowship of Jerusalem.

(4) Ecce alienigence, et Behold, the strangers, and
Tyrus, et populus jEthiopum, Tyre, and the people of the
hi fuerunt illic. Ethiopian, these were there.

Strangers, that is, the Gentiles who are alien from the
commonwealth of Israel [i].

Tyre denotes those in the "strait" of penitential sorrow,
and the Ethiopians such as are black with sin and long
in spiritual darkness. These were there, that is, these nations
were admitted by the New Birth unto that City whose
deadliest foes they once had been.

(5) Numquid Sion dicet : And shall not Sion say : A
Homo, et Homo natus est in Man, yea a Man, was born in
ea : et Ipse funddvit earn her, and the Highest Himself
Altissimus ? hath stablished her f

St. Augustine explains it of Christ Himself, the Most High,
Who founded Sion, choosing her for His earthly mother, and
condescending to be born in her. And how these words
apply to our ever dear and blessed Lady is clear to all.
Haymo [2] explains these words as a cry of wonder on the
Psalmist's part, as though he were saying : I know that glorious
things are said of thee, O City of God, but is it possible that
thou canst ever declare that the Man has been born in thee,
that the Most High has deigned to become incarnate ? Or as
others, with Albert the Great, take it : Will any man say to
Sion, a Man, even the Most High Who founded thee, is born
in her?

(6) Dominus narrdbit in The Lord shall rehearse it in
scripturis populorum, et the writings of the people and
principum : horum, qui fue- the princes : of those who were
runt in ea. in her.

[i] Eph. ii. 12.

[2] Haymo, monk and bishop of Halberstadt (834) wrote a Pia, brevis ac
diludda in otnnes psalmos explanatio (Migne, P. L., vol. cxvi.).

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 173

Euthymius urges that this verse has reference to the use
made of the Old Testament by Christ Himself to prove His
mission and authority ; for St. Luke tells us there was delivered
unto Him the Book of the Prophet Isaias ; and when He had
opened the scroll He found the place where it was written :
The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me
to preach the Gospel to the poor [i]. This sort of scripture of the
prophets he calls the writings of the peoples, or of the princes,
because they were given to the nations and rulers of the Jews,
and were thus the peculiar possession of them that were born
in Sion. Others take the writings of the peoples as meaning
the New Testament intended for the unlearned and simple,
not merely for scholars and philosophers, but which are never-
theless, as the Carthusian reminds us, the writings of the princes,
too ; of the Apostles, evangelists, and great doctors of the
Church ; for these are they of whom it is written : The princes
of the people are joined unto the God of Abraham [2].

(7) Sicut Icetdntium 6m- As of all rejoicing ones, the

nium habitdtio est in te. dwelling is in thee.

What does this as mean ? asks St. Augustine. It tells us that
our earthly joys are only a faint image of those delights which
as yet we know not, and that the words our ignorance forces
us to employ are quite inadequate to describe the gladness of
heaven. The dwelling, too, is there, not the mere tabernacle of
Jacob, shifting and uncertain in place, but eternally unshaken
on the lofty hills of the Golden City. And lastly, they take the
verse of our ever dear and blessed Lady as the holy place
within which abode our true Isaac, our mystic " laughter," and
in whom, therefore, the joy of the whole earth was for a time
contained ; in which sense the words are used in the Antiphon.

GLORIA PATRI.

Glory be to the Father, the Most High, founder of Sion :
Glory be to the Son, the Man Who was born in her : glory be
to the Holy Ghost from Whom flow all streams which water
the Paradise of God.

[i] iv. 17. [2] Ps. xlvi. 9.

174 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

VERSICLE AND RESPONSE.

y. Diffusa est gratia in Grace is poured out on thy

Idbiis tuis. lips.

ty. Propterea benedixit te Wherefore God hath blessed

Deus in ceternum. thee for ever.

As the Psalms of this Nocturn have been occupied with the
beauty and excellence of the Bride, these last words taken
from Psalm xliv., and there spoken of the Bridegroom, are here
taken and " turned " to the Bride, summing up, as it were, the
whole spirit of this Nocturn ; reminding us once more of the
therefore, that is, of the reason why God so blessed and
exalted her.

THIRD NOCTURN.
For Wednesdays and Saturdays.

ANTIPHON.

Gaude Maria Virgo, cunctas Rejoice, 0 Virgin Mary, for

hcereses sola interemisti in thou alone hast destroyed all
univtrso mundo. heresies in the whole world.

The spirit of this Nocturn is that of praising God for the
work in the Church which He has appointed to our ever
dear and blessed Lady. The Mother is now as she used to be
in those sweet days of Bethlehem, Egypt and Nazareth when
she dwelt daily face to face with her God and Son. She was
then His guardian. She continues this office. If the Sacred
Humanity no longer needs a Mother's loving care, Jesus wills
that His mystical Body, the Church, should look to her in all
needs and troubles, certain that it will never ask amiss. So,
in a special way, is she the guardian of her Son, the Divine
Truth, and thus the great destroyer of false doctrine. Seekers
after Jesus will find Him as the Magi found Him : And they
found the Child with Mary His mother [i]. When Nestorius,
Bishop of Constantinople (450), began to attack the Divinity of
our Lord, he denied Mary's title of Mother of God ; and it was
the glorious vindication of this name that secured the truth,

[I] Matt. ii. II.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 175

that Jesus, her Son, is very God and very Man. The Antiphon
sounds like a cry of triumph after the Council of Ephesus,
which condemned the Nestorian heresy.

PSALM xcv.

Title : A Song of David : when the House was burnt after
the Captivity.

Tomasi : That Christ, reigning from the Tree amidst
the nations, is to be shown in His second Coming. The
voice of His Apostles to the people concerning the confusion
of the idols and the calling of the Church. The voice of the
Church calling. The prophet concerning the first and second
Coming of Christ.

Venerable Bede : As to the letter, the time signifies that
when the Temple was restored at Jerusalem or the loosing of
the Babylonian captivity. But spiritually the destroyed House
is built when, after the captivity of sin, the soul recovers the
way of truth. For that House, to wit, the Church Universal,
wherein Christ dwells, is always being built up with living
stones, until the number of the Elect shall be fulfilled at the
end of the world. In the first part of the Psalm the Prophet
exhorts the general body to sing unto the Lord and to preach
our Lord's Incarnation throughout the world, because He is
very Lord above all Gods. In the second place, he warns
the various nations first, to offer themselves, then to discharge
the office of preaching ; and he makes a mention of our
Lord's two Comings, that wherein He was judged by the
world, and that wherein He is to judge the world.

(i) Cantate Domino cdnti- 0 sing unto the Lord a new

cum novum : cdntate Domino song, sing unto the Lord all
omnis terra. the whole earth.

This new song, written for the dedication of the Second
Temple after the Captivity, is a simple recasting of the latter
part of David's own Psalm for the bringing up of the Ark out
of the house of Obed-Edom to the Tabernacle in Jerusalem [i],
The alterations are very slight and do not introduce any fresh

[i] I Paralip xvl 7-36.

176 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

ideas ; and the absence of any special reference in the earlier
form to the Ark, or in this to the new building, causes St
Augustine to apply it to the spiritual kingdom of Christ. St.
John Chrysostom applies this Psalm particularly to the Church
Militant ; others of the Eastern Church, such as St. Basil, to
the two Comings of Christ. But the great majority agree in
taking it of the gradual rising in the heavens of that building
of living stones made without hands, eternal, the Church
Triumphant. This is the City of God, which rises like the
walls of Thebes in the old legend, to the sound of sweet
music : built up with song, founded on belief, raised high by
hope, completed in love, dedicated at the end of the year.
It is a new song for all of us Gentiles, in that we sing the song
of Baptism which brings us to regeneration ; of repentance,
which cleanses us afresh when we fall ; of glory yet to come
when all things shall be made new. It is new in celebrating
the Incarnation, because then God created a new thing, in
that a woman shall compass a man [ij. It reminds us of
that New Song in Heaven which no one can learn save the
Redeemed [2]. Our old songs, says the Carthusian, were
those of pride, of gluttony, of luxury, in hope of gain,
prosperity, or harm to others ; our new song is of praise,
reverence, and obedience and love to God, in newness of
life, in the spirit which quickeneth ; no longer in the letter
that killeth, but that which keepeth the New Commandment,
that we love one another ; not with the narrow patriotism
and fellow-feeling of a small tribe, but with a citizenship
which embraces all the whole earth.

(2) Cantdte Domino, et bene- Sing unto the Lord and bless

dicite Ndmini Ejus : annun- His Name : be telling of His

tidte de die in diem Salutdre Salvation from day to day.
Ejus.

In this three-fold injunction to sing unto the Lord com-
mentators bid us see the worship of the blessed Trinity ; and
Haymo further tells us to note that there are, moreover, just
three New Songs in the Gospel added to the ancient Psalter

[l] Jeremiah xxxi. 22. [2] Apoc. xiv. 3.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 177

and Canticles : the Benedictus, Magnificat, and Nunc Dimittis
daily sung in the Church.

And praise His name. Herein the Unity of the Divine
Essence is denoted, says Remigius, as the Trinity of Persons
by the three-fold mention of the Lord which proceeds. It is
not enough to sing unless we also bless the Lord's Name ;
for it is, alas, possible to have songs wherein that Name is
mentioned without reverence or love. We bless His Name
by a pure and holy life, because thereby we make His honour
known to others, and bring them to others, and bring them
to submit themselves to His love. And it may be that here
only His Name, and not Himself in very deed is specified,
because, as the Carmelite remarks, the Word was not yet made
flesh ; and in that case the Name we are bidden to bless is
that divinely appointed One, the holy Name of Jesus.

Be telling of His salvation, is said first of all to the Apostles
and then to all those who are carrying on their work of
bringing souls to Christ. His salvation. Beneath these words
in the Hebrew, as something precious and holy, lies the
sacred Name of Jesus, our Saviour, or salvation.

From day to day. For He is Light of Light, very God
of very God ; so that when we teach the Father truly we
must teach the Son, and when we teach the Son we must
teach the Mother. Our Lord is to be praised always in
the light of day ; not in the darkness of sin, but in the
brightness of virtue. Let Him, the Sun of Righteousness,
always rise in thy soul that the New Light may ever
spring up in thee. Praise Him from day to day in the Old
Testament and in the New ; the two days which make but
one Light, and in both of which He shines. Praise Him,
says Remigius, not in the Old alone, like the Jews, nor in
the New alone, like the Manichees ; but remember that the
Apostles went out, two by two, as preachers of His Gospel.
Praise Him from strength to strength, from one bright lesson
of power and holiness to another yet brighter. Praise Him
and tell of His salvation, literally, each day as it comes ; that
none may rise and set without His Kingdom being extended ;
praise Him from one cross, or one visitation of His boundless
love to another cross, the proof that He is mindful of us ;

12

178 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

and lastly, praise Him from the Day of the Gospel to the yet
brighter Day of the Resurrection.

(3) Annuntidte inter gentes Declare His glory unto the
gUriam Ejus, in omnibus heathen : and His wonders
pdpulis mirabtlia Ejus. unto all people.

His glory may here be taken to denote the Godhead of
Christ as His salvation tells us of the work of His Manhood.
St. Justin, and many others, take the words to refer to the
Hour of the Passion wherein the Son of man was glorified [i] ;
that His people might henceforth glory in nothing save His
Cross. It is His glory which is to be proclaimed ; the loving
beauty, the attractiveness of His Gospel, the lavish promise
to repentant sinners, the blessedness of heaven, and the
easiness of salvation in God's most dear Fatherhood. These
we must declare rather than threats, menaces and terrors,
which harden men's hearts and make them doubt of God's
love. His glory : and taking this with His wonder, our thought
naturally goes out to that memorial of His wonders [2], the
most holy Eucharist. Our Divine Lord is present there all
glorious, immortal and incapable of suffering ; He is there the
Living Christ, though shrouded beneath the sacramental veils.
The thought then of His glory will bring us back and draw
us to the feet of our Eucharistic King, and will unite us more
and more with the worship that He is ever pouring forth to
His Eternal Father.

(4) Quoniam magnus Do- For the Lord is great and
minus, et lauddbilis nimis : to be praised exceedingly. He
terribilis est super omnes deos. is to be feared above all gods.

St. Augustine points out that these words are spoken of
that same Jesus Who came to us in all the helplessness of
babyhood. Despise Him not ; though small, understand how
great He is. He became little, because we were little ; but
let His greatness be understood, and you shall become great
in Him. So uprises the building of the house, so the very
stones for the edifice increase and are lifted up.

To be praised exceedingly, that is, beyond the power of

[i] John xii. 23. [2] Ps. ex. 4. See note 3, p. 54.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 179

our faculties ; for what, says St. Augustine, can a little tongue
do towards praising the Great God ? In saying exceedingly
he suggests the thought : Ponder what I cannot utter, and
when thou hast pondered it will be all too little. O Lord,
says St. Anselm of Canterbury, Thou art not only He than
Whom no greater can be the object of thought, but Thou
art something which is greater than any thought ; and there-
fore He is to be feared above all gods, who are but the creatures
of man's thoughts, those idols of the heathens which He can
overthrow, or those earthly potentates which He sets up and
pulls down at His will.

(5) Qudniam omnes dii For all the gods of the
gentium dcemtinia : Dominus heathen are but idols : but the
autem ccelos fecit. Lord made the heavens.

Idols. The literal Hebrew means " nothings," mere
phantasms, having no real existence ; and so the Apostle :
We know that an idol is \nothing in the world, and that
there is none other God but One [i]. But taking the word
as demons, it seems to imply the graven images, the deified
men and sacred animals of heathenism, implying, besides,
the notion of evil and fraud as connected with the ancient
oracles, which have been bound up with that word ever since
the proclamation of Christianity.

But the Lord made the heavens. A claim on behalf of His
almighty power, exceeding that made for their divinities by
any of the heathen nations known to the ancient Jews ;
inasmuch as they either accepted the heavens as itself a god,
or left its origin doubtful, not knowing God as the Maker
of all things. Mystically, the commentators explain, as usual,
the heavens in this verse to denote the Apostles and other holy
teachers, superior in spiritual power to the evil spirits against
which they contended.

(6) Confessio, et pulchritudo Confession and beauty are
in conspectu Ejus : sanctimonia, in His sight : holiness and
et magnificentia in sanctifica- magnificence in His sancti-
tione Ejus. fication.

[i] I Cor. viii. 4.

i8o THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

As the previous verse told us of the supreme power of
God, so this one speaks of the royal pomp and dignity which
attend Him : in Heaven, where He is encompassed by the
shining ranks of the blessed spirits, or in His earthly Temple,
with its adornment and stately ceremonial. St. Augustine
takes the first word of this verse, confession, as signifying
acknowledgment of sin, and points out how it precedes
beauty, like washing and purifying is necessary before we
can recognise the true grace of the features or loveliness of
the complexion. He also bids us observe how holiness, as
the only way to heaven, is the forerunner of magnificence,
which can be attained there alone in His sanctification, that
is, among the glorified saints ; whereas those who seek magni-
ficence without holiness fall into destruction. The Carthusian
says : In our true country there are in full perfection that
confession of God's praise and glory, which is so imperfect
here in the way towards heaven ; and that inner beauty of
the soul, which is now marred and defaced by sin : because in
His sight, in the Beatific Vision, there can be nothing defective,
since the holiness and magnificence thereof surpass all words
and imagination.

(6) Afftrte Domino pdtrice Ascribe unto the Lord 0 ye

gentium, afferte Domino gl6- kindreds of the peoples : as-
riam et honorem : afferte Do- cribe unto the Lord glory and
tnino gloriam nomini Ejus. honour : ascribe unto the Lord

the glory due to His Name.

There is a peculiar force, observes Cassiodorus, in this
phrase, kindreds of the peoples, much more than if we had the
word peoples alone ; for in every nation there are at all times
strangers, aliens, sojourners, abiding permanently, or for a
time, but not reckoned amongst the natives ; while the phrase
here includes all such, and provides that no one shall be shut
out because of his origin. Bellarmine remarks that as it was
the custom of the Jews to come up on great festivals to the
Temple in Jerusalem, being divided into companies accord-
ing to their tribes, so all the nations of the world are to do
the like spiritually, by flocking into the Church of Christ
with the triple inscription of glory and worship to the Eternal

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 181

Trinity as in the Song of the Ransomed in the Apocalypse.
The kindreds of the peoples heard and obeyed this call when,
in the Epiphany, the wise men ascribed glory to their God,
offering Him frankincense, power to their King with gold,
honour to the mighty Dead, with myrrh for His embalming.
We can do the like in true repentance for our sins, says
Cardinal Hugo, giving glory to God by contrition, as it is
written : My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of
Israel and make confession unto Him [i]. Power by actual con-
fession made in the strength of God's grace, and honour
in making satisfaction, for the honour due to His name is
impeached when His sons fall into sin.

(8) Tollite hostias, et in- Bring hosts and come ye

troite in atria Ejus : adordte into His courts. 0 worship

Dominum in dtrio sancto the Lord in His holy court.
Ejus.

The Hebrew word here represented by hosts is that which
refers to the Mincha, or clean sacrifice of fine flour [2]. This,
at once, reminds us of that most perfect means of ascribing
glory, and power, and honour to God, the Mass, the one
Sacrifice left when all others were abolished, that great Act in
which Jesus is both Priest and Victim. To this Sacrifice we
must add the living oblation of ourselves, our souls and
bodies, the dedication of our faculties and powers, the offering
of prayer, fasting, and alms deeds.

His courts. These may be taken as the local churches
here on earth, the place wherein Thy glory dwelleth [3] ; or
the monastic houses of His chosen servants ; or, with the
Carthusian, the inner recesses of our own hearts when we
withdraw into silence and prayer.

In His holy court, that is, the presence of God manifested
in our Churches. Here we have the singular court — and in
the former phrase it is in the plural, courts. The com-
mentators give us two explanations : that we may pass from
the many Patriarchs, seers, and Prophets of the Old Law,
each being but an imperfect type, to the fulfilment of all
in the One Man Who is the Court of God under the New

[l] Josias vii. 19. [2] Exodus xxix. 2 ; Lev. ii. I. [3] Psalm xxv. 8.

i82 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

Covenant ; and secondly, that we pass from the outer courts,
that is, the Church Militant and the Church Suffering, into the
one vast sanctuary of the Church Triumphant in heaven.

(9) Commovedtur a fdcie Let all the earth be moved

Ejus universa terra : dicite in before His face : tell it out

gentibus quia Ddminus reg- among the heathen that the

ndvit. Lord reigneth.

Let all the earth be moved before His face. This is to be
understood first of the stir and expectation which preceded
the first Coming of Christ, so that the world was moved and
shaken from its deeply-rooted error and turned to the Lord.
Then, again, of the earthquake, when the pale, blood-stained
Face of Jesus looked down on the earth He had just redeemed
by His death. It may also be taken of the second Coming of
Christ to judgment ; and of the alarm raised in the souls of
earthly and carnal sinners at the thought of the wrath to
come, so that they turn to repentance in fear and trembling
of heart.

That the Lord reigneth. In the time of St. Justin, and as
long after as St. Augustine, the reading of this phrase was :
The Lord hath reigned from the wood ; and St. Justin charges
the Jews with having cut out the latter words, as well as
some other expressions in the Bible, as being too distinctly
prophetic of Christ. Assuming the genuineness of the addi-
tion, the original reference is to the wood of the Ark of
the Covenant, from which went forth the might, overthrowing
Dagon, the idol of the Philistines, and over which brooded
that mysterious manifestation of the Divine Presence, the
Shekinah. The reference to the wood of the Cross is also
clear ; and Holy Church embodies the words in the Vexilla
Regis of Venantius Fortunatus [i].

Among the heathen. These tidings were to be spread, as
the Jews refused to hear them. The proclamation that the
Lord reigneth denotes not the beginning of His power and

[i] " Fulfilled is all that David told
In true prophetic song of old ;
Amidst the nations God, saith he,
% Hath reigned and triumphed from the Tree.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 183

rule, but the recognition of it in faith and worship. And
observe, it was a heathen governor who made this pro-
clamation by the very form of that Title which He set up
on the Cross : Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews [i].

(10) Etenim correxit orbem He hath corrected the round

terrce qui non commovebitur : world, which shall not be
judicdbit pdpulos in cequitdte. moved. He shall judge the

people righteously.

Many of the commentators argue that the Psalmist does
not speak here of the first creation of Nature, but of the new
creation cf Grace, correcting and making anew what had been
injured. According to the words of the Prophet, the crooked
shall be made straight and the rough places plain [2], Christ
came that He might correct mankind (aforetime corrupted)
that it might never be moved. His Cross is the pillar of
Humanity, on which that house is reared ; that house He
built on the foundation of those Apostles whom He corrected
after their doubt, by His Resurrection, and which He stab-
lished firmly by the Holy Ghost at Pentecost, so that they
should never be moved again.

He shall judge the people righteously. This is not spoken of
the second Coming only, but of the first also ; as the words
denote the whole course of Christ's providential government,
the absolute righteousness of the laws which He has laid
down in the Gospel for the guidance of mankind.

(n) Lcetentur cceli, et ex- Let the heavens rejoice and

sultet terra, commovedtur mare, the earth be glad : let the sea be

et plenitudo ejus / gaudebunt moved and the fulness thereof.

campi, et omnia qua in eis Let the fields be glad and all

sunt. that are therein.

(12) Tune exsultdbunt 6m- Then shall all the trees of

nia ligna silvdrum a facie the woods rejoice before the

Domini, quia venit : quoniam Lord, for He cometh : for He

venit judicdre terram. cometh to judge the earth.

These verses have been thus interpreted : The heavens repre-
sent, as we have said before, the Apostles and those who do the

[i] John xix. 19. [2] Isaias xl. 4.

1 84 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

Apostles' work ; the earth, their hearers, drinking in the rain of
doctrine ; while the sea denotessinners, ever restless, bitter,
and barren ; the fulness thereof, the proud and wealthy who
despise the Gospel. The field is in contrast to the sea, being
level, stable, and fruitful, and thus a type of humble souls
diligent in good works ; while the trees of the woods are
the yet unreclaimed. Thus the Carmelite. Then, again, the
heavens rejoiced at our Lord's Birth, because of His Divine
Nature, and showed their gladness by the shining of a star
and the songs of angels ; the earth was glad because of His
Manhood; the sea and all waters, because of their hallowing
as the matter of Baptism ; the fields, because for three and
thirty years the feet of God trod this earth of ours ; while all
the trees of the woods rejoiced in that one of them was to be
the instrument of man's redemption.

For He cometh ; for He cometh. In the two-fold use of the
words He cometh may be seen a reference to the two Comings
of Christ : that in which He came to judge between us and
the enemy who held us in bondage ; and that Advent wherein
He shall come again to reward and punish.

(13) Judicdbit orbem terrce He shall judge the world

in cequitdte, et pdpulos in veri- with righteousness and the
idle sua. people in His truth.

Some note the distinction between the world and the
People as implying the Gentiles and the Jews. He will judge
in righteousness, as without any partiality or acceptance of
persons ; and in truth, because He knows all things and cannot
be deceived. Thus the Carthusian. And yet more, because
He fulfils the promises made to His people, who shall be
received into everlasting glory when the world is judged, and
will then rejoice before the Lord, flourishing as green olive
trees, no longer in the wild wood, but in the Paradise of
heavenly bliss.

GLORIA PATRI.

Glory be to the Father Who is more to be feared than all
gods ; Glory to the Son Who reigneth from the Tree ; Glory
to the Holy Ghost Who is the beauty of holiness.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 185

ANTIPHON.

Digndre me lauddre te, Grant that I may praise

Virgo sacrdta : da mihi vir- thee, 0 hallowed Virgin : give
lutem contra hostes tnos. me strength against thy foes.

The reason why we seek to praise our ever dear and
blessed Lady is on account of the strength we receive through
her to combat not only our enemies, but her foes also.
Or, again, the highest praise we can give her is to use the
grace she so abundantly procures for us from her Divine Son.
As in our earthly combat each victory won is a praise to the
trusty blade which served us so well, so each temptation
vanquished is an act of praise to her But as the praise, how-
ever, does not rest in the weapon, but goes on to the artist
who made it, so our praise of Mary, the second Judith through
whom we conquer our spiritual enemies, goes on and becomes
the praise of the Maker to whose Name be laud in all things.
The second office of our Lady towards the mystical Body is
announced in this Antiphon. She is the giver of strength to
those in combat ; or, in other words, she is the divinely
appointed channel of grace — "the Mother of Divine grace."
just as the neck is the ordinary channel of communication
between the head and the members, so is our dear and blessed
Lady between the Divine Head and the members of the
Mystic Body.

PSALM xcvi.
Title : To David when his land was restored.

Argument.

Tomasi : That Christ, proclaimed by the voices of the
heavens, is shown to the nations in the flesh. The voice of
the Church concerning the Advent of Christ. For Praise.
The voice of the Apostles to the believers. A Prophecy
touching the condemnation of the ungodly and glorifying of
the righteous. The pomp of God as King is described.

Venerable Bede : In the first part of the Psalm the Prophet,
describing the powers of the Lord in His resurrection by
various modes of proclamation, chides the worshippers of
idols with merited rebuke. Secondly, he directs his words to
the Lord, rejoicing that the Church believes in her Author,

186 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

and exhorting the faithful to rejoice in the Lord because He
is wont to deliver them from the oppression of the ungodly.

(i) Dominus regndvit, ex- The Lord reigneth, let the

sultet terra : Icetentur insulce earth be glad thereof : let the
multce. multitude of the isles rejoice.

This Psalm is one of those written after the return from
Captivity ; and this explains many of the allusions. It begins
with a grand proclamation of the restored sovereignty of God
over Israel, displayed in the overthrow of the heathen power
of Babylon and the revival of the one true worship in the
Temple at Jerusalem. It declares that the Lord has shown
Himself stronger than those kings of the earth who warred
against Sion ; so that His people, though threatened with
calamity by earthly tyrants, can, with sure confidence, put
their trust in a King mightier than any other. Hence its
deeper spiritual meaning, following St. Augustine, points to
the Kingdom of Christ as manifested in His Nativity, and yet
more in His Resurrection, when the yoke of the devil was
broken ; and to be manifested once again in greater power
at the second Advent.

Let the earth be glad thereof. Not Judea alone, but the
whole face of the world and all the dwellers therein.
Tertullian takes the earth to mean the bodies of the saints,
to which such blessings come by reason of Christ's victory.
Again, the phrase may stand for the whole Church, on earth,
in purgatory, or in heaven.

The multitudes of the isles denote the various Churches
throughout the world ; and they are called isles because, says
St. Augustine, the waves of manifold temptation dash round
them as waves ; yet, however buffeted by the roaring billows,
they are not broken thereby, but rather by their resistance
break the force thereof. So the Churches of God, which
spring up everywhere in the midst of persecutions raging
about them, remain unbroken and rise higher than the waves
of a sea that has calmed down. St. Gregory takes the earth, the
solid land, to denote the assembly of the teaching Church,
and explains the isles as the multitude of the faithful, firm
in the midst of a sea of troubles, parted from earth and its
allurements.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 187

(2) Nubes, et caligo in cir- Clouds and darkness arc

cuitu Ejus : justitia et judi- round about Him : righteous-
cium corr£ctio sedis Ejus. ness and judgment are the

correction of His seat.

The first and obvious meaning of the earlier clause of
the verse, says Bellarmine, is the invisible Majesty of God,
Who dwelleth in light unapproachable, and Whose revelation
of Himself to Israel was first in the Pillar of cloud, looking
out of which He troubled the host of the Egyptians [i] ;
and then when He gave the law from Sinai in the midst of
darkness and thunderings [2]. On the mystical import of
these clouds and darkness, themselves brighter and more
resplendent than any natural light, the Areopagite [3] dwells,
as denoting, amidst much else, the abstraction from earthly
thoughts and sights, which is necessary for perfect con-
templation of the Divine Glory, and that confession of our
own ignorance and incapacity for comprehending the Infinite,
which is a necessary preliminary for receiving any special
revelation of God. The Carmelite and the Carthusian agree
in reminding us of the second Coming of Christ in the
clouds of heaven, like His departure at the Ascension ; and
there is thus a second literal sense. Yet, again, as He with-
draws from sinners and refuses to show them His face, He is
said in respect of them to be hidden in clouds and darkness.
There are, besides, several mystical interpretations, which are
conveniently summed up thus : These clouds and darkness
overshadowed the Church when the Law and the Prophets
made Christ known to her. The clouds are also the Apostles
filling the restored earth with their teaching ; the darkness,
those wise men who, understanding deep mysteries, explained
them to the Church. The clouds are also the Body of the Lord,
wherein the Sun of Righteousness was hidden ; the darkness,
His concealed Godhead, which appeared not to the eyes of
flesh. Or, again, the clouds are the sacramental species veil-
ing Him in the Blessed Sacrament ; and the darkness is the

[i£Exod. xiv. 24. [2] Ibid. xix. 16.

[3] A mediaeval writer, whose words were attributed to Denis, the Areopagite,
whom St. Paul converted at Athens. See Acts xvii. 34.

i88 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

secrecy of His hidden but all-glorious life therein. Or, finally,
the clouds are scruples that beset the soul ; the darkness, that
mystical dereliction in the midst whereof God is ever present.

Righteousness and judgment are the correction of His seat.
The direct meaning is, when by faith we have penetrated
the cloud of mystery shrouding the designs of God, we find
absolute truth and justice the very rule of all His doings.
Thus, after Moses had sprinkled the blood of the Covenant
and had gone up into the clouds overshadowing Sinai along
with "Aaron, Nadah, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel :
they saw the God of Israel, and under His feet, as it were, a paved
work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven when
clear" [i].

The correction of His seat. Bellarmine takes the words liter-
ally, as denoting the perfect equity of our Lord's judicial
power in rewarding the just and punishing the wicked ; others,
with Albert the Great, taking the souls of the faithful to be
God's throne, explain that this throne is righted or corrected
and set straight by attentive consideration of His dealing with
sinners for warning and guidance.

(3) Ignis ante Ipsum prce- There shall go a fire before

cedet et inflammdbit in cir- Him and burn up His enemies
cuitu inimicos Ejus. on every side.

This is, say most of the writers, that fire which precedes
the Last Judgment, and that which Daniel foresaw in vision
when the Ancient of Days did sit, and a fiery stream issued
forth before Him [2] ; of which St. Peter also tells : The
elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works
that are therein shall be burnt up [3]. It will burn up His
enemies, the wood, hay, and stubble, but will only purify His
saints, the gold, silver, and precious stones reared on Him,
their Foundation [4]. St. Augustine takes the fire to be the
first Coming of Christ, and the flame of anger and persecution
kindled everywhere by the preaching of the Gospel ; a flame
which burnt up the persecutors themselves and not the Church
against which they raged ; just as a torch applied to green

[i] Exod. xxiv. 9, 10. [3] 2 Peter iii. 10.

[2] vii. 10. [4] Cf. i Cor. iii. 12, 13.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 189

wood is itself consumed while effecting its aim. There is,
besides these, more exactly still, ihatfire which our Lord came
to send upon earth [i], or the kindling blaze of the Holy
Ghost at Pentecost. And of this the Prophet spoke, saying :
/ will send a fire on Magog and among them that dwell carelessly
in the isles : and they shall know that I am the Lord [2]. This
divine fire, says Cardinal Hugo, goes before the Lord, His
coming to every faithful soul, as it kindles with longing for
Him, and burns up all its sins therewith, as He heaps His
coals of fire upon its head to soften and purify it. St.
Bernard remarks : The fire of holy desire must needs go
before His face to every soul into which He means to come,
and a flame burning up all the mildew of sin, and making
ready a place for the Lord. Then the soul knows that the
Lord is at hand, when it feels itself kindled with that fire,
and it saith with the prophet : From above hath He sent fire
into my bones, and hath chastised me [3] ; and again : My heart
was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned, and at
last I spake with my tongue [4], So, that, as Honorius says,
by the forgiveness of sins His aforetime enemies are kindled
with love and break forth in praise of His Name.

(4) Illux6runt fulgura Ejus His lightnings gave shine
orbi terrce : vidit, et com- unto the world : the earth saw
mota est terra. it and was afraid.

Here, again, in the literal sense, we may see a reference to
the thunderings of Sinai, and the future fulfilment of St. Paul's
words : That the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with
His mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that
know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ [5]. But the mystical writers refer it to the preaching
of the Apostles, those sons of thunder, to the Gospel, to the
awe that fell on the nations at the mighty words and power of
the new teachers.

(5) Monies, sicut cera,fluxe- The mountains melted away
runt a facie Ddmini : a facie like wax at the presence of the
Domini omnis terra. Lord ; all the earth before His

face.

[l] Luke xii. 49. [4] Ps. xxxviii. 4.

[2] Ezek. xxxix. 6. [5] 2 Thess. i. 8.

[3] Lam. i. 13.

loo THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

When God came down to deliver the Law Mount Sinai was
altogether covered with smoke, because the Lord descended upon it
in fire ; and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace,
and the whole mount quaked greatly [i]. The Carmelite tells
us that the mountains denote all those eminent in station,
influence, power, wealth, or ability, who will either be con-
verted and become flexible and ductile in the hands of the
Lord, or else, in spite of their seeming greatness, will be
destroyed, as by an earthquake before His face ; according to
that saying : The everlasting mountains are scattered, the per-
petual hills did bow [2]. St. Laurence Justinian points out
another sense, and tells us we have here a type of penance,
because the liquid form and level which wax assumes under
heat, fitly denote the tears and humility of a heart softened
by the grace of God.

(6) Annuntiav&runt cceli The heavens have declared
justitiam Ejus : et viderunt His righteousness, and all the
omnes populi gloriam Ejus. people have seen His glory.

The Angels' song at His Birth, the star of His Epiphany,
the voice at His Baptism and Transfiguration, the eclipse at
His Death, the earthquake at His Rising, the cloud of Glory
at His Ascension, all these, says St. Augustine, declare the
righteousness of the Lord ; as Angels will again be the heralds
of His second Coming when all the people, those nations of
the earth who have already heard of His glory, as well as those
who actually beheld Him working miracles in the flesh, will
see Him in great power and majesty upon the Seat of Doom.

(7) Confunddntur omnes qui Confounded be all they that
adorant sculptilia : et qui worship carven images, and
gloridntur in simuldcris suis. that glory in their idols.

Has it not come to pass ? Were they not confounded ?
Are they not confounded every day ? Why are all they con-
founded that worship carven images f Because all the people
have seen His glory. Now all the people confess the glory of
Christ, and they who worship stones are ashamed ; for those
stones were dead ones, but we have found the Living Stone.

[i] Exod. xix. 18. [2] Hab. iii. 6.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 191

Nay, those stones were men who were never alive, so they
cannot even be called dead, but our Stone is living, and hath
ever been alive with the Father, and He died and lived
again for us, and He lives now and death shall no more
have dominion over Him [i]. The people know of this His
glory, they abandon the temples for the churches. Thus
St. Augustine. There are other idols, mere phantom objects
of worship, besides graven images ; for all assiduous court
and homage paid to the wealthy and powerful and all
preference of earthly things to the will of God is idolatry.

(8) Adordte Eum omnes Worship Him all ye His
Angdi Ejus : audivit et Icetdta Angels: Sion heard it and
est Sion. rejoiced.

(9) Et exstdtaverunt filice And the daughters ofjudea
Juda, propter judicia Tua, were glad, because of Thy
Do/nine. judgments, 0 Lord.

The high and mighty God, so real and living, is the object
of the adoration of those blessed spirits, each one of whom,
a very marvel of beauty and glory, would seem to us like
a god, and worthy of our highest worship, did they not, like
the Angel at whose feet St. John fell adoring, say : See thon
do it not, for I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren the
prophets, and of them that keep the sayings of this book. Adore
God [2]. The Angels did worship Him, as they sang at His
Birth, as they ministered to Him in the Wilderness after the
Temptation, as in the Garden they bowed down in adora-
tion, comforting the awful agony of the Son of God ; as they
attended Him in the pomp of His Ascension : and they
worship Him now by guiding and watching over the souls of
which He gives them charge.

Sion, the Church on earth, with those special favourites
of the Lamb, the virgins who ever follow Him, daughters of
Judea, rejoices in the eternal adoration which her Divine
Head is ever the object of, and joins her alleluia to that eternal
alleluia ever heard in the streets of the heavenly Jerusalem [3].

[i] Rom. vi. 9. [2] Apoc. xxii. 9. [3] Tobias xiii. 22.

192 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

(10) Quoniam tu Dominus For Thou, 0 Lord, art most

altissimus super omnem ter- high above all the earth : Thou

ram : nimis exaltatus es super art exceedingly exalted above

omnes deos. all gods.

The word For, Bellarmine says, is here emphatic. It is
possible for us to rejoice with a sure gladness in Christ's
judgments, because He is supreme and His sentences cannot
be over-ruled and set aside by any higher authority. It is
evermore a thought of rejoicing for the daughters of Judea, all
tender and faithful souls, that it is their own Bridegroom, One
of their own flesh and blood, Who is throned above the
highest Angels ; and that He, now Lord and King of Heaven,
has thrown it open to us.

(i i) Qui diligitis Dominum, 0 ye that love the Lord, hate

odite malum : custodit Domi- ye the evil : The Lord preserveth

nus dnimas sanctorum sudrum, the souls of His saints: He

de manu peccatoris liberdbit shall deliver them from the

eos. hand of the ungodly.

Here is a test of true love of God; not only abstaining
from evil, but hating it, shunning it for its repugnance to the
holiness of God, and not only because of the danger of
indulging in it. The Evil is sometimes taken to mean the
Evil one, the father of lies [i]. St. John Chrysostom says :
Let no man deceive himself ; God and the devil cannot be
loved alike by one person, for either the devil is hated, or God
is loved ; if the devil is loved, it must needs be that God is
despised. Now, then, can we find out whether we do truly
love God ? St. Bernard shall answer : You must ask your
heart, your tongue, your work, whether you truly love God.
Your heart, because it thinks often on what it loves, and if
you do not often think of God, you will know you do not
truly love Him ; and if you think more of the world than you
do of God, you love the world more than God. Ask your
tongue if you love God, for it gladly speaks of what the heart
loves ; therefore he whose conversation is chiefly of the world
is hereby proved to love it more than God. Ask your work

[i] John viii. 44.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 193

whether you love God ; for if fire be placed amidst straw it
will burn, and if the fire of Divine love be in the heart it will
show itself in action.

The Lord preserveth the souls of His saints. Here we may
note two things — He makes no promise at all as to the bodies,
nor yet as to the souls of any but His saints. The torments
of the martyrs did not move their souls. He offers salvation
to all who will accept it. He will never allow a soul that
trusts in Him to be separated from His love. How freely
He gives not only His help, but His very self, we hear when
He comes to us in Holy Communion : " May the Body of our
Lord Jesus Christ preserve thy soul into everlasting life."

And He shall deliver them out of the hands of the ungodly.
Not only by His grace and the protection of His holy angels
here, but, says the Carmelite, by saving them from the accusa-
tions of the enemy in the Doom, and appointing them to be
where no minister of evil can ever trouble them more.

(12) Lux orta est justo, et There is sprung up a light

rectis corde Icetitia. for the righteous, and gladness

for such as are true-hearted.

We may take this light first of the seeds of Divine grace,
sown in the illumination of Baptism, and growing up by
degrees to the perfect day of true holiness. Then of Christ
Himself, sown with tears in His grave, rising again in glory
and bringing gladness to His people. Or the Sending of the
Holy Ghost, Who enlightens the mind with the brightness of
divine grace which is vouchsafed to the righteous and true-
hearted, that is, to all who have washed their sins in the Blood
of Christ. St. Augustine says in his Confessions : There was a
great dark cloud of vanity before mine eyes, so that I saw not
the Sun of Righteousness and the Light of Truth ; I loved my
darkness because I knew not Thy Light ; I was blind and loved
my blindness and walked from darkness to darkness : but, Lord
Thou art my God Who hast led me out of the darkness and
the shadow of death and hath called me into this glorious
Light. And, behold, I see.

Again, we may take this light as the voice of Conscience
which is the heaven -given guide to each individual soul.
And what is Conscience ? It is the Light of that great gift of

13

194 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

God, Reason, the Light of the Divine Countenance impressed
upon our soul [i], teaching us practically what to do in every
specific act. Conscience, after all, must be the guide by which
we stand or fall in God's sight ; it decides before the act
whether it be sinful or not. After-reasonings or discussions
cannot effect the sinfulness of any past act. That is decided,
there and then, by the previous voice of Reason. This Light
is clear and brilliant in the souls of the righteous and true-
hearted who listen to the Voice of the Holy Ghost, trust
Him as their Teacher and make use of His Seven Gifts to
purify their understandings from the darkness of sin and to
strengthen their wills. Thus the Light of Reason, or the
Voice of Conscience, is developed, and we know even as we are
known [2], and our heart is filled with the joyful gladness of
the Sons of God who walk with Him in white [3],

(13) Lcetdmini justi in Do- Rejoice in the Lord, ye right-

mino : et confitemini memorize eous : and give thanks for a
sanctificationis ejus. remembrance of His holiness.

Holiness is not only an attribute of God, but is also a grace
communicated by Him to His people, for which they are to
give thanks. It is Justification ; it is the Sacrament of
Penance ; it is Holy Baptism, say various commentators. The
Carmelite takes the words of the Blessed Sacrament, wherein
we bless and thank Him, by the Eucharistic worship, which is
His Own memorial Rite wherein He is Priest and Victim, Host
and Guest [4].

GLORIA PATRI.

Glory be to the Father, the Lord of the whole earth ;
Glory to the Son, Who preserveth the souls of His saints ;
Glory be to the Holy Ghost, Who is the joyful gladness of the
true-hearted.

[i] Cf. Ps. iv. 6. [2] Cor. xiii 2. [3] Cf. Apoc. iii. 4.

[4] St. Thomas thus writes in the Adoro te : —

" O most sweet memorial of His death and woe,
Living Bread which giveth life to man below,
Let my spirit ever eat of Thee and live,
And the blest fruition of Thy sweetness give."

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 195

ANTIPHONS.

(1) (During the year) Post After childbirth, 0 Virgin,
partum Virgo invioldta per- thou didst remain inviolate,
mansisti, Dei Genitrix inter- Mother of God intercede for us.
cede pro nobis.

(2) (During Advent) An- The Angel of the Lord dc-
gelusDdmininuntidvitMarice, dared unto Mary, and she
et concepit de Spiritu sancto. conceived by the Holy Ghost.

The first of these two Antiphons continues the descrip-
tion of the relations of our ever dear and blessed Lady to
the Mystical Body. Through her own stainless Conception
and her miraculous child-bearing she became the official
intercessor between the Members and the Head. Jesus came
to us through her. She has given Him to the world. With-
out her free consent the Incarnation would never have taken
place ; for God forces no one. He ever respects the free will
He has given, that free will by which we are made images of
our Maker. Having thus given us Jesus, the great Gift of God,
is it wonderful that we should also get His gifts through her ?
Or that having given us the greater she should also give us the
lesser ? This Antiphon, then, teaches us her office of Inter-
cessor between us and Jesus, Who is Himself the one Mediator
of God and Man [i]. She does her office now, as she did at
Cana of Galilee, when she told Him the wants of the guests
and then told the people, Whatsoever He shall say to you that
do ye [2].

This Antiphon when used during Christmas-tide, and
recalls the spotless Motherhood of Mary, ever a Virgin.
Before, in, and after child-bearing she remained inviolate,
and was, according to the flesh, the Mother of none save the
Son of God.

The second of these Antiphons, made up of a familiar
Versicle and Response, is used during Advent-tide, and
emphasises the divine Maternity from which flow all the
offices of Mary to the members of Jesus Christ. It finds its
echo in the Psalm : The Lord hath made known His salvation ;

[i] I Tim. ii. 5. [2] John ii. 3-5.

196 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

and all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God,
that is, Jesus, the Son of Mary.

PSALM xcvn.
Title. — A Psalm of David.

Argument.

Tomasi : That God, by the Coming of His Son, hath
declared His salvation unto all. The voice of the Apostles
rejoicing at the Resurrection of Christ. The voice of the
Church to the Lord and to the Apostles. Concerning the first
and second Coming of Christ.

Venerable Bede : The Psalm refers to our Lord, con-
cerning Whose Coming the Psalmist is about to speak. In
the first part the Psalmist recommends the Christian people to
be glad with the rejoicing of a new song, since the wondrous
Coming of Christ is granted. In the second part he declares
more fully in various ways that we should rejoice because the
Judge desired by the righteous is to come at last.

(1) Cantate Domino cdnti- sing unto the Lord a new
cum novum : quia mirabilia song: for He hath done marvel-
fecit, lous things.

(2) Salvdvit Sibi dextera With His right hand and
Ejus : et brdchium sanctum with His holy arm hath He
Ejus. saved Himself.

The song must be new, because of the unwonted nature of
the marvellous things God hath wrought. When of old, with
a mighty hand and an arm stretched out, He brought His
people out of Egypt, He saved but one small nation ; He
overthrew in the Red Sea only a human enemy. But now
His salvation extends to all nations of the earth ; the enemy
He has routed is the Prince of the powers of the air : it is
wickedness in the high places.

He hath done matvellous things, says Bellarmine, in the
Incarnation, Birth, Passion, Resurrection, Ascension, and in the
Sending of the Holy Ghost ; not to speak of the miracles He
wrought in person during His sojourn on earth, or by the hand
of His servants since. But the words most especially refer to
the Resurrection, the greatest of all His earthly miracles ; and

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 197

in that He wrought this marvel alone : / have power to lay My
life 'down and I have power to take it up again [i], with no one
to aid in the agony of His Passion, with no hand to pluck Him
back from the grave. He said in prophecy of old : The year
of My redeemed is come, and I looked and there was none to
help, and I wondered that there was none to uphold ; therefore
Mine own arm hath brought salvation unto Me and My fury it
upheld Me [2] . We may also, following Lorin, take, without
any material change in the meaning, the words as spoken
by the Father, declaring that He wrought the salvation of
mankind by one instrument alone — His own Right Hand, the
only-begotten Son, by Whose second Coming, of which this
Psalm speaks, as well as His first, the triumph will be
completed.

(3) Notum fecit Ddminus The Lord hath made known

Salutdre Suum : in conspectu His salvation, and hath rc-

gentium reveldvit justitiam vealed His righteousness in

Suam. the sight of the heathen.

It is the manifestation of the only-begotten Son, the Saviour
of Mankind, the Light to enlighten the Gentiles of whom
Simeon chanted his dying song while doubtless thinking
of this Psalm. And observe, it is not said that God showed,
but that He made known His salvation. For He had shown
it in mystery of old to the Patriarchs. Adam knew Him as
the Redeemer to come ; and so did Abel, who offered Him a
lamb ; and Seth, who called on His Name ; and Noe, who
was His type, saving mankind in the Ark ; and Abraham,
who offered up his own son. But the world had forgotten
Him, and therefore the Father made Him known. So the
Carmelite. And the Carthusian points out that God did this
with care that the Birth should not pass unnoticed ; for He
made it known to shepherds by the angels, to the wise men
by the star, to Zacharias by the angel Gabriel, to Simeon and
Anna by the Holy Ghost. But to the Gentiles, who had no
previous knowledge to be recalled, He revealed His righteous-
ness in their sight. So we may notice that the Apostles never
address their Gentile congregations in parables, as our Lord
did the Jews. They make direct proclamation of the Gospel.

[i] John x. 18. [2] Isaias Ixiii. 4-5.

198 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

His salvation, His righteousness. These terms mean Jesus
the Holy One, the Just One [i]. He is known to the faithful
in the breaking of bread [2] ; and to those outside He is
declared by the Church, whose Unity He chose as the mark
that might convince men of His Divine Mission [3].

(4) Recorddtus est miseri- He hath remembered His
cordice suce, et veritdtis suce mercy and His truth towards
domui Israel. the house of Israel.

The word remembered is here employed, as in the Benedictus
and Magnificat, not in any way denoting that God could
possibly forget, but to remind us of the length of time which
passed before the promised Deliverer appeared, a delay which
would, in any human analogy, be due to oblivion. But God
is eternal : and a thousand years are as a day in His sight [4.]
It is said towards the house of Israel because the promises
of mercy were made originally to the children of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, so that God's truth was concerned in fulfil-
ling this pledge. Accordingly the true manifestation of the
Saviour, the first preaching of the Gospel, was among the
people and in the land of Israel.

(5) Viderunt omnes termini All the ends of the earth
terrce salutdre Dei nostri. have seen the salvation of our

God.

This latter verse, read in the light of the former, shows the
uncovenanted mercies whereby His love overflows the con-
tract He makes with His creatures. We are bound by His
Covenant, but He can work without restrictions. Nothing
can bind Him save Himself; and He, the Apostle tells us, is
chanty [5].

All the ends of the earth. To all those Gentiles who had
not claim on His truth : and yet to them, to us, He has shown
Jesus His salvation. And precisely so runs the prophecy of
Isaias : It is a light thing that Thou shouldst be My servant, to
raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the desolations of

[l] Acts iii. 14. [4] Ps. Ixxxix. 4.

[2] Luke xxiv. 35. [5] I John iv. 8.

[3] John xvii. 21.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 199

Israel : I will also give Thee for a Light to the Gentiles, that Thou
mayest be My salvation unto the end of the earth [i].

(6) Jubildte Deo omnis Show yourselves joyful unto
terra : cantdte, et exsultdte, et the Lord all ye lands : sing,
psdllite. rejoice, and give thanks.

Commentators tell us that by the use of these general
words various grades of spiritual exultation are denoted, to
each of which all lands, the whole extent of the Church, are
invited.

Show yourselves joyful is the first inarticulate expression of
the soul's delight, striving for utterance ; but not yet able to
collect itself, nor perfectly to understand the nature of its
gladness. Sing tells us that words of suitable devotion have
been found at last. Rejoice tells us of the fervent happiness
with which the saints pour forth their prayers to God. And
give thanks (upon the harp) implies the active praise of good
works performed for His sake.

(7) Psalite Domino in cith- Praise the Lord upon the
ara, in cithara et voce psalmi : harp, upon the harp and with
in tubis ductilibuSf et voce the voice of a psalm : with
tubce cornece. trumpets and with the sound

of the shawm.

We have now five methods of rejoicing put before us, the
five words of which St. Paul speaks : Yet in the church I had
rather speak five words with my understanding . . . than ten
thousand words in an unknown tongue [2]. These five words
answer, as Perez remarks, to the five titles given to our Lord
in this Psalm, viz., right hand, holy arm, salvation, righteous-
ness, and truth. As regards the mystical signification of the
various instruments named here, we are reminded, first, that
by the harp we are taught that all our faculties, all parts of our
conduct, should be vocal with sweet melody to God. For a
harp is imperfect if even one string be lacking or not in tune
with the others. What profits it thee, then, if thou be chaste,
liberal in almsgiving, and yet envious ? What advantage is it
if thou have six strings whole and one broken ? The harp

[i] xlix. 6. [2] I Cor. xiv. 19.

200 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

(a symbol of mortification, with its tense strings and empty
hollow) is twice named, to teach us that bodily austerity and
the practice of holiness need to be repeated and not left off
after the beginning ; that we are to praise with body and soul
in prosperity and adversity, in this life and the next : and it is
coupled with the psalm of thanksgiving in the second place,
because contemplation and prayer, in addition to active virtues,
are essential to spiritual life and joy. Some, however, think
that the ten-stringed harp is meant here, implying the keeping
of the ten commandments.

With trumpets and shawms, or, literally, " on drawn-out
trumpets and with the sound of the trumpet of horn." The
first are aptly assigned to the heralding of the Gospel, while
the humbler "trumpet of horn" to the pastoral teaching of
Christian shepherds. Yet another view, that of Albert the
Great, sees in the metal trumpets the martyrs of Christ ; and
in the cornet (horn), made of that which springs from the
flesh, yet is not of it, the confessors who have kept their carnal
affections in check by asceticism, and by lifting themselves up
in the practice of prayer towards God.

(8) Jubilate in conspectu
regis Ddmini : movedtur mare,
et plenitudo Ejus : orbis terrd-
rum, et qui habitant in eo.

(9) Fluminaplaudent manu,
simul monies exsultdbunt a
conspectu Domini : qudniam
venit judicdre terram.

0 show yourselves joyful
before the Lord the King : Let
the sea be moved and the ful-
ness thereof : the round world
and they that dwell therein.

Let the floods clap their hands
and let the hills be joyful to-
gether before the Lord : for
He comes to judge the earth.

The Carmelite says, We show ourselves joyful before the
Lord when we so constantly have Him in our thoughts, words,
and deeds ; when we are conscious of acting with continual
reference to Him and not to the world or to ourselves ; and
when ours is a glad and filial service, not the servile letter of
slaves. The notion of this clause, which really belongs to
the former verse, is that of the processional march with music
and singing to greet the King as He returns from victory
and coronation. A monarch, in such cases, bestows largesse

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 201

upon his subjects. So our special time for rejoicing is when
our King comes to judgment and bestows rewards on His
faithful people. The Psalmist goes on to call inanimate
creation, which, in St. Paul's words, groaneth and travaildh
in pain together until now [i], to swell the hymn of triumph
raised by all that dwell in the round world. But as Corder,
giving us various opinions of Oriental commentators, says,
There are spiritual meanings underlying the various terms
used. The sea, as one will have it, denotes the Law, once
bitter, now made sweet by the word of the Cross ; or else the
restless, tossing, bitter, and sorrowful life of the world and all
that are mixed up with it ; also those who shed the salt tears
of penitence.

The round world, those within the circle of the Church,
firm and fruitful.

The floods, drinking in the waters of wisdom from their
source, and irrigating the dry land, denote all holy preachers
of the word. The hills are those in high position, especially
in the offices of the Church.

Let the sea be moved. St. Augustine observes that it is
exactly when the storms of persecution are raging that saints
are most zealous and most happy, clapping their hands in very
joy in honour of their King.

The floods mean the faithful regenerated in the sweet
waters of Baptism, and remind us that the rivers flow down
from the hills, and bid us see herein the spiritual might and
progress of the disciples in the Faith.

For He comes to judge the earth. With Bellarmine, we may
take this either of our Lord's first or second Coming. If of
the first, then the ground of rejoicing is because He comes to
rule the earth with a Law, perfectly just ; and to do so, not
as of old in the unseen Majesty of the Godhead, but in bodily
and visible form, as a Man dwelling with men. If of the
second Coming, then the theme of rejoicing is the final victory
over sin and the making all things new [2], when we are
delivered at last from the bondage of corruption unto the
glorious liberty of the children of God [3].

[l] Rom. viii. 22. [2] Apoc. xxi. 5. [3] Cf. Rom. viii. 21.

202 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

(10) Judicdbitorbem terra- With righteousness shall He

rum in justitia, et pdpulos in judge the world, and the
cequitdte. people with equity.

This Psalm ends precisely as does the first Psalm in this
Nocturn, with the exception of the last word equity instead of
truth. It is a word of hope and of fear alike. Of hope,
because the feeble and the oppressed will find an advocate in
their Judge ; for it is written : With righteousness shall He judge
the poor and argue with equity for the meek of the earth [i]. Of
fear, for, // Thou, Lord, will mark iniquities, Lord, who shall
abide it f [2]. But as He hath not yet come for the second
time, why should men tremble ? Let them amend and rejoice.
It is in thine own power how thou shalt look for the Coming
of Christ. He delays that Coming that He may not have to
condemn thee. Behold He cometh not yet. He is in heaven
and thou on earth. He delays His Coming, delay not thou thy
counsel. His Coming is hard to the obdurate, but gentle to
the loving. Look, then, at once what thou art ; if obdurate,
thou mayest soften ; if gentle, rejoice that He is coming. For
thou art a Christian ? Yes, sayest thou. I believe thou
prayest and sayest, Thy kingdom come. Thou desirest Him to
come of Whose Coming thou art afraid. Repent lest thy
prayer be against thyself. Thus St. Augustine.

GLORIA PATRI.

Glory be to the Father, the Lord and King ; Glory to
the Son, His Right Hand, Who shall judge the world with
righteousness ; Glory to the Holy Ghost, Who declared the
salvation of God.

VERSICLE AND RESPONSE.

y. Diffusa est gratia in Grace is poured forth on thy

Idbiis tuis. lips.

ty. Propterea benedixit te Therefore God hath blessed

Deus in ceternum. thee for ever.

These, taken from the first Psalm in the second Nocturn,
fittingly conclude a Nocturn which has been mainly con-

[l] Is. xi. 4. [2] Ps. cxxix. 3.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 203

cerned with the office of our ever dear and blessed Lady
towards the Mystical Body. They sum up everything. From
the grace poured forth on her lips at the Fiat mihi comes all
her blessedness in which we share so abundantly. It is well
to fix this point into our minds : Mary is what she is to us,
because she is the Mother of God. So our love for her will
abound more and more [i] in knowledge and understanding.

PATER NOSTER.

Said in silence.

y. Et ne nos inducas in And lead us not into

tentdtidnem. temptation.

ty. Sed libera nos a malo. But deliver us from evil.

The pious author of the Myroure thus comments on the
Pater Noster : —

" Our Father. Think now that as a child giveth trust fully
to his father in what distress soever he be in, so ye, in what-
ever distress or trouble or temptation or sin that you be in,
meekly and trustingly lift up your heart to God your Father,
and tell Him what aileth you, and say to Him, our Father.
You say not my Father, but our Father ; whereby we are
taught to have great charity and love each to another, and to
all our fellow-Christians, inasmuch as we are all children of
one Father, to Whom we all say our Father.

" Who art in heaven. Therefore lift up your hearts from
earthly and vain things and offer them to Him that is not only
in heaven above in bliss, but also in the souls of His servants
by grace, which are called heavens. And in each place He is,
by His being, and by His presence, and by His power.
Think, then, wherever you be, that God, your Father, is
present before you, with you, and all about you, and by grace
in every one's heart that is out of deadly sin ; and in this
beholding say to Him with great love and joy and reverence,
Our Father, Who art in heaven.

" Thy Name be hallowed, that is, (may) the worship and
love of Thy holy Name be so confirmed and stabled in our
minds, that whatever we think, or say, or do, we must ever-

[l] I Thess. iv. i.

204 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

more intend the holiness and praising of Thy Holy Name and
not the vanity of our own name. And that our life may be so
holy that thy Name be hallowed, and worshipped thereby in
us. And further, that it may be thus : —

" Thy kingdom come, that is, may the Lordship of all sin
be so cast out of us, and mayest Thou so reign in us by
the grace and plenty of all virtues, that we (may) be ready
to desire Thy Coming in the fulness of Thy Kingdom at
the Day of Doom, or at the end of our life. And also that
Thy Kingdom may so come to them that are in Purgatory that
they may be delivered from all pain and come to rest in the
joy of Thy Kingdom. And so, in this petition, you ask that
God should reign in you and in your fellow-Christians by
grace. And that both you and all living and dead should
come to the Kingdom of bliss.

" Thy Will be done on earth as it is in heaven, that is,
as Thy saints that are in heaven are conformed in all things
to Thy Will, so give us will and strength to desire and to
fulfil Thy Will in all things, be it never so contrary to our
vain wills. So that if Thou wilt have us in sickness, or in
tribulation, in weal or woe, in heaven, in earth, or in hell,
Thy Fatherly Will be done in us. Think not that our Father
will have any of His children in hell. But our obedience to
our Father ought to be fervent and simple, that we take no
heed of heaven, nor of hell, but only of the fulfilment of our
Father's will.

" Give us this day our daily bread, that is, the sustenance of
our bodily life which Thou sendest us, grant us to take it
soberly, without surfeit, and patiently, without grudging, and
give us sufficiently thereof to our need. And the bread of
Thy Word give us this day, by feeling devotion in Thy
holy service and in prayer, and in all reading and hearing
of Thy Word. Give us, Father, the bread of Thy grace, with
which we be comforted and strengthened to withstand evil
and to do good. And give us such faith and charity and
devotion in our souls that thereby we may receive every
day the Bread of Thy Holy Sacrament of the Altar, that is,
Lord Jesus, Thyself, in the unity of Thy Church, though we
receive it not every day with our bodily mouths.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 205

"And forgive our trespasses, as we forgive our trespassers.
This petition seems heavy to them that behold other men's
sins and forget their own. But, and we see clearly, how great
and many our sins are against God, and how little in regard
thereof any offence is that is done against us, we should think
it a petition of unspeakable comfort that by forgiveness of so
little and few we may get forgiveness of so many and so great.
I have sinned against God and deserved pain ; another hath
sinned against me and deserved punishing. If I forgive the
offence and not the pain, my Father, God, will do the same to
me ; if I forgive pain and all, so shall God, my Father, forgive
me. Glad, therefore, ought we to be when any trespass is
done against us in word or deed, and more glad to forgive it,
and with heart and word and look and deed ; and to love them
and to do (good) for them. For by them we have occasion to
get from God, our Father, the large and greatly desired pardon
and forgiveness of all our sins and of all the pains that we have
deserved therefore. The great comfort that this petition giveth
to a sinful soul cannot lightly be told, for He is Truth that
biddeth us pray thus, and it may not be in vain ; but as we
forgive we shall be forgiven . . . And if we be in will to
forgive, and feel contrary stirrings in ourselves, yet let us
nevertheless say this same petition trustingly to our Father,
thinking thus : Grant us, good Father, verily to forgive our
trespassers as we desired to be forgiven of Thee.

"And lead us not into temptation, that is, suffer us not for
our unkindness and demerits to fall into sin by any temptation.
This is a petition heartily to be asked. For none make pro-
gress in virtue without temptation ; nor can anyone withstand
temptation, be he never so perfect, without the special help
and grace of God. And therefore let us pray our Father
with fear and by this petition, not to keep us from temptation,
but to keep us so that fall we not by any temptation.

" But deliver us from evil. We can neither, nor may not
of ourselves, do anything but sin, nor can we, or may we,
deserve anything but pain. And therefore meekly and with
dread, knowing our own feebleness, we pray our Father to
deliver us from evil of all sin and of all peril and of all pain,
temporal and everlasting.

206 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

"Amen. This word Amen, is a word of Hebrew; and
sometimes it is a word of affirming, and is as much as to
say, ' Truly,' or ' Faithfully.' And sometimes it is a word of
desiring, and is as much as to say, ' So be it/ or ' Be it done.'
And so it is set here for to show a great desire that we ought to
have all that is asked before in this Prayer be fulfilled. For in
these seven petitions is asked all that is needed to us for body
and soul in this life and after.

" Thus may you have your mind on this prayer, when you
say it, if you will study and labour to understand it, and keep
it in your mind. Not that you must have mind in all the
words that I have written, but on the meaning. For the
understanding of man, namely, when it is lightened by grace,
may conceive more in a little while than the tongue may speak
in a longer time, and therefore, while you say the words of
your Pater Noster I hope your understanding will the better be
fed unto the inward meaning, as I have now written. At least,
with some thereof, if you will do your duty, and for as much as
our Saviour made this prayer for our health, it is good that you
intend always to say it according to the intention that He made
it for, and to ask thereby all things that He intended should be
asked thereby when He made it " [i].

THE ABSOLUTION.

Precibus et mentis bedtcz By the prayers and the merits

MaricB semper virginis, et of Blessed Mary ever virgin,

omnium Sanctorum perducat and of all the saints, may the

nos Dominus ad regna ccelo- Lord bring us to the heavenly

rum. ty. Amen. realms. Amen.

"The Absolution is not only a loosening from the faults
we have committed while reciting the Office, but it is also
a special prayer to dispose our soul to profit by the words
of the Sacred Scripture which are about to be read to us. For
the psalmody being over, we now rest and let the Holy Ghost
speak to our hearts ; for as the Preacher saith : There is a time
to keep silence and a time to speak." [2]
y. Jube domine benedicere. Lord, command her to bless.

[l] Myroure, p. 73-77. [2] Myroure, p. 101 ; Eccles. iii. 7.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 207

BLESSING.

Nos cum Prole pia, benedicat May the Virgin Mary,

Virgo Maria. together with her kind Son,

bless us.

"Then cometh the reader and asketh leave of God
Almighty and the help of your prayers that she may read
to our Lord's worship and sayeth, Jube domine bencdicere —
Lord, bid me say well ; as if she said : Lord give me leave and
bid me say or read, for else I dare not presume to open my
mouth to these holy words ; and give me strength and grace
to read and say them, and so well that Thou mayest be pleased
and the hearers edified and my soul unhurt. And though
these words be thus said principally to God, yet they are also
said to her that giveth the blessing and who therein occupieth
God's stead, so that she should bless His name, and give
her leave to read. For by blessing is understood giving of
leave ; therefore she saith, Jube domine benedicere, that is,
' Lord bid her bless.' . . . Then she that is asked to bless,
knowing well that the blessing or leave-giving belongeth
principally to God, prayeth our Lady for help and for succour,
both to the reader and to the hearers. ... In all this you
may see how diligently you ought to be in reading and
hearing of our lessons, while there is ordained so great instance
before to make you ready thereto. Then followeth the lesson,
that is, as much as to say a ' reading ' " [i].

THE FIRST LESSON.
Ecclesiasticus xxiv. n.

In omnibus requiem quce- In all things I sought rest,

sivi, et in hereditdte Domini and I shall abide in the heri-
mordbor. Tune prcecepit, et tage of the Lord. Then the
dixit mini Creator 6mnium : Maker of all things commanded
et Qui credvit me, requievit in and said to me, and He that
taberndculo meo, et dixit mihi: made me rested in my taber-
In Jacob inhabita et in Israel nacle : and He said to me,
hereditdre, et in electis meis Let thy dwelling be in Jacob
mitte radices. and in Israel thine inherit-

ance, and take thou root
among Mine elect.

[l] Myroure, p. 102.

208 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

y. Tu autem Domine mis- But do Thou, 0 Lord, have

ertre nobis. mercy.

fg. Deo grdtias. Thanks to God.

That Wisdom of Whom it is said : / came forth from
the mouth of the Most High and I have made in heaven
a light that faileth not, My dwelling is on high, and My throne
a pillar of cloud [i], is none other than the Second Person
of the adorable Trinity. He is fittingly called the Wisdom of
the Father, for He proceeds from Him by way of under-
standing. He is the Eternal Word, the perfect Image of
the Father, the same Lord and God as the other two Divine
Persons. Now, Creation is the work of Omnipotence, of
Wisdom, and of Love. It is the work of the Blessed Three.
But Sacred Scripture seems to point out that in a particular
sense it is to be attributed to the Son Who was to be the
first-born, of every creature [2]. Thou hast made all things in
wisdom, says the Psalmist [3]. And so the work of the new
Creation is also to be particularly attributed to the Son, to
Him Whose dearest Name is that of Jesus the Saviour, and
Who hath sent us the Holy Ghost, the uncreated Love of
Father and of Son. The work of restoration was founded on
the sublimest Wisdom. Man had fallen from his primaeval
righteousness and had to retrace his steps. This of himself
he could not do, having lost the gift of sanctifying grace.
But although God comes to his assistance, Man has to do his
part and acts upon his own responsibility. The work, then,
of regaining heaven is one not so much of repression, or
of uprooting our nature, as of self-education. The nature
which God gave, and which He Himself assumed, is not
in itself bad. Original sin robbed it of that supernatural
life in which our first parents were constituted ; it gave
it a distinct tendency towards evil. The Body overweighted
the Soul, and right Reason lost its control over Man. So,
in the Wisdom of God, the work of reparation consists
in restoring the lost balance, setting Reason, or Conscience,
back again upon its lost throne ; thus enabling us to act in
wisdom instead of in thraldom to our lower appetites. This,

[l] Eccles. xxiv. 5. [2] Col. i. 15. [3] Ps. ciii. 24.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 209

then, was the wise work of the Repairer of the Fall. By this
restoration of the God-like gift of Reason to its supremacy,
and enriching it by the higher light of Faith, Man was set
on the road to heaven, painful and slow though his progress
might be. It was to be a lasting work. The first important
point, therefore, was to teach man Who his Maker is ; and
what are his relations to that Maker. In the dealings of God
with Israel we see the manner in which Divine Wisdom
worked. One people chosen out from all the children of
men ; one small tract of country taken as the seat of the
Divine operations. To this people was the Covenant made :
/ will be your God and you shall be My people [i]. This Cove-
nant with Israel, of course, did not tie God's hands, nor did it
restrain His uncovenanted mercies towards those beyond the
borders of the Twelve Tribes. But the work of education was,
at first, to go on only within these limits. The Israelites were
gradually taught to look forward with greater longing and
intensity to Him Who was to come. Patriarchs sighed for
Him ; Seers foretold Him. The place and the time when He
was to come were predicted clearly. Each step was weighed,
each wisely chosen. In all things Wisdom sought rest, that rest
which only comes when perfect love exists between God and
the Creature, when the work of education is done, and Man
is fit for heaven. Israel was the chosen spot. It was the
heritage of the Lord, and there Wisdom chose to abide. But
as the Incarnation was the fulfilment of the past, so it was the
promise of the future. Israel had to enlarge her tents and
widen her borders [2]. The true Israel, of which the Hebrews
were only a tribe, is God's Church, where Wisdom ever abides
in the inheritance of the Lord : / am with you all days, even
to the end of world [3]. Here, in the Church, the work of
educating the soul for heaven proceeds apace, and would be
the sooner accomplished did we not put so many obstacles
in the way. But Wisdom knows how to achieve its ends. It
is patient and can wait. It can turn the very obstacles into
new stepping-stones to heaven. But meanwhile, from the
very dawn of the Incarnation, there was one, a human

[i] Jer. xxx. 22. [2] Cf. Isaias liv. 2. [3] Matt, xxviii. 20.

2io THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

creature, pure and holy, whose soul was a fitting resting-
place for Divine Wisdom, and who was the type of what
Humanity, aided by God's grace, could be. And this one was
the stainless Virgin Mary, chosen to be God's Mother. She
became the living " Seat of Wisdom," and showed forth, to
the greatest extent possible to a mere creature, the Wisdom
of God. Hence, Holy Church does not hesitate, by analogy,
to apply to our ever dear and blessed Lady the description of
the Eternal Wisdom given in these lessons. Her wisdom
was but a ray of that which was God's ; and, moreover, it was
not her own but the gift of her Maker.

Now, then, to apply the Lesson to our ever dear and
blessed Lady. This lesson has a great affinity to the spirit
which pervades the Psalms of the first Nocturn. It treats of
the predestination of Mary.

In all things I sought for rest. This is the longing of the
human heart — rest ; and rest can only be found in God. It
was by her Ecce ancilla Domini that Mary found her rest,
submitting her will once for all to that of Her Maker : This is
my rest, for I have chosen it [i]. Therefore does she abide for
ever in the inheritance of the Lord. By her complete sub-
mission to God's Will it is seen that, in her case, Reason had
fully resumed its throne and ruled her. She was the Hand-
maiden ; He was the Lord. When she had proved her
submission, the Creator of all things rested in her sacred
womb ; and on account of her incomparable dignity of
Mother of God, which was the recompense for her submission,
she has had appointed to her in the Church a place com-
mensurate with her dignity.

Jacob, whose other name was Israel, which means "seeing
God," is typical of the Church. Nor must it be forgotten that
Jacob means " supplanter," and refers to the true Supplanter,
Jesus, Who has supplanted the first Adam and made Himself
the true Head of our Race. And in her turn Mary supplants
Eve, and is the true " Mother of all the Living." Jacob may
also be taken to represent the active life, and Israel, " seeing
God," the contemplative life. The example of Mary, the type

[l] Ps. cxxxi. 14.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 211

of union with God, must find a place in the souls devoted
to the active life if they would escape the dangers they are
exposed to. But Israel is her chosen heritage, her very own ;
for those souls who follow the Lamb into the heights of
simple contemplation are, in a special way, her children ; for
their submission to God is more complete than the others,
their interior life more resembles her's who ever kept these
words in her heart [i], and who heard the Will of God and did
it [2]. It is in these souls that her example strikes root
deeply, and produces in them flowers here, and fruit hereafter.
" When the lesson is ended the reader addresseth her heart
and voice to God and saith, Tu autem, that is, But Thou, O
Lord, have mercy upon us, as if she said : I have offended
in my reading by some vanity of myself, or by irreverence to
Thy Holy Word, or by some negligence, and the hearers
perhaps also by some distraction of their minds from this holy
lesson ; but Thou, Lord, have mercy upon us. Then the
hearers answer, not to her asking mercy, but for the holy
doctrine that they have heard in the lesson, and say : We give
thanks to God. The reader asketh mercy rather than returns
thanks; for he that teacheth or doeth anything, though it be
never so good, and done with ever so good an intention, yet
he ought not at once to give God thanks, as though he had
done it well, like as did that proud Pharisee, as the Gospel
telleth [3] ; but he ought to humble himself and ask for
mercy, fearing lest he have offended in anything and not done
well, as that holy and rightful and patient man Job did. For
notwithstanding that his deeds were holy and good, yet he
said : / dread all my works [4]. For he that loveth cleanness
of conscience dreadeth always lest anything should defile it.
But the hearers thank God and say Deo grdtias. For he that
is taught or receiveth any benefit of God ought to give thanks
therefore. Nevertheless, the reader asketh mercy for the
hearers as well as for herself, and the hearers give thanks both
for the readers and for themselves ; for all good deeds done in
Holy Church are common to all them that are in charity" [5].

[i] Luke ii. 19. [4] ix. 28.

[2] xi. 28. [5] Myroure, pp. 106-7.

[3] Luke xviii. 1 1 .

212 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

RESPONSORY.

Sancta et immaculdta vir-
ginitas ! quibus te Idudibus cf-
feram, nescio : * Quia Quern
cceli cdpere non potcrant, tuo
gremio contulisti.

y. Benedfcta tu in mulieri-
bus, et benedictusfructus ventris
tui* Quia Quern, &c.

Maidenhood holy and with-
out spot ! I know not with what
praises I may extol thee;*
For Him Whom the heavens
might not hold thou didst bear
in thy womb.

Blessed art thou among
women, and blessed is the Fruit
of thy womb.* For Him, &c.

This Responsory, sung immediately after the Lesson, is a
loving commentary on the thoughts inspired by the words of
Holy Writ, that God should dwell in a temple made with
hands. The soul is lost in admiration at the wonderful designs
of Eternal Wisdom and cannot find words enough to praise
so great a work, but those which the Holy Ghost Himself
put upon the lips of the Angel and holy Elizabeth : Blessed
art thou amongst women, and blessed is the Fruit of thy womb.

BLESSING.

ipsa Virgo virginum interce-
dat pro nobis ad Dominum.

May the Virgin of Virgins
herself intercede for us to the
Lord.

In this second Blessing we catch up the idea which seems
to predominate in the second Nocturn, viz., that of the beauty
of the soul of Mary and of the treasures of grace with which
Divine Wisdom enriched her in preparation for the dignity
of being His Mother. And the Virgo virginum of the blessing
strikes at once the note of her spotless purity and sanctity :
The white raiment in which she walks with Jesus amid the lilies
among which the Spouse feedeth [i], Thou art all fair [2].

[i] Cf. Apoc. in. 4 ; Cant. iv. 7.

[2] Ibid. ii. 16.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 213

SECOND LESSON.

Et sic in Sion firmdta sum, And so was I established in
et in civitdte sanctificdta simi- Sion, and in the Holy City like-
liter requiem, et in Jerusalem wise I rested ; and in Jerusa-
potestas mea. Et radicdvi in lem was my power ; and I
pdpulo honorificdto, et in parte took root in an honourable
Dei mei hereditas illius, et in people, even in the portion of
plenitudine sancttirum deten- my God, His heritage, and in
tio mea. the fulness of the saints was

Tu autem, &c. my tarrying.

The application of this lesson to our ever dear and blessed
Lady is clear.

Sion is the Church on earth ; and in it we are drawn after
her by the sweet smell of her virtues. How fixed and firm is
devotion to Mary in Christ's Church is seen from the position
she holds in the Divine Economy, viz., that of the Neck
which unites the Head to the Body, the appointed channel of
all communications between them.

The Holy City we may take for that dim land of Purgatory,
truly a Holy City full of God's own children, where the Church
Suffering is. There does Mary's love and power of interces-
sion rest in a peculiar way, for the holy souls are her special
children, the sinners for whom she has prayed at the hour
of their death, the souls who are going through the last
courses of that education which Divine Wisdom has planned
for making in them the new man who, according to God, is
created in justice and holiness of Truth [i].

Jerusalem, we must take for the Urbs beata, "the blest
vision of peace," where the Church Triumphant reigns. There
is fully displayed Mary's power with her Son, for there she
reigns in all her beauty and holiness, undisputed Queen. The
Angels with jubilee hail her as such : the Patriarch and
Prophets acknowledge her ; the Apostles acclaim their
Master's Mother as their Queen ; Martyrs recognise in her
Sorrows a martyrdom far above theirs. Confessors throng
round her, as courtiers their sovereign ; and Virgins tell forth

[i] Eph. iv. 24.

214 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

the praise of her who has taught them to minister before the
Lord and to love Him above all earthly loves.

Amidst the honourable people of God's elect she has taken
root, and rejoices in the heritage God has appointed her.

In the fulness of the saints was her tarrying; for she sums up
all their virtues. She has, says her servant, St. Bernard, the
faith of the Patriarch, the spirit of the Prophets, the fear of
the Apostles, the gratitude of the Martyrs, the continence
of the Confessors, the purity of Virgins, the gratefulness of
Spouses, and the splendour of the Angels.

RESPONSORY.

Beata es Virgo Maria quce Blest art thou, Maiden Mary,

Dominum portdtsti Creatdrem who hast borne the Lord, the
mundi :* Genuisti qui te fecit, Maker of the world.* Thou
et in ceternum permanes virgo. hast begotten Him Who made

Ave Maria, gratia plena : thee and remainest for ever a
Dominus tecum* Genuisti. maiden.

Hail, Mary, full of Grace,
the Lord is with thee* Thou
hast, &c.

The incomparable beauty and dignity of our Lady is the
theme of this Responsory. As one likes to linger over some
beautiful sound, or perfume, to let it penetrate our being
and leave behind a sweet impression, so the thought of Mary's
greatness, her fulness of grace, is very sweet to linger over.
Thoughts come welling up from our hearts as we ponder over
her : Faith in the Incarnation ; Awe at God's dealing with
men ; Adoration at the marvellous Wisdom displayed ; and
Wonder and Thanksgiving for the great things He hath done
to her. These are all expressed in the Responsory and should
find an echo in our heart.

BLESSING.

Per Virginem Matrem con- Through the Maiden Mother

cMat nobis Dominus salutem may the Lord grant us health
et pacem. and peace.

This Blessing and the subsequent Lesson refer us to the
Third Nocturn, wherein is set before us Mary's office to the

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 215

Church at large. Its meaning, in brief, is, may we through her
intercession obtain from God grace, the true health of our
souls, and peace, that is, friendship with God.

THIRD LESSON.

Quasi cedrus exaltdia sum Like the cedar in Libanus

in Libano, et quasi cypressus was I exalted, and as a cypress
in monte Sion : quasi palma tree upon Mount Sion ; like the
exaltdta sum in Cades, et quasi palm tree in Cades was I cx-
plantdtio rosce in Jericho. alted, and as a rose garden in
Quasi oliva speciosa in campis, Jericho. As a fair olive tree
ct quasi pidtanus exaltdta sum in the fields, and as a plane
juxta aquam in plateis. Sicut tree beside the water in the way-
cinnamdnum, et bdlsamum side was I exalted. I gave forth
aromatizans odorem dedi : a sweet smell like unto cinna-
quasi myrrha electa dedi sua- mon and fragrant balsam,
vitdtem oddris. and I yielded a pleasant odou r

like unto choicest myrrh.

In this lesson we see Divine Wisdom, shining in Mary's
soul, likened to the cedar, to the cypress, to the palm, to the
olive, and to the plane tree ; also to the rose, and the sweet-
smelling cinnamon. Balsam and myrrh are also mentioned as
expressive of beauty and pleasantness.

Four of these trees are in a special way sacred ones ; and,
says Cornelius a Lapide, they were employed in building the
Temple, the type of the soul. They are also often used in a
mystical sense in Holy Scripture. Cedar, from its well-known
incorruptibility, is a figure of immortality ; cypress, from its
form, is a type of rectitude ; palm is an accepted emblem of
victory, and, from its long, bare, rough stem, crowned with
leaves and fruit, is a fit image of mortification ; the olive, from
its oil, is the symbol of richness. An old tradition has it that
the Cross, that work of infinite Wisdom, was made out of
these four woods. The plane tree [i] of the East is grateful to
the traveller for its pleasant shade, and can so be taken for
repose. The fragrance of the rose needs no explanation ;
neither do the sweet-smelling spices.

[i] The word probably means the same as our chestnut-tree.

216 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

Cades, or rather more properly, Engaddi, was not far
from Jericho, the "City of Palms." It was famous for its
vineyards [i] and fertility, being watered by the Jordan.

The Mount Sion here is not the Sion whereon the Temple
was built, but rather that Mount Sion known as Hermon :
even unto Mount Sion which is also called Hermon [2], a very
fertile mountain watered by abundant dew : as the dew of Her-
mon, says the Psalmist [3].

We can now briefly point out the application to our ever
dear and blessed Lady. By her stainless Conception she has
received the gift of incorruptibility, as in the cedar ; by her
reason, enlightened by grace, governing her whole being, she
was righteous, as the cypress ; the victory she gained over every
temptation, gives her fittingly the palm ; her fulness of grace,
diffused even on her lips, likens her to the olive ; the richness
of her fragrance and beauty of grace made her as the rose ; the
sweet spices in the garden of the Spouse that gave such content
to the Beloved [4] are the virtues and graces Divine Wisdom
finds in the soul of Mary, the pleasant fruits His soul loveth.

RESPONSORY.

When the Te Deum is not said (i.e., from Septuagesima to
Easter and from Advent to Christmas, with the exception of
all occurring feasts of our Lady) the following Responsory is
said : —

E^. Felix namque es, sacra Holy Maiden Mary, thou art

Virgo Maria, et omni laude happy and worthy to have all
dignissima :* Quia ex te ortus manner of praise :* for of thee
est sol justitice* Christus Dens is risen the Sun of Righteous-
nosier, ness,* Christ our God.

~JT. Orapropdpulo,interveni Pray for the people ,' bid for

pro clero, intercede pro devdto the clergy ; beseech for devout
femineo sexu ; sentiant omnes womenkind ; let all feel thine
tuum juvdmen, quicumque aid that worthily celebrate
celebrant tuam sdnctam com- thy holy commemoration,
memoratidnem* Quia. Gloria*
Christus.

[l] See Cant, i. 13. [3] Ps. cxxxii. 3.

[2] Deut. iv. 48. [4] Cant. iv. 14-16.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 217

This song of praise to God for the perfection of our Lady,
and the Versicle beseeching her to exercise her office of
intercession, sum up the whole of the teaching of the three
Nocturns and form an appropriate conclusion. The words
of the Versicle are said to be from a sermon of St. Augustine.
Notice the final emphasis on the Divine Maternity as the
key to all her dignities, to all her prerogatives, to all her
power. It is all summed up in the words of St. Matthew : —
Mary, of whom was born Jesus Who is called the Christ [i].

TE DEUM [2]

(1) Te Deum lauddmus : te Thee, God, we praise : Thee,
Ddminum confitemur. Lord, we confess.

(2) Te aternum Patrem : Thee, Eternal Father, all the
omnis terra venerdtur. earth doth worship.

This magnificent hymn comprises praise and petition, says
the Carthusian : —

Deum, the Father Unbegotton, the Son the Only Begotten,
the Holy Ghost the Comforter j the holy and undivided
Trinity ; the One, most simple and unchangeable God, living
and true, blessed above all, sublime and exalted infinitely above
all ; most clement, most pure, most mighty, most wise, most
holy, most just, most true, most merciful, most good and most
patient ; eternal, without length of days, the one great Cause,
the one great Worker, the one great Lover. The Fount of all
grace, of all glory, of all joy, of all liberality, of all magnificence,
possessing the fulness of Life, in Whom we live, move and have
our being [3]. Most desirable and lovely ! before Whom all

[i] i. 16.

[2] The Te £>eu;n is popularly ascribed to SS. Ambrose and Augustine, but
without any foundation. Hincmar, in 859, is the first to attribute it to the Saints ;
whereas in the earliest MS., now at Munich (of the 8th or Qth century), it is referred to
as " the hymn which St. Hilary composed." St. Benedict, in his Rule, mentions
the hymn, but does not give any author's name. The earliest reference is in the Rule
of St. Cesarius of Aries, written some time previous to 502. This last was a disciple
of the famous monastery of Lerins ; and it is most likely to the School of Lerins
that the Te Deum owes its origin. Its probable date is 400 — 450. The phrase,
Suscipere hominem, would seem to point to an African source. Can this be Cassian,
whose monastery at Marseilles was the parent of that at Lerins ?

[3] Acts xvii. 28.

218 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

creatures, the work of Thy hands, are if as they were not.
Alone, self-sufficing, most perfect being. Thee, we, Thy
creatures, praise, that is, with all our strength, assiduously
and fervently ; with humble acknowledgment of our own
insufficiency, prostrate before Thee we pay our homage, con-
fessing that all we are, and can do, is not sufficient for praising
Thee as befits Thy Majesty : How shall we be able to magnify
Him f For He is great above all His works. The Lord is terrible
and very great, and marvellous is His power. When ye glorify the
Lord, exalt Him as much as ye can : for even yet will He far
exceed ; and when ye exalt Him, put forth all your strength and be
not weary, for ye can never go far enough (~i].

Dominum. Ruler of all things, Whose Word is all-
powerful, Who spoke and they were made [2] ; Who has made
all things for Thine Own honour and glory, and for Thyself
hast Thou made them [3]. Thy Lordship we creatures confess,
we acknowledge Thy wisdom, For : In wisdom hast Thou
made them all [4]. Our creation is a mere unnecessary act
of Thine overflowing love ; and the universe, of which we
are so small a part, is a proof of Thine Almighty power.
Therefore we acknowledge Thine Infinite dominion over all,
which has been for ever, and will be for ever, and beyond.
We acknowledge that to Thee belongs glory and honour,
worship and thanks, as the all-wise, all-powerful, and good
Master of all. Were there ten thousand universes each more
beautiful than another, Thou, by Thine essential Kingship,
would be Lord of all ; for only from Thee could they have
their being.

Te ceternum Patrem. He, Whom St. Paul calls the Father of
mercies and the God of all consolation [5], has deigned to reveal
Himself to us in the tender revelation of Father, with all the
love the name implies and all the privileges of sons that it
gives us. In Holy Scripture we get the name of Father applied
to God in many ways : Is He not thy Father that bought thee [6].
Our Father Who art in heaven [7] ; The Father of the fatherless

[i] Eccle. xliii. 30-34. [5] 2 Cor. i. 3.

[2] Ps. xxxii. 9. [6] Deut. xxxii. 6.

[3] Prov. xvi. 4. [7] Matt. vi. 9.
[4] Ps. ciii. 24.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 219

and the Judge of the widows [i] ; The everlasting Father [2] ;
A Father to Israel [3] ; Father, Lord of heaven [4]. The
Apostle speaks of Him as The Father of glory [5] ; The Father
of spirits [6] ; The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ [7]. Him,
then, the All-Father, the whole earth worships, and acknow-
ledges with thanksgiving that every good and perfect gift
cometh down from Him, the Father of Lights [8]. All we are*
our very existence and our preservation, is His gift ; and this
we testify with gratitude. And beyond these material gifts are
the heavenly ones, by which we become, in a truer and deeper
sense, sons of God and co-heirs with Christ [9]. Our vocation,
our sacraments, our daily grace, and the countless tokens of
His Love and Mercy and patient Goodness which He showers
upon us. These we confess, and for them we worship Him
with the whole earth.

(3) Tibi omnes Angeli : Tibi To Thee, all angels, To Thee,
Cceli, et universes Potestdtes. the heavens and all powers.

(4) Tibi Cherubim et Sera- To Thee, Cherubim and
phim : incessdbili voce pro- Seraphim proclaim with voice
clamant. that never ends.

(5) Sanctus, sanctus, sane- Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord, God
tus : Dominus Deus Sdbaoth. of Hosts.

(6) Pleni sunt cceli et terra : Full are the heavens and
majestdtis glorice Tua. earth of the Majesty of Thy

Glory.

Feeling our own insufficiency to praise and worship God,
we go up in spirit to heaven, there to join the worship of the
angelic choirs. The visions of Isaias and of St. John are
before our eyes. And the angels first, those morning stars that
sang together ; Those sons of God that shouted for joy [10] : to
whom, when He brought the first-begotten into the world, He
saith ; And let all the angels of God worship Him [n]. They
stand in their choirs before the Ancient of Days, as Daniel,
that man of desires, saw them in the first year of Baltassar, king
of Babylon ; Thousands of thousands ministered unto Him and
ten thousand times a hundred thousand stood before Him [12].

[i] Ps. Ixvii. 5. [5] Eph. i. 17. [9] Rom. viii. 17.

[2] Isaias ix. 6. [6] Heb. xii. 9. [10] Job xxxviii. 7.

[3] Jer. xxxi. 9. [7] Rom. xv. 6. [n] Heb. i. 6.

[4] Matt. xi. 25. [8] Jas. i. 17. [12] Dan. vii. 10.

220 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

Tibi cceli. The place where God's glory is manifested. Or
it may be taken for all the inhabitants of heaven, the angelic
and the human ; for as St. John has told us there is but one
voice in all that heavenly throng [i].

Potestdtes may be taken either for the choir of the Powers,
or for all those who by grace have become princes, the princes
of His people [2].

Having now seen the whole of heaven worshipping God,
we call to mind the two greatest choirs as typical of the rest :
Cherubim et Seraphim. The Cherubim are, perhaps, the highest
of all for they are full of knowledge. When Adam ate of the
tree of knowledge of good and evil [3] Cherubim with flaming
sword, which turned every way, were set to keep the way to the
Tree of Life [4]. Man had abused his reason and had sinned ;
and the mighty intelligences called Cherubim were set as
wards over the knowledge he had abused. In the work of
reparation they also had their part. Figures of these spirits,
made in pure gold, were set upon the cover of the Ark ; and
with outspread wings overshadowed the Mercy Seat, whence
God spoke to His people [5] ; that God Whom the Psalmist
invokes : 0 Thou that sitteth upon the Cherubim [6]. They,
too, were the guards over the sacred Fire which Ezekiel saw
in his vision [7]. So does knowledge precede love, which has
the Seraphim as types ; spirits of fire burning with love. It
was one of the Seraphim who brought the burning coal of
Knowledge from the Altar and touched the polluted lips of
the Prophets [8] ; teaching us that true knowledge must purify
and turn into love ; it must show itself by deeds. Therefore
it was that the same Prophet heard the Seraphim lead the
hymn of worship : And one cried unto another and said :
Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of Hosts ; the whole earth is full
of His glory [9].

Incessdbili voce, that is, with a wonder that never ends ; for
the more we know of God, the more worthy is He of love.

[i] See p. 12. [6] Ixxix. 2, and xcviii. i.

[2] Ps. cxii. 7. [7] x. 2, 6.

[3] Gen. ii. 17. [8] Isa. vi. 6.

[4] Ibid. iii. 24. [9] Ibid., 3.

[5] See Exod. xxv. 18, 22.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 221

One of the saints used to sigh for three eternities : an eternity
to know God, an eternity to love Him, and an eternity to
worship Him.

Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus. A three-fold ascription of praise
to the Eternal Father Unbegotten, to the Consubstantial Son
the Only-begotten, to the Co-equal Spirit the Comforter.
This is the height of the joy of heaven ; the all-sufficing Vision
of the Blessed Three in One. Why do the angels say holy and
not just or wise, or other of the divine attributes ? Holiness
includes all. The Carthusian says in his commentary on the
Te Deum [i], that as holiness consists in the act of the intellect,
and of the will, and as of the Divine Wisdom there is no limit,
nor of the Divine Love any bound, so there is no end to the
Divine Holiness. It is a holiness above comprehension, above
all splendour, and infinite : since the Divine Essence is Light
immeasurable, most pure, intellectual, and the fountain-head
of all created brightness. Therefore the Lord, our God, is
holy, and in comparison all created righteousness appears as
but filthy rags [2].

Dominus Deus Sdbaoth, that is, as the "ecstatic doctor" goes
on to explain the words, God of the heavenly powers, Omni-
potent Ruler, Prince of the heavenly army, great and ever-
lastingly to be praised ; nay, beyond all power of praise, of
glory, being lifted up for ever, Whom no created intellect can
grasp, no heart love as He deserves, Whom no creature can
properly honour ; for He is all beauty, and to those who
gaze on Him, sweet and pleasant beyond all compare.

Pleni sunt coeli et terra majestdtis gloria, tuce. God dwells
in Light inaccessible, which no creature can fathom ; but
He enlightens every one that cometh into this world with a
ray of this Light, of which He is the Father. Our reason is
purified, and ennobled and strengthened by His gift of Faith.
Fidelity to this Light, or, in other words, to our Conscience^
leads us to that heavenly City where His Light is in its fulness,
to that City which hath no need of the sun, neither of the moon
to shine in it ; for the Glory of God hath enlightened it and the
Lamb is the Light thereof [3]. There Faith is changed into

[i] Ed. 1892, vol. ii. p. 602. [2] Isa. Ixiv. 6. [3] Apoc. xxi. 23.

222 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

Vision, and we see the Majesty of His glory filling all things ;
for we see Him face to face. Says the author of the Myroure :
" Think over this verse. Think inwardly thereon and let it
never out of your mind. Heaven and earth are full of the
glory of Thy Majesty. A thing that is full hath no place void.
There is then no place on earth, nor above earth, nor beneath
it, no land, no country, no place within us, without us, above
us, beneath us, but all is full of the glory of the Majesty of
God. O God of pity, and Father of mercies, lighten our dark
souls that we may see and continually behold the presence of
Thy goodly Majesty. O ! with what reverence, with what
dread, with what inward devotion, and with what busy keeping
of ourselves in thought, in word, and in deed, ought we to
behave ourselves in every place, and in every time, and in
everything that ever are in presence of Thy glorious
Majesty " [i].

(?) Te gloriosus Apostolorum Thee, the glorious choir of

chorus. Apostles.

(8) Te Prophetdrum laudd- Thee, the praisable number
bilis niimerus. of Prophets.

(9) Te Mdrtyrum Candida- Thee, the white-robed army
tus laudat exercitus. of Martyrs, praise.

Having united with the Angels, we now join ourselves on
to that body of the Ransomed who have returned [2] from
the Captivity of Sin and Death. And first to the choir of
Apostles, that is to say, of "the envoys," upon whom the
Church is built. These are they who have left all things and
followed Christ, and now sit on twelve thrones, judging the
twelve tribes of Israel, that is, all God's chosen people [3],
We unite with the joy which no man shall take from them [4],
their reward exceeding great. They behold that Humanity
which on earth they saw hungry, thirsty, weary and suffering,
now crowned with glory and honour, having all things under
foot, outshining the sun in the beauty of the Divine Effulgence.
And, O joy, they are made sharers therein. His fellow-toilers
and carrying on His work, now they shine as so many stars in

[ i] P. 119. [3] Cf. Matt. xix. 28.

[2] Is. xxxv. 10. [4] John xvi. 22.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 223

heaven [i], with a glory and magnificence which is reflected
from Him. They are called a choir on account of the har-
mony of their teaching.

The Prophets, or those who speak in the name of God :
Thus saith the Lord. God revealed to them on earth His
mysteries ; and now, face to face, they see and exult in what they
had seen before, but in a dark manner [2~\. They now rejoice
to see the fulfilment of what they had foretold. By their faithful-
ness they were found true prophets, and by their words they were
known to be faithful in vision [3], and therefore they are
praisable. There is a number of them ; for all who speak
in God's name are prophets in the real sense of the word.

With them are joined the white-robed army of Martyrs to-
gether with the Apostolic choir, in the one voice (laudat} of
praise. But why are Martyrs called a white-robed army ? A
martyr is one who is a witness for the truth. Truth is light,
pure and clear ; and those who follow Jesus in truth and
simplicity are said by Him, to the Angel of Sardis, to walk in
white with Christ, for they are worthy [4].

These three — Apostles, Prophets and Martyrs — are types of
all the Redeemed : the words should be taken in a wide sense.
We are all sent by God into this world to labour, to speak for
Him, and to bear witness to His Truth. From our ever dear
and blessed Lady, the Queen of the saints, down to the last in
heaven, all have fulfilled, according to their degree, the three-
fold office which bears the impression of the Blessed Trinity.
They have all been envoys of Almighty Power, the teachers of
the Word, and witnesses of Truth.

(10) Te per orbem terrdru m, Thee, throughout the whole

sancta confitetur Ecclesia. world, Holy Church doth

acknowledge.

From the Church Triumphant in heaven, to the Church
Militant on earth, or Passive in purgatory, but one cry goes
up ; for all the members of the Mystical Body are united
under their One Head, Jesus Christ, through Whom and by
Whom and in Whom is all honour and glory to God. Our

[i] Dan. xii. 3. [3] Eccle. xlvi. 15.

[2] i Cor. xiii. 12. [4] Apoc. iii. 4.

224 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

Office, whether the greater or the lesser, is the prayer of the
whole Church ; not the prayer of any one person, or place,
or country, but of the Church throughout the world. Its power
is commensurate with the Church's limits and can penetrate
anywhere. Holy Church by it doth acknowledge God, as in the
following verses, to be : —

(u) Patrem immensce ma- Father of immense majesty ,

jestdtis,

(12) Venerdndum Tuum Thy worshipful, true and
verum, et unicum Filium, only Son.

(13) Sanctum quoque Para- Also the Holy Ghost, the
clitum Spiritum. Comforter.

Patrem. How solemn these words. As the Latin marches
along, the dignity and weight of the syllables give us a sense
of awe and of majesty without limit.

Venerdndum. There is much in this word. The Second
Person is especially called worshipful, on account of the
Incarnation ; and because all our worship must be in and by
Him, for He is our Advocate with the Father [i]. This is the
reason why the Church, after acknowledging the Blessed
Trinity, goes on presently to direct her praise and worship to
her Divine Head, Jesus Christ.

Pardclitum. Our Lord's Own name for the Holy Ghost :
But He shall give you another Paraclete (Comforter), the Holy
Ghost [2] ; the consubstantial Love of Father and Son, the
Lord and Life-Giver, Who, with Them, is to be adored and
glorified.

(14) Tu Rex Gloria?, Christe. Thou, 0 Christ, art King

of Glory.

(15) Tu Patris sempiternus Thou art the everlasting
es Filius. Son of the Father.

He, then, our Head, is worthy of all praise ; and to Him
we now direct our worship. Rex Gloria?. For Jesus, as Man,
is crowned with honour and glory, and is F *ad of the whole
Race. This is His glory of Headship. And et, as we gaze at
His glorified Humanity in the midst of the Godhead, we
remember and adore His Divinity, as,

[l] I John ii. I. [2] John xiv. 16.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 225

Everlasting Son of the Father. He is the King of Glory
in a far higher way ; His glory is uncreated. And to Him
belongs that ascription of praise which St. Paul makes when
writing to Timothy : Now unto the King of ages, Immortal,
Invisible, the Only God; be honour and glory for ever and ever.
Amen [i].

(16) Tu ad liberdndum sus- Thou, taking upon Thee to
cepturus hominem : non hor- deliver man, didst not abhor
rutsti Virginis uterum. the Virgin's womb.

(17) Tu devicto mortis acu- Thou, having overcome the
leo : aperuisticredentibus regna sharpness of death, hast opened
ccelorum. the kingdom of heaven to

believers.

(18) Tu ad dexteram Dei Thou, at the right hand of
sedes : in gloria Patris. God, dost sit in the glory of the

Father.

(19) Judex crederis esse We believe Thou art the
venturus. Judge to come.

We now regard our Divine Head in His Manhood, and
praise Him for four things. First, for His Incarnation ; then
for His Passion ; then for His Ascension ; and lastly, for His
coming to Judgment. It is to be noticed in this act of Praise
that the all-holy One Who did not abhor the Virgin's womb is
the Judge that is to come. Then, Who shall stand when He
appeareth ? [2]. But lest we should be terrified too much at
this, we have here thoughts of His bitter Passion, of the gates
of heaven opened to those who believe, and of Him ever at
the Right Hand of the Father, making intercession and pre-
paring a place for us with His God and our God. A thought,
too, of hope and great joy to us, that the Virgin who shared
so much in the work of the Redemption is our Mother also.
At this verse it was the custom, so says the author of the
Myroure, to bow " both in token and in reverence of our
Lord's meek coming down for to be Man, and also in worship
of that most pure and holy Virgin's womb, wherein Almighty
God joyed for to dwell" [3]. We should at least increase our
reverence and attention at this verse.

[i] I Tim. i. 17. [2] Mai. iii. 2. [3] p. 120.

15

226 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

(20) Te ergo qucesumus Tuis Thee, therefore, pray we,
fdmulis subveni : quospretioso help Thy servants, whom Thou
Sanguine redemisti. hast redeemed by Thy precious

Blood.

(21) jEternafaccumSanctis Make us to be numbered
Tuis : in gloria numerdri. with Thy saints in glory ever-
lasting.

(22) Salvum fac pdpulum 0 Lord save Thy people and
Tuum, Domine : et benedic bless Thine inheritance,
hereditdti Tuce.

(23) Et rege eos : et extolle And govern them and lift
illds usque in ceternum. them up for ever.

Having praised Jesus, we now begin to pray, following in
this the Divine example of the Pater Noster. At verse 20
we kneel. " One reason, for here ye begin first in this hymn
to pray ; another cause is in worship of that most rich
liquor, that most precious price of souls, the reverent and
holy Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ" [i]. Some say this
verse prostrate with Magdalen at the foot of the Cross, and in
spirit letting the Blood fall on them ; others hear at this place
an echo of that Song of praise to the Lamb : Thou hast
redeemed us to God in Thine own Blood [2] ; others, again,
dwell on the word servants, and recall St. Paul's words : Ye are
not your own, for ye are bought with a price [3], even with the
precious Blood of Christ as of a Lamb [4] ; and as servants they
bow before their Master, in token of their readiness to fulfil
His will. The thought of the precious Blood reminds us of
not be shed for us in vain, but that we, too, may be counted
the reason It was shed ; and this inspires us to pray that It may
among that great flock of God, which no man can number.
And that it may be so, we pray that here on earth, as the
Lord's heritage ( For the earth is the Lord's and the fulness
thereof) [5], we may be ruled and lifted up above our sin-
fulness by His grace, and, as the fruit of the precious Blood,
be set among the saved.

[i] Myroure, p. 121. [4] I Peter i. 19.

[2] Apoc. v. 9. [5] Ps. xxiii. i.

[3] i Cor. vi. 19.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG 227

(24) Per singulos dies, bene- Throughout each day we
dicimus Te. bless Thee.

(25) Et laudamus Nomen And we laud Thy name for
Tuum in sceculum : et in scecu- ever and for ever and for ages
lum sceculi. of ages.

We cannot think of the Blood and of all that It means
without bursting out again into thanksgiving. It meets us
with its potent effects all day long. We live and move in an
atmosphere tinged with the Blood of Calvary. What are Holy
Church and all the things of Holy Church but great reservoirs
of the Precious Blood, ready for us at every moment, through-
out each day f And all things of Nature, besides, have been
touched by It and made heavenly ; so that by them we can
ascend to that God Whose Blood It is. Therefore we laud for
endless ages the Name of Him Whose Blood cleanseth us from
all sin [i].

(26) Dignare Domine die Be pleased, O Lord, this day
isto: sinepeccdto nos custodire. to keep us without sin.

(27) Miserere nostri Domine : Have mercy on us, 0 Lord,
miserere nostri. have mercy on us.

(28) Fiat misericdrdia Tua Let thy mercy, 0 Lord, be
Domine super nos : quemdd- upon us as we have hoped in
modum sperdvimus in Te. Thee.

If, on the one hand, we have the power of the precious
Blood for all our needs, we cannot forget, by our own bitter
experience in the past, how weak we are, and how easily we
fall. Happy we, if we have secured that experience and know
that there is no use in striving after anything else but to serve
God now, at the present moment. All sanctity consists in
knowing, loving and serving God. This is the end of our
creation. Now all these three are present participles and
imply actions done at the present moment. The past is not
ours, it is in God's hand ; the future is His also : only the
present is ours, and it slips away even while we have it. This
is the meaning of the verse : Be pleased, O Lord, this day to
keep us without sin. Our resolutions are so feeble that we can
only hope to avoid sin day by day : and this only, too, by the

[i] i John i. 7.

228 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

help of God's grace. Therefore, they have to be renewed
again and again, and humbly, too, not trusting much in
ourselves ; but just as, day by day, we ask for the food of
our bodies so should we likewise petition for freedom from
sin. Then, the thought of failures in the past bids us ask for
the mercy of God, that mercy which we have abused, and
unless we are humble, we shall abuse again. But we may
securely hope for His mercy ; for He has said : Everyone that
cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out [i]. Fired, then, by
this gracious promise, this Song of heavenly praise and prayer
of the Church throughout the world changes into a concluding
strain of Hope, firm and unconquerable, as a song of way-
farers on the road to their City of Repose, or of warrior-
pilgrims undismayed at all obstacles.

(29) In te Domine sperdvi : In Thee, 0 Lord, I have

non confundarin ceternum. hoped. I shall never be con-

founded.

Not in my merits, says the Carthusian, but in Thy deep
Wounds, in which is my safe and firm rest. Secure there
will I dwell, for they are open to me by Thy tender
mercy, in which Thou, the Orient from on high, hath visited
us [2]. For Thy Wounds are full of mercy, full of pity, full
of sweetness. They have dug Thy hands, 0 Lord, and Thy feet.
[3], and with a lance have they pierced Thy side. By these
openings I can taste how sweet Thou art, O Lord, my God ;
for, indeed, Thou art sweet, and mild, and of much mercy, to
all who call on Thee in truth, to all who seek for Thee, and
especially to all who love Thee. Most abundant redemption
is given by those blood-stained Wounds, a great multitude of
sweetness, a fulness of grace, a perfection of virtue. And
therefore I shall never be confounded, for I know in Whom I have
believed [4] ; because by Thee in love I have been adopted a
son, because Thou art faithful to Thy promises, and Almighty
in execution thereof. The multitude of my sins cannot
terrify me when I think of Thy bitter Passion, for my sins
cannot overcome that. The Lance and the Nails cry out to

[i] John vi. 37. [3] Ps. xxi. 17.

[2] Luke i. 78. [4] 2 Tim. i. 12.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG

229

me that I am in very truth reconciled, provided that I love
Thee. Thou didst extend those Arms upon the Cross and
didst open Thy Hands ready to embrace sinners, of whom I
am the first [i]. I do not despair, I desire to live and die in
Thine arms. Therefore, securely will I say : / will exalt Thee,
O Lord, because Thou hast upheld me and hast not suffered mine
enemies to rejoice over me [2]. Therefore shall my song be : In
Thee, 0 Lord, have I trusted, I shall never be confounded, nevei
be put to shame by having been deceived in Thee ; for the
Truth of the Lord abidethfor ever [3].

N.B. — During Advent the Lessons are from St. Luke's
Gospel, i. 26 [4].

LESSON i.

Missus cst Angelus Gabriel a
Deo in civitdtem Galilcece, cui
nomen Nazareth, ad Virginem
desponsdtam viro, cui nomen
erat Joseph de domo David,
et nomen Virginis Maria. Et
ingressus Angelus adeam dixit :
Ave gratia plena : Do" minus
tecum : Benedicta tit in mulie-
ribus.

The Angel Gabriel was sent
from God unto a city in Gali-
lee, called Nazareth, to a
Virgin espoused to a man
whose name was Joseph, oj
the house of David, and the
name of the Virgin was Mary.
And the Angel came in unto
her and said : Hail, full of
grace : The Lord is with thee,
blessed art thou amongst
women.

RESPONSORY.

ty. Missus est Gabriel Angel-
us ad Mariam Virginem des-
ponsdtam Joseph, nuntians ei
Verbum : et expavescit Virgo
de lumine. Ne timeas Maria,

The Angel Gabriel was sent
to Mary the Virgin espoused to
Joseph, announcing to her the
Word. And the Virgin trem-
bled on account of the Light.

invenisti grdtiam apud Domi- Fear not, Mary, thou hast

[i] I Tim. i. 15. [2] Ps. xxix. 2, 10. [3] Ps. cxvi. 2.

[4] In the Monastic Breviary these lessons are said only on Wednesdays and
Saturdays in Advent, instead of every day, as in the Roman Breviary.

230

THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

num. : *Ecce concipies et paries,
ct vocabitur Altissimi Filius.

y. Dabit ei Dominus Deus
sedetn David patris ejus, et
regndbit in domo Jacob in
(sternum. *Ecce, &c.

found grace with God. *Lo,
thou shall conceive and shall
bring forth, and He shall be
called Son of the Most High.

And the Lord God shall give
Him the seat of David His
father ; and He shall reign for
ever in the house of Jacob.
*Lo, &c.

LESSON n.

Quce cum audisset, tur-
bdta est in sermone ejusf et
cogitdbat qualis esset ista
salutdtio. Et ait Angelus ei :
Ne timeas Maria, invenisti
enim grdtiam apud Deum :
ecce concipies in utero, et paries
Filium, et vocdbis nomen ejus
Jesum. Hie erit magnus, et
Filius Altissimi vocabitur ; et
dabit I Hi Dominus Deus sedem
David patris Ejus : et regndbit
in domo Jacob in ceternum,
et regni Ejus non erit finis.

Who, when she heard him,
was troubled at his saying,
and thought what manner
of salutation this might be.
And the Angel said to her :
Fear not, Mary, thou hast
found grace with God. Lo,
thou shall conceive in the
womb and thou shall bring
forth a Child, and thou shall
call His name Jesus. He
shall be great and shall be
called Son of the Most High.
And the Lord God shall give
to Him the seat of David His
father, and He shall reign in
the house of J acob for ever, and
of His kingdom there shall be
no end.

RESPONSORY.

ty. Ave Maria, gratia
plena : Dominus tecum : *Spiri-
tus sanctus superveniet in te,
et virtus Altissimi obumbrdbit
tibi : quod enim ex te nascetur
Sanctum, vocabitur Filius Dei.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the
Lord is with thee. *The Holy
Ghost shall come upon thee and
the power of the Most High
shall overshadow thee. The
Holy One that is born of thee
shall be called Son of God.

AT MATINS, OR NIGHT-SONG

231

y. Quomodo fiet istud,
quoniam virum non cognosce f
Et respdndens Angelus, dixit
ei : *Spiritus, &c.

How shall this be done,
fot I know not man ? And
the Angel, answering, said to
her: * The Holy Ghost, &c.

LESSON in.

Dixit autem Maria ad
Angelum : Quomodo fiet istud,
quoniam virum non cognosco f
Et respdndens Angelus dixit ei:
Sptritus Sanctus superveniet in
te et virtus Altissimi obumbrd-
bit tibi. Ideoque et quod nas-
cetur ex te Sanctum, vocdbitur
Filius Dei. Et ecce Elisabeth
cogndta tua, et ipsa concepit
ftlium in senectute sua : et hie
mensis sextus est illi, quce vo-
cdtur sterilis : quia non erit
impossibile apud Deum omne
Verbum. Dixit autem Maria :
Ecce ancilla Ddmini, fiat mihi
secundum Verbum tuum.

Then said Mary to the
Angel: How shall this be, for
I know not man f And the
Angel, answering her, said :
The Holy Ghost shall come
down upon thee, and the power
of the Most High shall over-
shadow thee., And therefore
also the Holy One that is born
of thee shall be called the Son
of God. And lo, Elizabeth,
thy cousin, she in her old age
hath also conceived a son ; and
this is the sixth month with her
who is called barren. For
with God no word is impossible.
Then said Mary : Behold the
handmaid of the Lord. Be it
unto me according to thy Word.

RESPONSORY.

Ef. Suscipe Verbum Virgo
Maria, quod tibi a Domino per
Angelum transmissum est :
concipies, et paries Deum pdri-
ter et hominem : * Ut benedicta
dicdris inter omnes mulieres.

Take the Word O Virgin
Mary which has been brought
to thee from God by the Angel :
Thou shalt conceive and bring
forth Him Who is both God
and Man. *That thou mayst
be called blessed among
women.

232 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

y. Paries quidem Filium, Thou shall indeed bring

et virginitdtis non patieris de- forth a Son, but shall not suffer

trimentum : efficieris grdvida, the loss of thy virginity. Thou

et eris mater semper intdcta. shall be with Child and yet be

* Ut, &c. the Mother ever intact.

Gloria Patri. *That thou, &c.

*Ut, &c. Glory be to the Father, &c.

* That Thou, &c.

233

CHAPTER III.

AT LAUDS, OR MORNING SONG.

THE original idea of the office of Lauds, which, together
with Vespers, are the original hours of the Cursus, was that
of honouring the Resurrection of our Lord. It was the morn-
ing prayer of the Sunday, a day kept holy by the Apostles in
honour of the Resurrection ; and the Psalms we are about
to consider are those which, from the earliest days, have been
used for this office. In "The Little Office of our Lady," the
Church sets before us, at this hour, the reward of eternal Life
which she gained and which is to be ours ; that is to say, the
Resurrection as it affects us. So from the beginning of the
day we have our mind directed to the great goal towards
which we must strive.

For the Deus in adjutorium, &c., see page 92.

FIRST ANTIPHON.

Assumpta est Maria in cae- Mary is assumed into

lum, gaudent Angeli, laud- heaven : the angels rejoice,
antes benedicunt Ddminum. and praising, they bless the

Lord.

In the first Antiphon the Assumption is celebrated ; and
we are called to join our voices with the angels who rejoice
and bless God for taking our ever dear and blessed Lady
to heaven, body and soul, and for making her their Queen.
The angels will also rejoice, when we, at the Last Day, are
assumed, body and soul, into heaven, to make up the number
of the Elect. The Assumption of Our Lady is the image of
ours ; even as hers was modelled on that of the Resurrection
and Ascension of her Divine Son.

234 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

PSALM xcn.

Title. — A Praise of a Song for David himself, on the Day
before the Sabbath when the earth was established.

Argument.

Tomasi : That Christ, having overcome Death, put on the
glory of the Resurrection. The voice of the Church concern-
ing the Kingdom of Christ. Of the Birth of Christ and His
first Coming.

Venerable Bede : For David is suitably applied to Christ.
The question is raised how he can say that the earth was
established on the Day before the Sabbath, that is, on the sixth
day of the week, seeing that we read in Genesis that the dry
land appeared on the third day ; but here we understand earth
to be man, to whom is said : Earth thou art, and unto earth
thou shalt return. And as he was made on the sixth day by
God the Creator, so, too, in the sixth age of the world he was
stablished from the seed of David by the same God and
Creator ; for then was the earth stablished when belief in
Him was confirmed for mankind. And therefore the Praise
is of His holy Incarnation which is sung in the course of
this psalm. The first passage describes His beauty, His
strength, His works, His might, His truth; and lastly, the
praise of His house which it becomes to rejoice with ever-
lasting gladness.

(i) Dominus regndvit, deed- The Lord reigneth and hath

rem indutus est : indutus est put on beauty : the Lord hath
Dominus fortitudinem, et put on strength and hath
prcecinxit Se. girded Himself.

The Psalmist, as with a herald's voice, proclaims to all
men that the Lord hath taken the majesty of a King ; and
after defeating in battle and casting out the prince of this
world, hath reduced under His sway the Kingdom which was
always His rightful possession ; so under the type of a King,
the Psalmist declares that the Lord hath put on beauty. What
is this beauty f It is the beauty of the all-glorious Body of
our Risen Lord, immortal and impassible ; a beauty of which
the Glory of Thabor was but a glimpse ; a beauty which now

AT LAUDS, OR MORNING SONG 235

ravishes angels and saints. He has put on strength also ; for
is He not now a Conqueror, having overcome sin and death
and broken the iron bars in pieces, and shaken the brazen
gates [i] ? Epiphanius refers the beauty to the Incarnation ;
the strength to the Resurrection. On which St. Augustine
says : When our Lord came on earth some heard Him gladly ;
and to these He appeared in His beauty ; while others reviled
and slandered Him, and these saw Him for their punishment
clothed in strength. It is so even now wherever His Gospel is
preached, according to St. Paul : We are unto God a sweet
savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that
perish ; to the one we are the savour of death, and to the other the
savour of life unto life [2]. Our Blessed Lord girded Himself
in the might of humility when He stooped to wash the feet of
the Disciples. He clothed Himself with beauty and strength,
in the holiness and boldness of those saints whom He joined
to Himself, especially the Apostles ; when He girded Himself
to the task of establishing His kingdom on earth. These were
His royal people, dyed in His own Blood, as He was lifted,
King of the Jews, on the throne of the Cross ; and the valour of
His martyrs, yea and of her, their Queen, who stood beneath
the Cross, was the strength that compassed Him about ; for
all came from Him. As He is King from all eternity, it is clear
that we must interpret this reigning, of which the Psalmist
speaks, of the Incarnation. His most Sacred Body is called
beauty, because of showing us His image, because of its sin-
lessness, because of the loving-kindness towards us testified
in the mystery, and because it is the direct work of the Spirit
of all beauty and love, the Holy Ghost. Wherefore it is said
of our Lord : Thou art fairer than the children of men [3], and
of His girding Himself that : Righteousness shall be the girdle of
His loins, and faithfulness the girdle of His reins [4] . This is
the girdle wherewith He complies with that invocation : Gird
Thee with Thy sword upon Thy thigh, 0 Thou most mighty [5], as
He goes armed with the Spirit of God to receive for Himself
the Kingdom.

[l] Cf. Ps. cvi. 16. [4] Isaias xi. 5.

[2] 2 Cor. ii. 15. [5] Ps. xliv. 4.

[3] Ps. xliv-3.

236 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

(2) Etenim firmdvit orbetn He hath made the world so
terrce, qui non commovebitur. sure that it cannot be moved.

The world, tossed about in the uncertainty of belief, and
left to itself that it might know the need of a Redeemer, He
has now made sure by founding its belief on the Resurrection ;
because now as worship is paid to the true God it has been
given the steadfastness of Truth. Then, again, this King
Whose beauty and strength we celebrate, is the eternal God
Who made this world so sure, Who rules it and Who has loved
it so that He has redeemed it. The Carthusian points out that
this world, which he takes for the Church, and which is built
on the Resurrection (// Christ be not risen then is our preach-
ing-vain and your faith is also vain) [i], cannot be moved;
for it is founded on the Rock. Christ establishes His chosen
in faith so perfectly that they cannot be moved by any temp-
tation, or fear, to fall from Him by violence from without.

(3) Pardta sedes Tua ex Ever since then hath Thy
tune : a sceculo Tu es. throne been prepared : Thou

art from everlasting.

Then, that is, from the making of the round world so sure.
The throne of our King is everlasting ; and as St. Bonaven-
ture says, all the hoarded wisdom of eternity is His very Own.
His seat, says the Carthusian with the Carmelite, is five-fold :
His divine throne, co-equal with the Father : for thus saith the
Lord ; The heaven is My throne and earth My footstool [2] ; His
hallowed resting-place in the most pure womb of His Mother ;
His cross ; the hearts of all who love Him ; and the throne of
Doom. The latter thrones were prepared and predestinated
for Him since the world began, because the Creation and
Fall of man necessitated His coming in the flesh ; but He
Himself does not begin then ; for co-equal and consubstan-
tial with the Father, He is from everlasting ; Bellarmine says,
Is, not with the mere fact of existence, but with that fulness
of Life which the self-existing God possesses and from which
we have our being.

[l] I Cor. xv. 14. [2] Is. Ixvi. I.

AT LAUDS, OR MORNING SONG 237

(4) Elevaverunt flumina The floods have risen, 0
Domine: elevaverunt flumina Lord: the floods have lifted up
vocem suam. their voice.

(5) Elevaverunt ftumina The floods have lifted up
fluctus suos, a vdcibus aqudrum their waves from the voices of
multdrum. many waters.

(6) Mirdbiles elatidnes ma- The liftings up of the sea
rist mirdbilis in altis Dominus. are wonderful : the Lord is

wonderful on high.

Herein, says Lorin, we have set before us the roar and
tumult of Jews and pagans against the new Kingdom of Christ ;
and the climax of the triple repetition denotes the gathering
force of the deluge : first, the angry commotion ; then the
loud accusations ; lastly, the wild tumult ; all too weak to
resist the eye and voice of Him Who rebuketh the winds and
waves, saying, Peace be still [i]. The water in the fourth
verse is taken of rivers ; while, in the fifth, of the sea ; and so,
more than one commentator has seen here a rivalry and
opposition between the sweet waters of the one and the salt
billows of the other. They will have it, with St. Augustine,
that the rivers flow from the well-head of living waters, that
they are the rivers of that flood which makes glad the city of God
[2], swollen by the descending rain of Pentecost, the Apostles
themselves, lifting up their voices as of many waters to pro-
claim that the risen Lord reigneth ; lifting up their waves to
sweep away every barrier to the triumphant advance of His
Church. Against them rise up in resistance the waves of the
sea trying to beat back that flood of sweet waters poured into
their salt bosom ; but vainly, for wonderful as are the liftings
up of that wild sea of human rage, more wonderful still in the
highest is the Lord Who is throned over all ; and through His
mercy these liftings up of the very waves became wonderful
in grace, by the conversion of the raging heathen into meek
disciples of the Lamb, lifting them up to the very heavens ;
and that from the voices of many waters, the voices made to
Him from the countless baptismal fonts in divers nations of
the earth.

[i] Mark iv. 39. [2] Ps. xlv. 4.

238 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

(7) Testimonia tua credi- Thy testimonies are made

biliafacta sunt nimis : domum exceeding sure : holiness be-
Tuam decet sanctitudo, Do- cometh Thy house for ever,
mine, in longitudinem.

The Carthusian says on this verse : Whatever things the
types and prophecies of the Old Testament, the words of the
Evangelists, the teachings of the Apostles, the articles of the
Creeds allege concerning Christ, the Lord, belonging as they
do to faith, though incapable of proof by natural reason (as
dealing with things hoped for and unseen), are proved by the
marvellous works of the Lord Himself, and yet more by His
patient life and painful death. His predictions, too, are ful-
filled, telling the disciples that they should have tribulations
in this world ; and therefore they look for the accomplishment
of the remainder of His prophecy, the victory and peace which
He promised them in Himself. And because this is so,
because exceeding sure are His testimonies, Holiness becometh
Thy house ; that is, says Agelli [i], it is the fit and peculiar
attribute of that sacred shrine of His most pure Body wherein
the Godhead dwelt ; it is the fit adornment of the soul of our
ever dear and blessed Lady who for nine months bore her
Maker ; it is the peculiar and distinguishing mark of the
Church ; it is the token of Christians who bear in mind the
Apostle's saying : Know ye not that ye are the temple of God and
that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you f [2] It is no mere
passing holiness, but is for ever ; hallowed by the abiding
presence of God in the Beatific vision.

GLORIA PATRI.

Glory be to the Father Who is from everlasting ; Glory
to the Son Who reigneth and hath girdeth Himself with
strength ; Glory to the Holy Ghost Who is the Holiness of
the House of God.

SECOND ANTIPHON.

Maria Virgo assumpta est Mary, the Virgin, is taken

ad cethereum thdlmum, in up into the heavenly abode,

quo Rex regum stelldto sedet where the King of Kings sits on

solio. His starry throne.

[i] Bishop of Acerno in 1608. He wrote a Commentary of considerable value.
[2] i Cor. iii. 16.

AT LAUDS, OR MORNING SONG 239

The Assumption was commemorated in the last Antiphon
and now the Coronation. The creature is placed before the
King of Kings in the highest part of heaven, and on her head
He places the crown of justice laid up for her [i], that crown of
stars seen by St. John [2], The throne is the symbol of God's
might, and, like the crown, it is starry. The lifting up of the
creature, so far above Nature, is the work of Divine Power.
Surely at the moment, when our ever dear and blessed Lady
was crowned, and thus had the seal put upon all the works of
Divine Grace that since her Conception had been wrought in
her soul, she must have recalled these words of the Magnificat :
He that is mighty hath done great things to me. . . He hath
exalted the humble [3]. So this thought of the Crown fittingly
attunes our mind to the Psalm of praising which follows.

PSALM xcix.
Title. — A Psalm of Confession.

Argument.

Tomasi : That we, made by Christ, ought to rejoice, serve,
and pray unto Him. The voice of the Apostles to the people.
And exhortation of gratitude that we should serve God.

Venerable Bede : The whole of this Psalm belongs to the
two kinds of Confession, to wit, of penitence and of praise. In
the first part the Prophet exhorts all creation to praise the
Lord with exultation, and lest thou shouldst suppose that this
kind of confession is always to be used, He promises us in the
second part that if we repent of our sins we can enter through
the gates of His forgiveness [4].

(i) Jubilate Deo omnis 0 be joyful in the Lord all

terra : servile Domino in ye lands : sefve the Lord with
Icetitia. gladness.

[i] 2 Tim. iv. 8. [2] Apoc. xii. i. [3] Luke i. 49, 52.

[4] Agelli says : This Psalm is properly a liturgical one, and from its wording
appears to have been especially intended for the sacrifices of thank-offering made
with an oblation of fine flour. It is thus a prophecy of the one offering of the
Holy Eucharist to be made, not by Aaronic priests in Jerusalem alone, but by
Gentile priests and Levites in every country of the world.

240 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

0 be joyful in the Lord all ye lands. All are invited, there
is no acceptance of persons ; the summons is to all that
labour and are heavy laden, that they may rejoice, and trust
in no perishable good, but in the Lord. The plural verbs
joined to a singular noun (in the Latin) points to the union of
all races of mankind in one harmonious chorus of praise.

Serve the Lord. The very end of our creation. But His
service is not like that of earthly masters. In His service is
true liberty found, in it there is no sighing, no mourning.
None will desire to be freed, for, sweet thought ! we shall know
we are ransomed. The service of the Lord is free ; because
not necessity, but love serves therein : For, brethren, ye have
been called unto liberty ; only use not liberty for an occasion to
the flesh, but by love serve one the other [i]. Let Love, says
St. Augustine, make thee a servant ; because Truth makes thee
free. With gladness, not grudgingly, or of necessity, for God
loveth a cheerful giver [2]. With gladness, because, says St.
Paul, the sorrow of the world worketh death [3].

Speaking of the service of God, St. Augustine says : To
serve Him is to reign. Again : He who serves unwillingly
makes a slavery for himself. But, says an old writer, if thou
put good-will into thy service thou wilt find thou art not God's
servant, but His son. The Carmelite tells us that fitness for
God's service involves many things : bodily purity and cleanli-
ness, reputableness of character, orderliness, sparingness in
living and substance, humility and reverence, cheerfulness and
gladness, since all these qualities answer to attributes of the
Master we serve.

(2) Introite in conspectu Come in before His presence

Ejus, in exsultatione. with rejoicing.

There are several ways of coming into God, says the
Carmelite. We should come in as doves into the windows
of Christ's Wounds : Come away, 0 my dove, into the clefts of
the Rock [4] ; as sheep in the sheep-fold : Other sheep I have
which are not of this fold ; them also must I bring in [5] ; as
the fearful into a strong refuge : Let us enter into the defenced

[i] Gal. v. 13. [4] Cant. ii. 14.

[2] 2 Cor. ix. 7. [5] John x. 16.

[3] Ibid. vii. 10.

AT LAUDS, OR MORNING SONG 241

cities, and let us be silent there [i] ; as men forgiven into
penance : / will give him the valley of Achor for a door of
hope [2] ; as a prince unto his dignity : There shall enter into
the gates of the city kings and princes upon the throne of David [3] ;
as conquerors into a captured city : The kingdom of heaven
suffereth violence and the violent alone shall take it by storm [4] ;
as a procession into a church : They shall enter into My holy
place, and they shall come near to My table [5] ; as the elect into
glory : Let us therefore labour to enter into that rest [6] . This
we are to do with rejoicing. And yet, as St. Peter Chryso-
logus remarks : Archangels fear, Powers are filled with dread,
the Elders fall down on their faces before the Throne, the
elements fly, the rocks melt, the mountains flow down, the
earth quakes ; and shall Man, who is earth, enter thus fearlessly
and stand upright, rejoicing ? How can the Prophet be bold
to say that this is what we ought to do ? Because of the words
that follow : —

(3) Scitote quoniam Domi- For know ye the Lord He

nus ipse est Deus : Ipse fecit is God : He made us and not
nos, et non ipsi nos. we ourselves.

It is because the Lord is God ; that Lord Who was a little
Child in our flesh, Who lay cradled a helpless Babe, Who
nestled so peacefully on His Mother's bosom, Who was gentle
and meek in His converse with us, laying aside all the terrors
of the Godhead, all the awfulness of the Judge. It is because
of all this that we are bold to enter His Presence with rejoicing,
going more to meet the welcome embraces of a loving Father,
than the searching examination of our secret sins. Says St.
Augustine : Think not meanly of that Lord ; for though ye
crucified Him, crowned Him with thorns, clad Him with a
robe of scorn, hung Him on a tree, pierced Him with nails,
smote Him with a lance, and set guards at His tomb, yet He
is God, He made us; for by Him were all things made, and
without Him was not anything made that was made [7]. He

[i] Jer. viii. 14. [5] Ezek. xliv. 16.

[2] Oseeii. 15. [6] Heb. iv. n.

[3] Jer. xvii. 25. [7] John i. 3.

[4] Matt. xi. 12.
16

242 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

made us, says Honorius, in our first creation of Nature : He
made us also in the second and more glorious creation of
Grace. Not we ourselves ; for, 0 Lord Thou art our Father ; we
are the clay and Thou our Maker ; and we all are the work of
Thy hand [i].

(4) Populus Ejus, et oves We are His people, and the

pdscucK Ejus: introite portas sheep of His pasture : 0 enter
Ejus in confessione, atria Ejus into His gates with thauks-
in hymnis : confitemini Illi. giving and His courts with

hymns : Confess ye unto Him.

We are His people, that is, serving Him with intelligent
obedience, with confident love : / to My beloved and My
beloved to Me [2],

The sheep of His pasture. Because we constitute His inherit-
ance and His wealth ; we need His guidance, are ruled, cared
for, preserved by Him. We find Him so loving and tender,
that we cannot forget Him ; we seek Him with sighs and
yearnings ; we know and hear His voice and follow Him, but
no other.

His pasture. Here is a reference to the food He pro-
vides for our sustenance, even His very own Body and
Blood ; this is the pasture wherewith the Good Shepherd feeds
us in the wide and pleasant meadows of His Church, even
as He once fed Israel in the pleasant fields of Canaan. Thus
Agelli.

Confess ye unto Him. St. Augustine teaches us that repent-
ance must be the outset of the service of God, unto Whose gates
we enter with the confession of sins, not attempting to burst
forth in the language of praise till, growing in holiness, we
penetrate into His courts. Another writer, reminding that
our Lord calls Himself " the Door, " explains the gates of our
Lady, the Apostles, and others, by whom men enter into Him,
making confession first and renunciation of all their sins.
And after this straight and painful entrance we should go at
once into the spacious courts of charity, passing into the
width of heavenly contemplation. There is a stress on His
gates, which are many, that we may learn to distinguish these

[i] Is. Ixiv. 8. [2] Cant. vi. 2.

AT LAUDS, OR MORNING SONG 243

from gates which are not His, by which men often enter in
confession. There is the gate of hypocrisy, of which we read :
These people draw near with their mouth and with their lips do
honour Me, but their heart is far from Me [i] ; the gate of pride :
/ am not as the rest of men [2] ; the gate of despair : / have
sinned in betraying innocent Blood [3] ; the gate of treachery :
Master, we know that Thou art a true speaker [4] ; the gate of
flattery : Thou art good in my sight, as an angel of God [5] ; the
gate of mockery : Hail Thou, King of the Jews [6] ; the gate of
confusion ; / know Thee Who Thou art, the Holy One of Israel [7] ;
and lastly, that of sacrilege : Unto the ungodly, saith God, why
dost thou preach My Law ? [8]. Opposed to all these gates of
the evil one, are the Twelve Gates of the City of God, named
from the twelve tribes of Israel [9]. On the north, the type of
sin, lie Reuben, Juda and Levi. Reuben, Behold the Son, is
the prodigal returning to show himself to his father ; Juda,
confession or praise, the giving God glory by acknowledgment
of sin ; Levi, joined, is the being united to God by abandon-
ment of errors. On the east, the region of light and prayers,
are Joseph, the increase in good works ; Benjamin, trust in the
right hand of God alone and desire for the good things set
there ; Dan, reverent thought of the coming Judge. On
the south, perfected in love, are Simeon, Issachar, Zabulon.
Simeon, heard in prayer ; Issachar, the hireling, who has
accepted the summons and entered the vineyard ; Zabulon,
dwelling, because they shall go out no more, but dwell in the
court of the Lord. And on the west, towards the sun-setting
type of death, are Gad, Asser, Naphthali. Gad, the troop,
denotes the innumerable company of angels and saints ; Asser,
their blessedness, in the Vision of God ; Naphthali, a wrestler,
reminds us that no one is crowned except after the fight. And
these are the Gates through which God's true servants must
enter in confession.

[i] Is. xxix. 13. [6] Matt, xxvii. 29.

[2] Luke xviii. n. [7] Mark i. 24.

[3] Matt, xxvii. 4. [8] Ps. xlix. 16.

[4] Ibid. xxii. 16. [9] Apoc. xxi. 12.

[5] I Kings xxix. 9.

244 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

(5) Lauddte nomen Ejus : Praise His name, for the

quoniam sudvis est Dominus, Lord is sweet : His mercy is

in ceternum misericordia Ejus, for ever, and His truth from

et usque in generationem et generation to generation,
generationem veritas Ejus.

Three reasons are here given us for praising the name of
God : His sweetness, His everlasting mercy, and His abiding
truth.

He is sweet; for in Him is no bitter at all ; He is sweet ; for
never can He be so angry with a sinner as not at once to be
appeased by sincere sorrow.

His mercy is for ever. Because, says Honorius, on the one
hand, He extends the acceptable time, the day of salvation, to
the end of the world for all, to the end of life for each sinner,
rejecting none, and not closing the door of grace till the very
last necessary moment ; and, on the other, He will keep His
Redeemed in heaven for ever the objects of His boundless
mercy.

And His truth from generation to generation. Because the
promise He made to the Patriarchs He fulfilled to their
descendants by coming in person, no longer in type and
prophecy ; because His words in Holy Writ shall never pass
away, even when heaven and earth are gone ; because He
keeps to the uttermost in this world, and the next, the pledges
given to His disciples of bestowing everlasting blessedness.

GLORIA PATRI.

Glory be to the Father, Who is sweet for He hath given
His Son for us ; Glory to the Son Whose mercy is ever-
lasting as He for ever pleads for us ; Glory to the Holy
Ghost Whose truth endureth in the Church unto the end of
the world.

ANTIPHON III.

In odorem unguentorum We run after the odour of

tuorum currimuSy adolescen- thine ointments ', young maid-
tulce dilexerunt te nimis. ens have loved Thee exceedingly.

Now we contemplate the glory, which, as a sweet ointment,
pervades the whole being of the Mother of God, crowned

AT LAUDS, OR MORNING SONG 245

Queen of heaven and earth. It attracts us and we run after
her example ; and So run that we may obtain the prize [i] of
Eternal Life, even as she has won it. The latter part of the
Antiphon recalls our vocation. It was when we were young
and generous that the glory and sweetness of our Lady
attracted us to serve God after her example. Happy we, if,
when the enthusiasm of youth be passed, we preserve still
that solid love for Mary which is so helpful for attaining the
true knowledge and love of her Divine Son.

PSALM LXII.

Title. — A Psalm of David when he was in the Wilderness of
Idumea.

Argument.

Tomasi : That Christ is He on Whom we should direct
the brightness of the mind in the morning thoughts. The
voice of the Church concerning Christ ; or that of anyone
withdrawing from darkness and longing for Him.

Venerable Bede : Psalm and David often denote Christ the
Lord, often the Church ; because Christ is in His members
and the members are contained in their Head. Wherefore
words which signify the Lord our Saviour are fitly ascribed to
the Church, which is to speak in this Psalm. She therefore
dwells in the desert of Idumea, that is, a dryness of this world,
where she thirsts and longs for Christ. Whence also Idumea,
where David was in exile, is interpreted, "earthly." In the
first part she longs after the power of the Lord, desiring to be
filled with the fulness of all good things, that she may be
found worthy of His praises. In the second part she gives
thanks, because under the shadow of the Lord's wings she
has escaped the storms of the world.

(i) Deus, Deus, meus: ad Te 0 God, my God : from day-

de luce vigilo. break do I watch unto Thee.

My God. The repetition of the name of God and the
claiming Him for the Psalmist's very own denote, observes
St. John Chrysostom, deep love and eager pressing towards
God, to the neglect of all earthly things. It is therefore taken

[i] i Cor. ix. 24.

246 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

chiefly of Him Who alone could, with truth, call God His
Own, as being One with Him, consubstantial, co-eternal.
Jesus did use these words, My God, in that mysterious cry
from the cross : My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken
Me ? [i].

From day-break do I watch unto Thee. He Who made the
Light rose with it on the first Easter morning. The words
are spoken of the faithful soul which turns eagerly to the first
rays of the light and opens its powers to the Sun of Righteous-
ness, to work for Him and to be filled with His warmth.
There is, says St. Augustine, a sleep of the soul as there is a
sleep of the body. This last we all ought to have ; but let us
take care that our soul sleep not, for sin is the sleep of the
soul. Good for the body is sleep, which serves for the health
thereof ; but the soul's sleep is forgetfulness of its Maker.
Therefore doth the Apostle say : Awake, thou that sleepest, and
arise from the dead ; and Christ shall give thee light [2]. Was
the Apostle waking up one oppressed with bodily sleep ? Nay,
but he was waking up a soul sleeping, in order that she might
be enlightened by Christ. And therefore doth the Spouse in
the Canticles answer to this appeal : / sleep, but my heart is
waking [3], Sleep, says St. Gregory the Great, free from all
temporal anxiety, waketh to the contemplation of God.

(2) Sitivit in Te dnima My soul thirsteth for Thee :

mea, quam multipliciter Tibi my flesh also for Thee, in how
caro mea. many ways !

This is the cry of David, cut off from the public worship
of God, when he was hiding from Saul in the desert.

My soul thirsteth for Thee, the fountain of living water. He
does not thirst for any gifts in this wilderness, but for ever-
lasting blessedness, which are nowhere to be found save in
Thee.

My flesh also. Much more, in one sense, than even the
soul ; for the soul is immortal, while the body is pressed down
with the weight of its mortality, and therefore is in more need.
It longs for the resurrection, and says : In my flesh I shall see

[l] Matt, xxvii. 46. [2] Eph. v. 14. [3] Cant. v. 2.

AT LAUDS, OR MORNING SONG 247

God [i]. Wherefore St. Bernard observes : The Prophet desired
the first Coming, whereby he knew that he should be redeemed ;
but more did his flesh desire the second Coming, which will
bring his glorification.

(3) In terra des/rta, et in- In a barren land and path-

via, et inaquosa : sic in sancto less and where no water is :
appdrui Tibi, nt viderem So have I appeared to Thee in
mrtutem Tuam, et gloriam the holy place, that I might
Tuam. behold Thy Power and Thy

glory.

In a barren land and pathless and where no water is. The
world is barren, because the saints dwell not therein, since they
are not of it ; it is pathless, because it knows not Christ Who
is the Way ; it hath no water, for the fountain of grace is not
there. So the Carmelite. Evil is the desert, says St. Augustine,
very horrible and greatly to be feared ; and, nevertheless, God,
in pity, hath made a way in the desert, Himself, our Lord Jesus
Christ, and hath given us a consolation in the desert, sending
preachers of His Word ; He giveth unto us water in the desert,
by fulfilling with His Holy Spirit His preachers, in order that
there might be created in them a well of water springing up
to life everlasting. And lo, we have here all things ; but they
are not of the desert.

So have I appeared to Thee in the holy place. This seems to
refer to the longing of David to appear once more in the
tabernacle. It may then be taken of our Lord, in the desert
of this world, speaking of the glory He had with the Father
before the world was, and ere He emptied Himself of that
glory, taking the form of a servant. And mystically of His
servants, it tells us of the longing to depart and be with Christ,
to be free from sin, to enjoy the Vision of God, no more as in
a glass darkly, but face to face, where note, says the Carmelite,
that we are taught in Exodus how to appear before God.
Thrice in a year should all males come into Him [2] ; so we
also, thrice in our year of mortal life, should do the same. In
the past, by recalling with grief our former sins and repenting

[l] Job. xix. 26. [2] Exod. xxxiv. 23.

248 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

of them ; in the present, by doing good works while there is
yet time ; in the future, by a firm resolve to preserve a holiness,
saying with Job : Till I die I will not remove mine integrity from
me. My righteousness which I have begun to hold fast I will not
let it go [i]. In these three periods of the year, then, every
male, that is, every perfect man, ought to appear before God ;
which if he do, then will God appear to him ; so that he will
see God, even as he is seen by God, and behold His power
and glory.

(4) Quoniam melior est For Thy mercy is better than
misericordia Tua super vitas : lives : my lips shall praise Thee,
labia mea lauddbunt Te.

Better than all the lives we men choose for ourselves,
however various they may be ; better than all the lives we plan
out for ourselves and in which we think we could have done
so much better. The mercy God shows to us is the very best
for us ; of this we may be sure, He never leaves us, but
awaits us at every turn, and goes before our every action :
Thy mercy hath followed me all the days of my life [2] . It was
this strong sense of God's mercy, that unfathomed abyss,
which made the martyrs trust it, rather than the specious
promises of earthly tyrants. Their lips sang songs of praise
to God in Whom they trusted. And now their lips praise His
mercy for ever.

(5) Sic benedicam Te in vita So shall I bless Thee all my
mea : et in nomine Tuo levdbo life : and lift up my hands in
manus meas. Thy Name.

Not only by constant praise and thanksgiving, as it is
written : Bless God at all times [3] ; but my whole life shall
be blessing Thy Name, for it shall be directed to the honour,
praise and glory of that Name. For God is blessed by a
righteous life as by a clear voice.

And lift up my hands in Thy Name. The reference is to
Moses during the battle with the Amalakites. Jeremias
counsels us : Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God

[l] Job xxvii. 5. [2] Ps. xxii. 8. [3] Tobias iv. 20.

AT LAUDS, OR MORNING SONG 249

in the heavens [i] ; St. Paul also directs, adding that the hands
should be holy [2]. The great lifting up of hands is in the
Mass, the Sacrifice of Thanksgiving, where the priest prays
with hands uplifted, becoming thus a living image of the
Crucified One, the likeness of the great High Priest, Whose
Person he bears. Almsgiving is also a lifting up of the
hands in God's Name. So also are zeal and steadfastness in
well-doing, in fulfilment of the Apostle's order : That ye study
to work with your own hands [3],

(6) Sicut ddipe et pingue- My soul shall be filled as it

dine repledtur dnima mea : were with marrow and fatness :

et Idbiis exultattonis lauddbit and my mouth shall praise

os meum. Thee with joyful lips.

Union with God cheers the soul in her exile. Thoughts
of the Banquet spread in the desert, of the Bread coming
down from heaven, containing in itself all sweetness, are
indeed blissful.

The marrow and fatness may be taken of the Blessed
Sacrament, wherein the Church makes her glad offering to
God, truly a feast of fat things, a feast of wine, of fat things
full of marrow, of wine on the lees well refined [4]. So on the
feast of Corpus Christi she sings an Antiphon which is taken
from Jacob's blessing of Aser : The bread of Christ is fat and
He shall yield royal dainties [5]. The marrow is the innermost
part ; so is the Blessed Eucharist. Hidden, indeed, by the
sacramental veils from mortal sight, it is the innermost part
which is the delight and satisfaction of our soul. The Carme-
lite points out a meaning of this verse in those graces where-
with God cherishes the soul with warmth, and especially
those typified by chrism or unction ; because fat gives heat to
the body ; and therefore is it written in the Law : All the fat is
the Lord's [6], whereby we learn that all good desires come
from Him and to Him must return. And as the fat is parted
from the flesh in sacrifice, so the saints are severed from
sinners ; as it is written : As the fat is taken away from the

[l] Lam. iii. 41. [4] Is. xxv. 6.

[2] I Tim. ii. 8. [5] Gen. xlix. 20.

[3] I Thess. iv. n. [6] Lev. iii. 16.

250 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

peace-offering, so was David chosen out of the children of
Israel [i.] Finally, the verse tells of the Marriage Supper of
the Lamb, and of the guests concerning whom St. Peter
Damian tells us : —

" Ever full but hungry ever ;
What they have they still desire ;
Never suffer surfeit's loathing,
Nor yet famine's torments dire :
Hungering still they eat, and eating,
Still the Sacred Food require."

(7) Si memor fui Tui super If I have remembered Thee
stratum meum, matutinis in my bed, and in the morn-
meditdbor in Te : quia fuisti ings have thought upon Thee :
adjutor meus. because Thou hast been my

Helper.

In my bed, that is, as St. Bernard teaches, in the peaceful
quiet of a pure conscience ; and as the English mystic, Richard
Rolle, of Hampole, wisely adds, also in the time and place
of sickness and pain. Yet again, notes Albert the Great, the
ease and quiet of the bed denote a time of temporal prosperity,
when it specially behoves the Christian to think on his God.
Now rising from the servant to the Master, let us hear the
Carthusian : On the Cross where I hung weak and dying,
I remembered Thee, O my Father, saying ; Why hast Thou for-
saken me f [2] and Father, forgive them [3] ; and yet again,
Father, into Thy hand I commend My spirit [4] : and thought of
Thee in the morning of the Resurrection, because Thou hast been
my Helper. We need God's help at all times ; in the mornings
when we work, in the night when we rest. And at all times
He is ready to aid us.

(8) Et in velamento alarum And under the shadow of
Tudrum exsultdbo, adhcesit Thy wings will I rejoice, my
dnima mea post Te : me sus- soul hath clung after Thee ;
cepit dextera Tua. Thy right hand hath upholden

me.

St. Augustine remarks that we are as chickens under the
hen's wings, but with this difference : her young do not need

[i] Eccles. xlvii. 2. [3] Luke xxiii. 34.

[2] Matt, xxvii. 46. [4] Ibid. 46.

AT LAUDS, OR MORNING SONG 251

her protection when they are full grown ; but we, the more
we advance in years, the more need have we of the sheltering
wing of the Most High.

Will I rejoice. So the Spouse : / sat down beneath His
shadow with great delight, and His fruit was sweet to my taste [i],

My soul hath clung after Thee, or rather, sticketh as with glue.
And this makes St. Augustine ask what is it that " glues " our
soul to God ? and he answers, Love, which fastens us behind
God that we may follow Him. And St. John Chrysostom
compares this close and binding union to the nails of the
Cross, or to the roots of a tree set fast in the earth.

Thy right hand : the symbol of power and of victory. We
may also see here a reference to the power of the Holy Ghost,
the finger of God's right hand, through Whose grace we cling
to our Maker and Whose might upholds us at all times.

(9) ipsi vero in vanum quce- In vain have they sought

sierunt dnimam meant, introi- after my soul, they shall go
bunt in inferiora terrce : tra- down into the lower parts of
dentur in manus glddii, paries the earth : let them fall upon
vulpium erunt. the edge of the sword that they

may be a portion for foxes.

They shall go into. Not merely falling to the ground, as
Christ's enemies did in the Garden, but going into it, into the
grave of the Second Death. It was fulfilled, says St. Augustine,
even in this life. Earth they were unwilling to lose when
they crucified Christ ; they have gone into the lower parts of the
earth. What are the lower parts of the earth f Earthly lusts ;
for every one that desireth earthly things, to the hurt of his
soul, is under the earth ; because he has put earth before him,
and upon him, and hath laid beneath it. Fearing to lose
earth, the Jews said of the Lord Jesus : If we let Him alone the
Romans will come and will take away our place and nation [2].
Behold, they have lost at the hands of the Romans the place,
because they slew Christ.

Let them fall upon the edge of the sword : the earthly sword
or the two-edged sword of judgment to come proceeding out
of the mouth of Christ.

[i] Cant. ii. 3. [2] John xi. 48.

252 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

That they may be a portion for foxes. They would not have
the Lamb for King, and therefore they have been given up to
the will of crafty and worldly princes, like that Herod whom
the Lord called a fox [i]. Nay, more, they themselves have
fallen in character, and become wily and deceitful, and thus
have had their portion with foxes.

(10) Rex vero Icetdbitur in But the King shall rejoice in

Deo, laudabuntur omnes qui God ; all they that swear by
jurant in eo : quia obstruction Him shall be praised : for the
est os loquentium iniqua. mouth of them that speak evil

shall be stopped.

That King Whose kingdom, though it be not of this world,
is yet in this world as it is in heaven, Christ, the King, Who
hath written on His vesture and on His thigh a Name, King of
Kings and Lord of Lords [2], Who reigneth over the house of
Jacob for ever, and of Whose kingdom there shall be no end [3].
This King, in the days of mortal pilgrimage, was crowned with
thorns and made sorrowful even unto death. But now raised
from the dead, like David returned from exile, He shall rejoice
in God, for in that He liveth, He liveth unto God, and is
Himself God in God ; as He hath said : / am in the Father
and the Father in Me [4].

All they that swear by Him shall be praised, who shall bind
themselves to Him by the Sacraments [5] to be faithful
soldiers and servants. And so it is written : And all Juda
rejoiced at the oath ; for they had sworn with all their hearts
and sought Him with all their desire, and He was found of
them, and the Lord gave them rest round about [6].

For the mouth of them that speak evil shall be stopped. Even
in this world, when they see the glory of the saints, they will
have nothing to allege against the truth of God, or the pure
lives of His servants ; but envious tongues will not be silenced
till evil is overcome in the Final Triumph of Christ when He
shuts the gates of the Holy City against whosoever loveth and
maketh a lie [7].

[i] Luke xiii. 32. [3] Luke i. 33.

[2] Apoc. xix. 16. [4] John xiv. 10.

[5] Sacramentum was the military oath of fidelity.
[6] 2 Paralip. xv. 15. [7] Apoc. xxii. 15.

AT LAUDS, OR MORNING SONG 253

PSALM LXVI. [i]

Title. — To the end, in the hymns. A Psalm of a Song of
David.

Argument.

Tomasi : That Christ is the Light of the faithful. The
Prophet counsels believers. The Apostolic voice. The
Prophet's Voice, concerning the Coming of Christ, and His
Resurrection.

Venerable Bede : Hymn and Song denote praise, and that it
may be shown that these are given to Christ the Lord alone,
To the End is prefixed. After the Song of Resurrection the
Prophet supplicates that we may be blessed and be led to the
knowledge of God, to which our own merits cannot attain.

(i) Deus miseredtur nostri, May God be merciful to us

et benedicat nobis : illuminet and bless us, and show us the

vultum Suum super nos, et light of His countenance, and

miseredtur nostri. be merciful unto us.

Mercy for past error is first sought, then blessing ; and
then, again, we ask for mercy. Why this repetition ? Because
we need God's mercy for perseverance in grace as well as for
the original call to it. St. Augustine says this Psalm is the
prayer of the Vineyard to the Husbandman, of the Church to
God the Father, praying Him to send His rain to increase the
fruit He Himself has planted and tilled. But though it is
collectively the cry of the whole Vineyard, yet each section
belongs to a different part, as Cardinal Hugo points out : Be

[i] The following Psalm is always joined on to the preceding and sung under
one Doxology. After Durandus, we may thus explain the mystical reason. "First,
because Psalm Ixii. signifies thirst for God, and in Psalm Ixvi. the Trinity is indicated.
This is done, therefore, to signify thirst and continual longing for God. Secondly,
to note that before the persecution of Anti-Christ the believing Gentiles referred to
by Psalm Ixvi. shall be one in faith. Thirdly, because the former signifies love of
God, wherefore it is said my soul thirstethfor Thee : the latter signifies love of our
neighbour, wherefore it is said that we may know Thy salvation among all nations.
Fourthly, because the grace of which the Church seems conscious in Psalm Ixii. is
evidently confirmed in the latter. Again, at the end of Psalm Ixii. the Gloria Patri
is not said, because therein human sorrow is treated of, whence it is there said : My
soul thirsteth ; but in Psalm Ixvi., the Doxology is said, because in it the mercy of
God is celebrated.

254 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

merciful is the cry of the penitent ; bless us, of advancing
Christians ; show us the light, of the dying ; asking generally
for pardon, justification, wisdom and glory.

And show us the light of His countenance. God shows His
countenance in divers ways, says Bellarmine. When He dis-
perses the clouds of His anger, and looks on us with love,
as children and friends called back to grace ; when He
enlightens us and warns by pouring wisdom and charity into
our souls, as the visible sun blesses the earth. When He
withdraws the veil and shows us His very Self, in the Person
of Christ, for the Countenance or Face of the Father is the
Son ; for, saith Jesus : He that seeth Me seeth the Father
also [i]. Therefore the Prophet says, in the way of desire :
Let His countenance appear, that is, May the Father's counte-
nance, even the Son Himself, shine on us here on earth by
His Incarnation.

(2) Ut cognoscdmus in terra That we may know Thy way

viam tuam : in omnibus gen- upon earth : Thy Salvation
tibus salutdre Tuum. among all nations.

Thy way is that which leadeth to Thee. What is it ? We
can learn it, says St. Augustine, from the Gospel ? The Lord
said : / am the Way. But fearest thou lest thou shouldst
stray? He hath added: / am the Truth [2]. Who strayeth
in the Truth ? He strayeth who hath departed therefrom.
The Truth is Christ, the Way is Christ ; walk ye therein.
Dost thou fear lest thou die before thou attain unto Him ?
/ am the Life. I am, said He, the Way, the Truth and the Life.
As if saying, What fearest thou ? Through Me thou walkest,
to Me thou walkest, in Me thou resteth. And note, says
Albert the Great, we may know His way on earth in three
manners. By natural understanding, which is wisdom ; by
grace, which is faith ; and by glory, which is reward.

Thy salvation among all the nations. The question, What
is Thy way ? is answered by Thy salvation among all the nations.
It is only one way for all nations, one Church to embrace all

[i] John xiv. 9. [2] John xiv. 6.

AT LAUDS, OR MORNING SONG 255

people, one Covenant for all mankind ; for there is but one
Mediator of God and men [i], Jesus, the Head of the Church.

(3) Confitedntur Tibi populi Let the people praise Thee, 0
Deus : confitedntur Tibi populi God : yea, let all the people
omnes. praise Thee.

Walk ye in the way together with all nations ; walk ye in
the way together with all peoples, O children of peace, children
of the one Catholic Church. Walk ye in the way, singing as
ye go. Wayfarers do this to beguile their toil. Sing ye in the
way, I implore you, by that same way, sing ye in this way. A
new song, sing ye ; let no one there sing old songs ; sing ye
the songs full of love for your fatherland ; let no one sing old
songs. A new way, a new wayfarer, a new song. Thus St.
Augustine.

(4) Lcetentur et exsultent 0 let the nations rejoice and
gentes : quoniamjudicaspdpu- be glad : for Thou shall judge
los in cequitdte, et gentes in the folk righteously, and govern
terra dirigis. the nations upon the earth.

They shall be glad, and shall not be in servile fear of the
judgment, because it will be just and merciful instead of
arbitrary and cruel ; moreover Thou shall govern and guide the
nations in the right way, so that they shall be safe from all
peril, because taught by Thee to avoid sin.

(5) Confitedntur Tibi populi Let all the people praise
Deus ; confitedntur pdpuli Thee, 0 God : let all the people
omnes ; terra dedit Fructum praise Thee. The earth hath
suum. brought forth its Fruit.

There is a fresh reason, says the Carmelite, for the rejoicing
of the people, and one more glorious and joyous than the
former. For the earth is that holy soil of which it is written :
Drop down, ye heavens from above, and let the skies pour
down righteousness ; let the earth open, and let it bring forth a
Saviour [2].

The earth hath brought fotth its Fruit. Mary hath borne
Jesus. Et homo factus Est.

[i] I Tim. ii. 5. [2] Is. xlv. 8.

256 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

(6) Benedicat nos Deus, May God, our God, bless us,

Deus noster, benedicat nos may God bless us : and all

Deus : et mttuant Eum omnes the ends of the earth shall fear

fines terra. Him.

The Carmelite points out that the mystery of the Blessed
Trinity is shadowed out in the triple recitation of the Name of
God — God the Father, Unbegotten, Underived, shall bless us :
Our own God, God the Son, our Brother, made like us in all
things save sin, shall bless us ; God, the Holy Ghost, shall
bless us. And the singular verb in the Latin and the pronoun
express the Unity.

All the ends of the earth shall fear Him. Not with the
servile fear which the devils feel, but with the loving fear of
sons, the wholesome reverence of disciples, that fear whereby
we are saved from the wrath to come.

GLORIA PARTI.

Glory be to the Father Whom we seek early and Who
sheds on us the Light of His Countenance. Glory to the Son
Who watches for us to God and Who is our own God.
Glory to the Holy Ghost Himself the Mercy in Judgment to
be extolled above all life and Who is the Light of the
Countenance of God.

FOURTH ANTIPHON.

Benedicta filia tu a Do- 0 daughter, blessed art thou

mino : quia per te Fructum of the Lord, for through thee
vitcB communicdvimus. we have partaken of the Fruit

of life.

Mary's glory and happiness in heaven is not for herself
alone. The Mystical Body shares in all the good that befalls
its members ; and as we share in the work our ever dear
and blessed Lady did on earth in bringing forth the Fruit of
Life, so does the Church at large share in the harvest home
gathered by her means. She, being a divinely ordained channel
of grace between Jesus and our souls, it is through her that the
fruit of His salvation is brought home to us. She gave us

AT LAUDS, OR MORNING SONG 257

Jesus ; and in Him gave us all things. So we, too, share in her
heavenly reward. Her glory is ours, we partake in the songs
which resound through the heavens to her honour ; for she is
the triumph of God's grace, the monument of His mercy and
the model of what a creature can be. Therefore in the fol-
lowing Canticle let us call upon all Creation to lend us their
voices to praise the Lord for all He has done for us by Mary,
and for all He has done in Mary.

CANTICLE : Benedicite. [i]
Argument.

Denis the Carthusian. When Nebuchodonosor cast the
three Hebrew children, Shadrach, Misach, Abdenago, into
the fiery furnace, they fell down bound into the midst of the
burning fiery furnace, and they walked in the midst of the fire
praising God and blessing the Lord. . . . But the angel of
the Lord came down into the furnace. . . . and made in the
midst of the furnace as it had been a moist cooling wind, so that
the fire touched them not at all, neither burnt nor troubled them.
Then the three as out of one mouth praised, glorified and blessed
God in the furnace, saying. . . . Then Nebuchodonosor, the
king, was astonished and rose up in haste and spake and said
unto his counsellors : Did we not cast three men bound into the
midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king: True
0 king. He answered and said : Lo, I see four men loose walking
in the midst of the fire and they have no hurt, and the form of
the fourth is like the Son of God [2]. The Benedicite is taken
from their song, and calls upon all creatures, animate and
inanimate, to bless the Lord. We may distinguish in this
Canticle three divisions after the introductory verse. First of
all, heavenly creatures and the forces of Nature ; then the
earth and brute creation ; and lastly, man. In the life of St.
Mary Magdalene of Pazzi, it is related that this servant of God
is said to have asked her Divine Spouse what glory could such
exhortations to creatures without reason give Him. "When
these words are said with fervour," was the reply, " and from

[i] This Canticle is taken from Daniel, with certain additions of ecclesiastical origin.
[2] Dan. iii. 23-92.

17

258 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

the depths of the heart, these creatures are called upon to bless
Me, I take it as though they really did so, and the praise of
him who thus invokes them I take as equalling them all" [i].
One special subject of blessing God we must have when
reciting this Canticle of Praise, and that is, our ever dear and
blessed Lady. We can never thank God enough for all He
has done for her and for us in her and through her. While
we call upon Creation to join with us in praising God for
Mary, we will ask her, after the Sacred Humanity of our Lord,
the greatest of God's works, to praise Him for us and sing
her Magnificat for the great things He hath done for her.

(i) Benedicite omnia opera All ye works of the Lord,

Domini Domino : laudate et bless ye the Lord : praise and
superexaltate Eum in scecula. exalt Him for ever.

All ye works. Creatures not by voice only, but by work,
praise God ; for by their fulfilling the end for which they were
created, and being in themselves very good [2], they show
forth the greatness of God, and by them we can rise to the
knowledge of God, as Solomon says in the Book of Wisdom :
For by the greatness and beauty of the creatures proportionably
the Maker of them is seen [3] ; and St. Paul : For the invisible
things of Him from the creation of the world are seen, being
understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power
and Godhead [4]. But creatures gifted with intelligence, such
as angels and men, can bless God with mind as well as by
their work. Again, the works of the Lord may be taken in two
senses, says the Carthusian : The natural works of the creature,
in which God takes a necessary part as sustainer, according to
the words of Moses : The hand of the Lord hath wrought all
these things [5]. And secondly, of the works of grace which
we indeed do, but which God goes before and accompanies
according to the saying of Isaias : All our works Thou hast
wrought in us [6].

But as blessing seems to be the action of a superior to the
inferior, St. Paul saying : Without any contradiction that which

[i] Life, by F. Cepari, Act. Sonet., 25. [4] Rom. i. 20.
[2] Gen. i. 31. [5] Deut. xxxii. 27.

[3] xiii. 5. [6] xxvi. 12.

AT LAUDS, OR MORNING SONG 259

is less is blessed by the greater [i] ; how can the creature be
called upon to bless the Creator ? To this the Carthusian
answers that there are two kinds of blessing ; one of conse-
cration, of which St. Gregory says, God's blessing is a bestowal
of gifts, and a multiplying thereof, hence in His name the
Church blesses ; the other blessing is a giving of thanks, or a
praising, as Holy Simeon blessed God for showing him his
Salvation [2] ; and as David, who said : / will bless the Lord
at all tunes [3]. It is in this sense that creation is called upon
to bless the Lord. Praise, because the power of God is shown
in them ; exalt, because the Creator is shown to be so much
greater than His works.

(2) Benedicite Angeli Do- O angels of the Lord, bless ye
mini Ddmino : benedicite cceli the Lord : 0 heavens, bless ye
Domino. the Lord.

The Angels are invited, not that they need an invitation, or
that they ever cease from blessing, praising, and exalting God ;
but these are words congratulating them for what they do, and
joining ourselves to their ceaseless song. It is also an invita-
tion to make a special thanksgiving for us.

Angels of the Lord. The word angels, as the pseudo-Areo-
pagite observes, sometimes means the lowest choir and some-
times, as here, the whole angelic creation. They are all
messengers, even the highest ; for, says the Apostle : Are they
not all ministering spirits ? [4].

Heavens, are, according to St. Augustine, holy souls,
according to the words of the Prophet : Heaven is my seat [5] ;
for God abides in the hearts of His faithful.

(3) Benedicite aquce omnes, O waters which are above
quce super caelossunt, Domino : the earth, bless ye the Lord:
benedicite omnes virtutes Do- all ye powers of the Lord,
mini Domino. bless ye the Lord.

Origen understands by these waters, spiritual substances,
and Albert the Great, the First Matter from which the world
was evolved : And the Spirit of God moved over the face of

[l] Heb. vii. 7. [4] Heb. i. 14

[2] Cf. ii. 28. [5] Is. Ixvi. I.

[3] Ps. xxxiii. I.

260 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

the waters [i] ; or, it is to be understood in a mystical sense
of the illuminated minds of God's saints, in which Divine
operations are seen, as in a pool of clear water.

Powers of the Lord. Some take these to mean those angels
God uses to direct the motions of the material world ; for
they say that angels direct the wind, the rain, snow, heat,
and govern the sun, and moon, and solar system, being thus
used by God to carry out the laws He has laid upon Nature.
Others of all created powers which God has in any way given
to creatures to enable them to fulfil His Will. We may also see
in this especially the powers of grace and those great, powerful
operations of the precious Blood, the seven Sacraments. Fr.
Eudes, that saintly master of Prayer, who had so many heavenly
lights, used to take these words literally as the virtues of the
Lord, the supernatural virtues which adorned the Human
Soul of Jesus.

(4) Benedicite sol et luna 0 sun and moon, bless ye the

Domino : benedicite stellce cceli Lord : 0 stars of heaven, bless
Domino. ye the Lord.

The sun may be taken for the most pure womb of our Lady,
according to the words : In the sun hath He placed His dwelling-
place [2]. The moon also of her ; inasmuch as all her grace,
all her beauty, and all her power is derived from the Sun of
Righteousness Himself. The stars also refer to her ; they are
her virtues in the good odour of which we run. The three
together are the adornment of that Great Sign set in the
heavens : A woman clothed with the sun, the moon beneath her
feet, and a crown of twelve stars above her head [3]. Thus does
the wise man describe the two great lights which God made [4] :
The sun when he appeareth, declaring at his rising a marvellous
instrument, the work of the Most High : at noon he parcheth the
country, and who can abide the burning heat thereof? . . .
breathing out fury, vapours, and sending forth bright beams
that dimmeth the eyes. Great is the Lord that made it ; and at
His command it runneth hastily : He made the moon also to serve
in her season for a declaration of times and a sign of the world

[l] Gen. i. 2. [3] Apoc. xii. I.

[2] Ps. xviii. 6. [4] Gen. i. 16.

AT LAUDS, OR MORNING SONG 261

. . . being an instrument of the armies above, shining in the
firmament of heaven. The beauty of heaven, the glory of the
stars, an ornament giving light in the highest places of the Lord,
at the commandment of the Holy One they will stand in judg-
ment and never fail in their watches [i]. In the mystical
sense the sun signifies the understanding of good and evil
and the splendour of reason. The moon, the lower powers of
the soul, which are directed by the reason. The stars of heaven
signify the virtuous who, endowed with wisdom, by word and
example, as the simple sons of God [2], shine amidst the dark-
ness of the world. Of whom Daniel says : They who turn many
to righteousness shall shine as the stars for ever and ever [3].
Once more, the sun may be taken of eternal life, the moon of
the changeable and passing world, and the stars of our own
small life.

(5) Benedicite omnis imber, All ye showers and dew,
et ros Domino : benedicite bless ye the Lord : all ye spirits
omnes spiritus Dei Domino. of God, bless ye the Lord.

Showers moisten the ground and cause the seed to swell
and germinate, as the Prophet says : The rain cometh and the
snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watercth the
earth, and maketh it to bring forth and bud, that it may give
seed to the sower and bread to the eater [4]. The Carthusian
suggests that by showers we can understand doctrine and
preaching, which sink into the mind like rain on a dry land ;
and by dew, the consolation and unction of the Holy Ghost,
which comes from within.

Spirits of God here mean the winds, which continue the
work which showers and dew begin ; or, again, by spirits
we may understand the Spirit of God Himself Who fans
into a flame His fire within our hearts, at the same time
cooling the earthly fire which rages there.

(6) Benedicite ignis, et cestus 0 fire and heat, bless ye
Domino : benedicte frigus, et the Lord : 0 cold and heatf
cestus Domino. bless ye the Lord.

St. Thomas says fire is a very apt image of God, for,

[l] Eccles. xliii. 2-1 1. [3] xii. 3.

[2] Phil. ii. 15. [4] Is. Iv. 10.

262 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

according to the Apostle: He is a consuming fire [i]. The
Holy Ghost is called in the Veni Creator a " fire." Now heat
is the effect of fire, and so the two are joined together.
Mystically, fire is charity ; heat is the fervour thereof, concern-
ing which Christ said : / have come to cast fire on the earth [2] ;
and the two disciples said : Was not our heart burning within
us f [3]. This Divine fire and spiritual heat are the choicest
gifts of God, and therefore fitting for our most humble
thanksgiving.

0 cold and heat. Cold is here taken for wintry season, and
heat for the summer days. Mystically, says the Carthusian,
cold is the extinction of the flames of lust and vice ; heat, for
the warmth and ripening of virtues : the elect bless God both
for the withdrawal of evil and for the increase of good.
Then we can bless the Lord at all time [4], in all the changes of
the seasons ; for in all we see His power and wisdom and
providence for His creatures.

(7) Benedicite rores, et pru- 0 dews and hoar frosts,

ina Domino : benedicite gelu, bless ye the Lord : 0 frost and
et frigus Dtimino. cold, bless ye the Lord.

Dew is an effect of tempered heat and is most abundant in
the Spring, when the new plants need sustenance. Hoar
frosts are an effect of cold and are prevalent in Autumn, and
check the growth, so says the Philosopher. The first signifies
prosperity, the other adversity : //, says the holy Job, we receive
good things from God, why shall we not bear evil f [5]. We may
also take them, one for grace which helps on our spiritual
growth, and the other for temptation which proves our work.
Thus are we armed with the arms of justice on the right hand
and on the left [6] .

Frost and cold. Frost is caused by cold, according to the
words of Ecclesiasticus : When the north wind bloweth, and the
water is congealed into ice,itabideth upon every gathering together
of water and clothed the water as with a breast-plate [7]. And
that of the Psalmist : Before the face of His cold who can

[l] Heb. xii. 29. [5] ii. 10.

[2] Luke xii. 49. [6] 2 Cor. vi. 7.

[3] Ibid. xxiv. 32. [7] xliii. 22.
[4] Ps. xxxiii. I.

AT LAUDS, OR MORNING SONG 263

abide f [i] By frost and cold we may understand the binding
and hardening of the mind by the withdrawal or suspension of
sensible devotion ; in which circumstances we must still bless
God, and patiently possess our souls in peace, while praying
for the return of the gift. We must refuse to look for consola-
tion in exterior and unworthy pursuits, according to the words
of the Psalmist : / remembered the Lord and was glad : I was
exercised and my spirit failed [2],

(8) Benedicite gldcies, et Ice and snow, bless ye the

nives Domino: benedicite noct- Lord: nights and days, bless
es, et dies Domino. ye the Lord.

Some consider that by ice, hail is to be understood. These
creatures of God : Fire, hail, ice, and spirits of the storm which
fulfil His Word, hereby show forth His power and glory. Hail
was used with His wonderful dealing with the Jews ; for
instance, the plague of hail [3] ; and the destruction of the
Amorites by hailstones in the days of Josue [4] : Fire,
mingled with the hail, ran along the ground [5]. So the
Carthusian takes these two as the scourges of God, for which
we ought to bless Him.

Nights and days signify, respectively, tribulation and
prosperity ; or night, the obscurity of the Old Testament and
the darkness of sin ; day, the brightness of the Gospel and the
illumination of grace.

(9) Benedicite lux, et tine- 0 Light and Darkness, bless

brce Domino : benedicite ful- ye the Lord ; 0 lightnings and
gura, et nubes Domino. clouds, bless ye the Lord.

Light, the first work of God in making the world, of which
Solomon says : Sweet is the light, and pleasing to the eye is it to
see the sun [6], is mystically taken to signify the illumination
of the soul, the good cheering thereof by the in-dwelling of the
Holy Ghost and the gift of sensible piety ; whereas darkness is
the defect, or ignorance, or obscuring of the heart, whether it
comes by sin, or by the mystical privation of sensible devotion
sent for the purifying of our souls, according to the saying :

[l] clxvii. 17. [4] x. II.

[2] Ixxvi. 4. [5] Exod. ix. 23.

LsJ Exod. ix. 23. [6] Eccles. xi. 7.

264 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

The Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind . . . where is
the way where Light dwelleth f and as for darkness, where is the
place thereof? [i] In this verse light and darkness must be
taken as the qualities of the days and nights of the preceding
verse.

Lightnings, which flash in the clouds, are spiritually to be
understood of the brilliancy of miracles or the terrible threats
of God's judgments, which from time to time flash out from
the clouds which veil Him from our sight. As we read in the
Psalm : Thy lightnings shone over all the earth ; the earth was
moved and shook withal [2], Concerning clouds many things
are said in the book of Job to show God's greatness : Can any
understand the spreading of the clouds or the noise of His taber-
nacle ? [3] It was a cloud that sheltered by day the Israelites in
the desert, and was a guide to them by night [4]. Clouds,
also, are represented as overshadowing His dwelling-place,
according to that word of the Psalmist : Clouds and darkness
are round about Him [5],

(10) Benedicat terra Domi- Let the earth bless the earth :

num : laudet et superexdltet let it praise and exalt Him for
Eum in scecula. ever.

How the earth tells us of God ! He Himself says : Where
was thou when I laid the foundations of the earth ? Declare if
thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof, if
thou knowest 1 or who hath stretched the line upon it f Where-
upon are the foundations thereof fastened f or who laid the corner-
stone thereof [6]. The earth, by its stability and its fruitfulness,
is an image of the man whose mind is stayed on God and who
bringeth forth his fruits in due season. St. Gregory the Great
says : It is wonderful that man is not always engaged in
praising God ; for creation ever invites him to do so.

(n) Benedicite monies, et 0 mountains and hills, bless

colles Domino : benedicite uni- ye the Lord : everything that

versa germinantia in terra springeth on the eatth, bless ye

Domino. the Lord.

[i] Job xxxviii. I, 19. [4] Cf. Ex. xiii. 21.

[2] Ixxvi. 19. [5] Ps. xcvi. 2.

[3] xxxvi. 29. [6] Job xxxviii. 4-6.

AT LAUDS, OR MORNING SONG 265

God hath prepared the mountains in His power [i] and
girts the hills with joy of the harvest, so that they sing a hymn
of harvest-thanksgiving to Him [2]. Albert the Great notes
that in the mystical sense mountains and hills are the prelates
of Holy Church, or those shining with the gifts of grace,
according to that saying of the Prophet : The mountains shall
distil sweetness, and the hills shall flow with milk [3].

Everything that springeth on the earth, all the treasures earth
has in minerals, precious stones, plants, trees, flowers, &c.
And how very beautiful is this fair earth that was made as a
dwelling-place for the Incarnate God ! Our Lord points out
its beauty : Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow . . .
I say to you that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed as one
of these [4]. The verse may also be taken to refer to every
good action we do. The seed whereof was planted by God in
our heart ; He watered it by grace ; the sun of His favour gave
it the increase and ripened the fruit. It is all His doing, and
sets out His infinite perfections. Our part is only to work
with Him and to obey His inspirations. To Him be all
honour and glory ! Not unto us 0 Lord, not unto us [5],

(12) Benedicite fontes Do- 0 fountains, bless ye the

mino : benedicite mdria, et Lord : 0 seas and waves, bless
flumina Domino. ye the Lord.

A fountain, the source of waters, by its exuberance, its
clearness and its diffusion, is an image of Divine goodness ;
hence God is often called in Holy Writ a fountain. It is
also applied to the Wounds of our blessed Saviour ; for they
were the fountains of grace and mercy for all the world,
according to that saying of the Prophet : Ye shall draw water
in joy from the fountains of the Saviour [6].

0 seas and rivers. By the seas is sometimes meant the
tempest-tossed world, full of bitterness, as in Isaias, the wicked
as the boiling sea, which cannot be still [7] ; others take it as the
heart of penitents troubled by waves of sorrow and compunc-

[i] Ps. Ixiv. 6. [5] Ps. cxiii. 9.

[2] Ibid. 14. [6] Is. xii. 3.

[3] Joel iii. 1 8. [7] Ibid. Ivii. 20.
[4] Matt. vi. 28, 29.

266 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

tion : Great as the sea is thy sorrow [i]. Rivers, on the other
hand, denote sometimes the abundant gifts of grace, and
sometimes overwhelming tribulations. In the first sense
our Lord uses the words when He says : He who believeth in
Me . . . out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water [2].
But the second sense is implied by the Psalmist when he says :
The rivers have lifted up their floods from the voices of many
waters [3].

(13) Benedicite cete, et 6m- O whales and all that move

nia, quce moventur in aquis, in the waters, bless ye the Lord :

Domino : benedicite omnes 0 birds of heaven, bless ye the

volucres cceli Domino. Lord.

Fish and birds were one of the special creations of God,
the work of the fifth day. Our Divine Master said to SS-
Peter and Andrew : / will make you fishers of men [4], likening
men to fish. If we work out the analogy we shall see it amply
justified. As the fish live and move in the water, so do all
Christians live their supernatural life in the waters of Baptism ;
then, from the Divine immanence or pervading of all things,
we are living in God ; He is all round about us, on every side,
through and through, as water is round a fish swimming
therein. It was for reasons like this, to express the union
between the Humanity and the Godhead, yet withal their
distinction, that the Fish figures in the oldest Christian art
as the image of Christ ; besides, as we have explained, the
hidden meaning in the letters of the Greek word for fish, t^^v?,
i.e., Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour.

Birds of the heaven, that is, of the air. Sometimes by birds
the proud who lift themselves upon high, or devils, the princes
of the Power of the air [5] are meant ; as when our Lord says :
The birds of the air eat it, that is, the good seed [6]. But here
the word is to be taken, in mystical sense, for contemplative
souls who on the wings of prayer are lifted up towards the
sublime things of God. These are they who can say : Who
will give me the wings of a dove and I will fly away and be at

[i~] Lam. ii. 13. [4] Matt. iv. 19.

[2] John vii. 38. [5] Eph. ii. 2.

[3] Ps. xcii. 3, 4. [6] Luke viii. 5.

AT LAUDS, OR MORNING SONG 267

rest f [i]. Of these doves the Prophet speaks when he asks :
Who are these that fly as the clouds and as doves at their
windows ? [2] : And again : They who trust in the Lord shall
renew their strength ; they shall take unto themselves wings, like
the eagle ; they shall run and not be weary ; they shall walk and
not faint" [3].

(14) Benedicite omnes bes- All beasts and cattle, bless
tice et pecora Domino : bene- ye the Lord : ye sons of men,
dicitefilii hominum Domino. bless ye the Lord.

Besides the obvious sense of the verse, the Carthusian
says : By beasts and cattle we may understand men immersed
in lust ; and these are invited to return to their reason, and
bless God Who has spared them so long and still calls them
to repentance. But there is a difference between the two :
beasts are the untamed, cattle the domesticated animals ; and
so we may understand by the former, carnal men who are
cruel and intractable ; by the latter, carnal men who neverthe-
less are mild and easily led.

Sons of men. Now leaving the brute creation and those
who, abandoning their reason, live like brutes, only by instinct,
we come to the true sons of men, as made by God ; and thus
the circle of being is completed. We started from the angels,
pure spirits ; we have passed through the animate and in-
animate creation, and now we come to Man, made a little lower
than the angels, partly spirit, partly material, summing up in
himself all creation ; a " little world," as the ancient phil-
osophers called him.

(15) Benedicat Israel Domi- May Israel bless the Lord:
num : laudet et superexdltet may he praise and exalt Him
Eum in scecula. above all for ever.

Israel, "Prince of God," or the "chosen people," is specially
invited to bless the Lord. Who is Israel ? Israel is Mine
inheritance, says God by His Prophet [4]. Those He has
specially chosen and has called to that intimate union which
makes them princes ; those to whom He has given the gracious

[i] Ps. liv. 7. [3] ibid. xl. 31

[2] Isaias Ix. 8. [4] Is. xix. 25.

268 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

call : Come after me [i] ; and to whom He says : / no longer
call you servants but friends . . . for you have not chosen
Me but I have chosen you [2]. We, whom in various ways He
has called, are invited in this verse, not only to bless Him, but
to praise Him and to exalt Him above all for ever ; that is, to be
grateful to Him, to extol His mercy in choosing us, and to set
Him above all the desires of our hearts : One thing only have I
asked of the Lord; that I may dwell for ever in His courts [3].

(16) Benedicite sacerdotes 0 priests of the Lord, bless

Domini Domino : benedicite ye the Lord : 0 servants of the
servi Domini Domino. Lord, bless ye the Lord.

Priests of the Lord. They are called upon specially to
bless the Lord, because they have a means of doing so far
above any means which angels or other men have ; for,
sharing in the Eternal Priesthood of the great High Priest
Himself, they can offer the most perfect act of Thanksgiving
to God that He can desire. The Mass is the Eucharistic
sacrifice, i.e., the offering of Thanksgiving. Therefore it is
fitting that in this verse we unite ourselves to all the Masses
that have ever been said and that are being said at this very
moment throughout the world, and offer them to bless the
Lord through and by and with Jesus Christ, Himself the
Priest and the Victim thereof. But in a wider sense we are
all priests, as St. Peter tells us : Ye also . . . are an holy
priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus
Christ" [4] ; for not only do we share in every Mass that is said,
and offer it (Pray, brethren, that my and your sacrifice may
be acceptable to Almighty God, says the priest), but we also
are called to offer the spiritual sacrifice of our will, of our
whole being to God by Jesus Christ, the Head of the Body.
How many of God's children have thus, as spiritual priests,
sacrificed themselves as living victims to His Honour, slaying
themselves with the two-edged sword of Poverty and Chastity,
and burning themselves on the fire of the Altar of Obedience.
These spiritual priests are then to bless the Lord for making
their sacrifice acceptable in His sight. They are in a special

[l] Matt. iv. 19. [3] Ps. xxvi. 4.

[2] John xv. 15, 16. [4] i Pet. ii. 5.

AT LAUDS, OR MORNING SONG 269

way the servants of the Lord ; for they know and, to the best
of their ability, carry out His will.

(17) Benedicite spiritus et 0 spirits and souls of the

dnimce justdrum Domino : bene- righteous, bless ye the Lord :

dicite sancti, et humiles corde 0 holy and lowly of heart,

Ddmino. bless ye the Lord.

We now go to the Church suffering in Purgatory, to those
spirits and souls of the righteous not yet made perfect who are
there, and invite them to join in the Canticle of praise. A
hymn befits thee, 0 Lord, in Sion [i], in that holy abode of
purification ; for these souls all are of the Ransomed, are all
safe, and have all fought the good fight. If their full blessed-
ness is not yet complete, if they are still in the shade and not
in the light, they are safe and they know their salvation is
sealed. They have their hymn of deliverance upon their lips :
When Israel out of Egypt came and the house of Jacob from
amongst a barbarous people [2]. They are on the verge of the
Promised Land ; and they know they are sure of entry.
How deep, then, are their songs of blessing and thanking
God, deep even in the midst of their purgation, deep even
because of it ; for is it not His mercy which gives them this
means of purifying themselves before they enter in ?

0 holy and lowly of heart. And now we go on to all the
choir of ransomed souls standing ever before the Throne, that
great multitude of our brethren which no man can number,
and among whom one day we, too, by God's grace, shall
stand. They are the holy, and because holy, they are glorified
and great. But their very greatness makes them realise that it
is all God's gift, and is due to the merits of Jesus Christ, their
Divine Head. So in the midst of their majesty and triumph
they are lowly in heart, and ever join in our Lady's song : He
hath done great things to me [3]. To their songs of blessing
we join ours, and ask the blessed in heaven to praise God on
our behalf and be mindful of their brethren here below, still
fighting, as they once fought, still striving after the crown
which they have secured.

Some have taken the clause in another way. 0 Spirit and

[i] Ps. Ixiv. I. [2] Ibid, cxiii. I. [3] Luke i. 49.

270 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

souls of the just, meaning thereby the Holy Ghost Who has
worked righteousness in the souls- of the just. This is accord-
ing to St. Basil's saying : What is man made of ? Body and
soul. But what is a Christian made of ? Body and soul, and
the Holy Ghost.

(18) Benedicite Anania, Aza- Ananias, Azarias and
ria, Misael, Domino : lauddte et Misael, bless ye the Lord :
superexaltdte eum in scecula. praise and exalt Him above

all for ever.

These words, by which the Holy Children animated each
other to praise the Lord Who had so marvellously preserved
them from the fiery furnace, we may look upon as a call
from our companions, from all who are charged with the
offering of the Prayer, to fervour and recollection in the
discharge of this heavenly duty. We have to deal with the
high things of God and to approach the Altar of incense
whereon lies the fire ; we have to enter into that fiery furnace,
the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and to become penetrated with His
sentiments and intentions ; yet, says the Prophet, Who can
dwell with everlasting burnings ? [i] May God send His angels
with a cooling wind to still the earthly flames of distractions,
and help us to plead before the fires of the eternal Throne.

(19) Benedicdmus Patrem et Let us bless the Father and
Filium cum sancto Spiritu ; Son together with the Holy
laudemus, et superexaltemus Ghost .' Let us praise and exalt
Eum in scecula. Him above all for ever.

This verse was added by the Church. It is like the Gloria
Patri, in place of which it is recited. All the preceding verses
have lead up to this. The Lord we have been calling on all
to bless is He Who is Three in One, the Creator, the Redeemer,
the Sanctifier. We may note that after the enumeration of the
three Divine Persons the one Nature is expressed by the Him.

(20) Benedictus es Ddmine Blessed art Thou, 0 Lord, in
firmamento cceli ,' et lauddbilis, the Firmament of the heavens,
et gloriosus, et superexaltdtus and praiseworthy, glorious,
in sacula. and exalted above all for ever.

[l] Is. xxxiii. 14.

AT LAUDS, OR MORNING SONG 271

This fi] sounds like the response of all creation to our
incessant invitation. Heaven and earth are full of the Song
of Praise, and this is the form it takes. Praiseworthy, on
account of Thy goodness, power, and holiness ; and glorious
in all ways, infinitely so and exalted above all ; for Thou art
the Creator and we are but the work of Thy hands for ever.
For Thou wilt never cease to be God and we shall never
cease to do the objects of Thy bounty and loving kindness.
This is, then, the end of the Canticles. All the works of the
Lord join in blessing His Name and acknowledging that He
is their Lord and God.

FIFTH ANTIPHON.

Pulchra es et decora filia Fair and comely art thou,

Jerusalem :terrlbilisutcastr6- O daughter of Jerusalem:
rum dcies ordindta. terrible as an army set in battle

array.

In this Antiphon we consider both the beauty of our ever
dear and blessed Lady and her power over the Evil one. They
both crush his head, for they are the result of grace. He sees
in her its power and what a creature can be by being faithful
to God. The thought of what he has lost by his infidelity
makes enmity between them. But clad in the armour of Faith,
with the helmet of Righteousness, and the breast-plate of
Truth, together with the sword of the Spirit, our Lady is ever
ready to meet his attacks when he besets her children. So
she reigns as Queen not only of heaven, but of earth also ; and
in the midst of her joys, for which we praise God, she does not
forget her children here below, but prays for us now and at the
hour of our death, that as she has done so may we also accom-
plish our end by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[i] Daniel Hi. 56.

272 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

PSALM CXLVIII.
Title. — Alleluia.
Argument [i],

Tomasi : That all things were made and created by the
command of Christ. The voice of the Apostles to the people
inviting all to the praise of the Creator.

Venerable Bede : The Prophet urges all creatures to the
praises of the Lord ; the rational and intellectual ones in
person ; those which lack instinct or senses through the means
of those which join in praising the Lord with the wisest use of
thought [2].

(1) Laudate Dominum de Praise the Lord from the
ccelis : lauddte Eum in excelsis. heavens : praise Him in the

heights.

(2) Lauddte Eum omnes Praise Him all ye His an-
Angeli Ejus : lauddte Eum gels : praise Him all ye His
omnes virtutes Ejus. powers.

This is a song of hope fulfilled, of liberty granted, of rest
given. And therefore most fitly those very sons of God, the
Angel hosts, are invited to begin the song from the heavens, and
that from no lowly station therein, but in the heights, where
Cherubim and Seraphim stand nearest to the Throne. They
are to begin the Song of the New Creation ; for Man, though
rejoicing in the message of Redemption, knows not how to
praise as he ought, and therefore needs a voice to give the
intonation to this Psalm. It is thus not a commandment, but
a petition, that the Angels may continue what they always are
doing ; so that Man may catch the strain, as the priest sings
in the Preface of the Mass : " And therefore with the angels."

[i] This Psalm is always said together with the two following, under one
Gloria and Antiphon ; and the custom is explained by Durandus as the triple
battle cry against the world, the flesh and the devil ; the joint anthem of Jews
Christians, and Gentiles ; the praise of the Trinity in Unity. The name of the
office of Lauds is derived from the word so frequently repeated, Laudate.

[2] A recent writer styles this Psalm " The Voice of the Church Militant praising
her Maker for the Resurrection. "

273

(3) Lauddte Eum sol et Praise Him Sun and Moon :

luna : lauddte Eum omnes all ye Stars and Light praise,
stellce et lumen. Him.

The Psalmist descends from the invisible and highest of
creatures to those which, though far lower in dignity, are yet
the highest and most glorious objects in the visible universe ;
that what is greatest in light may praise Him first. Light, the
primaeval creation, is an emblem of God. Light of Lights, is
one of the similies used in the Nicene Creed to express
the Divine Nature of God the Son. St. Gregory the Great
says : As Christ in His Manhood praises the Father, ascrib-
ing all glory to Him, that God may be all in all, so, too,
the Church, that moon which derives all her light from Him
and waxes and wanes in brightness here in the world, together
with all those righteous children of His who shine as
stars [i], praises Him in one hymn of thanksgiving. The
Light, as something diverse from the orbs of brightness, also
utter His laud, by typifying and disclosing Him. We may
also take light as signifying that light which enlighteneth every-
one coming into this world [2], the light of Reason, which is the
light of the Countenance of God which He has signed upon
us [3].

(4) Lauddte Eum coeliccelor- Praise Him all ye heavens :

um: et aquce omnes, qua super and ye waters that are above
ccelos sunt, laudent nomen the heavens, let them praise the
Domini. Name of the Lord.

All ye heavens, words, says St. Augustine, implying at
once their vast extent and unsearchable height. The
Carmelite takes these words of our Blessed Lady, who for
nine months was the abode of God made Man : and ye waters
that are above the heavens of the Divine contemplation of the
doctrines of the Gospels and the Apostles. Origen and St.
Ambrose understand these waters as purely spiritual symbols ;
and Jorgius tells us they are the abundant grace of the Holy
Ghost : A pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding
from the throne of God and of the Lamb [4]. They may also be

i] Dan. xii. 3. [3] Cf. Ps. iv. 8.

[2] John i. 9. [4] Apoc. xxii. I.

18

274 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

taken of the waters of Baptism, which open the way to us
through the gates of heaven and which take their rise in the
pierced Side of Jesus. St. Peter Chrysologus tells us that the
waters of penitential tears, the weeping of Mary Magdalen, are
above the heavens, because they rise at once and directly into
the very presence of God.

(5) £?«*'« tyse dixit et facta For He spoke the word and
sunt : Ipse manddvit et credta they were made : He com-
sunt. manded and they were created.

He spoke the Word when He said, before all Eternity :
Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee [i]. Thus says
St. Augustine : And they were made, for the Word was God and
all things were made by Him, and without Him was not any-
thing made [2].

He commanded. Our Lord Himself says : The Father
loveth the Son and hath given all things into His Hands [3].
So St. Paul draws out the doctrine that : Therefore by Him
were all things created that are in heaven and in earth, visible
and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or princi-
palities, or powers ; all things were created by Him and in
Him [4]. And as the Carmelite together with the Car-
thusian says : In that He not only made but created them,
His divine origin, power, as well as His plastic and artistic
wisdom, are implied. And also the whole sentence shows the
instantaneous result of the Divine Fiat ; for God calleth these
things which are not as though they were [5].

(6) Stdtuit ea in ceternum He hath made them fast for
et in sceculum sceculi : prcecept- ever and ever ; He hath given
um posuit et non prceteribit. them a law which shall not be

broken.

Each created thing is not only formed to endure, in the
type or the development, if not in the individual, but also has
its place in the universe fixed by God's decree, that it may
fulfil its appointed share of working out His Will. This is so
even in the spiritual life. We have every one of us a state of

[i] Ps. ii. 7. [4] Col. i. 16.

[2] John i. i, 3. [5] Rom. iv. 17.

[3] John iii. 35.

AT LAUDS, OR MORNING SONG 275

perfection to which God calls us, and towards which all His
graces are directed ; for instance, it is idle for a Sister of
Mercy to sigh after that kind of perfection which is part of the
vocation of a Poor Clare. To each one His Gift [i]. God's
will is for us to be perfect in our own vocation ; and it is
to this end that we must direct all our efforts.

The Law, which He hath given to all heavenly things, to
the Angels, to that bright and glorious City whence we are
exiled pilgrims, is that of everlasting praise, their one task
where there are no sins to struggle against, no wants to
minister to. Thus St. Augustine.

(7) Lauddte D6minum de Praise the Lord from the
terra : dracones et omnes earth, ye dragons and all
abyssi. depths.

We begin with the lowest part of creation. Some of the
mediaeval commentators dwell on the words, dragons and all
depths, to teach us that even the great red dragon [2] and all
his brood in deepest hell are forced, however reluctantly, to
praise the Lord by working out His ends when striving to do
their own evil will. That devout anchoress, Mother Juliana of
Norwich, says of the Evil one : All that God suffereth him to
do turneth us to joy and him to shame and pain. And he
hath as much sorrow when God giveth him leave to work
as when he worketh not ; and that is, for he may never do as
ill as he would, for his might is all locked in God's hand [3],

Hugh of St. Victor, who explains this, as well as the suc-
ceeding verses, of various orders of saints, thinks great
eminence to be signified by the size of the dragons, and pro-
found wisdom in the depths where they lie ; and he gives as
examples of his meaning such names as Abraham, Isaias,
SS. Peter, John, Stephen and Nicholas.

(8) Ignis, gratido, nix, Fire, hail, snow, and ice :
glades, spiritns procellarum : ye spirits of the storms who
qucefdciunt verbum Ejus. fulfil His Word.

Bellarmine points out that this enumeration teaches two
lessons : that these are all agents of good, not of evil, in the

[i] Cf. I Cor. vii. 7. [2] Apoc. xii. 3. [3] P. 48.

276 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

world, and that they are all under the absolute control of God.
Some commentators take these words as representing various
kinds of sinners : Fire, men of burning passions ; hail, which
crushes the grain, the persecutors ; snow, those cold in sin ;
ice, frozen in unbelief ; spirits of the storms, still fiercer per-
secutors ; yet all fulfilling His word. But Hugh of St. Victor
lakes these words in quite the opposite sense. With him fire
denotes souls fervent and glowing with charity ; hail, great
preachers who pour down storm and lasting rebukes on
sinners ; snow, those white in purity ; ice, such as by mortifi-
cation check whatever in them is too lax or flaccid ; and all
these, in their several ranks in the Church, cheerfully doing
God's will. Nor is there any real difference between the two
views ; for the opposition only denotes the various results of
these very same qualities when under the guidance of God
or when left to self-will.

(9) Monies et omnes colles : Mountains and all hills,

ligna fructifera et omnes cedri. fruitful trees and all cedars ;

(10) Bhticc et universa pecora : Beasts and all cattle;

serpentes et volucres penndtce. creeping things and feathered

fowls.

Following Hugh of St. Victor, mountains are saints
eminent in holiness ; hills, those who bring forth good
works, especially by teaching others ; cedars, those incorrupt
in mortification and excelling in contemplation ; wild beasts,
those called to practise solitude ; cattle, such as live together
in the common life ; creeping things, such who quietly and
steadily occupy themselves in the active life ; feathered fowl,
such as rise on high in heavenly contemplations.

(n) Reges terra et omnes Kings of the earth and

pdpuli: principes et omnes judices all people: princes and all
terrce. judges of the earth ;

(12) Juvenes ct virgines, senes Young men and maidens }

cum. junioribus laudent Nomen old men and children, praise
Domini : quia exaltdtum est the Name of the Lord : for
Nomen Ejus solius. His Name is alone exalted.

Here, at last, says the seraphic doctor, St. Bonaventure, is
the direct appeal to Man, as the highest of earthly beings, to
take his part in the great anthem of praise.

AT LAUDS, OR MORNING SONG 277

Kings and princes, that is, all superiors, praise God, says
Albert the Great, when they rule for the good of the people ;
judges, when they decide with justice all cases that come before
them. And there is great force in the words, all people, inas-
much as the worship of the true God is not confined within
the limits of a single nation, but spreads all over the world.

Young men are those who are strong and in whom the Word
of the Lord abideth, and have overcome the wicked one |~i].
Maidens, all those who in chastity serve God, even if they be
among the wedded ; but above all, such as are nearer to Him
by the Religious life ; while all others are included under the
remaining head. Then comes the reason ; no longer, as in
the fifth verse, the constraining force of an Eternal Law, too
strong to be broken, that suffices for inanimate creations ;
but Man must have his reason convinced, and his will moved
before he submits.

His Name alone is exalted. That Name, says Gerovius, of
Jesus, Who only is holy, Who only is the Lord, Who only is
most high, with the Holy Ghost in the glory of God the
Father : Who has a Name which is above every other name
before which every knee must bow [2].

(13) Confessio Ejus super cos- His praise is above heaven

lum et terram : et exaltavit and earth : and He hath
cornu populi Sui. lifted up the horn of His

People.

His praise is above all created things ; for no creature, not
even our ever dear and blessed Lady, can praise God as His
Majesty demands. Only Infinity can worthily praise God ;
hence Jesus, the Word Incarnate, is the Adorer, the Praiser of
His Father. We join with Him in that eternal act of Praise
which is ever going up in the Mass and the Office, and in
every prayer which the Holy Ghost inspires.

He hath lifted up the horn of His people, that is, the power.
First, by the Incarnation, next by the Passion, then by the

[i] I John ii. 14. [2] Phil. ii. 9.

278 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

Resurrection and Ascension, and lastly by the dignity and
glory He bestows upon all who live His life and follow His
law.

(14) Hymnus dmnibus sanctis A hymn for all His saints :

Ejus : filiis Israel, populo appro- even the children of Israel,
pinqudnti Sibi. a people that draweth nigh

to Him.

What is a hymn, asked St. Augustine. A song with praise
of God. If you praise God and do not sing it is not a hymn ;
yea, rather, if you sing and do not praise God it is not a hymn
you utter ; if you sing and praise something which is not God,
song and praise together do not make you utter a hymn. A
hymn, then, has these three properties : song, praise, and all
directed to God. So this hymn is for all the children of the
true spiritual Israel, even the people that draweth nigh to Him.
The Carthusian says : It is truly said near; for the world to
come as well as for this one, since it would be easier to
annihilate heaven and earth than that any man who takes
delight in God's praises should not be saved. What is then the
hymn peculiar to these saints ? What but that very Alleluia
which is the title and close of this Psalm.

" This is the strain, the eternal strain, the Lord of all things loves :

Alleluia.

This is the song, the heavenly song, that Christ Himself approves :

Alleluia." [ij

PSALM CXLIX. [2]

Title.— Alleluia.

Argument.

Tomasi : That the praise of Christ should be celebrated
in all churches. The voice of Christ to the faithful concerning
the Resurrection, Judgment to come, promising rest to them
who suffer for His Name, and power over all that afflict them.

Venerable Bede : The Psalmist says that a New Song should

[l] Gotteschakus.

[2] A writer styles this Psalm " The New Song of the Church Suffering, those royal
souls like kings bound in chains, like nobles laden with links of iron.'

279

be sung to Christ the Lord, Who in divers ways, of His loving
kindness, hath built up a universal Jerusalem out of the whole
world. In the foregoing psalm he urged all creatures to the
praises of the Lord ; here he hath furthermore plainly and
specially signified that Israel ought to sing a New song, and
be joyful in its own Lord Who caused it to be gathered
together out of the multitude of the Gentiles. And mention is
made of the power which is to be given to the saints in that
Judgment, that the might of the Lord may be acknowledged
in their glory.

(i) Cantate Domino cdnti- 0 sing unto the Lord a new

cum novum : laus Ejus in song : let His praise be in the
eccUsia sanctorum. Church of the Saints.

No one that hath not put off the old man with his works [i]
shall sing the new song ; nay, it is, moreover, necessary to put
on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the Image
of Him that created him [2] in order to be able to sing it.
And a new song, looked at historically, is a glorious and
especial chant, sung in honour of some success and victory ;
but in the allegorical sense it is a Canticle of the New Testament.
For then all things were made new ; a new creation, a new man,
a new life, new commandments, new grace, new promises, new
sacraments, new precepts. The old man has an old song, the
new man a new one. The old song is the Old Testament, the
new song the New Testament. In the Old Testament, the
promises are temporal and earthly : whoso, then, loveth tem-
poral things sings the old songs ; but he who desires to sing
the new song must love things eternal. And this song is of
peace and charity. It cannot be sung apart from the Church of
the saints, from the united Canticle of all the whole earth [3].
He who sings not in this wise, let him sing what he will,
he does not sing the new song. With his tongue he may
utter Alleluia all day and all night ; yet it is not the voice
of the singer but the conduct of the doer which has to be
noted. I ask and say, what art thou singing ? And one
answers Alleluia. What does Alleluia mean ? " Praise ye

[i] Col. iii. 9. [2] Ibid. 10. [3] Ps. xcv. i.

280 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

the Lord," or " O come, let us praise the Lord together." If
thou art praising the Lord and I am praising the Lord,
why are we at discord ? Charity praiseth the Lord, discord
blasphemes Him. Thus St. Augustine.

His praise is in the Church of the saints. In the Catholic
Church, not in the congregations of those outside the Unity,
far less in the assemblies of the wicked ; for of Sion it is
written : Joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving
and the voice of melody [i]. To the souls in Purgatory it is
a new song, the first echoes of which they caught at the Judg-
ment Seat when Christ was gracious to them.

In that Church of the Saints — Purgatory — God's praise is
unceasing ; for their salvation is secured ; and when the Red
Sea of suffering is passed and they join the Triumphant Church
of the Saints, the New Song, begun in Purgatory, will go on for
ever, swelling with more and more rapture. It is truly a new
song the blessed sing ; for the matter of it never grows old,
the delight of it never grows weary ; for that delight is always
fresh in love, and ever fresh in practice. Jesus Christ, the
same yesterday and to-day and for evermore [2]. It is truly
new, because it renews men's minds with eternal blessedness.
And so we read : Remember ye not the former things, neither
consider the things of old: Behold I will do a new thing [3].
Says St. Bonaventure : Sing not therefore with Lucifer, who
began with a loud voice an anthem in heaven, saying : / will
ascend unto heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God,
I will be like the Most High [4] ; a voice beginning in pride,
then going on to suggestion, and ending in a cry of despair.
Sing not with Adam's three dissonant tones of credulity, con-
sent, and excuse ; but sit down at the feet of the New Man
and learn of Him to begin from the lowest note. He says :
Learn of Me, for I am meek and humble of heart [5].

(2) Lcetetur Israel in Eo qui Let Israel rejoice in Him

fecit eum : et filii Sion exsult- that made him : and let the
ent in Rege suo. children of Sion be joyful in

their King.

[l] Is. li. 3. [4] Ibid. xiv. 14.

[2] Heb. xiii. 8. [5] Matt. xi. 29.

[3] Is. xliii. 18.

AT LAUDS, OR MORNING SONG 281

All those Israelites, indeed, in whom there is no guile, are
bidden to rejoice ; for God is worshipped chiefly by faith,
hope and charity ; and the companions and fruits of these are
righteousness, peace and joy.

While all Israel, God's chosen people, rejoice in their Maker,
it is the special privilege of the children of Sion, the saints
of the Church Militant, especially such as are striving after
perfection in the way of the Counsels, to be joyful in their
King, their Anointed Priest and Sovereign. For He bears to
them a special relation which He does not to any other beings
in creation. Wherefore Holy Church saith : But, am I by Him
appointed King upon His holy hill of Sion [i]. Yes, adds Cassio-
dorus, they shall indeed be joyful when they see Him, the
Almighty, Him the Bestower of everlasting rewards, Whose
future coming in majesty they have believed. What bounds
will there be to that joy of beholding the Lord of all things,
Whom we believe to have died for the salvation of all ? We
cannot know the measure of that gladness ; but we know
it will surpass all understanding ; for the Truth hath promised
it. Once more Israel, the Chosen princes of God, now
reigning in bliss, the future companions of the souls in
Purgatory, or they themselves exiled as Jacob was from his
father's home.

Children of Sion. Those who are united together by
charity and the assistance of prayer ; for they should be joyful
to their King in giving Him back the souls in Purgatory.

(3) Laudent Nomen Ejus Let them praise His Name

in choro : in tympano et psal- in the choir : let them sing
terio psallant Ei. praises unto Him with timbrel

and harp.

Choir is a figure of the Unity of the Faith ; and St.
Ambrose alleges that the introduction of choirs into the
Christian Church was not so much for musical effect as for
the purpose of symbolising concord of mind. Psalmody, says
he, unites those who were at variance, makes friends of
opponents, reconciles the offended. Who could help forgiving
a man with whom he has been uttering the same praise to
God?

[i] Ps. ii. 6.

282 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

With timbrel and harp. The timbrel or tambourine, con-
sisting of a skin stretched tightly upon a frame of wood, is a
type of crucifixion to the world, and of bodily mortification ;
for this skin is that of a dead animal. On the other hand, the
harp, with its ten strings, resembles the timbrel, in so far as
immediate agent of sound (the strings) is strained to the
wooden framework. It also denotes active compliance with
the Ten Commandments of the Moral Law.

(4) Quia benepldcitum est The Lord is well pleased
Ddmino in populo Suo : et with His people : and exalteth
exaltdbit mansuttos in salu- the meek unto salvation.

tern.

The Lord is well pleased with His people. In those who submit
to His law, not with the subjects of the prince of this world.

He exalteth the meek unto salvation, raising them to His Own
right hand in the Judgment. The literal meaning is, He shall
beautify the meek unto salvation, that is, not only in the sense
of giving costly riches and precious gems instead of the torn,
soiled and dishevelled garb of sorrow, as the Prophet says :
To appoint unto them that mourn in Sion, to give them beauty for
ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the
spirit of heaviness [i] ; but in giving them, as St. Jerome says,
the Pearl of great Price for their ornament.

(5) Exsultdbunt sancti in Let the saints be joyful in
gloria: Icetabuntur in cubilibus glory : let them rejoice in their
suis. beds.

The saints rejoice even in Purgatory in their beds, in the
peaceful secrecy of divine contemplation, in their heart and
conscience, as knowing the night is far spent and the day is at
hand [2], and as being secure and at peace under the wings
of God, as it is written : / will break the bow and the sword and
the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down
safely [3]. Even here on earth those who seek God's will and
whose minds are set on Him rejoice in the security of His
love, and their joy no man can take from them.

And lastly, the majority of commentators take the words of

[i Is. Ixi. 3. [2] Rom. xiii. 12. [3] Osee ii. 18.

AT LAUDS, OR MORNING SONG 283

the final consummation of bliss in the many mansions of the
kingdom of heaven, where the saints rest from their labours.

(6) Exaltationes Dei in Let the high praises of God

gutture eorum : et glddii and- be in their mouth, and two-
pitcs in mdnibus eorum. edged swords in their hands.

These high praises, according to St. John Chrysostom, are
the two-edged swords, which in the hands of the saints do
more to discomfort their foes than any worldly prowess. And
the praises of God set on our lips by Holy Church in Public
Prayer are taken for the most part out of Holy Scripture,
which St. Paul speaks of as sharper than any two-edged sword [i].
Dwelling on this view of the two-edged sword, St. Augustine
draws out its meaning as smiting out of the Old and New
Testament ; having temporal promises and consolations in one
edge and eternal ones in the other. This sword draws men
from their nearest and dearest when their ties become incom-
patible with duty towards God ; and while thus severing, yet
consoles him who has courage to cut boldly with it even if he
smites off his own right hand. And this sword of the Word is
said to be in their hands, not their mouths, because of the
vigour and effect with which they use it. Then, again, it
may be taken of the pains the souls in Purgatory have to
undergo ; for the two-edged swords serve for the dividing
asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is
a discoverer of the thoughts and intents of the heart [2]. It is in
their hands, for it is their own faults for which they make
expiation. It is they who desire to go for a while from the
Face of Him in Whose sight they know they are not pure, as
St. Catherine of Genoa teaches. But while thus by their own
hands they suffer they never lose the high praises of God in
their mouth. And again, the words can be taken of that share
of the saints in the judicial power of Him out of Whose mouth
goes a sharp two-edged sword [3] to smite the sinner and cut him
asunder and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites [4].

[i] Heb. iv. 12. [3] Apoc. i. 16.

[2] Ibid. [4] Matt. xxiv. 51.

284 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

Wherefore follows : —

(7) Ad faciendam vindict- To be avenged of the na--
am in nationibus : increpa- tions : and to rebuke the
tidnes in populis. people.

(8) Ad alligandos reges To bind their kings in
edrum in compedibus : et n6- chains : and their nobles with
biles edrum in mdnicis ferreis. links of iron.

Now, says St. Augustine, we have seen the saints armed ;
let us watch the slaughter, watch the glorious battle. If Christ
is our general, then we also are soldiers. This implies we have
an enemy, and there is warfare and a victory behind. What
have Christ and His soldiers done with the two-edged sword in
their hands ? Used it to be avenged of the nations, by extin-
guishing paganism and breaking down the idols.

To rebuke the people. Let that two-edged sword of rebuke
go forth of you ; cease not, God has given it to you. When
the sinner begins to feel ashamed, when he suffers the prick
of conscience, the sword has made a wound, it reaches his
heart. He dies that he may live.

To bind their kings in chains, and their nobles with links oj
iron. Christ came for the good of all ; but He chose that the
Emperor of Rome, the type of the world, should be benefited
by the Fisherman, not the Fisherman by an Emperor. So He
chose things of no weight in the world ; He filled them with
the Holy Ghost ; He gave them two-edged swords ; He taught
them to preach the Gospel to the whole world. It raged, the
Lion lifted himself up against the Lamb, but the Lamb proved
sharper than the Lion. The Lion was conquered by his own
fury ; the Lamb conquered by suffering. Why links of iron f
As long as fear rules the heart, those conquered by the sword
of God are bound in chains of iron ; but let Love gain the
mastery, and then the Law, which pressed so heavily upon us,
becomes changed into the sweet Law of Liberty, whose links
are of gold. Looking at these verses in another way, we see
the light which Purgatory gives us upon the unutterable holiness
of God. The manifestation of the vengeance exacted for sin
is God's rebuke to Christians for their carelessness. Those
who have been looked up to as great in position, learning,

AT LAUDS, OR MORNING SONG 285

authority, and what not, may be nothing in God's sight but
sinners ; and if dying so, will be bound in chains and links
of iron and cast into the darkness outside the light of heaven,
until the last farthing of their debt is paid. Lastly, these
verses are taken of the sentence the saints shall assist in
passing at the Last Judgment on those who, of their own
freewill, remain in their wickedness.

(9) Ut fdcient in eis judi- To execute on them the judg-

cium conscriptutn : gloria hcec ment written : such glory is to
est Smnibus sanctis Ejus. all His saints.

Judgment written, that is pre-ordained, fixed, unalterable,
foreseen as the result of our free will. So God spoke by the
prophet : Behold it is written before Me : I will not keep silence,
but will recompense, even recompense into their bosom [ij.

Such glory is to all His saints. Because the judicial power
of Christ is not shared with the Apostles only, but with all the
righteous, as it is written : They shall purge the nations and
have dominion over the people : and the Lord shall reign for
ever [2]. So is it with the saints throughout the world ; so
they deal in every nation ; so they exalt God in their mouths ;
so they rejoice in their beds ; so they are beautified with
salvation ; so they sing the new song; so they say with heart,
voice and life, Alleluia. Thus St. Augustine.

PSALM CL. [3]

Title.— Alleluia.

Argument.

Tomasi : That Christ is to be praised in all His saints by
spiritual harmony. The voice of Christ after overcoming the
world, comforting them that rejoice in His Kingdom. Christ
showeth praise in all. The Prophet urgeth posterity, as well
as the living, to be instant in the duty of holy song. The
voice of Christ rejoicing in His Kingdom. This last psalm

[i] Is. Ixv. 6. [2] Wis. iii. 8.

[3] The same writer says of this psalm : " It is the Song of the Church Triumphant
when the number of the elect is made up, that is, when the soldier is crowned with
victory and the exiled brought home."

286 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

has, on account of the Ten Commandments, Praise ye said
ten times ; and, because of the four Gospels, four things are
mentioned, to wit : saints, the firmament, noble acts, and
multitude. Finally, there are eight kinds of musical instru-
ments mentioned ; because on the octave day of the first day
Christ rose again, and taught us the resurrection of the dead,
when every spirit, that is, Man made spiritual, shall praise the
Lord.

Venerable Bede : The City of God is counselled that being
gathered out of the compass of the world, it should sing praises
to Lord with voice and mind. This psalm, lifted up to that
harmonious country of all saints, ought not to have any
division, because it hath brought the end of the whole with the
might of the indivisible Trinity.

(1) Laudate Dominum in 0 praise God in His saints ;
sanctis Ejus : laudate Eum in 0 praise Him in the firmament
firmamento Ejus. of His power.

Our bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost ; and a pure
soul is the truest sanctuary of the Lord, in which stands His
spiritual Altar. How much more are they so when glorified in
heaven, when corruptible has put on incorruption and mortality
has put on immortality ? [i]. In praising His saints we are
praising their Lord ; for all their holiness consists in imitating
Him, and their power to do so is His grace.

The firmament of His power is His Sacred Death, by which
He overcame the power of the evil one, and established His
Church, against which the gates of hell shall never prevail.

(2) Laudate Eum in virtu- 0 praise Him in His noble
tibus Ejus : laudate Eum se- deeds : Praise Him according
cundum multitiidinem magni- to the multitude of His great-
tudinis Ejus. ness.

Says Bellarmine : God is to be praised, not merely because
He dwells in heaven, but because He dwells there as Almighty
Ruler and Lord of all. And, says St. Bruno, we are here
bidden to praise God for every great deed of His holiness or
power wrought by His saints ; and the more eminent such

[i] i Cor. xv. 53.

AT LAUDS, OR MORNING SONG 287

appears the more bound are we to refer it to the Unseen
Worker by and in Whose Name they were all done. When
the saints in glory look back and see how His mercy hath
followed them all the days of their life [i], and how He
hath done great things in them, their praise becomes more
ardent and more intense. Or, translating the words literally,
in His virtues we may take them as meaning that the saints,
wrapt in adoration of Jesus, are ravished at the glory of the
virtues of the Sacred Humanity of Whose fulness they have
all received, and therefore praise God for the humility of Jesus,
for the charity of Jesus, for the zeal of Jesus, for the patience
of Jesus, and for His other virtues.

According to the multitude of His greatness. How can we
do this ? St. Gregory the Great tells us : We most truly give
in full the acts of the Divine power when we know ourselves
unable to give them fully. We speak most eloquently when
we are silent in amazement at them. When our feebleness
tries to recount the works of God, the way to use the tongue
is to praise by adequate silence what we are not able adequately
to comprehend. He praises God according to the multitude
of His greatness who feels that he utterly breaks down in an
effort at fulfilling His praise.

(3) Lauddte Eum in sono 0 praise Him in the sound

tubce : lauddte Eum in psal- of the trumpet : praise Him
tcriOy et cithara. upon the lute and the harp.

The trumpet is the war-like instrument and calls to battle
or proclaims victory. Hence the trumpet praises Christ as
He is our Captain and King. The trumpet represents also
preachers and teachers, as it is written : Cry aloud and spare
not: lift up thy voice as a trumpet [2]. The trumpet must be
held with the hand ; and so the preacher must do, as well as
speak. Its mouthpiece is smaller than the bell from which
the sound issues ; so the preacher ought to be far stricter with
himself than with his hearers. The trumpet is also the call of
the Last Judgment, when the praise of God will be manifested
to all the world.

[i] Ct. Ps. xxii. 6. [2] Is. Iviii. i.

288 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

The lute, or psaltery, which was used in religious music,
denotes service to God ; and as it sounds from above, denotes
the glorification of the soul.

The harp used at weddings and other festivals, praises
Christ, the Bridegroom, and summons us to His Marriage
Feast. Sounding from below, it praises Him for deliverance
from sorrow and rejoices in the glorification of the body.

(4) Lauddte Eum in tym- Praise Him with timbrel

pano et choro : lauddte Eum and choir : praise Him with
in chordis et organo. strings and pipe.

Timbrels, strained to the wood on every side, dry, and
sounding with blows, serve as a type of the Martyrs and of all
who are crucified to the world, uttering praise to God, most
clearly when most severely afflicted.

Choir, denoting peaceful fellowship and harmonious action,
which, St. Gregory reminds us, cannot be safely disregarded
by those who play the timbrel of mortification.

Strings, thin and strained with great tension, are types of
those who macerate the body with fasts and vigils and are
tightly fastened by the nails of the Cross, straining upwards
to God and giving forth sweet tones when touched by His
fingers.

The pipe, or hand-organ, formed of several tubes of unequal
lengths fastened together, signifies the Common Life, or the
harmonious concord of different graces and virtues united by
the bond of charity.

(5) Lauddte Eum in cym- 0 praise Him with well-

balis benesonantibus; lauddte tuned cymbals : praise Him

Eum in cymbalis jubilationis : with loud cymbals : let every

omnis spiritus laudet Domi- spirit praise the Lord,
num.

Cymbals are always used in praise. They may fitly denote
those who consider one another, to provoke to love and good
works [i]. They are well-tuned from the holiness of their deeds
and words in accordance with the Divine will ; loud, in their
clear boldness and in their full rejoicing. The two Testaments

[i] Heb. x. 24.

AT LAUDS, OR MORNING SONG 289

are well-tuned cymbals ; so also are the heart and lips of a saint
in prayer. And when the two great choirs of angels and men
shall join together, blending in concord and filling heaven and
and earth with melody, then shall God be praised with loud
cymbals. .

Lest anything should be lacking, lest the understanding
should fail to accompany the voice, the Psalmist ends his
great song with the words : Let every spirit praise the Lord.
St. Augustine thus interprets these words : Those who live
the true life of the soul, who are spiritual, are here
chiefly called on to praise the Lord, and to praise Him not
here alone, where the timbrel and strings tell of mortifica-
tion and suffering, and the cymbals of the need of mutual
aid, but in the full glory of heaven, when the flesh, now
incorruptible, and the spirit are agreed, and the song of one
is that of both.

GLORIA PATRI.

Glory be to the Father, Who spake the word, Who is the
Maker of Israel, and Who abides in the firmament of His
power : Glory to the Son, the Word by Whom all things are
made, the King of the Children of Sion, Who by His virtues
hath wrought the salvation of mankind : Glory to the Holy
Ghost, Who came forth as a stormy wind to fulfil the Word
to the Apostles, Who giveth honour unto His saints, and in
Whose might every spirit saith, Alleluia.

THE LITTLE CHAPTER.

" A chapter is as much as to say as a ' lytel head ' ; it is
called 'little' for shortness. And it is called a 'head,' for it
is always taken of Holy Scripture and often of the Epistle that
is read in the Mass the same day. And Holy Scripture is
chief above all other scriptures, as the head is above all other
members of the body. And the Chapters are read at other
hours instead of lessons in the way of doctrine and teaching
as lessons are at Matins. And therefore, in other hours after
the Chapter followeth a response with a verse, which meaneth
the same as doth the lessons and response and verse at
Matins. But the Chapter is not begun with Jube Domine,

19

290 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

nor ended with Tu autetn, because it is always said by the
hebdomadary who occupieth an office of perfection, to whom
it belongeth rather to give blessing than to ask it in that
office. And by the same way it is presumed that she should
not lightly offend in so short a reading that she should need
to ask mercy with Tu autem. But ye all answer Deo grdtias,
as ye do after another Lesson ; and for the same cause as is
said before, after the first Lesson at Matins " [i].

CANTICLE vi. 9.

Viderunt earn filice Sion, et The daughters of Sion saw

beatissimam prcedicaverunt : her and call her most blessed :
regince laudaverunt earn. the queens, and they praised

her.

ty. Deo Grdtias. Thanks be to God.

The daughters. These are the daughters of Jerusalem who
celebrate the beauty of the King's spouse. In heaven it is a
never-failing joy to the angels to see our ever dear and blessed
Lady's glory and to acknowledge her as their queen ; on
earth, it is a never-failing example to the daughters of the
Church who, seeing her virtues, call her most blessed and
follow in her footsteps : the queens are those kings' daughters
spoken of in Psalm xliv., and represent these same holy
daughters who have followed Mary to the end and share in
her eternal reward. They are queens because they have
exercised on earth a regal sway over themselves by Poverty,
Chastity and Obedience ; they are queens because they are
spouses of the Great King and dwell for ever in His courts.
It was Mary's example that gave them heart to follow their
Divine Master along the mystic way of self-sacrifice ; it was
Mary's love that cherished them in the dark hour and who
got from her Son the wine of charity which kept them strong.
Therefore, never will they cease to praise her who has been
the channel of God's mercies towards them ; for her love was
only a showing of the love of Jesus for all mankind.

It is worth noting how the spirit of praise which is peculiar

[l] Myroure, p. 127.

AT LAUDS, OR MORNING SONG 291

to this office of Lauds is kept up in the Little Chapter. We
have the two words " bless " and " praise " repeated here.
Bearing in mind that the mystery of this hour is that of the
Assumption, the words of this Little Chapter describe to us
the sentiments of heavenly citizens, when Mary, body and
soul, was assumed into heaven. They saw her and blessed
her ; and their highest even bowed down and acknowledged
her as their mistress; for she was the Mother of the King.
In union with them, and thanking God for all His mercies
towards her, we say the Deo Grdtias.

THE HYMN.

The hymn carries on the same thoughts : the glory Mary
has received, and the praise of God. Like the hymn at
Matins, it is the composition of the Bishop Venantius For-
tunatus. St. Anthony of Padua had a special devotion to this
hymn and died with it on his lips.

(i) 0 Gloriosa Virginum, 0 Queen of 'all the Virgin Choirs,

Sublimis inter sidera, Enthroned above the starry sky,

Qui te credvit pdtvulum, Who with thy bosom's milk

Lactente nutris ubere. didst feed

Thine own Creator, Lord most
High.

Our Lady is the most glorious of all the virgins whom she
has led after her to the King [i] ; inasmuch as she joins to her
crown of Virginity that peerless diadem of Motherhood. The
Virgin-Mother is fittingly raised up above the stars, which
surround her as a crown [2]. These stars are the saints ; St.
Paul says : There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the
moon, and another glory of the stars : for one star differeth from
another star in glory [3] ; that is, there is the glory of Jesus,
the glory of Mary, and the glory of the Saints — each one a
very world of beauty and magnificence. And amid all her
glory Jesus, Who made her, never forgets that to her He
owes not only His mortal existence but all that wealth of love
that such a Mother had for such a Son. This human thought,

[i] Ps. xliv. 1 6. [2] Apoc. xii. I. [3] I Cor. xv. 41

292 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

mixed up with the glory of heaven, gives us confidence in
Mary's power ; for she is still the Mother of the King.
Solomon, a type of our Lord, promised to grant his mother's
request : And the king rose up to meet her and bowed himself
unto her, and sat down on his throne and caused a seat to be set
for the king's mother, and she sat on his right hand. Then she
said, I desire one small petition of thee ,' I pray thee say me not
nay. And the king said unto her : Ask on, my mother, for I will
not say thee nay [i].

(2) Quod Heva tristis dbstulit, What man had lost in hapless

Eve
Tu reddis almo germine : Thy sacred womb to man

restores :
Intrent ut astra flebiles, Thou to the wretched here

below
Cceli recludis cdrdines. Hast opened Heaven's eternal

doors.

Heva tristis. The sorrowful Eve is here contrasted with the
joyful Mother, Mary. As Jesus is the second Adam, the true
Head of our Race, so is Mary the second Eve, the real mother
of all the living. If Eve, by tempting Adam, took away our
right to heaven, Mary restored it by giving us Jesus. If Eve
brought sorrow by listening to the serpent, Mary brought joy
by listening to the angel. If Eve is the mother of our Race
according to Nature, Mary is the mother of mankind according
to Grace.

Cardines. Mary is the hinge on which hangs the door of
heaven ; for on her consent turned the mystery of the Incar-
nation.

Ut astra flebiles. Those who have been weeping for
their fall, return now like the stars in their glory, according to
the words of the Psalm : Those who sow in tears shall reap in
joy. Going they went and wept, casting their seed ; but coming
they came with joy, bearing their sheaves [2].

[i] 3 Kings ii. 19, 20. [2] cxxv. 5, 6, 7.

AT LAUDS, OR MORNING SONG 293

(3) Tu Regis alii jdnua, Hail O refulgent Hall of

Light,

Et aula lucis fulgida : Hail Gate august of Heaven's

high King :

Vitam datum per Virginem, Through Thee redeemed to end-
less Life,

Gentes redemptce, pldudite ! Thy praise let all the nations

sing.

Jdnua. One of the invocations of the Litany of Loreto
is Janua cceli — " gate of heaven." There is a difference
between a " gate " and a " door." The " door " is the opening
to the house itself ; the " gate " is the entrance to the garden
in which the house stands. Our Divine Lord is Himself the
" Door " of the Eternal Mansions : / am the Door : by Me if
any man enter in he shall be saved, and shall go in and out and
find pasture [i]. But Mary is the gate by which we have
access to the door of the King's Palace. And in another
sense, of her maiden-motherhood, she is the " closed gate," of
which Ezekiel, in prophecy, says : The gate shall be shut, it
shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it ; because the
Lord God of Israel hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be
shut [2].

Aula lucis : Her sacred womb was for nine months the
place of Him Who said : / am the Light of the world : He that
followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the Light
of Life [3]-

Vitam datam per Virginem. The life given by the Virgin.
What Life is this ? Not only the mortal Life of our Saviour,
but also the life of our souls, which we get from Him through
her. Also our vocation, her special care, which is that mani-
festation of the life of Jesus [4] which comes from bearing
about in our bodies His dying by the immolation of religious
profession.

The doxology of the hymn, Jesu, tibi sit gloria, is the same
as at Matins, and is now said in thanksgiving to the Adorable
Trinity in thanksgiving for Mary's glory in heaven.

[l] John x. 9. [3] John viii. 12.

[2] xliv. 2. [4] 2 Cor. iv. 10.

294 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

VERSICLE AND RESPONSE AND ANTIPHON.

y. Benedicta tu in mulie- Blessed art thou among

ribus. women.

!£. Et benedictus Fructus And blessed is the Fruit of

ventris tui. thy womb.

The same strain of praise is carried on and leads us to the
culminating point of the office, the Gospel Canticle. We have
been thinking of the glory of Mary, and praising God for it.
We are now about again to approach directly the throne of
God Himself. Just before we do so, as by a last effort to re-
mind us of the Divine Maternity of her under whose patronage
we approach the seat of Mercy, the Versicle and Response
which commemorate it are put upon our lips to increase our
fervour. It is this same thought which inspires the Antiphon
before the Canticle itself : —

Bedta Dei Genitrix Maria, 0 blessed Mother of God,

Virgo perpetua, templum Mary, ever maiden, temple of
Domini, sacrdrium Spiritus the Lord, Sanctuary of the
sancti : sola sine exemplo Holy Ghost : thou alone, un-
placuisti Domino nostro Jesu exampled, hath pleased our
Christo : ora pro pdpulo, inter- Lord Jesus Christ : Pray for
veni pro clero, intercede pro the people; beseech for the
devoto femineo sexu. clergy ; intercede for the devout

female sex.

Sacrdrium Spiritus sancti — Sanctuary of the Holy Ghost.
As the Third Person is the Sanctifier and dwells in the souls
of those who are united by charity to God, so in a true way is
He the Sanctifier of our blessed Lady and makes her soul a
very special sanctuary. Spiritual writers speak of three great
sanctifications of our Lady, three special outpourings of the
Holy Ghost. The first, when He sanctified her by pre-
venting grace at the moment of her existence, the hallowing of
the Immaculate Conception ; then when, by overshadowing
grace, He poured out the fulness thereof at the moment of the
Incarnation ; and lastly, amidst the fires of Pentecost, when
that unutterable hallowing of the holy took place, and by
creative grace Mary was made the Mother of the Church :
once for herself, once for Jesus, and once for us.

AT LAUDS, OR MORNING SONG 295

THE BENEDICTUS [l].

" Ye have in your service three Gospels, that is, Benedictus
and Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis, and all three are sung
standing for reverence of the Gospel. Zachary, the father of
St. John Baptist, made Benedictus, and our Lady made
Magnificat, and the holy man, Simeon, made Nunc Dimittis.
These songs are not sung in the same order as they were
made ; for Magnificat was made first, then Benedictus, and
last, Nunc Dimittis. But Benedictus is sung first, for it maketh
mind of St. John Baptist who was the foregoer of our Lord,
Jesus Christ, as it is said in the same song. And as St. John
was likened to the day-star, for as that goeth before the sun,
so St. John went before our Lord in his conception, and
in his birth, and in his preaching and baptising, and in his
death ; therefore this song is sung at Lauds, that is, the
service of morrow-tide when the star appeareth ; and also for
this song beginneth with praising and thanking God for the
redemption of mankind, and Lauds are said to praise God
specially for the same benefit . . . therefore it is con-
venient that it be sung at Lauds " [2].

M. Bacquez, in his treatise on the Divine Office, says that this
Canticle, the new song of Psalm cxlix., is the stepping-stone
between the Old Law and the New ; from the promise to the
fulfilment, from the figure to the reality. It was sung by one
of the last of the priests of the order of Aaron, the first of that
race who, having knowledge of our Lord's coming, proclaims
in a moment of exaltation the vocation of this new-born son
as the Foregoer of the Messias.

In order to understand the meaning of this Canticle it will
be well to recall the Gospel history as given by St. Luke, and
in passing we may draw attention to the fact that St. Luke is
the Liturgical Evangelist, and to him we owe the three Gospel
Canticles. This holy Evangelist, the friend of our ever dear
and blessed Lady, to whom she confided the mysteries of the
Annunciation, of the Visitation, of the Nativity, of the Pre-
sentation, of the Loss and Finding, and of the Hidden Life

[l] Luke i. 68-79. [2] Myroure, p. 131.

296 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

at Nazareth, shall tell us the circumstances under which this
Canticle was first said : —

There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain
priest named Zacharias of the course of A bia : and his wife was
of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. They
were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments
and ordinances of the Lord, blameless. And they had no child,
because that Elizabeth was barren ; and they were now well stricken
in years. And it came to pass that while he executed the priestly
office before God in the order of his course, according to the custom
of the office of the priesthood, it was his turn to burn incense when
he went into the temple of the Lord. And the whole multitude of
the people were praying without at the time of incense. And
there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord, standing on the
right side of the altar of incense. And when Zacharias saw him
he was troubled, and fear fell upon him.

But the angel said unto him : Fear not, Zacharias ; for thy
Prayer is heard; and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son
and thou shall call his name John. And thou shall have joy
and gladness, and many shall rejoice at his biith. For he shall
be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine
nor strong drink, and shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even
from his mother's womb. And many of the children of Israel
shall he turn to the Lord their God. He shall go before Him in
the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to
the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just : to
make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

And Zacharias said unto the angel ; Whereby shall I know
this f For I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in
years.

And the angel answered and said unto him ; I am Gabriel,
that stand in the presence of God, and am sent to speak unto
thee, and show thee these glad tidings. And, behold, thou shalt
be dumb, and not able to speak until the day that these things
shall be performed ; because thou believest not my words, which
shall be fulfilled in their season.

And the people waited for Zacharias and marvelled that he
tarried so long in the temple. And when he came out, he could
not speak unto them : and they perceived that he had seen a

AT LAUDS, OR MORNING SONG 297

vision in the temple ; for he beckoned unto them, and remained
speechless. And it came to pass that as soon as the days of
his ministration were accomplished, he departed to his own
house. . . .[i].

And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country
with haste, into a city of Judea : and entered into the house of
Zacharias, and saluted Elizabeth. And it came to pass when
Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her
womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost. . . . [2].

Now Elizabeth's full time came that she should be delivered :
and she brought forth a son. And her neighbours and her
cousins heard how the Lord had showed great mercy upon her,
and they rejoiced with her.

And it came to pass that on the eighth day they came to
circumcise the child and they called him Zacharias, after the
name of his father. And his mother answered and said, Not so :
but he shall be called John. And they said unto her, There is
none of thy kindred that is called by this name. And they made
signs to his father, how he would have him called. And he asked
for a writing tablet, and wrote, saying, His name is John. And
they marvelled all.

And his mouth was opened immediately and his tongue
loosed, and he spake and praised God. . . .[3].

And his father, Zacharias, was filled with the Holy Ghost
and prophesied, saying [4] ;

(1) Benedictus Dominus Blessed be the Lord God of
Deus Israel, quia visitdvit et Israel: for He hath visited and
fecit redemptionem plebis Suce : wrought the redemption of His

people :

(2) Et erexit cornu salutis And hath raised up a horn
nobis : in domo David pueri of salvation for us in the house
Sui. of His servant David.

It was the God of Israel, that is, of Jacob, who was the
heir of the promises made to Isaac and to Abraham : In
thy seed shall all nations of the earth be blessed [5], Whom
the holy man blessed. For it was the promised Redeemer

[i] Luke i. 5-23. [4] M*d- 67-

[2] Ibid. 39-41. [5] Gen. xxii. 1 8.

[3] Ibid. 57-64.

298 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

Who — although yet in Mary's womb — now visited him and
began the work of redemption by hallowing the unborn babe
that had gladdened his old age. It was the infusion of the
Holy Ghost that made Zacharias recognise his God in Mary's
child ; even as it was that same Divine impulse which caused
his wife, three months before, to greet her as the mother of my
Lord [i]. It was this Divine light, too, which made the old
man speak of the redemption of God's people as something not
future but already accomplished. A horn is taken as a symbol
of power, and the horn of salvation as the agent or author of
salvation. "A horn," says the author of the Myroure,
"groweth in the highest part of a beast, and yet is harder
than the flesh and softer than the bone ; and therewith the
beast defendeth himself against noxious things. So our Lord
Jesus Christ took His Body of the highest and worthiest part
of mankind, that is our Lady; and that Manhood of His is
mightier above all mankind and weaker than God, and there-
with not only He overcame His enemies, but they also that
cleave thereto in faith and devotion may thereby surely be
defended from all contrary power. And therefore our Lord
Jesus is a horn of health to us in the house of David who was
God's child, for though He was a great king and a prophet,
yet He was meek and obedient to God as a child to his
father" [2].

(3) Sicut locutus est per os As He spoke by the mouth

sanctorum, qui a sceculo stint of His saints who, since the
prophetdrum Ejus. world began, are His prophets.

From the very hour of the Fall, the promise of the
Redeemer was made : / will put enmity between thee and the
woman, between thy seed and her seed : she shall bruise thy head,
and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel [3], A long line of
prophets was sent to God's people, mostly in the hour of
affliction, to cheer them with the promise ; and their message
as the destined time drew near became more distinct and
precise. Listen to Jeremias : Behold the days come, saith the
Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a

[i] Luke i. 43. [2] pp. 131-2. [3] Gen. iii. 15.

AT LAUDS, OR MORNING SONG 299

King shall reign and prosper and shall execute judgment and
justice in the earth. And in His days Judea shall be saved and
Israel shall dwell safely : and this is the Name whereby He shall
be called: The Lord, our Righteousness [i]. The earlier pro-
phecies of Jacob had specified the tribe of Judah from whom
the Sceptre should go forth and the Law-giver [2]. Balaam
had seen Him in vision : A Star out of Jacob and a Sceptre
rising out of Israel [3]. Moses had announced Him as a
Teacher and Law-giver of Whom he was but a type [4]. To
David's line had the promise been confined : The Lord hath
sworn in truth unto David, He will not deceive ; of the fruit of
thy body will I set upon thy throne [5], and he had sung of His
Eternal Priesthood [6]. Isaias, the royal seer, foretold His
miraculous birth : Behold a Virgin shall conceive and bear a
Son, and shall call His name Emmanuel : God with us, and had
described Him as a man of sorrows and acquainted with
grief [7]. Michias had foretold His birthplace : But thou,
Bethlehem Ephrata, though thou be little among the thousands of
Judea, yet out of thee shall come forth unto me He that is to be
the Ruler in Israel ; Whose goings forth have been from of old
from everlasting [8]. Aggeus had proclaimed that the Desired
of all nations should come and make the second Temple more
glorious than the first [9] ; and Daniel, the man of desires, had
fixed the time by the prophecy of the seventy weeks [10].
Truly hath God at sundry times and in divers manners spoken
in times past unto the fathers by the prophets [u]. In this verse
is to be noted that there is but one mouth to all His prophets ;
for they all spoke by the Holy Ghost. The one word they
spoke was —

(4) Salutem ex inimicis nos- Salvation from our enemies

iris, et de manu omnium, qui and from the hand of all that
oderunt nos. hate us.

[i] Jer. xxiii. 5, 6. [7] vii. 14 ; liii. 3.

[2] Cf. Gen. xlix. 10. [8] v. 2.

[3] Numbers xxiv. 17. [9] ii. 7.

[4] Deut. xviii. 15. [10] Cf. ix. 25-27.

[5] Ps. cxxxi. ii. [u] Heb. i. i.

[6] Ps. cix. 5.

300 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

(5) Ad faciendam miseri- To perform the Mercy pro-

cordiam cum pdtribus nos- mised to our fathers, and to
tris : et memordri testamenti remember His holy covenant.
Sui sancti.

God loved us, the work of His hand : / have loved thee with
an everlasting love [i]. That is why He took pity on us in our
fall and promised us Redemption and pledged Himself over
and over again to perform the Mercy of restoring us, and to
remember His holy covenant that He should be our God and we
His people [2]. And to whom was this covenant made ? The
answer is in the next verses.

(6) Jusjurdndum, quod ju-
rdvit ad Abraham patrem
nostrum, daturum Se nobis :

(7) Ut sine timore de manu
inimicorum nostrorum libe-
rdti, servidmus Illi,

(8) In sanctitdte, et justitia
coram Ipso, omnibus diebus
nostris.

The oath which He sware to
Abraham our father, that He
would give Himself to us :

That being delivered out of
the hands of our enemies we
might serve Him,

In holiness and righteous-
ness before Him all our days.

The oath was to Abraham, our father, for he was the
Father of the Faithful [3]. It was conceived in these terms :
In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed [4] ; in
other words, that He should give Himself to us by becoming
our Emmanuel, that is, God with us [5]. Says one of His
prophets : God Himself shall come to save us [6] : and the
reason of His coming is in verses 7 and 8.

Holiness is inward ; righteousness or justice has an outward
signification. This correspondence of Body and Soul has to
be real before Him, and has to be the rule of our whole life ;
" not one day to begin well, another day to leave off ; but all
days while we live " [7]. These words remind us of the claim
of our vocation. We have bound ourselves to serve God all
the days of our life in holiness and righteousness before Him.

[i] Jer. xxxi. 3.
[2] Ibid. xxx. 22.
[3] Gen. xvii. 5.
[4] Gen. xxii. 18.

[5] Is. vii. 14.

[6] Isaias xxxiii. 22.

[7] Myroure, p. 133.

AT LAUDS, OR MORNING SONG 301

(9) Et tu puer, propheta And thou, child, shall be
Altissimi vocdberis : prceibis called the prophet of the Most
enim ante fdciem Domini High : for thou shalt go before
Pardre vias Ejus. the face of the Lord to prepare

His ways.

Turning his words now to his own son, the holy priest
extols the vocation in store for him. John was to be the
prophet and the foregoer, that is, he was to teach the people
that the Messias was come, and by his preachings and calls to
repentance, to prepare the way for the Lamb of God. The
thought of our vocation suggested in the last verse goes on
through all these following verses : Every one, in the measure
of God's appointment, is set to be a teacher of the things of
God, and to prepare His way, not only in one's own soul, but
in the souls of others. The great law of charity : Thou shalt
love thy neighbour as thyself [i] obliges us to this. But God
has many ways of dealing with His creatures. There is not
one hard, fast way ; for He has given us individuality, and we
stand each singly before Him, not as a class. Therefore, true
religion, while making us jealous for ourselves of the way in
which God is calling us, makes us respect and rejoice over the
many different ways in which He calls other souls. If we get
narrow-minded and exclusive and set up our own way as the
best (best it is for us), we may be sure there is something
wrong in ourselves. Now how we are to prepare the ways of
the Lord can be learnt from the rest of the Canticle.

(10) Ad dandam scientiam To give to His people know-
salutis plebi Ejus : in remis- ledge of salvation : for the
sionem peccatorum eorum : forgiveness of their sins.

(n) Per viscera misericor- Through the tender mercies

dice Dei nostri : in quibus of our God, in which the Day
visitdvit nos Oriens ex alto. Spring front on high hath

visited us.

The first step in preparing God's Way is to convince the
Reason ; for that, in its practical aspect, is Conscience. Men
must have a knowledge of the salvation prepared for them

[i] Matt. v. 43.

302 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

before they value it. Hence the necessity of a Catholic edu-
cation, and of an accurate understanding of the whys and
wherefores of our Faith. God demands that we should serve
Him with our reason, not by acting without reason. We
have to submit it to Him ; but not to annihilate it. This
knowledge of salvation must be directed to its proper end ; it
is for the forgiveness of their sins, that is, the reason once con-
vinced must strive after moving the will, in the perverseness
of which sin consists. The motive to be used in thus in-
fluencing the will to conform itself to the Divine Will is that
of the tender mercies of God which moved Him to become Man
for our salvation. Hence from Knowledge comes Love, the
mainspring of action. As the Spouse says : He hath set
charity in order within me [i]. And this motive of influencing
the will is in accord with the very nature of God Himself,
which is Love : God is Charity [2]. As Love is the motive of
all God's dealing with His creatures, so it must be ours in
relation to Him.

The Day Spring from on high hath visited us. This may
be taken either of our Lord Himself, Who is called in the
Apocalypse the bright and Morning Star [3] ; or of our ever dear
and blessed Lady, the Morning Star that heralds in the rising
Sun. She was probably present at the birth of John the
Baptist, and she had come a bringer of blessings untold ; for
the Saviour of the world had already begun, through her, His
work of Salvation.

(12) Illumindre his qui in To lighten them that sit in

tenebris et in umbra mortis darkness and in the shadow

sedent : ad dirigendos pedes of death : and to guide our feet

nostros in mam pads. into the way of peace.

The result of preparing the ways of the Lord is enlighten-
ment and guidance. One is the perfection of the reason by
the first four of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost ; the second is the
perfection of the will by the other three.

Sit in darkness ; a habitual state due to dimness of the full
light of reason, which in its turn is perfected by the more
perfect light of faith.

[i] Cant. ii. 4. [2] I John viii. 16. [3] xxii. 16.

AT LAUDS, OR MORNING SONG

303

To guide our feet ; not to force them, but by gentle per-
suasion to direct them.

The way of peace — that is, to the end that we may obtain
perfect peace, the peace of God which passeth all understand-
ing^'] ; that peace we pray the Lamb of God to grant us, and
which by His innermost mercy we shall obtain in the heavenly
Jerusalem, the City which is the beata pads visio — " the blest
vision of peace " [2].

GLORIA PATRI.

Glory be to the Father, the Lord God of Israel Who hath
been mindful of His promise. Glory to the Son, the Day
Spring on high Who hath visited us and wrought the redemp-
tion of His people : Glory to the Holy Ghost, the Light-
Giver Who spoke by the prophets, and works in us holiness
and righteousness.

VERSICLES AND COLLECT.

Kyrie eleison.
Christe eleison.
Kyrie eleison.

f. Domine exdudi oratio-
nem meam.

ty. Et clamor meus ad Te
veniat.
Oremus.

Deus, qui de bedtce Marice
Virginis utero Verbutn Tuum,
Angela nuntidnte, carnem sus-
cipere voluisti, prcesta suppli-
cibus Tuts, ut qui vere earn
Genitricem Dei credinms, ejus
apud Te intercessionibus adju-
vemur. Per eumdetn Christum
Dominum nostrum.
. Amen.

Lord have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Lord have mercy.
O Lord, hear my prayer.

And let my wy come unto
Thee.

Let us pray.

0 God Who hast willed by
the message of the angel that
Thy Wordshouldst take flesh in
the womb of the blessed Virgin
Mary, grant to Thy supplicants,
that we who believe her to be
verily the Mother of God may,
by her intercessions before Thee,
be helped. Through the same
Christ, our Lord.

£. Amen.

[i] Phil. iv. 7.

[2] Hymn Ccelestis Urbs Jerusalem.

304 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

The three-fold invocation to the blessed Trinity is called
the smaller Litany and, together with the Lord's Prayer,
formed in the early ages the conclusion of the Office. But in
course of time the sentiments contained in the Pater Noster were
developed into a prayer which more particularly harmonised
with the special application of the Office. This prayer is
called a Collect, that is, the prayer of the people collected in
public worship, or a prayer in which the priest collects into
one the petitions of all present. Most of the Collects in the
Missal (from which these in the Office are taken) are the
arrangements of St. Leo the Great (461), St. Gelasius (496),
and St. Gregory (604).

The words of the preceding Versicle : Domine exdudi
oratidnem meam, are from the first verse of Psalm ci., and
form a fitting introduction to the Collect. We say Oremus in
the plural, even when reciting the Office by ourselves ; for we
are saying the prayer in the name of the whole Church. We
thus follow our Lord's injunction : When ye pray, ye shall say,
Our Father [i]. In this Collect we give the Incarnation as the
basis of prayer and simply express our petition, that we, who
believe Mary to be the Mother of God may be helped by her
intercession. A few words, but how they sum up in direct
prayer the thoughts that have been ever rising in our mind
during Matins and Lauds ! If she be the Mother of God, and
all her graces flow from this privilege, her intercession must
be of the greatest value. Therefore, we ask our heavenly
Father to grant it may be availing. To which all present
say : " So be it."

THE COMMEMORATION OF THE SAINTS.

Ant. Sancti Dei omnes in- All ye saints of God vouch-

tercedere dignemini pro safe to intercede for our salva-

nostra omniumque sa- lion and for that of all.
lute.

y. Lcetdmini in D6mino Be joyful in the Lord and

et exsultdte justi. rejoice, 0 ye just.

[i] Matt. vi. 9.

AT LAUDS, OR MORNING SONG

305

J%. Et gloridmini omnes
recti corde.

Oremus.

Protege Ddmine pdpulum
Tuum, et Apostolorum Tuorum
Petri et Pauli et aliorum
Apostolorum patrocinio confi-
dentem, perpetua defensione
conserva.

Omnes Sancti Tui, qucesu-
mus Ddmine, nos ubique ddju-
vent: ut dum edrum merita
recolimus, patrocinia sentid-
mus : et pacem Tuam nostris
concede temporibus ; et ab
Ecclesia Tua cunctam repelle
nequitiam : Her, actus et vol-
untdtes nostras, et omnium
famulorum Tuorum, in salutis
Tuce prosperitdte dispdne : be~
nefactdribus nostris sempiterna
bona retribue : et omnibus
fidelibus defunctis requiem
ceternam concede. Per Domi-
num nostrum Jesum Christum
Filium Tuum : Qui Tecum
vivit et regnat in unitdte
Spiritus sancti Deus : per
omnia scecula sceculorum.

1^. Amen.

y. Domine exdudi oratid-
nem meam.

T%. Et clamor metis ad Te
veniat.

y. Benedicdmus Domino.

~Rf. Deo grdtias.

y. Fidelium dnimce per
misericordiam Dei requiescat
in pace.

T3f. Amen.
20

And be ye glorified all ye
righteous in heart.

Let us pray.

Protect, 0 Lord, Thy people,
and guard with perpetual
defence those who trust in the
patronage of Thine Apostles
Peter and Paul, and the other
Apostles.

May all Thy saints, we
beseech Thee, 0 Lord, help us
everywhere : and while we
venerate their merits let us ex-
perience their patronage : and
grant peace in our times,
and ward off from Thy Church
all iniquity : dispose our life,
our deeds, our will, and those
of all Thy servants, in the pros-
perity of Thy salvation : give
to our benefactors the good
things everlasting : and to all
the faithful dead grant rest
eternal. Through Thy Son,
our Lord, Jesus Christ, Who
with Thee in the unity of the
Holy Ghost, liveth and reigneth,
God, throughout all ages of
ages.

Amen.

0 Lord, hear my prayer.

And let my cry come unto
Thee.

Let us bless the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

May the souls of the faithful
through the mercy of God rest
in peace.

Amen.

306 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

Then is said one of the anthems of the Blessed Virgin, according
to the season and, at the end : —

y. Divinum auxilium md- May the Divine help remain

neat semper nobiscum. with us alway.

ty. Amen. Amen.

But if another hour be recited immediately after the Pater
nosier, the y. Dominus del nobis, the Anthem, &c., are only said
at the end of the last Hour.

The origin of the commemoration is interesting. As we
have already pointed out the first addition to the Divine Office
was a Little Office of All Saints, consisting of Lauds and
Vespers. But when, at a later date, the Cursus of our Lady
took the place of the various Little Offices in use, a remem-
brance of them, in the shape of commemorations with Versicle
and Prayer, was introduced. These varied in different places.
For instance, in a Benedictine Cursus beatce Marice, belonging
to the Monastery of Scholoyi (1513), we find after the
Antiphon of All Saints, Sancti Dei omnes, prayers of SS. Peter
and Paul, St. Benedict, and then of All Saints, Omnes Sancti
tui. In the Dominican use (1529), the commemorations are
of the Saints and of Peace : Da pacem. In the Cursus beatce
Virginis of the Breviary for the Church of St. Donatus, Bruges
(1520), we find, besides that of All Saints, one of the Holy Ghost,
together with one of St. Basil, the local patron. In the old
English Use of Sarum (the Primer) about (1420-30), the com-
memorations or "memorials" are (i) of the Holy Ghost;
(2) of the Blessed Trinity ; (3) of All Saints ; (4) of Peace :
and to the various hours were joined as an additional cursus,
commemorations of the Passion. This accounts for the
various additional offices formerly in use, with the exception
of that for the Dead. In the revised Cursus used to-day we
can find in the commemoration of All Saints and its accom-
panying prayers traces of all the other little Offices in general
use. First, there is the Antiphon with Versicle and Response ;
then the prayer which recalls the Little Office of the Apostles.
This is followed by a long prayer made up of many ideas
blended into one : (i) That of All Saints corresponding to the
Antiphon ; (2) then the prayer for Peace ; (3) then the prayer
for the Dead ; (4) then the general prayer to the Blessed

AT LAUDS, OR MORNING SONG 307

Trinity. Between the prayer for Peace and that for the Dead
are inserted two other petitions, the idea of the first seem-
ingly taken from the two prayers at Prime in the Divine
Office, and the other a prayer for benefactors. Upon what
principle these two last came to be added we cannot tell,
except that the composite prayer, Ontnes sancti tut, having a
ring of a supplication for all estates of the Church, these two
were added for the sake of completeness [i].

In this prayer we have all God's Church united, the Church
in heaven, in purgatory and on earth. And thus united we
place ourselves under the protection of the Queen of All
Saints, of the Mother of the whole Church, and then approach
the Throne of grace.

The concluding Versicles, which are used at most of the
hours, call for but little comment. The invitation to Bless the
Lord reminds us that, though we conclude our official act of
blessing God, we are not to cease in our private capacity from
continuing to praise God by a life of union with Him.
" Thus," says the author of the Myroure, "ye began your
Matins with prayer and ye end them with thanksgiving. For
like as at the beginning of any good deed, we ought to know
our own weakness and therefore pray for help ; rightly so
at the end, if aught be good, we ought to offer it up to Him
with thanksgiving for His part and humble ourselves for our
part. And take heed that ye say not : We bless God, or We
thank God ; but ye say Bless we, and Thank we, stirring
yourself to bless Him and thank Him more and more. For
ye can never bless Him nor thank Him as much as He is
worthy ; and therefore you end in desiring to bless Him and
thank Him ever more and more " [2].

The aspiration for the Faithful departed is a touching proof
of the Church's care and love for her members who are in
Purgatory. At the end of every hour she thus prays for
them. It may serve to remind us, too, of our own death and
of the need we shall be in one day of these same prayers. It

[l] The idea of the prayer for benefactors would likely be taken from the
monastic additional prayers, the preces familiares mentioned on a former page.
[2] pp. 136-7.

308

THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

will therefore stir us up to say it with fervour. The conclud-
ing Pater nosier is evidently taken from the Holy Rule of St.
Benedict who orders his monks to end their hours with this
Divine prayer.

The Anthems of our Lady will be treated of at the end of
the Compline.

After our visit to the Heavenly Court and having conversed
face to face with God we should come down from the Mount
of God with deep peace in our soul, a peace the world can
neither give nor take away. The Versicle, May the Lord grant
us His peace, is an echo of the last verse of the Benedictus.
St. Paul's words should be in our minds when we say this :
And the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall
keep your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ [ i ] .

During two seasons of the year — Advent and Christmas-
tide — certain variations are made in the Office on account of
the special relation of our Lady to these two periods. We
will now note them.

In Advent.

THE ANTIPHONS.

(1) Missus est Gabriel An-
gelus ad Mariam Virginem
desponsdtam Joseph.

(2) Ave Maria, gratia
plena : Dominus tecum : Bene-
dictatu inmulieribus. Alleluia.

(3) Ne timeas Maria, in-
venisti grdtiam apud Domi-
num : ecce concipies, et paries
F ilium. Alleluia.

(4) Dabit Ei Dominus sedem
David patris Ejits, et regndbit
in ceternum.

(5) Ecce ancilla Domini,
fiat mihi secundum Verbum
Tuum.

The angel Gabriel was sent
to Mary, a virgin espoused to
Joseph.

Hail Mary, full of grace !
the Lord is with thee : blessed
art thou amongst women.
Alleluia.

Fear not, 0 Mary, thou hast
found grace before the Lord !
Behold thou shall conceive and
bear a Son. Alleluia.

The Lord shall give Him the
seat of David His father, and
He shall reign for ever.

Behold the handmaiden of
the Lord : be it done to me
according to Thy Word.

[i] Phil. iv. 7.

AT LAUDS, OR MORNING SONG

LITTLE CHAPTER [l].

309

Egredietur virga de radice
Jesse, et flos de radice ejus
ascendet. Et requiescet super
Eum spiritus Domini.

There shall come forth a rod
out of the stem of Jesse, and a
Flower shall grow up from his
root. And the Spirit of the
Lord shall rest upon Him.

AT THE BENEDICTUS.

Spiritus sanctus in te des-
cendet, Maria : ne Umeas,
habebis in utero Filium Dei.
Alleluia.

The Holy Ghost shall come
down upon Thee, 0 Mary ;
thou shall have in thy womb
the Son of God. Alleluia.

THE COMMEMORATION OF SAINTS.

Ecce Dominus veniet et
omnes Sancti Ejus cum Eo :
et erit in die ilia lux magna.
Alleluia.

y. Ecce appartbit Dominus
super nubem cdndidam.

ty. Et cum Eo Sanctorum
millia.

Oremus.

Conscientias nostras, qu&su-
mus Domine, visitdndo puri-
fica : ut veniens Jesus Christus,
Filius Tuus, Dominus nosier,
cum omnibus Sanctis, pard-
tam Sibi in nobis inveniat
mansionem : Qui tecum vivit et
regnat in imitate Spiritus
sancti Deus : peromnia scecula
sceculdrum. Amen.

Lo, the Lord shall come
and with Him all His saints :
and in that day there shall be
a great light.

Behold the Lord shall appear
upon a shining cloud.

And with Him thousands of
saints.

Let us pray.

We beseech Thee, 0 Lordf
by visiting purify our con-
sciences, that Jesus Christ, Thy
Son, our Lord, coming with
all the saints, may find in us
a dwelling-place prepared for
Him : Who with Thee in the
Unity of the Holy Ghost, liveth
and reigneth God, throughout
ages of ages. Amen.

[i] Is. xi. i, 2.

3io THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

The series of Antiphons are, as can be seen, taken from
St. Luke's account of the Annunciation. Bearing this in
mind, the Church would have us dwell on the sentiments of
our ever dear and blessed Lady during the nine months she
was preparing for the Birth of our Lord. In this spirit we
should praise God in the Psalms for the wonders of grace He
wrought in her soul at that period. The Antiphons are taken
from the Office for the Feast of the Expectation of our
Lady, which we mentioned as being made up of that earliest
of Western offices of our Lady, written by St. Idelphonsus,
bishop of Toledo. On the Little Chapter the author of the
Myroure remarks : " Jesse was the father of King David, of
whose lineage came our Lady, and therefore she is called the
rod that came out of that root, Jesse. And out of her sprung
a Flower, that is, our Lord Jesus Christ, upon Whom rested in
most excellence the Seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost " [i].

The Antiphon at the Benedictus is taken from the first
Vesper of the same feast and completes the Gospel narrative.
The Commemoration of the Saints strikes another thought
suitable to Advent. We are to prepare ourselves, as each
year comes round, for the Coming of our Lord by mystical
birth at Christmas ; but this is only as a preparation for His
second Coming in the clouds and great majesty on the
Day of Doom. This final Coming of the Judge is the thought
which runs through the Commemoration. In the prayer
that follows we may take consciences in two senses, or rather
in two views, of the same thing, viz., our Reason to be
purified so that we may know and therefore act ; or our Soul
to be purified from the stains with which we have polluted
it by acting against our reason or conscience. We may also
notice that we pray our Lord may find in us a mansion pre-
pared for Him, that is by union with Him, we, at the Judg-
ment may hear from His lips the blissful sentence : Come to
the kingdom prepared for you. As we treat Him here so will
He treat us there : With what measure ye mete, so shall it be
meted unto you [2].

[i] p. 147. [2] Matt. vii. 2.

AT LAUDS, OR MORNING SONG

At Christmastide.

THE ANTIPHONS.

(1) 0 admirdbile commer-
cium: Creator generis humdni,
animdtum corpus sumens, de
Virgine nasci digndtus est : et

procedens sine semine, largitus
est nobis Suam deitdtem.

(2) Quando natus es ineffa-
biliterex Virgine, tune impletce
sunt Scriptures: sicut pluvia
in vellus descendisti, ut salvum
fdceres genus humdnum : Te
lauddmus Deus noster.

(3) Rubum quern viderat
Moyses incombustum, conservd-
tam agnovimus tuam lauddbi-
lent virginitdtem : Dei Geni-
trix, intercede pro nobis.

(4) Germindvit radix Jesse :
orta est stella ex Jacob : Virgo
peperit Salvattirem : Te laudd-
mus Deus noster.

(5) Ecce Maria genuit nobis
Salvatorem ; quern Joannes
videns exclamdvit, dicens :
Ecce Agnus Dei, ecce qui tollit
peccdta mundi. Alleluia.

O wondrous intercourse I
The Maker of the human race,
taking a living body from the
Virgin, didst deign to be born :
and going forth as Man, with-
out a father, didst bestow on
us His Godhead.

When of the Virgin Thou
was born after a manner un-
speakable, then were fulfilled
the Scriptures: like the dew
on the fleece Thou didst come
down to save the Human Race :
We praise Thee, 0 our God.

As the bush which Moses saw
unconsumed, we acknowledge
thy glorious Virginity to have
been preserved : O Mother of
God, intercede for us.

The stem of Jesse has

budded : the Star has risen

from Jacob : the Virgin hath

brought forth the Saviour.

We praise Thee, 0 our God.

Lo, Mary hath borne for us
the Saviour Whom when John
saw he cried out, saying :
Behold the Lamb of God,
behold Him Who bears the
sins of the world. Alleluia.

LITTLE CHAPTER.

Viderunt earn filice Sion, et
beatissimam prcedicaverunt :
et regince laudaverunt earn.

The daughters of Sion have
seen her and have called her
most blessed : the queens, and
they praised her.

312 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

AT THE BENEDICTUS.

Mirdbile mysterium declard-
tur hddie : innovdntur natures,
Dens homo factus est : id quod
fuit permdnsit, et quod non
erat assumpsit : non commixtio-
nem passus, neque divisionem.

A marvellous mystery is
declared to-day : natures are
newly set : God was made
man : that which He was He
remained : and that which
He was not He has assumed,
having undergone neither min-
gling nor division.

COLLECT.

Deus, qui salutis ccternce, be-
dice Marice virginitdtefecunda,
humdno generi prcemia prcesti-
tisti: tribue qucesumus, ut
ipsam pro nobis interctdere
sentidmus, perquam meruimus
Auctorem mice suscipere, D6-
minum nostrum Jesum Chris-
tum, F ilium tuum. Amen.

0 God, Who by the fruitful
maidenhood of blessed Mary
hath proffered rewards to the
human race, grant, we be-
seech Thee, that we may ex-
perience the intercession on
our behalf of her through
whom we merited to receive the
Author of Life, our Lord Jesus
Christ, Thy Son. Amen.

These Antiphons are taken from the Church's Office for the
Feast of the Circumcision. Occupied as she is on Christmas
Day with the Birth of the Son, the Church instituted, on the
octave day, a special commemoration of the Mother. As the
cycle of the feasts of the year developed, the Feast of the
Circumcision arose and with it was blended the older office
celebrated on this day. The Office of joy and admiration
at Mary's Maternity has been fittingly chosen for this holy
season.

In the first Antiphon the last words remind us of the
saying of one of the doctors of the Church : God became
Man that man might become God, meaning thereby that
sharing of the Divine Nature by grace of which St. Peter
speaks : Jesus our Lord, according as His divine power hath
given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness
. . . that by these ye might be made partakers of the Divine

AT LAUDS, OR MORNING SONG 313

Nature [i] ; and St. Paul : For we were made partakers with
Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto
the end [2] ; or again ; In that we might be partakers of His
holiness [3] ; or once more : The Spirit Himself beareth witness
with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children His
heirs ; heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ [4].

The second Antiphon contemplates the mystery of the
Mother-maiden. As the dew fell on Gideon's fleece, but left
the earth round about all dry, so the operation of the over-
shadowing Holy Ghost made Mary to be a Mother without
ceasing to be a Maid. And as silently as falls the dew was
the mystery wrought : Whilst all things were in deep silence
and the night was in the midst of her course, Thine almighty
Word, 0 Lord, leaped down from His royal seat [5].

This miracle extorts from us the cry as we contemplate it :
We praise Thee, 0 our God. The same thought is amplified
in the third Antiphon. As the burning bush was on fire and
not consumed, so Mary's maidenhood was fruitful and not
lost. And it was her purity and her grace that kept her
unconsumed in that intimate union with her Maker ; for what
Creature, unless specially supported by God, can be so near
without failing ; according to that word of the Prophet : Who
can dwell with everlasting burnings f [6] the everlasting burn-
ings of the holiness of the Godhead.

The root of Jesse, David's father, and the Star Balaam saw
in vision from Mount Peor [7], are celebrated in the next
Antiphon, and find their antitype in the Saviour born of the
Virgin. And again our praise bursts forth at the thought.
But Mary's Child is also the Lamb for the Sacrifice ; and the
Precursor points Him out as such : Behold the Lamb of God
Who bears the sins of the world [8]. The shadow of Calvary
thus falls across the Manger, and in the Babe we see Him of
Whom it was written : Surely He hath borne our griefs and
carried our infirmities, for the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity

[i] 2 Pet. i. 3, 4. [5] Wisdom xviii. 15.

[2] Heb. iii. 14. [6] Is. xxxiii. 14.

[3] Ibid. xii. 10. [7] Num. xxiv. 17.

[4] Rom. viii. 16, 17. [8] John i. 29.

3H THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

of us all [i]. This fifth Antiphon gives a special meaning to
the Psalms of praise that follow.

The Little Chapter has already been commented on ; but
here we may take the words of God's servants on earth and
the blessed in heaven contemplating the blissful Mother in
adoration before her newborn Son ; for Jesus Christ the same
yesterday, to-day, and for ever [2], is always to His Mother the
Babe of Bethlehem, as well as the Boy of Nazareth, the Man
of Galilee, and the Victim of Calvary.

The Antiphon at the Benedictus is full of great thoughts.
The Incarnation which it celebrates is a mystery which leads
us into the very centre of the Godhead. The Second Person
of the Adorable Trinity, distinct from Father and Son, has
from all eternity the Nature of God. What He was He
remained when He became Man, that is, always God. What
He had not, that is, having a human Nature, He at that
moment assumed. In other words, He was God from all
eternity, and Man from the date of His Incarnation. There
was no mingling of the two Natures, each remained distinct ;
but they were united by the One divine Person Who made
them both His very Own. This is the mystery of the Incarna-
tion. We know what was done ; but for the rest we can only
worship in silent love.

In the Collect our Lord is called the Author of Life,
according to the words of St. Peter : But Jesus, the Author
of Life, ye have slain [3]. He is also called, with the same
meaning, the Author of Eternal Salvation [4], and the Author
and Finisher of our Faith [5]. In Him Who says of Himself,
I am the Life [6], the Apostle tells us was life and the life
was light [7]. It is that supernatural life of grace which
He shares with us, and which, beginning in Baptism, and
destined to go on for all eternity, we, in this Collect, put
specially under the patronage of our Lady.

[i] Is. liii. 4. [5] Ibid. xii. 2.

[2] Heb. xiii. 8. [6] John xi. 25.

[3] Acts iii. 15. [7] Ibid. i. 4-
[4] Heb. v. .

CHAPTER IV.

AT PRIME I THE FIRST HOUR.

AVE MARIA AND INTRODUCTORY VERSICLES AS BEFORE.

Hymn.

Remember, 0 Creator Lord,
That in the Virgin's sacred

womb
Thou wast conceived, and of

her flesh
Didst our mortality assume.

Memento rerum Conditor,
Nostri quod olim corporis,

Sacrdta ab alvo Virginis

Nascendo, formam sumpseris.
Maria Mater grdtice,

Dulcis parens dementia,
Tu nos ab hoste, protege,

Et mortis hora suscipe.

Jesu, Tibi sit gloria,
Qui natus es de Virgine,
Cum Patre, et almo Spiritu,
In sempiterna scecula.

Amen.

Mother of grace ! 0 Mary

blest!
To thee, sweet fount of love, we

fly;

Shield us through life and take

us home
To thy dear bosom when we die.

0 Jesus, born of Virgin bright,
Immortal glory be to Thee ,'
Praise to the Father Infinite,
And Holy Ghost eternally.

Amen.

The Hymn, a continuation of the preceding, is so direct
and simple that it needs but little comment. It is used at all
the Little Hours and at Compline as well. The second verse
is the same idea as the latter part of the " Hail Mary " ; and,
repeated so many times in the day, it will serve to remind us
that the enemy is always persevering, death is always at hand ;

316 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

but, as surely, Mary, the Mother of Grace, is always nigh to
her children.

THE ANTIPHON.

This is taken from the first Antiphon at Lauds and varies
according to the season. For its explanation see under
Lauds.

PSALM LIII.

Title. — (i) Unto the end, in verses, understanding for David.
(2) When the men of Ziph had come and said to Saul : Is not
David hidden with us? [i].

Tomasi : That Christ, ascending the heavens, looked upon
His enemies with adverse face. The voice of one praying to
Christ. The voice of Christ praying to His Father in every
trouble. The Prophet concerning him who suffers persecu-
tions for the name of the Lord.

Venerable Bede : David, when beset with trouble, but
unexpectedly set free, understood what should happen to the
Church of Christ, whereof he himself was a member. The
occasion of the Psalm was when the Ziphites came to Saul in
Gibeah, saying : Doth not David hide himself with us in the
strongholds in the wood, in the hill of Hachilah, which is on
the south of Jeshimon f The Prophet, freed from the perils
of Saul, thanks the Lord, throughout the Psalm, that the
treason of the Ziphites had not been able to hurt him.

(i) Deus in Nomine Tuo Save me, 0 God, for Thy

salvum me fac : et in virtute Name's sake : and in Thy
Tua judica me. strength judge Thou me.

That Name — the Name of Jesus Who shall save His people
from their sins [2].

Judge me when Thou, Who earnest before in poverty,
comest again in majesty to the Doom, and burning up the
chaff, bring me as wheat into Thy garner. Thus St. Augustine.

[i] I Kings xxiii. 19. St. Augustine commenting on this title says: Saul, the
persecutor of David, is a type of Satan ; David, hiding in the village of Ziph, is a
type of Christ. The Ziphites, who betrayed him, and whose name signifies "men
flourishing," signify the false friends of Christ and His cause.

[2] Matt. i. 21.

AT PRIME: THE FIRST HOUR 317

In Thy strength. Of all strength love is the strongest :
Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown
it [i]. And what is that strength ? asked Hugh of St. Victor.
It is nothing else but the weakness of the Gospel, where defeat
is victory, where shame is glory, where reprobation is crown-
ing, where death is life. Again, in Thy strength, that is, the
Holy Ghost, Who is the strength of the Most High and Who
rules us by the Law of Liberty, thus giving us strength over
the enemies who seek to enslave us. St. Bruno points out
that, taking the whole Psalm of our Lord Himself, we may
see here His prayer for His Resurrection ; and the clear
warning to the Jews of their peril. And that for Thy Name's
sake, for, I seek not Mine Own glory [2].

(2) Deus exdudi orationem 0 God, hear my prayer : and
meam : duribus percipe verba hearken unto the words of my
oris mei. mouth.

(3) Quoniam alieni insur- For strangers have risen up
rexerunt advtrsum me, et against me, and tyrants have
fortes qucesierunt dnimam sought my life : and they have
meam : et non proposuerunt not set God before their eyes.
Deum ante conspectum suum.

It is well said, remarks the Carthusian, Hear my prayer,
and then hearken. Hear, the weaker word ; but hearken,
that is to say, according to the exact words, perceive with the
ears, or, in other words, hear, in the sense of listening to, so
as to grant the words of my mouth. My Mouth, indeed, my
Mediator, my Advocate, hearken unto the words of the Word ;
to the words of Him, the true Aaron of Whom Thou hast
said : Is not Aaron thy Brother? I know that He can speak well [3].

For strangers. The Ziphites were of David's own kinsmen
and dependants ; and yet they sought to betray him ; even as
the Jews did to our Lord, their King, giving Him over to
Pilate and Herod. In the mystical sense, Strangers ; my own
rebellious will and passion, have risen up against me, as in
a civil war in domestic rebellion. And tyrants, as being all
the servants of that one tyrant ; the tyrant in opposition to the

[i] Cant. viii. 7. [2] John viii. 50. [3] Exod. iv. 14.

318 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

King ; the rebellious chief of Babylon in contradistinction to
the peaceful monarch in Jerusalem. Thus St. Bruno of Aste,
and St. Bonaventure.

(4) Ecce enim Deus ddjuvat Behold, for God is my helper:
me: et Dominus susceptor est and the Lord is the upholder
dnimce niece, of my soul.

How shall we take this ? With St. Gregory the Great, of
the Synagogue looking and longing for the Messias ? or of our
Lord Himself relying on the love of the Father, as with that
thought of the twelve legions of Angels [i] ; as with that
declaration : / know Thou hearest Me always [2] ? Or lastly,
shall we take it of the Church, knowing that as the Father was
the Helper of Christ, so that Father and that Christ will be her
aid and, against whatever enemies, will uphold her soul ?

(5) Averte mala inimicis Turn back evil on mine
meis : et in veritdte Tua dis- enemies : and in Thy truth
perde illos. scatter them.

Mine enemies, the devils, are confirmed in wickedness ;
and the evil they plan against God's servants recoil upon
themselves.

In Thy truth. Our sole hope of victory lies in the promise
of grace when we call upon God. Relying on this promise we
resist the devil, and he flees from us [3] ; and we find in the
hour of temptation that the Divine Word is ever faithful : The
God of all grace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly [4].

(6) Voluntdrie sacnftcdbo Right willingly will I sacri-
Tibi et confitebor Nomini Tuo, fice to Thee, and praise Thy
Domine / quoniam bonum est. Name, O Lord ! because it is

good.

These words refer to the freewill offering of Christ Himself
upon the Cross ; and to that which is continually being
presented by Him, our Great High Priest, in the Adorable
Sacrifice of the Mass. Again, this verse, coming as it does
in the Morning Office, reminds us of the Mass we are so soon

[i] Matt. xxvi. 53. [3] James iv. 7.

[2] John xi. 42. [4] Rom. xvi. 20.

AT PRIME: THE FIRST HOUR 319

to assist at. We must join willingly in that Sacrifice if we
would profit by it. For it is good. What ? The Name of
the Lord, or that which we are going to offer ? In the latter
sense our offering is indeed good; for it is nothing else but the
Body and Blood of the God-Man, a better gift than which
cannot be found. It is simply good. The verse also reminds
us of our own freewill consecration to God when we made, to
the praise of His Name, the sacrifice of our persons, our
wealth, and our wills in the clean oblation of religion. And
how good it is ! For day by day our Vocation grows dearer
as we grow more and more in intimacy with the Spouse of our
soul ; and we taste and see how good He is. The Sacrifice
we made to follow His Call is so small beside the gain, that
we should do it over and over again, counting all things loss if
we can gain Christ [i],

(7) Quoniam ex omni tribu- For Thou hast delivered me

latione eripuisti me : et super out of all trouble : and mine

inimicos meos despexit oculus eyes hath looked down upon all

meus. mine enemies.

Says the Carthusian : Let us in conclusion hear our Lord
speak in His Own Person : Thou hast delivered Me, indeed, from
the false witnesses that agree not together ; Thou hast delivered
Me from Annas, from Caiaphas, from Herod, from Pontius
Pilate ; Thou hast delivered Me from the Scourging, from the
Crowning, the Shame, and from the Crucifixion. But we
must mark the deliverance came not as man could wish or
imagine, but by that higher way which is the work of God's
right hand.

Mine eye hath looked down upon mine enemies, gazing at
them calmly and undismayed ; as a conqueror, says Bellar-
mine, surveys the bodies of his enemies on the battle-field, or
a king from his throne looks on the captives brought to his
feet. And in this latter sense the word suggests the crowning
glory of the Ascension : Thou hast led captivity captive [2],

[i] Phil. iii. 7- [2] Eph. iv. 8.

320 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

GLORIA PATRI.

Glory to the Father Who is our Helper ; and to the Son
for Whose Name's sake we are saved ; and to the Holy Ghost
in Whose strength we are judged.

PSALM LXXXIV. [i]
Title. — Unto the end, for the Sons of Core.

Argument.

Tomasi : That Christ vouchsafed to show us His mercy by
coming in the flesh. The voice of the Prophet to the Son.
The Apostolic voice to the New People, redeemed by the
Lord.

Venerable Bede : This Psalm, about to speak of the Lord's
first Coming, is suited to the persons of them who have
believed in Him with sincere minds. In the first part the
Prophet gives thanks to the Lord, because from the old time of
the Jewish nation the people have come to the worship of the
Lord. The second treats of God's merciful dealings with His
people, and looks for the Coming of Christ. In the third he
turns to himself and foretells the Incarnation.

(i) Benedixisti Domine ter- Thou hast blessed, 0 Lord,

ram Tuam : avertisti captivi- Thy land : Thou hast turned
tdtem Jacob. away the captivity of Jacob.

The Son of God hath healed all things, filling the earth
with blessings through the fertilising stream of His precious
Blood. The Lord hath blessed the land, that is, says St. Bruno,
the whole of mankind, by taking earth to Himself and making
of it His Holy Flesh ; and, as our English mystic, Richard
Rolle, says, He has especially blessed one part of it, that garden
enclosed, His Own most blessed Maiden-mother, who brought
forth the Fruit of Salvation. Cardinal Hugo remarks : He
blesses every faithful soul which yields itself to His care ; for
the earth which drinketh in the rain that conieth oft upon it, and
bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth

[i] This is one of the Psalms used as a preparation for Mass.

AT PRIME: THE FIRST HOUR 321

blessing from God [i]. That captivity is the bondage of
Original Sin, whereby men lay fettered in the chains
of the devil ; but now, saith the Lord of Hosts, He shall
let go My captives but not for price or reward [2] ; for Christ
hath turned away the captivity. But, as St. Augustine says,
not, however, of all, but only of Jacob ; that is, of the younger
people of all who by faith descend from Abraham ; of all who,
like Jacob, do not remain in slumber, but rise up and wrestle
against their sins. How specially true this is of the Immacu-
late Conception of our Lady, in which mystery the captivity
of Original Sin is turned away, is too clear to need further
comment.

(2) Remisisti iniquitdtem Thou hast forgiven the
plebis Tuce : operuisti omnia iniquity of Thy people : Thou
peccdta eorum. hast covered all their sins.

This, says St. Augustine, is the true explanation of the
previous verse. It teaches us that Sin is the hardest of all
captivity, and that God's Law is the most perfect of all
freedom. Cassiodorus observes that the word forgiven denotes
the bounty of God's grace. He is not spoken of as accepting
payment of our debts, but as remitting it freely.

And covered all their sins by plunging them beneath the
waters of Baptism and Penance. He does not merely cover
them, leaving them still there, He takes them away altogether,
as fire covers the blackness of coal when it has once made its
way into the substance of the coal, and destroys it in the very
act of so doing. So the fire which the Lord came to send
upon the earth takes away that sin which causes it to be said
of sinners : Their visage is blacker than the coal [3], Thus
Albert the Great. This, then, is His tender love, that Charity
which covereth a multitude of sins [4]. Lorin takes the for-
giveness as applying to Mortal, and the covering as referring
to Venial, offences.

(3) Mitigdsti omnem iram Thou hast taken away all
Tuam : avertisti ab ira indig- Thy displeasure : Thou hast
nationis Tuce. turned away from the anger

of Thy wrath.

[i] Heb. vi. 7. [3] Lam. iv. 8.

[2] Is. xlv. 13. [4] I Peter iv. 8.

21

322 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

Mitigated. Haymo says : God in this life punishes us for
our sin, but gently, and not beyond our endurance ; and that
He does not give us everything here, so that we may have
somewhat better to look for hereafter. And whereas it is said
all Thy displeasure, we are to understand on the one hand
God's wrath against both original and actual sin, and on the
other His temporal and eternal punishments, on account of
the infinite value of the Divine Victim of propitiation, so no
penalty will remain in such who make full use of the salvation
He offers to all. For, says the Carmelite, He stands before
His Father as our High Priest, and pleads on our behalf
with an intercession which must prevail, as He says by His
Prophet : Remember that I stood before Thee to speak good for
them, and to turn away Thy wrath from them [i]. Albert the
Great points out that in these three verses we have six blessings
of God set forth in as many words : Thou hast blessed Thy
land, Lord Jesus, by Thy birth ; Thou hast turned away the
captivity by Thy preaching ; Thou hast forgiven our offence
by Thy dying ; Thou hast covered all our sins by Thy resurrec-
tion ; Thou hast taken away Thy displeasure by sending the
Holy Ghost ; Thou hast turned away our sins by leading us to
heaven and averting the terrors of the Doom.

(4) ConvMe nos Dens Turn us, 0 God, our Saviour ;

salutdris noster : et averte and turn away Thine anger
iram Tuam a nobis. from us.

These words are used at the beginning of Compline.
Cassiodorus understands the Prophet, after giving God thanks
for the promised Incarnation, to look forward and see the
Rejection and Crucifixion ; and so he here prays that these
new sins also may be pardoned.

Turn us, too, says St. Bruno, who have so ill-requited Thy
bounty, turn us from captivity to freedom, from cursing to
blessing, from sinfulness to forgiveness.

Turn away Thine anger from us. How is it that the weight
of God's wrath is kept from falling on the sinful world ? It is
the power of the Mass which stays His hand. It is also those

[i] Jer. xviii. 20.

AT PRIME: THE FIRST HOUR 323

hidden lives of sacrifice, of penance, of prayer, which, unknown
to the world, are passed in the cloister, and, through the merits
of the Reedemer, go far to appease the anger of the Lord.

(5) Numquid in ceternum Wilt Thou be angry with
irasceris nobisf aut extendes us for ever? And wilt Thou
iram Tuam a generations in stretch out Thy wrath from
generationem f one generation to another ?

Not for ever, says St. Augustine, as God's displeasure means
the punishment He inflicts upon us here below for our sins.
He made us therefore in Adam, mortal and capable of suffer-
ing, but renews us in Christ, giving us a share in His im-
mortality and impassibility. He has thus shown that His
displeasure will pass away according to that saying : For as in
Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive [i],

From one generation to another. We may feel a doubt as to
His entire good-will towards us and fear lest He should visit
the sin of the fathers upon the children ; but we have His
word spoken by His Prophet : The son shall not bear the iniquity
of his father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the
son [2]. From this we learn that the guilt of sin is always
personal to him who commits it ; and that what we often
regard as the punishments of sin are not so in fact. They are
but God's way of working out the good He has in view.
Again, we may take the two generations to refer to the two
great dates in man's spiritual history ; from Adam to Christ,
and from Christ to Doom ; the generation of the Law, and the
generation of the Gospel. We therefore beseech God not to
be angry with us as He was with the former generation, because
we, though liable to fall into sin, desire to wash away its stains
by the sacraments of reconciliation.

(6) Deus Tu conversus vivi- Thou, 0 God, being turned,
ficdbis nos : et plebs Tua wilt quicken us : and Thy
Icetdbitur in Te. people shall rejoice in Thee.

Says the Carmelite : When a man is turned from us we
see not his face, and cannot recognise him surely ; but when

[l] I Cor. xv. 22. [2] Ezek. xviii. 20.

324 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

he turns round and shows it, then we know him at once. So
before the Incarnation God was, as it were, turned away from
men : For no man hath seen God at any time [i] ; but He
turned His face towards us in that Mystery which is the cause
of our justification, whereby we are quickened. Thus when
St. Peter fell he continued in his denial till the Lord turned
and looked on him [2], and that one look quickened the
hardened heart and brought a flood of penitential tears from
the Rock. And thus, too, does He deal with all other sinners
who do not keep their faces obstinately averted from Him ; so
that, as St. Bruno says, they rejoice at last in Him, no longer
in the world and in their sins. He does not confine His mercy
to this. But He will turn again and show us Himself in glory
at the Last Day, and quicken us in the Resurrection and make
us rejoice in immortality and blessedness.

(7) Ostende nobis Domine Show us, 0 Lord, Thy mercy :

misericordiam Tuam : etSalu- and grant us Thy Salvation,
tare Tuum da nobis.

These words, together with the preceding verse, are used in
the beginning of the Mass. Thy mercy is Jesus. The fathers
universally interpret this verse as a prayer for the Coming of
Christ Who is the Mercy of God visiting us from on high.
The Carthusian explains these words in this way : Show us O
Lord Thy mercy, that is, show forth clearly and plenteously in
us the working of Thy loving kindness ; and grant us Thy
salvation, that is, Thy healing redemption, or even Christ
Himself, by giving Him to us daily in the Sacrament of the
Altar, and by His spiritual coming to dwell in us, as it is
written of Him, under the name of Wisdom : Give me Wisdom
that sitteth by Thy Throne [3]. Give us Thy Christ, says St.
Augustine, let us know Thy Christ, let us behold Thy Christ.
Not as the Jews beheld Him and crucified Him ; but as the
Angels behold Him and rejoice. Bellarmine explains the
verse of the perfect salvation which is completed in the final
Resurrection ; for then God will show us the fulness of His
mercy so that we may see it and, as it were, touch it ; when

[i] John i. 18. [2] Luke xxii. 6l. [3] Wisdom ix. 4.

AT PRIME: THE FIRST HOUR 325

He shall crown us with His loving-kindness, and heal all our
infirmities, and satisfy our desire with good things, and renew
our youth as the eagle [i]. And He will then give us His
Salvation for an everlasting possession when He shall manifest
Himself to us. We ask first for mercy and then for salvation.
The first is the cause, and the second the effect. Mercy is
grace, and salvation is glory.

(8) Audiam quid loqudtur I will hear what the Lord
in me Dominus Deus : quo- God will say in me : For He
niam loqueturpacem inplebem shall speak peace unto His
Suam. people.

(9) Et super sanctos Suos : And unto His saints and
et in eos, qui convertuntur ad unto them who are converted
cor. at heart.

In me. The Prophet Habacuc saith : / will watch and see
what He will say in me [2] ; and the Apostle : Since ye seek a
proof of Christ speaking in me [3]. St. Augustine observes that
when Christ speaks in a man, He speaks to him ; and what He
speaks on this occasion is that peace which surpasseth all
understanding, and which is bestowed on all who render unto
God that which is God's, and are truly His saints because they
are converted to Him, not feignedly, but from the depths of
their heart. The Psalmist says, I will hearken, because the
roar and tumult of the world is all around him and he must
close his ears to it if he would hear the voice of God. St.
Bernard says : When evil thoughts arise within us, we speak
ourselves ; when good ones, it is God Who speaks within us :
our h,eart utters the first and hearkens to the second. The
Peace which God speaks, the Word He utters, is our Lord
Jesus Himself, the Prince of Peace. He spoke this Word to
His people and to His saints, that is, to all Jews and to those
who believed and loved Him — such as the Apostles.

Unto them who are converted in heart. These form a third
class, to wit, the Gentiles. Cardinal Hugo applies the whole
verse to Christians. He takes the people as the laity ; the
saints, the clergy, and those converted at heart, as the religious
orders. He likewise remarks that peace is threefold : Peace

[I] Cf. Ps. civ. 3-5. [2] ii. I. [33 2 Cor. xiii. 3.

326 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

with God, as it is written : He shall make peace with me [i] ;
Peace with ourselves, according to our Lord's words : These
things have I spoken unto you that in Me ye might have peace [2] ;
and Peace with our neighbour, as the Apostle says : As much
as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men [3].

(10) Verumtamen prope For His salvation is nigh

timentes Eum salutdre ipsius : unto them that fear Him : that

ut inhdbitet gldria in terra glory may dwell in our land,
nostra.

Therefore did He appear first among the Jews where there
were some, at least, to fear Him. Yet even, as St. Augustine
says, this fear was a carnal one, a dread of temporal punish-
ments and loss. The Jews asked for just the same things as
the Pagans did. There was only this difference — they asked
of the true God. Nevertheless, even this imperfect knowledge
and service was so far rewarded that Glory did dwell in the
land. For they had the Patriarchs and Prophets, they had the
Temple, the centre of worship ; with them dwelt the Maiden
who bore Her Lord ; then in their midst was He Himself
born and held converse among men, wrought His miracles,
founded His Church, and finished our Redemption. His
salvation is nigh unto them that fear Him ; in that they are
careful to watch lest they should fall, that at the end of their
trial glory, the glory of immortality, may dwell in that earth
of their now mortal bodies. He makes another glory, a good
conscience, dwell within His servants, as St. Paul says : For
our glory is this, the testimony of our conscience [4], Again,
in the Blessed Eucharist: His salvation is nigh to all that fear
Him ; for in this Sacrament of the Altar He has given food to
those that fear Him[$]. Wherefore it is written : The Word is
very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart [6]. And
lastly, the glory of holiness and good works done by the saints
dwells in our land, and so shines before men that they glorify
our Father Who is in heaven.

[l] Is. xxvii. 5. [4] 2 Cor. i. 12.

[2] John xvi. 33. [5] Ps. ex. 4.

[3] Rom. xii. 18. [6] Deut. xxx. 14.

AT PRIME: THE FIRST HOUR 327

(n) Misericordia et veritas Mercy and Truth are met

obviaverunt Sibi : justitia et together : and Justice and
pax osciddtce sunt. Peace have kissed.

Man, says St. Bernard, lost Justice when Eve obeyed the
serpent's voice, and Adam the woman's rather than the Divine
One. He lost Mercy, in that Eve, to satisfy her desires, spared
neither herself, her husband, nor posterity, but bound all alike
under the curse : and Adam, in that he exposed the woman,
for whom he had sinned, to the Divine Wrath, trying to shun
the arrow, as it were, behind her back. Woman and Man lost
Truth, the first by perverting the warning, Thou shall surely
die [i], into the milder, Lest ye die [2] ; while Adam offered
a vain and false excuse. And lastly, they lost Peace, for saith
the Lord : There is no peace to the wicked [3]. Hence, after the
Fall there was, as it were, a serious conflict between the four
virtues ; for Truth and Justice were for punishing the wretched
sinner, while Peace and Mercy were for sparing him. How
these four virtues, parted in the First Man, met again in the
Second, we may readily learn. For Christ showed Mercy in
healing the sick ; Truth in teaching and speaking ; Justice
when He reproved sinners, and praised the godly ; and Peace
in His meekness and gentleness. Further, the Divine Nature
of Christ may be called Mercy, for it forgives sins ; and His
Human Nature Truth, because no guile was found in Him.

They met together, that is, they were united in the Hypo-
static Union. Justice also is taken for the Divine Nature ;
for God alone is the righteous Judge. Peace, on the other
hand, stands for the Human Nature, on account of our
Lord's noble and innate meekness. Again, Mercy and Truth
met together in the Incarnation, because it was Mercy which
drew the Lord down to His creatures, that the Truth of the
promises might be fulfilled, that Justice might be satisfied by a
Divine Victim, and that Peace might be re-established between
God and Man. If we lay stress on the words met and kissed,
they will denote that the union of persons coming from
opposite directions is expressed ; we may therefore take the
verses as signifying the reconciliation of God and Man.

[i] Gen. ii. 17. [2] Ibid. iii. 3. [3] Is. xlviii. 22.

328 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

God's Mercy encourages man to confess his sins, and so to
meet Mercy with Truth. God's Justice in fulfilling His
promises gives the comfort of Peace to the conscience of His
people.

(12) Veritas de terra orta Truth hath sprung from the
est : et justitia de ccelo pro- earth : and righteousness hath
spexit. looked down from heaven.

The very Truth, the Son of God, hath sprung out of the
earth, being born of His Maiden-mother. Righteousness looked
down from heaven when the Eternal Word stooped from His
Throne of Glory and united Himself in hypostatic union
to the Nature of Man. Thus was fulfilled that prayer : Drop
down ye heavens from above, and let the clouds pour down the
Righteous One : Let the earth open and let it bring forth a
Saviour [i]. There is another sense, says St. Augustine, for
these words : Now that man has been brought near to God,
he is moved to confession of his sins, so that the truth springs
up in frank acknowledgment of transgressions from the sinner
who is but earth, and righteousness then looks down from
heaven to pardon and wash away the offences.

(13) Etenim Dominus da- Yea, the Lord shall show
bit benignitdtem : et terra loving-kindness : and our land
nostra dabit Fructuni suum. shall give its Fruit.

The Psalmist proceeds to explain the mystery of the Incar-
nation, and shows that Truth will spring out of the earth, not
in the manner that fruits spring out of the ground ploughed
and sown by the labour of man, but as flowers spring up in
the open plains without human culture, by the rain from
heaven and the sunshine that falls upon them. For, saith he,
the Lord shall give His loving-kindness, that is, shall send His
Holy Spirit from heaven to overshadow the Maiden ; and so
our land, untilled, unsown, and altogether virginal, shall give
her Fruit. Wherefore He saith of Himself in the Canticles : /
am the Flower of the field and the Lily of the valley [2] ; or again,
the Divine Nature of Christ is the loving-kindness of God ;
His Human Nature the Fruit of our land. Thus Bellarmine.

[i] Is. xlv. 8. [2] ii. I.

AT PRIME: THE FIRST HOUR 329

Some of the earlier commentators see, in these words, the
result of our Lord's Coming in the fruits of penance and good
works put forth by men under the genial rays of the Sun of
Righteousness, when the rain of tears poured forth in sorrow
for sin has caused the good seed sown in their hearts by the
Sower to spring up and yield increase. Thus St. Augustine.

(14) Justitia ante Bum Righteousness shall walk

ambuldbit : et ponet in via before Him : and He shall set
gressus Suos. His steps in the way.

That is, righteousness shall go behind Him as well as before,
deepening, as it were, His track, that they who follow may
not miss it. Observe, says Arnobius [i], that where righteous-
ness goes first, God steadily follows. Others take it that when
righteousness hath so prepared the way for Christ, then will He
Himself set His feet upon the road and come to visit those
who have thus made ready for His coming. Says the Car-
melite : He makes this road henceforth a way for all those
who would follow Him ; and, even in the works of penance,
He Who did no sin was not content to be a preacher only, but
gave us example of His vigils, fasts, journeyings, and other
bodily toils. Again, Righteousness goes before the people of
Christ to show them the way to Him, and to set their feet in
it that they may not err.

GLORIA PATRI.

Glory be to the Father Who speaketh Peace unto His
saints. Glory to the Son in Whom Mercy and Truth are met
together. Glory to the Holy Ghost the Loving-kindness of
the Lord.

PSALM cxvi.
Title. — Alleluia.

Argument.

Tomasi : That Christ by the Coming of the Holy Ghost
hath stablished His Mercy upon us. The voice of the Apostles
to the Gentiles. A speech of the Prophet concerning God's
praise.

[l] He flourished in France at the latter part of the fifth century, and wrote a Com-
mentary on the whole Psalter.

330 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

Venerable Bede : There are but two verses ; yet words,
however few, in praise of the Lord are always most full. We
should apply this Psalm also to the person of the martyrs who
now, having as it were achieved their glorious passion, arouse
all other nations to the praises of the Lord Who hath done
such things for His servants that they too may be the rather
imbued with His example.

(1) Laudate Dominum om- 0 praise the Lord all ye
nes gentes : lauddte Eum heathen : 0 praise ye Him all
omnes populi. ye nations.

This Psalm, says a Jewish commentator, consists but of two
verses and refers to the days of the Messias. And by making
it consist of only two verses, the Psalmist implies that all
nations shall be put into two classes — Israel and the Gentiles.
As these latter form the more numerous and more zealous
portion, says Lorin, they are placed before the Jews in the
order of the verse. St. Paul cites this verse when arguing for
the union of Jew and Gentile in one church [i]. An old
commentator bids us note that the first part of the injunction
began to be fulfilled when the Wise Men came with the gifts
to Bethlehem, and the latter when the inscription in Greek,
Latin, and Hebrew was set up over the Cross. The Carmelite
says it is fulfilled continually in three classes of worshippers —
devout pilgrims here on earth, souls in purgatory, and the
blessed in heaven ; all of whom join in the chorus of praise
to God.

(2) Quoniam confirmdta est For His mercy is confirmed
super nos misericordia Ejus : upon us : and the Truth of the
et veritas Domini manet in Lord abideth for ever.
ceternum.

••

The Jews dwelt on the word us ; and St. Paul allows this
saying : Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the cir-
cumcision for the Truth of God, to confirm the promises made to
the fathers [2]. But he goes on to show that the word us is
used in a wider and more loving sense, which identifies Jew
and Gentile as one new people ; for he continues : And that
the Gentile should glorify God for His Mercy.

[i] Rom. xv. 4. [2] Rom. xv. 8.

AT PRIME: THE FIRST HOUR 331

And the Truth of the Lord abideth for ever. That Truth
is the Eternal Word, Who said : / am the Way, the Truth and
the Life [i]. The Gospel, the truth that came by Jesus, abideth
for ever : Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My Words shall
not pass away [2] . And the Mercy, when He said, It is finished ;
for then, having tasted of the sharpness of death, He opened
the gates of heaven to all believers. Bellarmine remarks that
the Apostle, when he says the Gentiles are to praise God for
His Mercy and that Truth belongs to the Jews because God
confirmed to them the promises made to the fathers, does not
mean that the Jews have no part in the Mercy ; but that Mercy
alone is shown to the Gentiles, to whom God had made no
promises whatever ; whereas in sending the Messias to the
Jews He gave them both Truth and Mercy. His Mercy and
Truth will abide for ever in yet another sense : in the enduring
result of the sentence at the Doom, when He will save or
condemn according to their deserts all who stand before His
Judgment Seat.

GLORIA PATRI.

Glory be to the Father the Lord God of all. Glory to
the Son, Whose Mercy is confirmed upon us. Glory to the
Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Truth, Who abides ever with the
Church.

LITTLE CHAPTER [3].

Qua? est ista, quce progreditur Who is she that cometh Jorth,

quasi aurora consurgens, pul- as the rising morn, fair as the

chra ut luna, electa ut sol, moon, clear as the sun, and

terribilis ut castrorum deles terrible as an army in battle

ordindta f array ?

fy. Deo gratias. ^. Thanks be to God.

As the material sun is rising in the skies at the hour of
Prime it reminds us of our ever dear and blessed Lady who,
by her rising in all the beauty of the Immaculate Conception,
put an end to the long night which had overshadowed the

[l] John xiv, 6. [2] Matt. xxiv. 35. [3] Cant. vi. 10.

332 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

world since the Fall. She is fair as the moon, for she shines
with a light not her own, but borrowed from the Sun of
Righteousness Himself ; she is clear as the sun, for she became
clothed with the same Sun of Righteousness, and charity
covered her as with a mantle. She is terrible to our enemies ;
for enmity has been put between them and her. This last
thought encourages us to seek her protection during the
coming day, for our enemies are hers. And this thought is
carried on in the following versicle.

VERSICLE AND COLLECT.

y. Digndre me lauddre te, Grant me grace to praise

Virgo sacrdta. thee, 0 sacred Virgin.

T%. Da mihi virtutem con- Give me strength against

tra hostes tuos. thine enemies.

These words of St. Ephrem were used as the Second
Antiphon of the Third Nocturn, to which we refer the reader.
Here only will we say they get a new force from the last words
of the Little Chapter. We may note we do not ask for strength
against our enemies, but against her enemies. For often those
we count as our friends our Lady counts as her enemies ;
for she sees that they are false friends to us and endanger the
salvation of our souls.

The Kyrie eleison with the Versicle follow as at Lauds ; then
is said the Prayer : —

Deus, qui virgindlem aulam 0 God, Who didst deign to

bedtce Marice in qua habitdre choose the virginal womb of

eligere digndtus es : da quce- Blessed Mary in which to

sumus, ut sua nos defensione dwell : grant, we beseech, that

munitos, juciindos facias suce guarded by her defence we

interesse commemorationi : may gladly take part in her

Qui vivis, &c. commemoration : Who liveth

and reigneth, &c.

We find thoughts which suggest this prayer in the Little
Chapter and in the 84th Psalm. There is also the note of
warfare, of a struggle against her enemies. When she protects
us, with joy and gladness we shall serve her and show our love

AT PRIME: THE FIRST HOUR 333

and gratitude by our devotion. The Office concludes with the
same Versicles as at Lauds.

During Advent.

THE LITTLE CHAPTER [l].

Ecce virgo concipiet et pdriet Behold a virgin shall con-

Filium, et vocdbitur nomen ceive and bear a Son, and
ejus Emmanuel. Butyrum, et shall call His name Em-
mel comedet ut sciat reprobdre manuel. Butter and honey
malum, et eligere bonum. shall He eat, that He may

know to forsake Evil and
choose Good.

These prophetic words of Isaias, declaring the Maiden-
Motherhood of our Lady, are peculiarly appropriate to the
Season of Advent. She was to be a virgin not only in con-
ceiving but in bringing forth ; and her Child was to be no
ordinary Son, but Emmanuel, which, being interpreted is, God
with us. Says the Myroure : " Emmanuel is as much as to say,
God with us. For while He is God in His Own Nature, and
with us in our Nature, so is He God and Man in one Person.
By butter and honey we understand all other meats according
to Man, whereby is shown that He was very man and lived,
after His body, by man's meat. And He shall know to forsake
evil and choose good; for though He were fed as an infant,
yet He was as wise as when He came to man's age. They that
treat of Nature say that cheese is evil, and the less it have of
butter the worse it is. Therefore our Child ate butter that is
without cheese, for He took our Nature without sin. He ate
also honey, that is, sweet, for He delighted Him to do mercy
to sinners and to all that were in disease or in need, the doing
of which mercy was to Him sweeter than honey. A bee giveth
honey and stingeth. So our sweet bee, Jesus Christ, in His
first Coming gave honey of mercy and of pity. But they that
will not dispose themselves to receive this honey here shall be
stung with the tongue of sharp rigour at His second Coming,
when He shall forsake the evil to endless pain and choose the
good to everlasting bliss" [2].

[i] Is. vii. 14, 15. [2] pp. 127-8.

334 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

The prayer is the same as at Lauds and is said at all the
hours during the season.

At Christmas-tide.

The Little Chapter is Quce est ista, as above ; and the Collect
is that said at Lauds. The same prayer is said throughout the
Office during this season.

335

CHAPTER V.

AT TERCE I THE THIRD HOUR.

The introductory Prayers and Hymns are the same as at
Prime. The Antiphon is taken from Lauds (the second)
according to the season.

PSALM cxix.
Title. — A Song of Degrees [i].

Argument.

Tomasi : That Christ may bestow on us a dart wherewith
to confound unrighteous tongues. The voice of Christ in the
Passion. The voice of Christ to the Father touching the Jews.
The Songs of Degrees are the progresses of souls, whereby,
ascending from the desire of a holy life to better things, they
are perfectly delivered in heaven from trouble and perils of
this present life.

Venerable Bede : " Songs of Degrees " are songs of Ascen-
sions, whence the more significant Greek name is Songs of
goings up, because they lead only towards heavenly things ; as
though one had fallen into a pit and a ladder were set that he

[i] This Psalm begins what are called the "Gradual Psalms" or "Songs of
Degrees." One ancient Jewish view is that they were intended to be liturgically
used in processions to the Temple, one upon each of the fifteen steps leading up to
the great portal. But the most ancient Christian tradition, without being inconsis-
tent with this one, is more probable, viz., that they are originally pilgrim songs for
going up to Jerusalem. These Psalms were said daily before Matins in the reforms
begun by St. Benedict of Aniane. At present they are said, in choirs, on Wednes-
days in Lent, and are divided into three sets, each with its own Versicles and Collect :
the first for the dead, the second for sinners, the third for all Christian folk. The
recitation of the fifteen "Gradual Psalms" was a favourite private devotion of our
catholic forefathers.

336 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

might be able to ascend. So when the people of Israel were
come to the pit of captivity, and in their trouble called upon
the Lord, they were heard and brought back to their country.
After this example, whosoever falls into the pit of sin has
degrees of humility whereby he may return above. Through-
out the Psalm the Prophet speaks.

(1) Ad Dominum cum tri- When I was in trouble I
buldrer clamdvi : et exaudivit called upon the Lord : and He
me. heard me.

Says St. John Chrysostom : Seest thou the gain of affliction,
seest thou the readiness of mercy ? The gain of affliction, in
that it brings men to pour forth holy prayers ; the readiness
of mercy, granted at once when they call. Therefore Christ
declares those blessed who mourn [i]. If, then, thou wouldest
ascend these steps, cut away whatever is luxurious and relaxed
in thy life, gird thyself with diligent conduct, and withdraw
from earthly things. This is the first going-up. Even one
step upwards is leaving earth ; and lowly as the place is, it is
not the less the first elevation. Note the admirable order of
the words. First comes trouble, then a cry, lastly a hearing ;
to make us know that the prayers of the faithful reach the Lord
in an appointed order. The trouble against which the saints
call on God is not such as the world fears, but the snares of
sin in all its forms, lest they should subdue our weak natures
and drag us down to the depths of evil. And all true prayer
for deliverance must unite in itself the three marks of this one ;
necessity, when I was in trouble ; devotion, / called ; direction
in the right way, upon the Lord. Thus St. Hilary and
Cardinal Hugo.

(2) Ddmine libera dnimam Deliver my soul, 0 Lord,
meam a Idbiis iniquis : et a from unrighteous lips : and
lingua dolosa. from a deceitful tongue.

St. Basil says, the moment a man begins to go up, that is,
to think of advancing in spiritual things and of despising the
world that he may cling to God alone, he begins to suffer
from the tongues of adversaries, and, what is more grievous,

[i] Matt. v. 4.

AT TERCE: THE THIRD HOUR 337

from those who try to turn him away from salvation. He
who does not suffer opposition may know that he is not even
trying to advance.

Unrighteous lips. Such as are shameless, open in daring
and execution. A deceitful tongue is treacherous and mis-
chievous, by reason of dissembling, because it aims at over-
throwing religion under the name of religion, and bends down
to death with the hope of life. . . . ' . We find them both
in the history of our first parents. Unrighteous lips said, Eat.
Then the deceitful tongue added, Ye shall be as gods, ye shall not
surely die [i]. The Carmelite adds, it is not only from the
wicked lips and tongues of others that the disciple of Christ
needs to be delivered, but from his own ; from all boastfulness,
spiritual pride and glorying in his own merits.

(3) Quid detur tibi, aut What shall be given to thee,
quid appondtur tibi : ad lin- or what shall be added to
guam dolosam f thee : unto the deceitful

tongue f

(4) Sagittce potentis acutce : The sharp arrows of the
cum carbdnibus desolatoriis. Mighty, with desolating coals.

St. Hilary explains this verse as, What weapons of defence
shall be given to thee against evil speakers ? In which case the
next verse supplies the answer : the Word of God, sharp as an
arrow in the hands of a strong man and consuming as red-hot
coals. St. Augustine takes the coals as denoting the examples
of those sinners, once cold and black, but now converted to
God and glowing with His love. But other commentators,
dwelling on the word desolating, think it is an awful warning
against the destruction that attends the deeds of sinners and
awaits themselves. Others take coals as fervent prayer in
reference to the touching of Isaias' lips with a coal from the
altar [2]. Another commentator notes that arrows at most
take away life, and may be the cause of glory, as with martyrs ;
but coals brand where they touch and add dishonour to death.
Another explanation takes arrows as the sting of conscience
and coals as the punishment of a deceitful tongue.

[i] Gen. iii. 4, 5. [2] Is. vi 6.

22

338 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

(5) Heu mihi, quia inco- Woe is me that my sojourn-

Idtus meus prolongdtus est ; ing is prolonged ; I have dwelt

habitdvi cum habitdntibus with the dwellers of Cedar:

Cedar : multum incola fuit my soul hath been long a

dnima mea. sojourner.

St. Hilary explains the verse in this manner : The saints
long to be dissolved and to be with Christ [i]. The body is
the dark tent (Cedar meaning black) in which the soul is
imprisoned. He also lays stress on the word with (the dwellers
of Cedar), as being something different from in their company.
This denotes that although the saints live in the flesh, yet the
arms of their warfare, not being carnal, they do not dwell in
the tents of Cedar, but only beside them, and are not in the flesh
but in the spirit [2]. Says St. Augustine, sojourning is a
pilgrimage. He who dwells in a foreign land, not in his own
country, is called a sojourner. St. Paul tells us the same :
Here we have no abiding city, but seek one to come [3]. Heaven,
says Bellarmine, is our true fatherland, and unhappy are they
who are away from it ; for the stateliest palaces of earthly
monarchs, in comparison with the Golden City, are but as the
rough tents of the wandering Arabs. Long a sojourner. And
yet three-score and ten is no very long sojourn as time goes ;
but it is very long, and very weary, and full of sorrow to those
who regard themselves, and sigh after the Life without end
given us in our Fatherland [4].

(6) Cum his qui oderunt With them that hate peace I

pacem eram pacificus : cum was peaceful : when I spoke

loquebar illis impugndbant unto them that assailed me

me gratis. without cause.

St. Augustine observes that we have here the voice of the
Church protesting against any unwise attempts to narrow
her limits, to break her unity, to rend her fellowship, on the
ground that within her pale are found many whose lives are
in contradiction to her teaching. Says St. Prosper : It is a

[l] Phil. i. 2. [2] Rom. viii. 9. [3] Heb. xiii. 14.

[4] Qui vitam sine termino
Nobis donet in Patria.

— St. Thomas Aquinas.

AT TERCE: THE THIRD HOUR 339

part of Christian perfection to be peaceful, even with them
that hate peace, in the hope of amending them, not through
assent to their evil ways. The deepest sense is, with the
Carmelite, to take these words of our Divine Lord. For
three and thirty years He was in the midst of men who hated
Peace. He is the Prince of Peace ; and when He spoke to
carnal Israel, as man never spoke before, they tried to cast
Him headlong, then to stone Him, and at last cried out : Away
with Him I Away with Him I Crucify Him ! [i] Not less does
the earlier part tell us of Him Who cried out to His Father all
night in prayer, and in the Garden, and on the Cross ; and
Who was heard and raised again and exalted.

GLORIA PATRI.

Glory be to the Father Who hears us in the day of trouble.
Glory to the Son Who is Peace. Glory to the Holy Ghost
Who comforts us in our sojourning with Cedar.

PSALM cxx.
Title. — A Song of Degrees.

Argument.

Tomasi : That Christ unsleeping overshadows and guards
Jerusalem. The voice of the Church to the Apostles. The
voice of the Church to Christ concerning the Prophets or the
peoples.

Venerable Bede : At the first step (of the Gradual Psalms)
the Prophet, yet in trouble, sought that he might be delivered
from unrighteous lips and a deceitful tongue. But now taking
breath on the second step he lifted up his eyes unto the hills,
that is, to the interceding saints, by whose prayers he hoped
to attain heavenly gifts. The Prophet ascending to the
heavenly Jerusalem in the first clause says he has lifted up
his eyes to the merits of the saints, that he might be helped
by their prayers, lest his soul should give way to the attack of
the enemy. In the second place he promises himself what he
knows to be asked for fittingly, teaching us that the good we

[i] John xix. 15.

340 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

pray for with a steady heart we are to believe without doubt
will be given us.

(1) Levavi oculos meos in I have lifted mine eyes to
monies : unde veniet auxilium the mountains : whence cometh
mihi. help to me.

(2) Auxilium meum a My help is from the Lord:
Domino: qui fecit cesium et Who made heaven and earth .
terram.

This Psalm, as already noted, is a song for the pilgrims to
Jerusalem, as they lift their eyes from the plains of Babylon
to the mountain ranges which gird their native land, and to
that Mount Sion, the holy spot where dwelt the Presence
of the Lord. What are these mountains ? The mountains
in which the Lord is pleased to dwell [i] ; the fat mountains,
the curdled mountains [2], which are the saints. They are
our intercessors ; but the help that comes in answer to our
prayers is a help from the Lord. Our hope in the saints is
only a hope of intercession. The Lord, Himself, is the
Mountain of mountains, from Whom alone comes the light
which shines on those lofty summits, dark without Him, the
true Light enlightening every man that cometh into the world.
St. Hilary says that the mountains are the two Testaments
with their lofty and difficult secrets admirably fitted to raise
the soul from earth, and full of rich veins of spiritual wealth.
St. Augustine takes the mountains as the Apostles, and ex-
plains that by means of their preaching of the word of God
help did come from them on whom the light of heaven shone
forth to those in the valley below. He made those Apostles
heavens themselves whence the refreshing rains of doctrine
came down upon the parched and sterile earth of the Gentile
world below, as St. Bruno remarks.

(3) Nondetincommotionem He will not suffer thy foot to
pedem tuum : neque dormitet be moved : and He that keepeth
Qui custodit te. thee will not sleep.

(4) Ecce non dormitdbit, Behold He that watches over
neque dormiet : Qui custodit Israel : slumbers not, nor sleeps.
Israel.

[i] Ps. Ixvii. 17. [2] Ibid. 1 6.

AT TERCE: THE THIRD HOUR 341

As the foot is that member of the body which carries it
about to the scenes of its actions, so its spiritual meaning is
the motion and advances of the mind. Pride was the motion
of the soul which drove Lucifer from heaven and Man from
Paradise. God keeps the foot of His saints safe from this, but
gives them the motion of love ; that instead of falling, they
may walk, advance, and go up in the right way. Thus St.
Augustine. The Carmelite points out that He so kept the foot
of His Apostles that no toils or terrors might daunt them from
preaching the Gospel in all lands.

He that keepeth thee will not sleep. This probably in the
literal sense refers to the night-watch round about the pilgrims
on their way to the Holy City. In the mystical sense God
does not slumber as one fatigued, nor sleep as needing repose.
It is necessary, says St. Bernard, that He Who keepeth Israel
should neither slumber nor sleep, for he who assails Israel
neither slumbers nor sleeps. And as the first seeks our safety,
so the other desires to slay and destroy us, and his only care
is that the man once turned aside may never come back.
There is, remarks the Carthusian, a stress on Israel, to whom
alone this unceasing ward is given ; teaching us thereby that
it is he who sees God, and wrestles with Him in prayer, who
may surely look for His protection. Other commentators, in
a beautiful sense, take the verse of the Resurrection. Jesus,
the true Keeper of Israel, did indeed sleep in the grave,
according to His human nature. But the ever- wakeful God-
head slumbered not, but kept the watch over Israel, which, in
those hours of desolation, was only to be found in Mary's
heart. Others take this verse of the religious orders who,
by the Office, never cease, as a body, their watch over the
Christian Israel, according to the words of Isaias : / have set
watchmen upon thy walls, 0 Jerusalem, who shall never hold
their peace day and night [i].

(5) Do minus custodit te} The Lord guards thee, the
Dominus protectio tua : super Lord is thy protection : upon
manum dexteram tuam. thy right hand.

(6) Per diem sol non uret The sun shall not burn thee
te : neque luna per noctem. by day : nor the moon by night.

[I] Ixii. 6.

342 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

Right hand means, according to the geographical sense of
the term in the Old Testament, the south, the quarter from
which the burning rays of the mid-day sun pour forth their
pitiless heat and glare. In the mystical sense St. Hilary takes
the words to refer to God's strengthening our power of action,
and therefore of resistance in spiritual combat ; or, with
St. Augustine, we may take them as meaning the gift of
eternal life denoted by the right hand; while the left hand
holds only temporal bounties. The obvious literal sense of
the reference to the sun and moon is that of sunstroke and
moonstroke to which the pilgrims were exposed. But St.
Augustine tells us that the Sun is Christ's Godhead ; the Moon
the Church, deriving all its light from Him and waxing and
waning here ; while tlje night is the Flesh of Christ wherein
the Sun is hid and the moon shines, because faith in the
Incarnation is the very life and meaning of the Church. The
contemplation of these mysteries shall not burn us away with
their awful glory, but rather strengthen and quicken us to
live in accordance with God's gracious mercy towards us.

(7) Dominus custodit te ab The Lord shall guard thee

omni malo : custodial dni- from all evil : the Lord shall
mam tuam Dominus. guard thy soul.

It is no promise, says St. Hilary, of warding off the
common evil of the body, for these are no real evils. It is the
soul the Lord will guard, that the moth of evil may not enter
in, the thief creep not upon it, the wolf not tear it, the bear not
rage against it, the leopard not spring upon it, the tiger not fly
at it, the lion not destroy it. For all these in this life are instru-
ments of the evil one who employs cruel beasts to eat away
the soul with sin, to creep upon it with flattery, to tear it with
allurements, to spring upon it with ambition, to fly upon it
with lusts, to destroy it with all his power. It is against such
evils as these that we can look to God for protection. Thus it
was, as St. Augustine says, God kept the souls of His martyrs
safe while suffering their bodies to be the prey of the per-
secutor. God's ways of keeping are fourfold : as a Watchman
seeing that no enemies approach the city He guards ; as a
Defender standing on the right hand ; as a Porter opening

AT TERCE: THE THIRD HOUR 343

the gates of mercy ; as a Physician tending and binding up the
wounds of a sufferer. Thus Cardinal Hugo.

(8) Dominus custodial in- May the Lord preserve thy

trditum tuum, et exitum tuum : coming in and thy going out :

ex hoc nunc et usque in scecu- from this time forth and for

lum. ever.

God keeps the goings out from sin of His servants and also
keeps their comings in to the Land of Promise. Taking these
words as they are in the verse, St. Augustine tells us that
coming in is entering into the Church Militant, going ou1
returning from it into the Church Triumphant : and God
keeps our coming in when He takes care that we are not
exposed to temptations too powerful for us to overcome ; and
our going out by granting us perseverance and means of
escape. Or, He keeps the first beginnings of our yet weak
faith when we are entering into a knowledge of Him ; and
preserves it to its close, that at our going out we may die as
true subjects of His in the confession of His Name. Thus
St. Bruno.

GLORIA PATRI.

Glory be to the Father Who made heaven and earth.
Glory to the Son, the Watcher Who slumbers not nor sleeps.

Glory to the Holy Ghost from Whom is all our help.
i

PSALM cxxi.
Title. — A Song of Degrees.

Argument.

Tomasi : That Christ sitteth and makes seats for sitting in
judgment. The voice of the Church to the Apostles. The
voice of Christ to the Church.

Venerable Bede : Another step higher up. The Prophet is
lifted to the third degree, reaching higher than the second, and
is declared to have made a beginning of the Psalm in his very
gladness. He rejoices that he has been counselled to come to
the heavenly Jerusalem, where the saints abide ever now in sure
prosperity and shall judge together with the Lord. He then

344 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

speaks to the citizens of Jerusalem concerning their abundant
peace.

(1) Lcetatus sum in his quce I rejoiced in those things
dicta sunt mihi : in Domum which were said unto me : we
DSminiibimus. will go into the House of the

Lord.

Who have said these things f The Prophets who foretold
the return from Captivity, and in that figure, the return to the
heavenly Jerusalem. And again, who are the we who speak ?
The Three Persons of the Blessed Trinity speaking to us by
the Prophets and Apostles, and saying not Go, but We will go
and be your Guides and Companions on the road to that House
which admits the righteous only. In that They say it to me,
the unity of the Church, the individuality of the promises, is
denoted. In that it is added, we will go — the multitude of them
that are of one heart and mind is shown forth. There are four
Houses of God into which the faithful soul goes. First, the
Church Militant ; then the inner House of Conscience ; then
the House of Suffering ; and lastly, the House of Heaven in
which there are many mansions. How are we to go ? On the
two feet of charity, answers a saint, Love of God and Love of
our neighbour. Richard of St. Victor takes this verse in an
allegorical sense as referring to our first parents rejoicing in
the hopes of regaining Paradise. It is said we will go because
neither the hand alone nor the heart suffice for that journey.
Adam does not desire to enter without Eve, for Knowledge
without Love is unprofitable ; it is altogether impossible for
Eve to enter without Adam, for if we knew nothing of Divine
things we shall not love them at all. And lastly, it is taken of
the gladness of the saints at entering into their rest through
the gate of Death.

(2) Stantes erant pedes nos- Our feet were standing : in
tri : in dtriis tuis Jerusalem. thy courts 0 Jerusalem.

The Carthusian says : The very sign and cause of our hope
that we shall go into the House of the Lord is that our feet are
even now standing within the gates of Jerusalem, that is, in
God's Holy Church where our desires and contemplations are
fixed and set on the mansions above, because our conversation

AT TERCE: THE THIRD HOUR 345

is in heaven [i]. He stands there who delights himself in
God : and he whose delight is in himself cannot stand, but
must, as Lucifer, fall through his pride. Thus St. Augustine.
The oratory, the choir, are the very courts of Jerusalem ; for
there we gain that peace of which that City is the Vision.

(3) Jerusalem quce cedifi- Jerusalem which is built as
cdtur ut civitas : cujus parti- a city : which is at unity with
cipdtio ejus in idipsum. itself.

St. Hilary points out that the Psalmist, referring to the
temporal city, does not say that it is a city, but only that it is
built as a city ; because it is, at the best, but a faint and
shadowy type of the true Jerusalem, the City Eternal made
without hands. This heavenly City is being built now, of
living stones ; and it is a true City, for its inhabitants are
united together and share in unity with Him Who is no
other than Jesus Christ, by Whose merits they become
citizens of heaven, and Whose Headship they all acknowledge.
The heavenly Jerusalem has points of resemblance to an
earthly city ; its many mansions [2] ; its unity of law, love ;
its one king, Jesus ; its fountain, Mary ; its twelve gates, the
Apostles [3] ; its citizens, the angels and saints ; its walls and
bulwarks, salvation.

(4) Illuc enim ascenderunt For thither the tribes go up,
tribns, tribus Domini ; testi- even the tribes of the Lord : the
monium Israel ad confittndum testimony unto Israel to praise
Nomini Domini. the Name of the Lord.

In the Law it was ordered that all males three times a year
should present themselves before the Lord [4] to attest their
loyalty to Him and to claim the privilege of the Covenant [5] .
It is not said the tribes of Israel but the tribes of the Lord ; that
is, the Gentiles ; those who have come into the Church, not
by inheritance. They are often by their earnestness and devo-
tion, a testimony unto Israel. They go up to Israel ', for out of
Sion shall go forth the Law, and the Word of the Lord from

[l] Phil. iii. 20. [4] Exod. xxiii. 17.

[2] John xiv. 2. [5] Deut. xvi. 16.

[3] Apoc. xxi. 12.

346 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

Jerusalem [i]. Their presence in Jerusalem is a witness of
their obedience and an example given to others.

(5) Quia illic sederunt sedes For there they have set
in judicio : sedes super domuni thrones of judgment, thrones
David. over the house of David.

Here is the third glory of Jerusalem, says St. John Chry-
sostom. It is not merely stately and strong in beauty, the
gathering-place of all the tribes, but it is also the seat of kingly
power and justice. Thrones : for all manner of causes come
before the judges, even the judging of the world. Ye shall sit
on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel [2]. The
apostolic thrones are over the house of David ; for his throne
was an earthly one ; and theirs are set to judge angels [3] as
well as men.

(6) Rogdte qucc ad pacem 0 pray for the peace of
sunt Jerusalem : et abunddn- Jerusalem : and plenteousness
tia diligentibus te. to them that love thee.

(7) Fiat pax in virtute tua : Peace be within thy strength :
et abunddntia in turribus and plenteousness within thy
tuis. towers.

Jerusalem is not only a type of heaven ; it also, being the
Vision of Peace and at unity with itself, is a type of the Church.
In this verse a prayer is made for peace in our days. For
although the Church must always be prepared for battle, and
lives in an armed truce, peace is necessary for her development
and for the legitimate exercise of her influence. Peace is
secured by attending to the strength of the walls and to the
abundance of provisions for its citizens. The first secures
it from without ; and the second from want within. The
Church's walls are Faith, Hope, and Charity ; and in her
sacraments she has provision enough for all the children of
men. And that the faithful may enjoy to the full these
benefits, she wants peace. St. Bernard takes the strength to
be the Passion of our Lord ; and the towers the height of
heavenly grace and glory attained by those who love Him.

(8) Propter fratres meos ct For my brethren and com-
proximos meos: loqucbar pa- panions' sakes, I will speak
cem de te. peace of thee.

[l] Is. ii. 3. [2] Matt. xix. 28. [3] I Cor. vi. 3.

AT TERCE: THE THIRD HOUR 347

There are two senses in which we may take this verse :
because all thy citizens are my brethren, or because my brethren
now in exile are to be brought home. One, for it gives us
the rejoicing sense of fellowship in the communion of saints ;
the other, the eager yearning of all devout souls for those who
have gone astray. Some commentators take these words as
those of Christ Himself promising present blessings and future
glory to the Church on earth, for both He that sanctified and
they who are sanctified are all of one : for which cause He is not
ashamed to call them brethren [i],

(9) Propter donum Domini Yea, because of the House of

Dei nostri : qucesivi bona tibi. the Lord our God, I have sought

good things to thee.

We must carry good-will with action ; first that of earnest
prayer that God may grant His City all desirable blessings,
and next diligently seeking out all good things to increase the
power and wealth of that City. Good things ; all that can tend
to the increase of God's Church. Souls, above all ; for they
are the future citizens of heaven : virtue and merit in our own
soul ; for that increases the wealth and attractiveness of the
Church. We should have put the last first ; for the surest
way of converting others is first of all to convert oneself. A
man who is set upon self-conversion will do far greater work
in secretly influencing souls in a practical, healthy way, than
one who deliberately sets himself out to gain converts. The
real work is done by example, not by word.

GLORIA PATRI.

Glory be to the Father the Builder of the heavenly Jeru-
salem. Glory to the Son in Whom the citizens are all at unity.
Glory to the Holy Ghost Who has told us that we shall go
into the House of the Lord.

[i] Heb. ii. n.

348 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

LITTLE CHAPTER [l].

Et sic in Sion firmdta sum And so was I strengthened

et in civitdte sanctificdta simi- in Sion, and likewise in the

liter requiem, et in Jerusalem holy City did I rest, and in

potestas mea. Jerusalem was my power.

B?. Deo gratias. 1^. Thanks be to God.

y. Diffusa est grdtia in f. Grace is poured forth

Idbiis tuis. on thy lips.

ty. Propterea benedixit te ~Rf. Therefore hath God

Deus in ceternum. blessed thee for ever.

The words of the Little Chapter direct our minds to Mary,
of whom all these Psalms speak. She who was so peaceful
and yet suffered ; who dwelt so high on the holy mountain,
and watched over Israel's God ; She who was the New
Jerusalem in which the King dwelt and whose unity was
in Him ; She is given a place in the Church which is strong
like the Rock on which it is built. She has been set as the
Mother of the Church ; through her cometh the help we look
for from the Lord ; for in heaven, where her power is, she
reigns as Queen of Angels and Saints. The thought of the
powerful advocate we have makes us say a fervent thanks-
giving to God Who has so blessed her on account of the grace
that is in her. The Myroure says on this Little Chapter :
" These words are read both of our Lord Jesus Christ and also
of our Lady ; for by her we have Him. Here are named three
places : Sion, City, and Jerusalem. By Sion, that is as much
as to say ' beholding,' is understood souls that are given to
contemplation wherein our Lord Jesus Christ is surely
stablished, for they are not troubled about many things as
others are. By the hallowed City is understood souls given to
active life wherein our Lord Jesus Christ resteth by charity
that they have to their fellow-Christians. For City is as much
as to say one body of citizens, and it is said ' hallowed ' by the
pureness of intention that they offer to God in all their works.
By Jerusalem is understood prelates and governors that have
power and care upon both contemplative and active life ; and

[i] Eccle. xxiv. 2.

AT TERCE: THE THIRD HOUR 349

therefore their life is called the mixed life, as being a mean
between action and contemplation, having part with both.
For they ought to see that both be kept in peace, according to
their calling ; and therefore they are understood by Jerusalem,
that is as much as to say, the ' sight of peace ' ; for they ought
to have sight of wisdom and of discretion to know how to
keep peace with all parties. And to that end He hath shared
with them His own power ; and therefore He saith : And in
Jerusalem is my power [ I ] ."

For a fuller treatment of the Versicle and Response see the
first Psalm of the Second Nocturn, third verse.

COLLECT.

Deusquisalutisceternce,bed- 0 God Who by the Fruitful

tee Marice virginitdte fecunda, Virginity of the blessed virgin
humdno generi prcemia prcesti- Maty hath given to the human
tisti : tribue qucesumus, ut race the rewards of eternal
ipsam pro nobis intercedere salvation : grant we beseech
scntidmus, per quam merui- Thee that we may experience
mus Auctorem vitce suscipere, the intercession of her throng/!
Dominum nostrum Jcsum whom we merited to receive
Christum Filium Tuum : Qui the Author of Life, our Lord
Tecum, &c. Jesus Christ, Thy Son : &c.

As usual, the Collect sums up all the thoughts of the whole
hour and unites those of Jesus and Mary in the full expression
of them all. The Author of Life of Whom speak the Psalms ;
His Mother, the type of the Christian soul. We get all the
goods of eternal life through her divine Motherhood ; for in
giving us Jesus she has given us Life itself.

During Advent.

The Antiphon (second), Little Chapter, and Prayer are the
same as are said at Lauds during this season ; the Versicle as
above.

During Christmas-tide.

The Antiphon (second), and Prayer are as at Lauds during
this season ; the Little Chapter and Versicle as above. The
thought of the Mother by the side of the Crib gives another
turning to the idea of the Little Chapter.

[i] Pp. 147-8.

CHAPTER VI.

AT SEXT I THE SIXTH HOUR.

After the same introductory Prayers, Hymn and Antiphon
(the third of Lauds according to the season), the Psalmody
begins and three more of the Gradual Psalms are said.

PSALM cxxn.

Title. — A Song of Degrees.
Argument.

Tomasi : That Christ having pity on us may deliver us from
the contempt of the proud. The voice of Christ to the Father,
or of the Church to Christ. The first step is faith, the second
hope, and the third charity ; and now here the fourth declares
the perseverance of him that prayeth.

Venerable Bede : He who previously lifted his eyes to the
hills now raiseth his heart to the Lord Himself. He first
engages in persevering prayers that he may retain the gifts he
has acquired by the Royal bounty. In the second he makes
supplication.

(i) Ad te levdvi oculos mcos : Unto Thee I lift up min

qui hdbitas in ccelis. eyes : 0 Thou that dwellest in

the heavens.

There is a great advance made in this Psalm, says St.
Hilary, since, from merely lifting up the eyes unto the hills,
the singer raises them to God Himself Who is to be found
everywhere. The Carmelite tells us that the eyes are the con-
templative and the active life ; the first to learn His will, the
second to do it. As the heavens are above the earth so is the
success we seek from God above anything this earth can give.

AT SEXT: THE SIXTH HOUR 351

(2) Ecce sicut 6culi servo- Behold, even as the eyes of
rum : in mdnibus dominorum servants : look unto the hands
suorum. of their masters.

(3) Sicut dculi andllce in As the eyes of a maiden unto
mdnibus domince sues : ita the hands of her mistress : even
oculi nostri ad Dominum so our eyes wait on the Lord
Deum nostrum donee misered- God until He have mercy on us.
tut nostri.

Servants look for the slightest gesture which indicates
their master's will ; they also look to their master's hand for
reward and punishment. Why are men-servants and women-
servants mentioned ? That the share of both sexes in the
duties and rewards of faithful service may be asserted ; then
to teach that the strong and the weak are alike called to bring
forth good works. And servants are spoken of in the plural,
and handmaiden in the singular. The reason of this, says
Cardinal Hugo, is to teach us that all the various mighty
nations of the world, with all their masculine vigour, are to be
united in that one Church which is the maiden before being
the Bride of the Lamb.

Until He have mercy on us. This does not mean that we
are to cease looking unto Him when He has shown us His
pity. If we always keep our look upon His Face we will see
His image there and we shall be like Him ; for we shall see
Him as He is, and behold our own likeness in His glorious
Face [i]. Even here on earth we may look to His hand, by
seeking to know His Will through careful and assiduous study
of the Holy Scriptures He has given for our learning, that
guiding our conduct thereby we may please Him and obtain
His mercy. Thus St. Gregory the Great.

(4) Miserere nostri Domine, Have mercy upon us 0
miserere nostri : quia midtum Lord, have mercy upon us ;
repleti sumus despectiond. for we are filled exceedingly

with scorn.

(5) Quia midtum repleta Our soul is exceeding filled :
cst dnima nostra : opprobrium opprobrium from the rich and
abundant ibus, et despectio despitefulness from the proud,
superbis.

[i] I John iii. 2. ,

352 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

The Apostles after the triumph of the Resurrection looked
for a speedy restoration of the kingdom of Israel ; yet almost
their first experience after Pentecost was the imprisonment
and scourging of two of their number, and their later history
one of them describes as being made a spectacle unto the. world
and Angels, made as the refuse of the world, and the off-scouring of
all, even until now [i]. And in the Church to-day Holy Poverty
meets with the scornful rebuke of the rich, and Obedience
with the contempt of the proud. It is when the world treats
our lives as folly that we turn with greater confidence to our
Master Whose bounteous hand is never closed to us, Whose
aid is always nigh.

GLORIA PATRI.

Glory be to the Father Who dwelleth in heaven ; Glory to
the Son the Hand of the Lord ; Glory to the Holy Ghost
Who comforts the despised.

PSALM cxxin.
Title. — A Song of Degrees.

Argument.

Tomasi : That Christ, breaking the snare of death, delivered
us by the help of His Name. The voice of the Apostles and
of all believers. Here is the fifth step. The voice of the
Apostles concerning the ungodly Jew and unbelievers who
walk in sin.

Venerable Bede : The fifth step is gratitude. The saints,
remembering how many perils like a rushing torrent they have
escaped through the Mercy of God at the very begining,
confess their deliverance ever the work of God. They then
give thanks that they have not been deceived by their perse-
cutors but have been rescued from their broken snares.

(i) Nisi quia Do minus erat Unless the Lord had been in

in nobis, dicat nunc Israel : us, now may Israel say : unless

nisi quia Dominus erat in the Lord had been in us,
nobis.

[i] Cor. iv. 13.

AT SEXT: THE SIXTH HOUR 353

(2) Cum exsurgerent hdm- When men arose against us :
lues in nos : forte vivos deglu- perchance they would have
tisscnt nos. swallowed us up.

In us. This is something more than being at our side :
Thou, 0 Lord, art in us . . . . forsake us not 0 Lord our
God, says Jeremias [i]. When God is the possessor and
inhabitant of our heart, then, and then only, are we safe from
any foe. In us as a Pilot of a storm-tossed ship ; in us as a
Captain of an army in battle ; in us as Head and Heart to the
body, directing its thoughts and affections. And it is said in
us and not in me ; because as the pilgrims go up they sing at
times one by one, and at other times in chorus ; because the
many are one, since Christ is one, and the members of Christ
are one in Him.

They had swallowed us up alive, that is, although wicked
men can destroy the life of the body, the soul passes alive and
scathless through the torments on to the reward.

(3) Cum irasceretur furor When their fury was cn-
eorum in nos : forsitan aqua kindled against us : perchance
absorbuisset nos. the water had drowned us.

(4) Torrentem pertransivit Our soul hath passed
dnima nostra : forsitan per- through the torrent : perchance
transisset dnima nostra aquam our soul would have had to
intolerdbilem. pass through water unbear-
able.

In the midst of the danger God is with us, even when the
torrent threatens destruction, according to the words of the
Prophet : When thou passest through the waters I will be with
thee : and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee [2].
As used in Scripture waters stand for nations which pass
away ; but the Rock in the midst remains unmoved. As it
was with the persecutions the nations raised against the
Church, so it was with the persecutors. And though the
torrent submerged many, yet the Church emerged safely, and
therefore it follows : —

[i] xiv. 9. [2] Is. xliii. 2.

23

354 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

(5) Benedictus Dominus : Blessed be the Lord : Who
qui non dedit nos in captionem hath not given us over for a
dentibus eorum. prey to their teeth.

The devil, the roaring lion seeking whom he may devour [i],
has allies and instruments among men, of whom it is written :
There is a generation whose teeth are as swords, and their jaw
teeth as knives to devour the poor from off the earth and the needy
from among men [2]. These bite and devour one another [3],
and the saints, too, with slander and detraction ; and en-
deavour to make their prey as evil as themselves by incor-
porating them with their own body. Thus St. Bruno.

(6) Anima nostra sicut Our soul is escaped as a
passer erepta est : de Idqueo sparrow : out of the fowler's
vendntium. net.

(7) Ldqueus contritus est : The snare is broken : and
el nos liber all sumus. we are delivered.

A snare, says St. Augustine, needs to be baited ; and the
devil's bait for the souls of men is usually the pleasure of life.
He hides it, says the Carmelite, in some unsuspected place ;
not on the highway, where it soon may be detected and de-
stroyed, but in some place near to it. He masks it carefully,
and puts ease, wealth, self-indulgence, over it to tempt us.
God cries aloud to us with His warnings and threats, lest we
should give way to the tempter. If we do not listen, but fall
into the snare, how can we save ourselves ? What is more
helpless than a bird once entangled in the net ? It it said :
The snare is broken. When ? When Christ broke the power
of Satan. Why fearest thou ? Knowest thou not Who is thy
Helper ? Yes, answer Christ's true soldiers, we know well.
It is not our own strength or skill which has saved us ; we
have not broken the snare ourselves. Thus St. Ambrose.

(8) Adjutorium nostrum in Our help is in the Name of
nomine Domini ; qui fecit coz- the Lord: Who hath made
him et terram. both heaven and earth.

[i] i Pet. v. 8. [2] Prov. xxx. 14.

[3] Gal. v. 15.

AT SEXT: THE SIXTH HOUR 355

He hath made the earth whereon the snare is set : so
that of right He can destroy that snare as laid unlawfully in
His domain. He hath made the heaven for the souls He
has delivered ; so that they may fly upward, rejoicing. He
Himself came down to earth that He might break the snare ;
He returned to heaven that we might fly as doves to their win-
dows [i], following where He showed the way.

GLORIA PATRI.

Glory be to the Father Maker of heaven and earth ; Glory
to the Son the Breaker of the snare ; Glory to the Holy Ghost
our abiding Guest.

PSALM cxxiv.

Title. — A Song of Degrees.

Argument.

Tomasi : That Christ may defend us with His help lest
the rod, that is, the tyranny of sin, should be upon us. The
voice of the Church. This is the sixth step of them that hold
out and are unmoved amidst their suffering, and in whom,
stretching not out their hands to unrighteousness, the peace
of Israel will abide.

Venerable Bede : In the sixth step the Prophet cries to
us to put our trust in the Lord lest we labour in vain. He
first makes the firm assertion that they who trust in the Lord
can in no wise be moved ; he then prays that prosperity may
come to the good and vengeance to the bad.

(i)Quiconfidunt in Domino, They that put their trust in

sicut mons Sion : non com- the Lord shall be as Mount

movebitur in ceternum qui Sion : he shall not be moved

habitat in Jerusalem. who dwelleth in Jerusalem.

(2) Monies in circuitu ejus : The mountains gird it round

et Dominus in circuitu populi about : and the Lord is in the

sui ex hoc mine et usque in midst of His people from this

speculum, time forth and for ever.

[i] Is. lx. 8.

356 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

They who trust in the Lord, says St. Bruno of Aste, shall be
as Mount Sion, that is, they shall have for their own use all
the grace and strength stored up in the Church of God. Most
of the commentators here go beyond the usual interpretation
and take Sion to mean not so much the Church as the Divine
Head thereof. So, those who trust in the Lord shall share in
the strength of the Rock, which is Christ. While he who dwelleth
in Jerusalem, or as St. Paul says, whose conversation is in
heaven [i], shall never be moved ; for the Church prays in one
of the Collects "that where true joys are there may our hearts
be fixed " (Fourth Sunday after Easter).

The hills are round about them. This they interpret as the
Angels watching and defending as guardians the Sion of wait-
ing souls on earth, compassing about the Heavenly City with
their shining ranks. But, says St. Augustine, while these Angels
of the Lord have the charge of those who put their trust in
Him because they fear Him, as it is written : The angel of the
Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him [2] ; a stronger
defender, a more blessed gift, is for them who truly dwell in
Jerusalem, submitting themselves to all its laws, for the Lord is
round about His people.

(3) Quia non relinquet For the Lord shall not leave

Dominus virgam peccatorum the rod of the ungodly over the

super sortem justorum : ut non lot of the righteous : lest the

extendant justi ad iniquitdtem righteous put their hands to

manus suas. iniquity.

For the rod we are to understand the sceptre of authority
and power. Says St. Hilary : The Lord does not leave this
rod in the hands of the ungodly ; troubles come, but they
do not last ; persecutions come, but they do not continue ;
they may have mastery over the body, but never over
our conscience. The rod of the ungodly is not left upon
us if we turn to Him when we have been conquered and
stretched forth our hands to sin ; for God is faithful and will
not suffer us to be tried above our strength [3]. Our suffering

l] Phil. iii. 20. [2] Ps. xxxiii. 7. [3] i Cor. x. 13.

AT SEXT: THE SIXTH HOUR 357

at the hands of God's adversaries is brief and wins the reward
of victory, albeit it involves no long toil of battle.

The lot of the righteous is the Church, which He does not
permit to be continually afflicted, however He may chastise
it for a time.

(4) Benefac Domine bonis : Do well 0 Lord unto the
ct rectis corde. good : and to the true of heart.

Good refers to external and godly behaviour ; true of heart,
to internal holiness. The conjunction and implies that real
external goodness (such as will merit supernatural reward)
cannot be found without internal sanctity, for the outward is
only the expression of the inward. Deeds that seem good
may be performed for worldly motives. But these God is not
asked to reward, for He says : Amen, I say to you they have
their reward [i] in the approval of men. But those deeds,
really good because they are done by the righteous in heart,
we do ask God to reward ; and the reward He gives is grace
here, and glory hereafter ; or, in other words, Himself [2],
the reward exceeding great.

(5) Declindntes autem in Such as turn aside unto
obligatidnes adducet Dominus bonds the Lord shall lead forth
cum operdntibus iniquitdtem : with the workers of iniquity :
pax super Israel. but peace shall be upon Israel.

Turn aside, such as go out of the King's Highway and cease
to obey ; bonds, the sins in which they become entangled.
Those who, under the pressure of the rod of the ungodly,
stretch forth their hands to iniquity are here spoken of ; that
have put their conscience under bonds and have turned away
from its dictates, and yet know the judgment of God, that who
commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same
but consort with them that do the same [3] ; their lot is with
the workers of iniquity. But to Israel, to those who see God
with unclouded conscience, there shall be peace ; for a ruler,
the Prince of Peace [4] is set over us. There shall come
forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse [5] ; and a Sceptre shall rise

[l] Math. vi. 2. [4] Isaias ix. 6.

[2] Gen. xv. i. [5] Isaias xi. I.

[3] Rom. i. 32.

358 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

out of Israel [i] ; and with this rod He shall feed His people
Israel, the flock of His heritage ; for He is our Peace who hath
made but one [2], Jews and Gentiles alike, unto one Israel,
even Jesus Christ our Lord. Thus St. Hilary.

GLORIA PATRI.

Glory be to the Father, the Lord Who is in the midst of
His people. Glory to the Son the Peace upon Israel. Glory
to the Holy Ghost Who doth well to the good and right of
heart.

LITTLE CHAPTER [3],

Et radicdvi in populo hono- And I took root in an

rificato, et in parte Dei mei honourable people, and in the

hereditas illius, et in plenitu- Lot of the Lord was my in-

dine sanctorum detentio mea. heritance ; and my staying

in the fulness of the saints.

ty. Deo gratias. Thanks be to God.

y. Benedicta tu in muli- Blessed art thou amongst

eribus. women.

. Et benedictus Fructus And blessed is the Fruit

ventris tui. of thy womb.

The sense of confidence and firmness which pervades the
Psalms finds its echo in the Little Chapter. Here we get
it concentrated, as it were, upon one object, our ever dear
and blessed Lady. As the day goes on (it is now the office
for mid-day) and worldly trials are surrounding us, and the
noon-day devil [4] is roaring, we need a renewal of con-
fidence ; and the " valiant woman," Mary, that Mount Sion
girt about with such mountains of grace, she who escaped
from the snare of the fowler who sought to bring all under
sin, she the Handmaid of the Lord who always kept her eyes
fixed on Him, she, we are told, is a ground for sure confi-
dence. For she has taken root, and is in the peaceful en-
joyment of her heritage, and abides in heaven. All these are

[i] Num. xxiv., 17. [3] Eccle. xxiv. 2.

[2] Ephesians ii. 14. [4] Ps. xc. 6.

AT SEXT: THE SIXTH HOUR 359

ideas of fixity. So confidence in her is reasonable ; for she
trusts in the Lord and is therefore immovable. Her special
heritage is in the Lot of the Lord, that is, in those souls who
have chosen Him for their part of the heritage and their cup.
They are specially dear to her and feel above all others her
protection. On this Little Chapter let us hear the author
of the Myroure : "Christian people are honoured above all
people in knowledge of right belief and in the sacrament of
holy Church. And therefore in them our Lady is rooted by
spiritual help and favour, namely, in such as seek their chief
heritage in heaven and not on earth. Also, our Lady abideth
in the fulness of saints, for there never was a saint on earth
nor angel in heaven that was or is so full of virtues and
graces, but that our Lady had and hath them all in more
fulness and perfection than they. And therefore, says St.
Bernard : Verily her abiding is in the fulness of saints, for
she failed not in the faith of patriarchs, nor in the spirit of
prophets, nor in the zeal of the apostles, nor in the steadfast-
ness of martyrs, nor in the soberness of confessors, nor in the
chastity of virgins, nor in the plenteousness of the wedded,
nor in the purity of angels " [i].

These thoughts lend a peculiar significance to the Deo
gratias and to the praise we give her as " Blessed among
women."

COLLECT.

Concede misericors Deus fra- Grant 0 merciful God help

gilitdti nostrce presidium : ut to our weakness : that we who

qui sanctce Dei Genii-rids venerate the Holy Mother of

memoriam dgimus, interces- God, may, by the help of her

sionis ejus auxilio, a nostris intercession, rise up from our

iniquitdtibus resurgdmus. Per sins. Through the same Jesus

Eiimdem, &c. Christ, &c.

The prayer sums up the thoughts of the whole Office. We
ask of God that we may in very truth feel the protection of her
in whom we have been led to trust. Her protection serves
only to one end, that we may rise out of sin. All is based on

[i] p. 149.

360 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

that. At the Marriage Feast of Cana she took pity on the
temporal need of her hosts and interceded with her Son ; but
it was on the condition that Whatsoever He tells you to do, that
do ye [i]. So it is with us. She helps us in all things, but
for one end only : to get us to do the Divine Will and
avoid sin.

During Advent.

The Antiphon and Collect is from Lauds according to the
season ; the Versicle is as above.

LITTLE CHAPTER [2].

Dabit Illi Dominus Deus The Lord God shall give

sedem David patris Ejus : et Him the throne of David His
regndbit in domo Jacob in father, and He shall reign in
(vternum, et regni Ejus 11011 the house of Jacob for ever :
erit finis. and of His Kingdom there

shall be no end.

The spirit of confidence which runs through the Psalms is
strengthened here by the thought of the everlasting Kingship
of Him Who comes to strengthen us and in Whose grace we
can do all things. The last words, used in the Credo at Mass,
are a promise of the Eternal Glory of the Kingdom we are
invited to share. St. Teresa never heard these words either
in the Office or the Mass without a special thrill of exultation.
And in that Eternal Kingdom who is it that stands at the side
of the King but the Queen, the "cause of our joy" and "our
hope ? " So the thought of our Lord, Who alone is our refuge
and confidence, does not take away our trust in Mary ; for
she is but His instrument and the dealer of His good gifts
to men.

During Christmas-tide.

The Antiphon and Prayer are from Lauds ; the Little
Chapter and Versicle is the Common.

[i] John ii/5. [2] Luke i. 32, 33.

361

CHAPTER VII

AT NONE : THE NINTH HOUR.

After the introductory Prayers, Versicle, Hymn and
Antiphon, the recital of the Gradual Psalms is continued.

PSALM cxxv.
Title. — A Song of Degrees.

Tomasi : That Christ may fill us with joy of eternal glad-
ness. The voice of the Apostles to the Lord concerning the
ungodly Jews. This, the seventh step, contains the consolation
of the martyrs who, sowing in tears here for a time, shall reap
eternal joys.

Venerable Bede : After captivity to sin, sweet is the ascent
to the New Jerusalem. Delivered by the Divine pity the
blessed souls in the first part of this Psalm give thanks for the
grace which came after so much sin ; and in the second pray
that future joy may crown their work of tears.

(i) In convertendo Domi- When the Lord turned the

nus captivitatem Sion : facti captivity of Sion : then were
sumus sicut consoldti, we made like men comforted.

Jerusalem above is free in the bliss of the angels ; but Sion
here below is captive in the sins of men. When the Lord
turned its captivity by proclaiming the forgiveness of sins, then
were we as men comforted. Not altogether comforted, but only
like it ; because comfort implies sorrow and tears which
belong to our exile here and are not to be wiped away till we
are again at home. Thus St. Augustine. In another sense the
word is taken as telling of the wondering and hesitating joy of
the Apostles in the Resurrection, when Christ had indeed

362 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

turned the captivity of Sion, by His descent into hell bringing
the waiting Patriarchs away with Him into the joy of Paradise,
and still more when He ascended on high, leading Captivity
captive. The Carthusian refers it to the coming of each
ransomed soul out of the spiritual Babylon of sin, into the
grace and glorious liberty of the children of God. In the
word comforted we may see a reference to the Holy Ghost,
the Comforter, Who acts as our Sanctifier in the sacraments
and turns away the captivity of sin.

(2) Tune repletum est gdu- Then shall our mouth be
dio os nostrum : et lingua filled with joy : and our tongue
nostra exsultatione. with exultation.

Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh [i],
says our Lord ; and where the Holy Ghost dwells and rules
there will be Liberty and the fruits of His presence. Now,
according to St. Paul, the second of these fruits is joy [2]
which is an inward consolation and gladness which comes to
those souls who are united to God's will. Spiritual joy does
not impede earthly sorrow, which comes from external objects.
Our Lady at the foot of the Cross, although stricken with
sorrow greater than any other creature bore, never lost her
interior joy or allowed her will to swerve for a moment from
its conformity to God's. It is this spirit of joy which is the
secret of the happiness and light-heartedness of those who are
really trying to serve God. Gloom and low spirits do not
come from God. They show that something in ourself is at
fault.

(3) Tuncdicent inter gentes: Then shall they say among
Magnificdvit Dominus fdcere the heathen : The Lord hath
cum eis. done great things for them.

(4) Magnificdvit Dominus Yea, the Lord hath done
fdcere nobiscum : facti sumus great things for us : we have
Icetdntes. become men rejoicing.

The return from the seventy years Captivity struck, indeed,
the Gentiles as a wonder ; but as St. Augustine says, the
future shall they say implies what will yet come to pass : for

[i] Luke vi. 45. [2] Gal. v. 22.

AT NONE: THE NINTH HOUR 363

neither at the first, nor at the Lord's Coming, nor in time
to come, did or will all Gentiles accept the truth, but only
certain among them who were moved by the holiness and
works of His people.

Great things ; not only as the Carmelite says, the miracles
and preaching of the Apostles and the endurance of the
Martyrs ; but, as St. Bruno says, the obedience of body and
soul to God, the heavenly conversation of those who truly
turn to Him. Not only do these start the admiration of
the Gentiles, but we ourselves, comparing our state in
captivity with that under the Law of Liberty, are filled with
astonishment and confess that the work is entirely God's,
and contrary at once to our deservings and expectations.
Thus Bellarmine. Gerohus makes a beautiful application of
these last words by applying them to the souls in Purgatory and
the saints above. These last without us, cannot be entirely
perfect, and therefore follows : —

(5) Converte Domine capti- Turn our captivity, 0 Lord :

vitdtem nostram : sicut torrens as a river in the south wind.
in Austro.

The primary sense shows that this Psalm was composed
during the first migration after the decree of Cyrus, and that
the first colony of the Jews, now safe at Jerusalem, pray that
their brethren still in exile may be soon united to them. So
in the mystical sense the citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem,
together with us who are still exiles in the Babylon of this
world, pray for our deliverance out of bondage and for the
conversion of unbelievers.

As a river in the south wind. As a river frozen under the
icy blasts of the north wind is set free by the genial warmth
of the southern breeze and pours fourth in a torrent, so here
we get the idea of captivity broken, of sorrow turned into joy.
This south wind, says St. Augustine, is the Holy Spirit Him-
self, of Whom it is written in the Canticles : Come Thou South
Wind and blow upon -my garden, that the spices thereof may
flow [i]. And again : He bloweth with His Wind and the waters

[l] iv. 16.

364 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

flow[i~\. What that means we learn in Ecclesiasticus : Thy
sins also shall melt away, as the ice in the fire and in the fair
weather [2]. Where shall the torrent flow? All rivers run
to the sea ; and therefore our cry to the Lord when He has
stirred us from our wintry sleep is : Direct the channel of
our waters in the one true course.

(6) Qui seminant in Idcry- They that sow in tears : shall
mis : in exsultatione metent. reap in joy.

(7) Euntes ibant et flebant : Going forth they went their
mittentes semina sua. way weeping : casting their

seeds.

(8) Venientes autem venient But returning they shall
cum exsultatione : portdntes come back with joy .' bearing
manipulos suos. their sheaves.

There are two sowings, says the Apostle : one in the spirit,
and one in the flesh. Each man shall reap as he has sown :
of the flesh, corruption; of the spirit, life everlasting [3].
Our Lord has taught us, Ye shall weep and lament, but the world
shall rejoice ; ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall turn
into joy [4]. Before Christ's coming, says Father Corder,
the Jesuit, before He consecrated weeping by His own strong
crying and tears, nothing but salt drops of bitter water flowed
from the eyes of men, but now they are costly pearls, dear
and precious in God's sight. Our tears are fivefold, says St.
Augustine : tears of penance, tears of the fear of judgment,
tears of weariness of exile, tears of compassion for others,
tears of desire for heaven. St. Bernard in his sermon on
St. Benedict says : O race of Adam, how many have been
sowing in thee and what precious seed ! How terribly must
they perish and how deservingly if such seed and the toil of
the sowers at the same time should perish in thee. The whole
Trinity sowed in our land, the Angels and Apostles sowed
together, the Martyrs, Confessors and Virgins sowed too.
The Father sowed Bread from heaven ; the Son, Truth ; the
Holy Ghost, Charity. The Apostles went forth and wept,
casting their seeds, but coming again they shall come with

[i] Ps. cxlvii. 7. [3] Cf. Gal. vi. 8.

[2] iii. 15. [4] John xvi. 20.

AT NONE: THE NINTH HOUR 365

great joy bearing their sheaves. Two are the sheaves which
thou seekest — honour and rest. They who sow and toil in
lowliness shall reap honour and rest together. The Carmelite,
with most commentators, refers the verse to the abundant
reward and gladness of the righteous in the manifestation of
the Son of Man, when the Sower, Who sowed the goodly
seed of His Word in the field of this world, triumphs finally
over the secret enemy who sowed the tares. In that day, the
glad harvest time, the redeemed of the Lord shall return and
come with singing unto Sion ; and everlasting joy shall be upon
their head : they shall obtain gladness and joy : and sorrow and
mourning shall flee away [i]. We are to expect the fruit of
our labour when God calls to the harvest home, not before.
Ours is to work and to work for Him. The result is in His
hands ; and He will draw the profit out of our labour when
and how He pleases. Cast thy bread upon the running waters ;
thou shall find it after many days [2] ; for, We know in Whom
we trust [3].

GLORIA PATRI.

Glory be to the Father Who turneth the Captivity of Sion.
Glory to the Son the Sower of good seed. Glory to the Holy
Ghost the Joy of the ransomed people of God.

PSALM cxxvi.
Title. — A Song of Degrees.

Argument.

Tomasi : That Christ may build up what is good in us,
and does build it up unto Himself. The voice of Christ to
the coming Church. The voice of the Church to the faithful.
Venerable Bede : The Prophet rejoicing in having fore-
seen by the Spirit the grace of the New Testament, teaches at
the beginning (lest any hurtful presumptuousness because of
so great a gift should seize thee) that no one should ascribe
any good results to his own powers, since all things are placed
under God's authority, nor desire to outrun the time appointed
by the ordinances of the Lord.

[i] Is. li. II. [2] Eccles. xi. I. [3] 2 Tim. i. 12.

366 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

(1) Nisi Dominus cedifi- Unless the Lord hath built
averit domum : in vanutn the house : they labour in vain
laboraverunt qni cedificant who build it.

earn.

They who built the Tower of Babel built in vain. The
true House of the Lord, says St. Hilary, is that Temple of God
which is made up of ourselves, as living stones, wherein the
Spirit is pleased to dwell. No human skill can rear it, nor is
it planned by worldly art. It is not built upon the earth nor
on the shifting sand. Its foundation is laid upon the apostles
and prophets, Jesus Christ being Himself the Corner-stone [i].
The whole building is the work of God, although under Him
skilled workmen have laboured ; and not in vain, for He was
with them. The Lord has come to us. He has ransomed us
from captivity and the House and the City are being built up :
but they who go up thither must know that He alone is
Builder and Keeper : Neither is he that planteth anything,
neither he that watereth ; but God Who giveth the increase [2].
No man can build up by his own unaided power even the
single dwelling of his conscience ; for, as St. Gregory says,
God pulls down the human heart when He leaves it, and
builds it up when He fills it. It is not by making war against
the mind of man that He destroys it, but by leaving it ; and
when this is so and sin has dominion, the heart of a hearer
is vainly counselled, because every mouth is dumb if He does
not cry aloud in the heart.

(2) Nisi Dominus custodi- Unless the Lord keep the city :
erit civitdtcin : fmstra vigilat in vain doth he watch who
qui custodit earn. guards it.

Building, no matter how solid or lofty, is not sufficient
for the protection of the house or city ; and what is even more
important, that the fact of being within the city, with its
numerous houses, dense population and strong walls, does not
secure the safety of one single dwelling. This teaches us that
it is not enough to be in the Church of God ; since all the
sacraments, and God's ministers and our own will cannot

[i] Eph. ii. 19. [2] I Cor. iii. 7.

AT NONE: THE NINTH HOUR 367

protect one human soul, unless the Lord Himself be the
Captain of the watch. And if so, how little can the soul of
man avail to guard itself ? And note, that whereas it is said
in the first verse Except the Lord build, yet it is not here said
Except the Lord wake (since He that watcheth over Israel
slumbers not nor sleeps), but except the Lord keep ,' there can
be no doubt of His power, and only our own sins can oppose
His good will.

(3) Vanum est vobis ante It is vain for you to rise
lucem surgere : surgite post- before the light : rise after ye
quam sederitis qui manducdtis have been sitting, ye who cat
panem doloris. bread of sorrow.

Says St. Augustine : There is no use in rising, that is,
in being proud and self-reliant, before the Light, which is
Christ, arises on our souls. It is good to rise after Him,
not before Him ; that is, not to set our own will before Him,
as the mother of James and John did when she asked for the
chief seats in His kingdom [i] ; as Peter did when he strove
to dissuade Him from His Passion [2]. After we have been
sitting in humility at the Master's feet, it will be time enough
for us to rise when we have eaten of that bread of sorrow which
it is His will to give us.

(4) Cum dederit dilectis Suis When He giveth His beloved
somnum : ecce hereditas Do- sleep : lo, the heritage of the
mini filii ; merces, fructus Lord, sons; the reward, the
ventris. Fruit of the womb.

When He giveth His beloved sleep, that peaceful sleep of a
holy death, whose waking is in heaven ; a gift given by the
Father as the fruit of that time when He gave His beloved sleep
upon the Cross.

Behold the heritage of the Lord, sons. Reading these two
together we see that God's own special heritage are those
saints who have fallen asleep in Jesus, the reward of the Fruit
of the womb of Mary, the purchased possession of which the
Incarnation and Passion were the price. Sons, born of water
and the Holy Ghost, are the Lord's heritage ; and the reward,

[i] Matt. xx. 22. [2] Ibid. xvi. 22.

368 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

the priceless possession bestowed on these sons is Himself,
the Fruit of the Virgin's womb.

(5) Sicut sagittce in manu Like arrows in the hand of
potentis : ita filii excussorum. the mighty one: even so are

children of the shaken.

Children of the shaken. These words are explained as
meaning "shaken out," "rejected," or "shot swiftly" from
the bow. In any sense, says St. Augustine, the word shaken
means the Apostles themselves, shot as from the bow of
Christ, the Mighty One, to pierce the hearts of the nations ;
children mean the generation of teachers whom the same
apostles sent in turn. Holy teachers, says Cardinal Hugo,
are like an arrow, shapely, because humble ; slender, because
poor ; straight in charity ; smooth in equity ; long in long-
suffering ; feathered with divers virtues ; headed with the
steel of patience ; sharp in keen intellect : piercing in zeal ;
swift in readiness of obedience ; motionless of themselves ;
but when shot forth by Him, in Whose hands they are, they
go straight and surely to the mark.

(6) Bedtus vir qui implcvit Happy is the man who
dcsiderium suum ex ipsis : non filleth his desire of them : he
confundetur cum loquetur shall not be ashamed when he
inimicis suis in porta. speaks with his enemies in the

gate.

St. Augustine explains this verse as follows. The man who
has taken to himself, or filled his desire with the teaching of
the Apostles, will feel no shame or confusion at openly con-
tending with the teachers of false doctrine in the gate, that is
in the matter of Christ Himself, by boldly declaring the truth
concerning Him, as the Apostles did themselves when brought
before kings and governors. They who stand at His side are
in the gate; they who are against Him are shut outside, and
may not enter into the city until they have confessed Him in
Whose Name He bids them knock and ask for entrance.

GLORIA PATRI.

Glory be to the Father the Builder and Keeper of the
House and City ; Glory to the Son the Fruit of the Virgin's
Womb ; Glory to the Holy Ghost Who giveth His beloved
Sleep.

AT NONE: THE NINTH HOUR 369

PSALM cxxvu.
Title. — A Song of Degrees.

Argument.

Tomasi : That Christ bestows eternal blessedness on them
that fear Him. The voice of the Prophet touching Christ and
the Church. This, the ninth step, declares, under the type of
a wife, that all who fear the Lord flourish about the table of
the Altar, and that they see children's children of their own
doctrine and example, and peace upon Israel in heaven is
their end. The voice of all that fear the Lord.

Venerable Bede : In the first paragraph the Prophet, under
certain figures, counts up the blessings of them that fear the
Lord, that he may kindle the minds of the devout with the
force of heavenly reward. In the second he blesses them that
they may receive eternal joys ; lest every one should be afraid
of this most sweet joy.

(i) Beati omnes qui timent Blessed are all they that fear

Ddminum ; qui ambulant in the Lord : that walk in His
viis Ejus. ways.

St. Hilary remarks that where the Fear of the Lord is
mentioned in Holy Writ it is never set by itself, as though
sufficing for the consummation of our faith ; but it always has
something added or prefixed by which we can estimate its due
proportion of perfection. Of the Fear of the Lord, one of
the Seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost, it is written : Come ye
children, hearken unto me, I will teach you the Fear of the
Lord [i]. Therefore, it is something we ought to learn. Our
Fear of God, says St. Hilary, is to be pure and filial and is to be
found in our love of Him. Love is the outcome of that awe,
a love which makes us walk in His ways. And although there
be only one Way, Christ Himself, yet here many ways are
spoken of, to show us that entrance is easy and not limited to
any particular calling or mode of serving God. Nevertheless
all these subordinate ways are reducible to two ; for all the
ways of the Lord are Mercy and Truth [2] ; both of which must

[i] Ps. xxxv. II. [2] Ps. xxv. 10.

24

370 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

be followed together, because Mercy without Truth leads to
laxity, and Truth without Mercy degenerates into sternness.

(2) Labores mdnuum tu- For thou shall eat the

drum quia manducdbis : bed- labours of thy hands ; happy
tus es et bene tibi erit. art thou, and it shall be well

with thee.

There is a fourfold literal sense here : Thou shalt live by
honest, peaceful labour ; not by rapine and violence, nor yet
indolently and luxuriously ; thou shalt eat, and not as a
miser, stint thyself and others ; thy crops shall not be
blighted, but shall bring forth abundantly ; and no enemy
shall destroy or carry off thy harvest.

Thou shalt eat the labours of thy hands. But he who hates
labour, does not eat of it, nor can he say : My meat is to do
the will of Him that sent me, and to finish His work [i]. On
the other hand, he to whom such labour is a delight does not
merely look forward in hope to the future fruits or rewards of
labour, but even, here and now, finds sustenance and pleasure
in toiling for God ; so it is well with him in this world, even
amidst all its cares and troubles, and it shall be well with him
in that which is to come. Thus the Carthusian. There is in
this verse also a reference to the Blessed Eucharist. Jesus, the
great High Priest, is the One who consecrates at Mass.
The Blessed Sacrament does indeed come from the work of
His hands, and He is the Head of that Mystical Body which
eats and drinks of Him daily therein ; as He will be, in
another fashion, the food of His elect in heaven : then shall
be fulfilled that prophecy which Isaias spoke of Him : He
shall see the travail of His soul and shall be satisfied [2].

(3) Uxor tua sicut vitis Thy wife shall be as thefruit-

abundans : in lateribus domus ful vine : upon the sides of thy
tuce. house.

The whole figure St. Augustine takes of the Church as the
Bride of Christ, an interpretation enforced by Our Lord's
styling Himself the Vine [3], Close to Him, to His sides,
those sacred walls of His human Body, His Bride clings ;

[i] John iv. 34. [2] liii. II. [3] John xv. I.

AT NONE : THE NINTH HOUR 371

there only can she flourish and bring forth fruit. Turning
from the Head to the members, we find other interpretations.
The wife is our bodily frame, subjected with all its affections
to the Reason, and bearing, trained against the walls of
thought and action, abundant fruit of holy aspirations and
good work. Another view is that Wisdom is meant, as we
read : / loved her and sought her out from youth, I desired to
make her my spouse, and I was a lover of her beauty [i]. This
last is St. Hilary's.

(4) Filii tui sicut novMce Thy children like olive plants :
olivdrum : in circuitu menscc round about thy table.

tuce.

The olive is the type of prosperity, because evergreen,
strong, and fruitful. Round about, Bellarmine explains as all
in their father's sight and as being ready to wait on him for
any service. These earthly children are figures, says St.
Augustine, of the spiritual children of the Church, who was
herself born from the side of her dying Spouse ; fruitful,
peaceful, gathered round God's Altar to feed there, set about
the table of Holy Writ to taste of the sweets it furnishes to
to them. And observe that we have in the inner courts of the
House Mystical both the vine and the olive; because, as
Cassiodorus says, oil and wine are needful to be poured into
the wounds of those whom the Good Samaritan brings to be
tended there ; the strength and severity of the Old Testament,
the softness and tenderness of the New. So, too, says the
Carmelite, in those goods works of ours which are, as it were,
our children, Justice and Mercy shall meet, and they should
be gathered round Him Who is Himself the Table of the
Lord's House, looking to Him only and waiting to minister
to His wishes.

(5) Ecce sic benedicetur Lo, thus shall a man be
homo ; qui timet Dominum. blessed : that feareth the Lord.

(6) Benedicat tibi Dominus The Lord from out of Sion
ex Sion : et videas bona Jeru- bless thee : and mayest thou sec
salem omnibus diebus vitce the good things of Jerusalem
tuce. all the days of thy life.

[i] Wisdom viii. 2.

372 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

Here again we have the contrast between Sion, the Church
Militant, and Jerusalem, the Church Triumphant. God shall
so keep thee with the grace and strength stored up in His
Church on earth for all the wants of every day of our life,
that thou shalt overcome all enemies and obstacles in thy way
and attain to the unending joys of Jerusalem which is above.
Thus the Carthusian. And note, we are to seek God's blessing
from the Church. This is His covenanted way. It is there-
fore wisdom to put ourselves in harmony with her practice,
to make her prayers our prayer, and to do her work in her
own way.

(7) Et videas filios filiorum And thou shalt see the

tuorum : pacem super Israel. children of thy children : peace

upon Israel.

We shall one day, in heaven at least, see the fruit of our
good works. For nothing done for God goes without its
effect. And peace upon Israel, the crowning joy of the Beatific
Vision, when, after we have ceased to wrestle as Jacob and
have become the Israel of God, we shall see Him Who is
our Peace, face to face.

GLORIA PATRI.

Glory be to the Father Who blesses us out of Sion ; Glory
to the Son Who feeds us around His Table ; Glory to the
Holy Ghost the Giver of Peace upon Israel.

LITTLE CHAPTER [l],

In plateis sicut cinnamo- In the streets like the cinna-

num et bdlsamum aromati- mon and sweet-smelling balm

zans odorem dedi : quasi did I give forth my odour ;

myrrha electa dedi suavitdtem like choice myrrh I yielded a

odoris. sweetness of smell.

B?. Deo gratias. Thanks be to God.

[l] Eccle. xxiv.

AT NONE: THE NINTH HOUR 373

y. Post partiim Virgo in- After bearing thou didst

violdta permansisti. remain a spotless maiden.

ty. Dei Genitrix, intercede Mother of God intercede for

pro nobis. us.

We have heard these words in the Third Lesson of Matins.
Here, coming after the Gradual Psalms, we may take them as
words of encouragement. The sweet example of Mary attracts
souls to follow her virtues, as the smell of rich spices attracts
the passers-by in the streets. The spices mentioned are
referred to our Lady in this way. St. Bonaventure says : The
fragrance of Mary was like cinnamon in outward intercourse ;
like balm in the interior unction of devotion ; and like myrrh
in the bitterness of trouble. O rich indeed, says St. Bernard,
is she who was filled with the balm of the Holy Ghost ; this
precious balm was given to thee in such superabundant
measure that it overflows in all directions. The mention of
myrrh, coming at this ninth hour when Jesus died, reminds
us of the Mother of Sorrows. Taken altogether the Little
Chapter is a fitting comment on the three preceding Psalms
and is to be understood in reference to the thoughts they
have suggested.

The Versicle and Response celebrate the Divine truth that
Mary, in and after childbearing, remained ever a Virgin ; for
she was the closed Door through which only the Lord could
pass.

COLLECT.

Famulorum tuorum, quce- We beseech Thee, O Lord,

sumus Domine, delict is ignosce: pardon the sins of Thy ser-

ut qui Tibi placere de actibus vants : that we who cannot

nostris non valemus, Genitricis please Thee by our actions, may

Filii Tui Domini nostri inter- be saved by the intercession of

cessione salvemur : Qui tecum, the Mother of Thy Son, our

&c. Lord, Who, with Thee, &c.

This prayer sums up all the thoughts of this Office : the
captivity of sin, our own helplessness, and the good things of
Jerusalem, high among which is Mary, by whose intercession
we hope to reach them.

374 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

During Advent.

The Antiphon and Prayer are from Lauds for this season.
The Little Chapter is from Prime. The Versicle and Response
commemorate the Annunciation.

During Christmas-tide.

The Antiphon and Prayer are from the Proper of Lauds ;
the Little Chapter and Versicle as above.

375

CHAPTER VIII.

AT VESPERS [l], OR EVENSONG.

The introductory Prayers are as at Lauds.

FIRST ANTIPHON.

Dum esset Rex in accubitu While the King was at His

Suo nardus med dedit odorem repose my spikenard gave forth
suavitdtis. its odour of sweetness.

The Antiphons of this office form a series of pictures of
Our Lady's relations with our Lord. This first one refers to
the Incarnation. While the King was reposing in the unspeak-
able joy of the Father He was attracted to earth by the
immaculate soul of Mary, which, like spikenard, gave forth its
odour. Mary was thus a sharer in the sacrifice of the Lamb,
which was the purpose of the Incarnation ; and this thought
must be borne in mind while saying the following Psalm
which treats of the Eternal Priesthood of her Son.

PSALM cix.
Title.— A Psalm of David.

Argument.

Tomasi : That Christ was born from the spiritual
womb of God the Father, before the morning star. The
voice of the Church and of Christ to the Father. The voice

[l] Vespers is the hour of the Evening Incense, and together with Lauds forms the
original office. It follows the general lines of the Morning Song. Says Durandus :
The Church in this hour says five Psalms — first, on account of the five wounds of
Christ Who offered His sacrifice for us at the Vespertide of the world. Secondly,

376 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

of the Church concerning the Father and the Son. The
Promise of the Father to the Son. A prophecy of future
victory and concerning the Incarnation. It is sung concerning
Christ the Lord.

Venerable Bede : This Psalm sings most fully and briefly
of the Incarnation and Divinity of our Lord. In the first
verse the Prophet narrates what the Father said to the Son ;
in the second the Father to some extent, according to the
measure of our captivity, declares the nature of the Godhead.
In the third part the Prophet speaks until the end, showing
the form of His manhood.

(1) Dixit Dominus Domino The Lord said to my Lord :
meo : Sede a dextris Meis. Sit Thou at My right hand.

(2) Donee ponam inimi- Until I place Thine enemies .'
cos Tuos : scabellum pedum as a footstool for Thy feet.
Tuorum.

The beginning of this Psalm can only be compared in
sublimity to the opening words of St. John's Gospel : In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God [i]. The Father said unto the Son, that
which the One did not utter with the mouth, nor the Other
hear with the ear. The Father willeth, and the Son knoweth
it : the Son willeth, and the Father knoweth it. We are in
the presence of the awful mystery of the Blessed Trinity.
Let us fall down and worship. The words are not spoken
to the Eternal Son in respect of His Godhead ; but as
incarnate in time, and therefore inferior to the Father as
touching His Manhood. The Psalmist calls Him my Lord,
because He is flesh of our flesh, our Brother, our very own in
right of His Mother.

Sit thon at My right hand. Our Lord, as Man, occupies the
highest place in heaven, and to Him is committed the judg-

because we pray for forgiveness of those sins which in the course of the day we have
committed through the five senses of our bodies. Thirdly, by those five Psalms the
Church protects herself against nocturnal tribulations. For this hour brings to mind
the weeping of those on whom the Sun of Righteousness hath set and who therefore
are in darkness."
[i] John i. i.

AT VESPERS, OR EVENSONG 377

ment of the world, as it is written : They shall see the Son of Man
coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory [i].
The word sit denotes the Human Nature of Christ, inasmuch
as sitting cannot be predicated of the incorporeal Godhead ;
and in contrast to the prominence of standing, it implies His
present invisibility. St. Augustine says on these words : Sit Thou,
not only on high, but also in secret, exalted that Thou mayest
rule, hidden that Thou mayest be the object of belief ; for
what reward can there be for faith unless that which we believe
be hidden ? The Carmelite observes that it also denotes His
perfect rest after all His sufferings, in contrast to the time
when weary with His journey [2] He sat beside Jacob's well ;
and still more to that day when He was exalted on the painful
throne of the Cross; so that He, Whom His mother called
Benoni, Son of my sorrow, is called by His Father, Benjamin,
that is, Son of My right hand [3]. Sit Thou, rest Thyself beside
Me, rule with Me, enjoy My glory, be nearest unto Me, partake
of My Majesty and power, reign with Me in co-equal power,
as to Godhead with the same, and nearest, as to Thy Manhood.
Until I make Thine enemies as a footstool for Thy feet. The
word until is often used in Scripture without implying cessation
when the point of time indicated as future has been reached.
But in this case there seems to be a limit implied, for St. Paul
says : Then cometh the end, when He shall have delivered up the
kingdom to God, even the Father ; when He shall have put down
all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign until
He hath put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that
shall be destroyed is Death. For He hath put all things under
His feet. . . . And when all shall be subdued unto Him,
then shall the Son also Himself be subjected unto Him that put
all things under Him, that God may be all in all [4]. From
this we must not suppose, as Lorin points out, that our
Lord's Human Nature will be absorbed in His Divine, or that
He will cease to bear Rule ; whereas it is said of Him : Thy
throne, 0 God, is for ever and ever [5]. The true meaning is
that His Mediatorial Office and task of administering the

[l] Matt. xxiv. 30. [4] I Cor. xv. 24-28.

[2] John iv. 6. [5] Ps. xlvi. 7.

[3] Gen. xxxv. 18.

378 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

government of the Church Militant will then cease, as there
will be no more sin requiring His intercession, no more war
demanding His invincible leadership. But His Priesthood is
eternal and He always will be the mouthpiece of Creation,
worshipping the Father with a perfect and complete adoration.
His enemies, sin and evil, shall be made His footstool, whether
trodden in His anger and trampled in His fury, as in the case
of the finally impenitent, or voluntarily humbling themselves
to worship at His footstool ; for He is holy [i]. Bellarmine notes
that it is the Father Who speaks these words ; not as implying
the Son cannot do it for Himself, since whatever the Father
doth the Son doth likewise, but because this is part of the
Son's reward for His obedience as Man : Wherefore God hath
highly exalted Him [2], By reason of the close union which
exists between Jesus and Mary, we may now read this verse
of her set at His right hand and given the victory. May we
be her willing captives !

(3) Virgam virtutis Tuce The Lord shall send forth

emittet Dominus ex Sion : the rod of Thy power out of

domindre in media inimi- Sion : Rule Thou in the midst

corum Tuorum. of Thine enemies.

Christ Himself is the Rod out of the stem of Jesse [3], but as
He in His Manhood went forth not from Sion, but from
Bethlehem, commentators take the words generally of the
Gospel Law preached first from Jerusalem, and more especially
of the Cross, the sceptre of Christ's Kingdom, His strong staff
and beautiful rod [4] ; wherewith He, as with a bar of iron,
bruises His opponents to make their hearts contrite ; where-
with He, by the hands of the Apostles, subdued the world.

In the midst of Thine enemies, that is to say, in the very hearts
of those who were once Thy bitterest foes. And therefore
it is said Rule — not slay — because the Kingdom of Christ is
enlarged not by destruction but by the conversion of sinners.

[i] Ps. c. 5. [3] Is. xi. i.

[2] Phil. ii. 9. [4] Jer. xlviii. 17.

AT VESPERS, OR EVENSONG 379

(4) Tecum principium in With Thee is the beginning,

die virtu tis Tuce in splendori- in the day of Thy power, in the
bus sanctorum : Ex utero ante splendours of the saints : from
ludferum ginui Te. the womb before the morning

star have I begotten Thee.

With Thee, inherent in Thy Nature. In the day of Thy
power, when taking on Thee our flesh. In the splendours of
the saints, when Thou shalt give light unto the world by the
beauty and radiance of Thine Apostles and disciples ; or
when Thou shalt come to judge and display Thy force and
power in marvellous fashion and make the splendours of Thy
rising saints more glorious than that of the sun. Such exalted
power is in Thee, because Thou art of the same substance
with Me and partake of the same Nature, seeing that / begot
Thee from the womb before the morning star. From the womb.
The Sonship of our Lord is not an adoption, but natural and
inherent. Some see here a reference to that " Fruit of the
generous womb" of which the Angelical sings in the Pange
Lingua, and to the Immaculate Conception, which made of
Mary's womb a sanctified tabernacle for the operations of the
Holy Ghost. The Birth of our Lord was in the splendour of
the saints, because of the glorious vision of the angelic hosts
which proclaimed His Nativity, because of the presence of
the Queen of Saints, and St. Joseph, the just man. St. Augus-
tine thus explains this difficult verse : The beginning means
the Eternal Father, the Source of all things, even of the Son
and Holy Ghost ; and that His union with the Son, always
perfect, though hidden, will be disclosed and revealed in the
day of the Son's power at the Judgment, amidst the glories
of the risen saints. The Doctor of Grace takes the last clause
to denote not only the eternal Generation of the Word before
the stars of heaven, but also the miraculous Birth of Christ
in the early morning of Christmas day ; or, as others will have
it, of her who looketh forth as the morning [i] in her beauty
and purity.

[i] Cant. vi. 10.

380 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

(5) Jurdvit Dominus et non The Lord swore and will

pcenitebit Eum : Tu es Sdcerdos not repent Him : Thou art a

in ceternum secunduni ordinem Priest for ever according to the

Melchisedech. order of Melchisedech.

Father Lorin points out that we have an Apostle, St. Paul,
to explain this glorious revelation. The Lord swore. The
Apostle dwells on the exceeding solemnity of this rite of
inauguration, distinguishing Christ from the Aaronic ministry.
For those priests were made without an oath, but this with an
oath made by Him thai said unto Hun : The Lord swore and
will not repent : Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of
Melchisedech : by so much was Jesus made a surety of a better
Testament [i]. Next the Apostle emphasises the words for
ever, as forming another ground of distinction. And they truly
were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by
reason of death ; but this Man, because He continueth ever, hath
an eternal Priesthood : wherefore He is able also to save them
to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth
to make intercession for them [2]. And thereby the mystical
character of Melchisedech and his superiority over Abraham
are pointed out, in that his name and office indicate Him as
King of Righteousness and King of Peace ; and as being a
type of an Eternal Priest, having no earthly origin, no begin-
ning nor ending ; and that by receiving tithes from the
ancestors of Levi he must rank, of necessity, above the
Levitical priesthood. Therefore, himself a Gentile, he typifies
that King and Priest who should be the Ruler and Head of
the Church made up of Jew and Gentile [3]. The word order
implies the union of the Priestly office with the Kingly rank,
as in the prophet Zacharias : He shall be a priest upon His
throne [4]. From the offering of Melchisedech, Bread and
Wine, we shall see here the obvious reference to the
Eucharistic Sacrifice.

(6) Dominus a dextris Tuis : The Lord at Thy right hand :

confregit in die irce SUCK reges. He shall wound even kings in

the day of His wrath.

[l] Heb. vii. 21. [3] Ibid. 2.

[2] Ibid. 23. [4] vi. 13.

AT VESPERS, OR EVENSONG 381

The Psalmist here directs his words to the Eternal Father
at Whose right hand is the Lord Who is to do these wondrous
deeds. Although kings may rise up against the Anointed and
strive to overthrow His Church, yet He will rout them. He
has done so in the past and will do so finally at the Doom.

(7) Judicdbit in nationibus, He shall judge among the
implebit ruinas : conquassdbit nations, He shall fill the ruins :
capita in terra multorum. He shall dash to pieces the heads

in the land of many.

St. Augustine understands this verse of the dealings of
God and Christ with the enemies of the Church in this world ;
and takes the words as denoting His work in the conversion
of souls. St. Bruno takes the first clause of our Lord's rule
over Jew and Gentile alike ; not judging them, but judging
and overthrowing Satan's power among them ; the second
clause of the restoration of His ruined Sion by building up
again those who level themselves low in humility, or by filling
up anew with men the heavenly ranks left vacant by the fate
of the angels ; while the last paragraph is taken as meaning
that He makes Himself the one Head, overthrowing all rivals
which set up many heads other than Himself in the world.
Some of the Fathers take the verse of the Day of Judgment,
and look upon our Lord as the Divine Conqueror and Avenger
of God's insulted Majesty.

(8) De torrente in via bibet : He shall drink of the torrent
propterea exaltdbit caput. in the way : therefore shall He

lift up His head.

To the splendours of the Psalm, the pomp and majesty
therein revealed, there comes now a minor chord of intense
poignancy. The Divine King and Priest is to suffer ; for He
is the pre-ordained Victim. Torrent, that is, an intermittent
water-course temporarily swollen by storms which bring down
the rains from the hills. And this is explained as typifying
the hurried, turbid, noisy, yet brief course of human life, to
which our Lord bound Himself by His Incarnation, from His
throne in heaven ; drinking of the troubles of our mortal
condition truly in the way; for He was a stranger and a

382 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

pilgrim on earth, far from His country ; nay, going down
by His Passion, which He began by crossing over the brook
Cedron [i], into the lowest depths of the torrent, so as not
to drink for refreshment and pleasure, but allowing the waters
to come in even to His Soul [2], when His Head was lifted up
on the Cross as he drank the last drops of that cup His Father
had given Him. For His obedience thus carried out God
hath highly lifted Him up, first in the Resurrection and then
in the Ascension, and hath given Him a Name above every other
name [3]. Thus St. Augustine.

GLORIA PATRI.

Glory to the Father Who said unto my Lord : Sit Thou
at My right hand ; Glory to the Son, my Lord, the Priest
for ever according to the order of Melchisedech ; Glory to
the Holy Ghost the Power amidst the splendours of the Saints.

SECOND ANTIPHON.

Lceva Ejus sub cdpite meo, His left hand is under my

et dextera Illius amplexdbitur head, and His right hand
me. embraces me.

The gracious vision of the Maiden Mother bearing in her
arms her Son Who tenderly embraces her is at once suggested
by this Antiphon. If He in all the weakness and helplessness
of babyhood clung to her and caressed her, how much more
now does He in heaven reward her with His unspeakable love
for all she did for Him on earth ? The thought of the dignity
accruing to our Lady through the Divine Maternity gives a
point to the Psalm which follows ; for she has been taken
from her humility and set above the princes of heaven. She,
the Virgin, has become the joyful mother of children, having
borne us all in Jesus Christ. Therefore, as says St. Bernard,
is she the happy soul resting on the heart of Christ and
reposing in the arms of the Divine Word !

[l] John xviii. i. [2] Ps. Ixx. I. [3] Phil. ii. 9.

AT VESPERS, OR EVENSONG 383

PSALM cxn.
Title.— Alleluia.

Argument.

Tomasi : That Christ turneth the Church, long barren,
into the fruitfulness of holiness. The voice of the Church
with praise. The voice of the Church concerning her faithful
ones.

Venerable Bede : The Prophet in the first part exhorts the
devout children to offer praise to God and to proclaim Him
in all the world. Secondly he does himself what he exhorts
others to do. The calling of the New People.

(1) Laudate pueri Domi- Praise the Lord ye children :
num: lauddte nomen Domini. 0 praise the Name of the Lord.

(2) Sit Nomen Domini be- Blessed be the Name of the
nedictum : ex hoc nunc et Lord : from this time and for
usque in sceculum. evermore.

A triple utterance of the Divine Name, the triple call to
praise it, veils here the mystery of the Blessed Trinity. Ye
children : St. Augustine bids us note purity, innocence, and
docility are here denoted, not any special time of life ; as the
Apostle says : Brethren, be not children in understanding ; how-
beit in malice be ye children ; but in understanding be men [i].
It is out of the mouths of such babes and sucklings as these
that He hath perfected praise, as He accepted that of the
children in the Temple when the voices of men were silent.

From this time forth, God's praises are not to cease with our
advancing years. The words do not mean that He begins to
be praised only now ; but that each of us makes a beginning
of joining in the hymn of creation ; while if we only persevere
in His service our song shall go on for evermore in heaven.

(3) A solis ortu usque ad From the rising of the sun

occdsum : lauddbile Nomen to the going down : the Lord's
Domini. Name is worthy of praise.

Here is a further instruction. God's praise is to be not
merely ceaseless but universal ; not restricted by the limits of

[i] I Cor. xiv. 20.

384 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

Judea, but extending to the utmost bounds of the earth. This
is achieved by the Sacrifice of the Mass which was foretold
by the prophet Malachias : From the rising of the sun till the
going down of the same My Name shall be great among the
Gentiles : and in every place incense shall be offered to My Name
and a clean oblation : For My Name shall be great among the
heathen, saith the Lord of Hosts [i]. In which prophecy there
is exactly the same three-fold proclamation of the Holy Name,
pointing, as in the Psalm, to the same mystery. And we, too,
says Cardinal Hugo, in life and in death, in the morning and
the evening of our mortal career, praise the Lord Jesus for
His arising as the Sun of Righteousness in His Nativity, His
setting in the ruddy glow of His Passion.

(4) Excelsus super omnes The Lord is high above all
gentes Dominus : et super ccelos the heathen : and His glory
gldria Ejus. above the heavens.

By the preaching of the Gospel the Lord is high above all
the heathen, for His Name is known and loved by those who
heretofore were darkness, but now are light.

His glory above the heavens. We may here see a reference
to the angelic songs at the Nativity, and again to the renewed
paean of triumph at the Ascension, as well as to His Mission
of the Paraclete thereupon to the lower heavens, the Apostles,
who brought the Gentiles to confess His Name.

(5) Quis sicut Dominus Deus Who is like the Lord our
noster, Qui in altis habitat : et God, Who dwells on high : and
humilia respicit in codo et in regardeth the things that are
terra f lowly in heaven and earth ?

What are the things that are lowly in heaven f There is not
a creature there who is not penetrated through and through
with humility. Now humility or lowliness means an acknow-
ledgment that we are creatures having nothing of ourselves
and owing all to God's love. The Prophet says : Thus saith
the High and Lofty One that inhabiteth eternity : Whose Name
is Holy ; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that

[i] Mai. i. ii.

AT VESPERS, OR EVENSONG 385

is of a contrite and humble spirit ; to revive the spirit of the
lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite ones [i]. If these
words are true of God's saints, how much more perfectly are
they fulfilled in her who, filled with the same Spirit that
inspired this Psalm, said : He hath regarded the lowliness of
His handmaiden [2] ; and how much more of Him Who,
as God, ceased not to be in heaven while as Man He was
the pattern of humility : Learn of Me because I am meek and
lowly of heart [3] .

(6) Suscitans a terra in- He taketh the needy out of
opem : et de stercore erigens the dust : and raiseth up the
pauperem. poor man from the dunghill.

(7) Ut cdllocet eum cum That He may set him with
principibus : cum principibus the princes : even with the
popidi Sui. princes of His people.

These words are taken almost without variation from the
Song of Anna [4], and are recalled in the Song of our Lady.
The needy — the poor man. Some commentators take these of
Christ Himself, that Poor One Who had nowhere to lay His
head, and Who was abased to the lowest in His Passion,
becoming a worm and no man [5], and then by His Resurrec-
tion was set on high. The earth and the dunghill are taken
by some to refer respectively to the Jews and Gentiles ; and
they tell us that Christ chooses His elect from both these
indiscriminately, to set them with His angels and saints in
heaven. Referring the verse to our Lord, St. Bernard reminds
us of His Birth in the manger. He was literally brought
down to the humiliation of the dunghill, whence He was
exalted again to riches and honour. So we are reminded
that humility and penance are the first steps towards being
lifted up by the Lord and set among His princes. These
verses find a special echo in the souls of those who have been
called to the religious life. Taken out of their own nothing-
ness and misery, God has set them among His chosen ones ;
here on earth ruling, as princes, their bodies by enlightened

[i] Is. Ivii. 15. [4] I Kings ii. 8.

[2] Luke i. 48. [5] Ps. xxi. 6.

[3] Matt. xi. 29.

25

386 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

Reason, and in heaven reigning with Him for ever. A Voca-
tion is indeed a fellowship with the saints and a principality
exceeding all earthly honours.

(6) Qui habitdrefacit steri- He maketh the barren

lent in domo : matrem filiorum woman to keep the house : a
latdntem. joyful mother of children.

This verse is taken in three senses. The first refers to the
Gentiles brought into the Church. Isaias prophesies thus :
Sing 0 barren, thou that didst not bear : break forth into
singing and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child :
for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the
married wife, saith the Lord. Enlarge the place of thy tent, and
let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations : spare
not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes. For thou
shall break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy
seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be
inhabited. Fear not ; for thou shall not be ashamed : neither
be thou confounded : for thou shall not be put to shame : for
thou shall forget the shame of thy youth, and shall not remember
the reproach of thy widowhood any more; For thy Maker is
thine husband : the Lord of Hosts is His Name : and thy
Redeemer the Holy One of Israel : The God of the whole earth
shall He be called [i]. The second interpretation is of a soul
hitherto unfruitful in good works, but now wedded to Christ
by penance and love and bringing forth abundant fruits to
Christ ; as we see in the religious orders and the lives of the
saints. The third interpretation is of the fruitful virginity of
our ever dear and blessed Lady who has become, at the foot
of the Cross, the Mother of Christians.

GLORIA PATRI.

Glory be to the Father Who dwelleth on high ; Glory to
the Son Who lifts us up from the dunghill ; Glory to the
Holy Ghost Who maketh the barren to keep house.

[I] liv. 1-5-

AT VESPERS, OR EVENSONG 387

THIRD ANTIPHON.

Nigrasum sedform6sa,filice I am black but comely, 0

Jerusalem : idea dilexit me daughters of Jerusalem: there-
Rex et introduxit me in cubi- fore hath the King loved me
culum Suum. and brought me into His

innermost chamber.

It is the Maiden-mother, smitten with grief and plunged
in a sea of woe, that we contemplate in this Antiphon. Mary
is at the foot of the Cross. Sorrow has discoloured her. Her
compassion with her Divine Son has pierced her to the heart.
She could have laid down her life for Him had He wished
it : and she lives to see Him die ; and willingly sees she this
(though it break her heart), for such is His will. Her
perfect conformity with the Divine will in this supreme hour
is the last test of that Mother beyond all compare. There-
fore is she, in the peace of Jerusalem, the object of her Son's
tenderest love.

PSALM cxxi.

This, the same as the third Psalm of Terce, will be found
at page 343.

FOURTH ANTIPHON.

Jam hiems trdnsiit, imber The winter is past, the rain

dbiit et recessit : surge arnica is over and gone : Arise, My
Mea, et veni. friend, and come away.

The chilly winter of sorrow is past, the rain of affliction
is over and gone ; Mary has been made conformable to the
Image of her Divine Son. The exile is at an end. For twelve
years has she helped on the infant Church ; and now the
moment of reunion is at hand. Come, My beloved, arise and
come away. And like she did after the Angel's first visit,
Mary in those days arose and went with haste into the hill-
country [i], into that City among the mountains, whence

[i] Luke i. 39.

388 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

cometh help, where the Son abides. It is the picture of
Mary assumed into heaven we contemplate in this Antiphon,
and of the sleep He giveth His beloved.

PSALM cxxvi.

This, the same as the second Psalm at None, will be found
at page 365.

FIFTH ANTIPHON.

Speciosa facia es ei sitavis Thou art made beauteous

in deliciis tuis, sancta Dei and sweet in thy delights, O
Genitrix. holy Mother of God.

In this Antiphon Mary crowned and rewarded in heaven
is the joyful and hopeful picture set before us. The woman
set in the heavens clothed with the sun with the moon beneath
her feet, and about her head a crown of twelve stars [i]. She
is there for our sakes, in the King's house, as Esther, to
beseech for her people, to do God's mercy towards them,
to make His Word run swiftly in their hearts, to scatter the
ashes of penance over their lives, to break up the icy-bound
hearts and to be ever the monument and example to all Israel
of God's righteousness and judgment.

PSALM CXLVII.

Title.— Alleluia.

Argument.

Tomasi : That Christ may fill His Church with peace and
abundance of spiritual wheat. The voice of Christ to the
Church that she may praise the Father : or the voice of the
Holy Ghost by the Prophet to the same that she may not
cease to praise Christ.

Venerable Bede : In the first part the Prophet accosts
Jerusalem, that is, the City on high, that now, made secure in
her citizens she ought to praise the Lord with continual

[i] Apoc. xii. i.

AT VESPERS, OR EVENSONG 389

rejoicing. Secondly he counts up at more length, in mystical
expression, what great kindness the Loving and Merciful One
hath bestowed on His people.

(1) Lauda Jerusalem Do- Praise the Lord 0 Jeru-
minum : lauda Deum tuum salem : Praise thy God 0
Siow. Stow.

The two names denote the one Church under two aspects.
St. Paul knew the first as the heavenly one, when He spoke
of Jerusalem which is above, is free, which is the Mother of
us all [i].

And he knew what Sion meant who said : Ye are come unto
Mount Sion and the Church of the first-born which are written
in heaven [2]. Both of them, the Triumphant and Militant
Church, have the praise of God as their one occupation. But,
says the Carmelite, they perform it in different ways. The
Church Militant praises Him by persevering in works of
mercy ; the Church Triumphant by pure enjoyment and
delight in Him, an occupation full of sweetness : interrupted
by no trouble, weakened by no fatigue, disturbed by no cloud.
Our work will be to praise God and to love Him : Blessed are
they that dwell in Thy house, 0 Lord, they shall be always prais-
ing Thee [3]. Why ? Unless that they shall be always loving
Thee. Why ? Unless that they shall be always beholding
Thee.

(2) Quoniam confortdvit For He hath strengthened
seras portdrum tudrum : bene- the bars of thy gates : and hath
dixit filiis tuis in te. blessed thy children in thee.

The true bar of these gates , says St. John Chrysostom, that
by which they are fastened on the right hand and the left, is
the Cross to which He, Who is the Door, was nailed. It is
the bar of the heavenly as well as of the earthly Church, and
it was in the might of its strong resistance that the gates of
hell did not prevail against the Gospel, when all kings and
nations and cities and hosts of evil spirits endeavoured to
sweep it away. The lesser, but still important, bars of the
Church on earth are the keys of St. Peter, the doctrine of

[i] Gal. iv. 26. [2] Heb. xii. 23. [3] Ps. Ixxxv. 4.

390 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

the Apostles, the bishops, doctors, and priests, by whose vigour
and watchfulness the assaults of heresy and unbelief are
driven back. The clear living Voice of the Church, speaking
through its Infallible Head, teaches us what we have to
believe and what we have to do, and guards us from wander-
ing. Faith, Hope and Charity are three good bars against
the devil and his angels ; but Faith faileth, Hope groweth
feeble, and Charity waxeth cold, unless each and all be
strengthened by the Gifts of the Holy Ghost.

And hath blessed thy children, that is, not only made them
happy, but also (a frequent meaning in Scripture) numerous ;
granting to the Church to increase and multiply and fill the
earth.

In thee. The promise is confined to the Church. St.
Augustine asks, if the Lord has strengthened the bars of the
gates, how comes it to pass that there are so many scandals in
the Church ? Because here the wheat and tares are mingled
together ; this world is the threshing floor, not the garner. It
is not said that God has shot the bars of the gates, but that He
has strengthened them and that for future use ; for the time
when the Bridegroom comes, and they that be ready to go
in with Him to the Marriage. Then shall the door be shut.
Then, says the Carthusian, no foe may enter, for the law of
absolute holiness keeps sin aloof ; no friends shall pass out,
for the blessed are confirmed for ever in grace, according
to the saying : Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the
temple of My God, and he shall go out no more [i],

And hath blessed thy children within thee, since Blessed ate
they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the
Tree of Life and may enter through the gates of the City [2].

(3) Qui Posuit fines tuos He maketh peace in thy

pacem : et adipe frumenti borders : and with the fat of
sdtiat te. wheat satisfieth thee-

Jerusalem is too strong to be assailed, and no foe may
cross the frontier of her territory. In that City on high there
is peace even in the borders, for the last and lowest saint in
heaven is filled with tranquil rejoicing. Here, in the Church

[i] Apoc. iii. 12. [2] Apoc. xxii. 14.

AT VESPERS, OR EVENSONG 391

below, although without are fightings and within alarms, yet
being justified by faith we have peace with God through Jesus
Christ our Lord [i]. There is another sense in which we can
understand peace in thy borders ; and that is as a prophecy of
the Reunion of Christendom when those sects which border
on the Church in doctrine and worship shall no longer make
war against her, but be reconciled in purest friendship.

And with the fat of wheat satisfieth thee. St. John Chrysos-
tom points out that here the Blessed Sacrament is meant.
Its only home, according to the intention of God, is the
Catholic Church. He who eats the Lamb outside the House
is profane, says one of the Fathers. And observe how by
these words peace and wheat we are taught, says St. Cyril of
Jerusalem, how truly the Sacrament of the Altar is the bond
of union and mutual charity among the children of Sion.
The word satisfieth belongs, says Bellarmine, to Jerusalem
above, not Sion below. Here we are indeed fed with the
fat of wheat, but we feed on the Word of God under the
Sacramental veils ; we drink the water of wisdom, but only
from the droppings of the Holy Writ ; therefore we are not
yet satisfied, nay, our very blessedness consists in hungering
and thirsting after righteousness [2]. But there the saints
shall know the sweetness of the Eternal Word with no type
nor veil between them ; there they shall put their lips to the
very Source of wisdom, and no longer drink of the mere rills
of droppings which come down to water the earth.

(4) Qui emittit eloquium He sendeth forth His com-

Suum terra : velociter currit mandment upon the earth :
sermo Ejus. His Word runneth swiftly.

The commandment of the New Law of His kingdom upon
earth was sent when He ordered it to be preached to every
nation : His Word ran swiftly, rejoicing as a giant to run his
course [3], when the Only Begotten, the Almighty Word, leaped
down from heaven out of the regal throne [4], to be born of
our ever dear and Blessed Lady, to show Himself for a brief
time on earth, to renew the world by His Death, and to carry,
by means of His Apostles, the glad tidings into all lands. His

[i] Rom. v. i. [3] Ps. xix. 5.

[2] Cf. Matt. v. 6. [4] Wisdom xviii. 15.

392 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

Word runneth swiftly in him who is free from sin and, giving
himself up to God, widens his heart : / have run in Thy com-
mandments when Thou didst enlarge my heart [i].

(5) Qui dat nivem sicut He giveth snow like wool :
lanam : nebulam sicut ci- and scattereth hoar-frost like
nerem spargit. ashes.

The snow God sends is not merely like wool in its white-
ness, but because it serves, in spite of its coldness, as a coverlet
to keep the earth sheltered and warm from the keen blasts
of winter. The hoar-frost, powdered lightly over the ground
everywhere like ashes, also penetrates below the surface of the
earth, and, expanding as it does so, breaks up the soil, making
it friable and easier for plants to shoot upwards through ; it
also kills most of the insect life that would destroy the vegeta-
tion if unchecked. St. Augustine points out that God takes
sinners, cold and lifeless, with neither spiritual fervour nor
practical activity and so transfigures them that, as Christ's
raiment when He flashed forth His radiance for a moment
on earth, they became shining, exceeding white as the snow [2].
Conversely this chill snow becomes the raiment of Christ,
without spot or wrinkle, and keeps His members warm in
new-found charity. The frost which breaks up the hard
ground, and the deeper it goes does more good, what is it
save those salutary afflictions which God sends to soften
sinners, and make them fit to receive the seed of His Word ;
till they themselves are colder than the snow itself, but now
kindled through and through with the fervour of Divine love,
become like ashes, tokens alike of fire and repentance, the
relics of a whole burnt offering upon the altar of God ?

(6) Mittit crystdllum Suam He casteth forth His ice like
sicut bucellas : ante fdciem morsels : who is able to abide
frigoris Ejus quis sustinebit ? His frost ?

St. Augustine explains that ice, more solid and cold than
snow or frost, denotes the most hardened sinners, not so
much coarse and depraved ones, as hard, keen, clear enemies
of truth, who are not ignorant of it, but deliberately resist it,

[i] Mark ix. 3. [2] Ps. cxviii. 32.

AT VESPEKS, OR EVENSONG 393

like Saul of Tarsus ; yet he, in God's providence, was cast
forth to feed the Gentiles hungering for the Bread of Life ;
himself, as a member of Christ, being a morsel of that Bread.
And when God did so send forth the mighty preacher, who
was able to abide His frost ? Another interpreter has it that
as ice is pure and transparent, so that pure and crystalline
substance which is sent forth as morsels of bread is the Blessed
Sacrament of Christ's Body. Again, ice in its stern rigidity
and coldness is an emblem of the Mosaic Law broken up by
God's grace, since who could abide that frost ?

Who can abide His frost f Who is really in love with sin ?
Who can bear to be cold and hard, unwarmed by the genial
rays of the Sun of Righteousness ? Does any despair because
he is snow and ice when he fain would be fire and heat ? Let
him be of good cheer, for —

(7) Emittet Verbum Suum, He will send forth His Word
et liquefdciet ea : flabit Spiri- and will melt them : His Spirit
tus Ejus et fluent aquce. will blow and the waters will

flow.

The remedy for sin is at hand, the prison of winter is
unlocked by the bright sun, and warm breezes, by the Incar-
nation of Jesus and the sending of the Holy Ghost, the
Southern Wind which blows through the garden of God and
the perfume of its spices flows out [i]. The waters will flow
when the hard heart melts into tears of repentance ; the
waters flow when all the mighty powers of heart and head,
but lately frozen up in unbelief, melt and come down in
eloquent torrents of doctrine, and irrigate the fields below ;
as they did when the Word, with His one cry of Saul, Saul,
why persecutest thou Me f [2] melted that persecutor ; as
they did when the Holy Ghost set him apart for the work of
preaching to the Gentiles. Wherefore it follows : —
(

(8) Qui annuntiat Verbum He showeth His Word unto

suum Jacob : justitias et Jacob : His stattites and
judicia Sua Israel. judgments unto Israel.

[i] Cant. iv. 16. [2] Acts ix. 4.

394 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

(9) Non fecit tdliter omni He hath not dealt so with

nationi : et judicia Sua non any nation ; neither hath He
manifestdvit eis. manifested His judgments to

them.

The younger people, the Gentile Church, has had the
Word manifested to it before its eyes : Jesus Christ has
been evidently set forth [i]. The Word came first to the Jews,
the literal but carnal Jacob : He came unto His own, and His
own received Him not [2]. The new Jacob has supplanted his
elder brother : For blindness in part is happened unto Israel
until the fulness of the Gentiles is come in [3]. St. Bruno
remarks, the first part of God's grace is showing His Word,
that we may embrace Him by faith while we are still struggling
as Jacob ; the next is the process of sanctification through
obedience, when, after promising allegiance to our King, He
explains to us the laws of His kingdom and makes us Israel,
that is, princes of God.

He hath not dealt so with any nation ; as in spite of their
privileges, the Jews would not listen to the Word, these
have been taken away and applied to the Christian Church
gathered out of those very heathen to whom He had not
manifested His judgments, but now are favoured by His
grace ; while the carnal Israel is rejected even as they rejected
Him.

GLORIA PATRI.

Glory be to the Father Who sendeth forth His Word;
Glory to the Son Himself the Word that melteth sinners ;
Glory to the Holy Ghost the Spirit Who maketh the waters
flow.

LITTLE CHAPTER [4].

Ab initio et ante scecula From the beginning and

credta sum; et usque ad futu- before the ages was I created;

rum scEculum non desinam : et and for all eternity I shall

in habitatione sancta coram never cease : and in the holy

ipso ministrdvi. dwelling have I ministered

before Him.

~Rf. Deo gratias. Thanks be to God.

[l] Gal. iii. I. [2] John i. II. [3] Rom. xi. 25. [4] Eccl. xxiv. 14.

AT VESPERS, OR EVENSONG 395

These words apply in the first place to the Eternal Wisdom
of God, the Second Person of the Adorable Trinity. But
Holy Church, the only Mistress and Explainer of Scripture,
also applies them to her who is the " Seat of Wisdom," and
whose holiness is a mark of the great work which the Divine
Wisdom has done. As in the five Antiphons and Psalms we have
had our Lady in her five relations with God, so here we have her
as for ever pre-ordained, the Mother of the Living ; God having
decreed Creation, in the same decree were pre-ordained Jesus
and Mary : He as the Head of Creation, she as the way by
which He was to enter it. He is therefore the real Adam,
and she the real Eve. Our first parents according to the
flesh were created on the model of Jesus and Mary : For
Whom all things were made, that He might have in all things the
principality [i] ; and as these models existed in the mind of
God before the Fall was discerned, it follows that they were
not included in it ; Jesus on account of His Godhead, Mary
on account of her Motherhood. We may believe that Jesus
would have come in any case, so as to be able to give His Father
that worship which Creation could not. But when the Fall
was foreseen then did the Incarnation take its remedial
character, and show us depths upon depths of God's infinite
love. Without the Fall we might have had Jesus Incarnate,
but not the infinite pathos of the Crucifix. We should not
have known the Man of Sorrows, nor the Mother thereof.
This is the teaching of Scotus on the Incarnation, and in it
the dogma of the Immaculate Conception seems to find its
natural place. The Myroure explains this Little Chapter : " The
Chapter is said in the person of our Lady thus : ab initio.
This is thus to mean : Endlessly, before all time, I was fore-
known and ordained of God to be made. . . . And I
shall never fail, neither in soul by any sin, nor in body by any
corruption. For our Lady's holy body is not turned to cor-
ruption in earth, but taken up and knit with the soul in the
glory of heaven. . . . Was it not a holy dwelling when
our Lord Jesus Christ dwelt in His Mother's womb, where she
ministered to Him the matter of His holy Body ? Was it not

[i] Cf. Colos. i. 16, 18.

396

THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

also a holy dwelling where our Lord Jesus Christ and our
Lady, His Mother, and Joseph dwelt together in one house,
where our Lady served her blessed Son Jesus Christ with
meat and drink and clothes ? Full pleasant was that service
before Him and before all the Blessed Trinity, Father, Son
and Holy Ghost. It is also a holy dwelling where God's
servants dwell together in one congregation and in one
charity ; for there is our Lord Jesus Christ in the midst
among them, as He Himself says in His Gospel [i] ; and
there our Lady ministered her help and grace full busily that
they may serve her Son to His pleasure" [2].

HYMN.

Ave maris stella,
Dei Mater alma,
Atque semper Virgo,
Felix cceli porta.

Sumens illud Ave
Gabrielis ore,
Funda nos in pace,
Mutans Hevce no men.

Solve vincla reis,
Profer lumen ccecis,
Mala nostra pelle,
Bona cuncta posce.

Monstra te esse matrem,
Sumat per te preces,
Qui pro nobis natus,
Tulit esse tuns.

Virgo singuldris
Inter omnes mitis,
Nos culpis solutos
Mites fac et castos.

Gentle star of ocean,
Portal of the sky,
Ever Virgin-mother
Of the Lord most high.

0 by Gabriel's Ave,
Uttered long ago,
Eva's name reversing
'Stablish peace below I

Break the captives fetters,
Light on blindness pour ;
All our ills expelling.
Every bliss implore.

Show thyself a Mother ;
Offer Him our sighs,
Who for us incarnate
Did not thee despise.

Virgin of all Virgins !
To thy shelter take us ;
Gentlest of the gentle !
Chaste and gentle make us.

[i] Matt, xviii. 20.

[2] pp. 141-2.

AT VESPERS, OR EVENSONG 397

Vitam prcesta puram, Still, as on our journey,

Her para tutum, Help our weak endeavour ;

Ut -videntes Jesum Till with thee and Jesus,

Semper collcetemur. We rejoice for ever.

Sit laus Deo Patri, Through the highest heavens,

Summo Christo decus, To the Almighty Three,

Spiritui sancto, Father, Son, and Spirit,

Tribus honor unus. One same glory be.

Amen. Amen.

y. Diffusa est gratia in Grace is poured forth on thy lips.
Idbiis tuis. Wherefore hath God blessed

~8j. Propterea benedixit te thee for ever.
Deus in ceternum.

On this Hymn the pious author of the Myroure thus
comments : —

" In the first verse you praise our Lady for four things.
One is that she is called ' star of the sea ' ; for as that is com-
fortable to ship-men, so is our Lady comfort to all that are
in bitterness of tribulation or temptation in the sea of this
world [i]. And therefore her name, Maria, is as much as to
say, 'star of the sea.' And so Ave Maria and Ave Marts stella
is all one sentence. The second is that she is the Mother of
God. The third is that she is everlasting Virgin. The fourth
is that she is the gate of heaven. Her Son called Himself in
His Gospel, the Door [2] ; for as a man may not well come
into a house but by the door, nor to the door but by the gate,
so may there none come in to heaven but by our Lord Jesus

[l] Says St. Bernard: "O whoever thou art, who knows that thou art tossed
in the flood of this world amidst its storms and tempests, turn not thine eyes away
from the shining of this Star, unless thou wishest to be overwhelmed in the storms.
If the waves of temptation rise up, if thou founder on the rock of temptation, look
up at the Star, call upon Mary. If thou struggle with the waves of pride, ambition,
distraction, envy, look at the Star, call upon Mary. If wrath or avarice, or sen-
suality, shake the boat of thy mind, look to Mary. If terrified at the enormity of
thy crimes and confused at the filth of thy conscience, thou art struck with fear
of the Judge, and begin to sink into the depths of sorrow and slough of despond,
think of Mary. In perils, in difficulties, in doubts, think of Mary, call upon Mary."-
Hom. 2, super Missus est.

[2] John x. 9.

398 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

Christ, that is, the Door ; nor to our Lord Jesus Christ but by
our Lady, that is, the Gate. Therefore you say thus to her,
Ave Marts stella — Hail star of the sea, holy Mother of God,
and always Virgin, the blessed Gate of heaven.

"In the second verse ye praise our Lady for two things,
and one thing ye ask of her. For ye thank her that she
assented to the greeting of Gabriel, for thereby began our
salvation ; like as our perdition began by the assent of Eve to the
fiend. . . . The second, for she hath turned that woe that
Eve brought us into joy. And so she hath changed her name
Eva into Ave ; for Eva spelt backwards maketh Ave, and Eva
is as much as to say, Woe, and Ave is a word of joy. Then
ye ask of her stability of peace, and say thus : Taking that Ave
of the mouth of Gabriel, ground us in peace, changing the
name of Eve.

" In the third verse ye ask of her four things that man
needeth to have help in, after he has fallen into sin. For by
sin he falleth into four great mischiefs, one is that he is so
bound therein that he may not of himself come out thereof.
And as a man may yield himself bound to a lord, but he may
not be free again when he will, right so is it of a man that
maketh himself thrall to the fiend by deadly sin. And therefore
ye pray our Lady that she will loose the bonds of sinners and
make them free. Another mischief is that when a man is
fallen into deadly sin, the fiend blindeth him so in his sight
that he can neither see the peril in which he standeth in nor
how to get him help of deliverance. And therefore in this
ye ask our Lady's help. The third mischief is the great
vengeance that man deserveth by sin, both temporal and
everlasting. And the fourth is the loss of all goods of grace
and glory. And therefore against all these four mischiefs ye
pray to our Lady and say : Loose thou the bands of them
that are guilty, for the first Give them light to them that are
blind, for the second. Do away our evils, for the third.
And ask all goods, for the fourth.

" In the fourth verse ye pray her to show herself a Mother
to God and to the wretched. As a mother tendeth her child
in all manner of perils and diseases that he is in, so she
vouchsafes to show motherly tenderness to us in all our needs,

AT VESPERS, OR EVENSONG 399

bodily and ghostly. And as a mother may get of her son
what she will reasonably desire of him, so she vouchsafed
to speed our errands before God that it may appear well that
that she is His Mother. Therefore ye say thus to her : Show
thyself to be a Mother, and He must take prayers by thee That
vouchsafed to be thy Son for us.

" In the fifth verse ye praise her in two virtues, that is,
maidenhood and mildness ; and ye ask of her three virtues
according to the same, that is, deliverance from sin, meekness
and chastity. Therefore ye say thus : Singular and mild
Virgin amongst all, make us loosed from sin, and mild and
chaste.

"In the sixth verse ye ask of her three things. The first
is clean life. The second is true continuance therein unto
the end that you may then have true passage. And the third
is endless joy in the sight and beholding of God. Therefore
you say : Grant us clean life, make ready a true way, that
we, seeing Jesus, may evermore be glad.

"In the seventh verse ye praise the Blessed Trinity and
say : Praising be to God the Father ; to highest Christ be
glory ; and to the Holy Ghost ; One honour to the Three [i].
Amen."

The Versicle and Response are these favourite words so
often repeated in this office. See the Versicle at the end of
each of the three Nocturns, and Psalm xliv. 3 in the second
Nocturn.

THE ANTIPHON AT THE MAGNIFICAT.

Bedta Mater et Intacta Blessed Mother and Maiden

Virgo, gloriosa Regina mundi, undefiled, Glorious Queen of

intercede pro nobis ad Domi- the world, intercede for us to

num. the Lord.

We now reach the culminating point of Vespers. The
Myroure gives us the following reasons for the Magnificat at
Vespers : " One for in the Evensong time of the world our

[i] The Doxology given here is a translation of the one used in the Office. The
one given in the Myroure varies somewhat from the Roman use.

400 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

Lady, by her singular assent, brought health to mankind.
Another cause is that we should daily have in mind the
Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was wrought in
the eventide of the world, for joy of which this song is made.
The third cause is for our Lord is likened to appear in the
eventide. The fourth cause is that the minds that have been
laboured and wearied in the day with many thoughts and
businesses should then be comforted with the song of joy of
our Lady and be helped by her prayers against temptations of
the night."

Explaining some of the ceremonial observances connected
with this hour, Durandus says : To represent the rejoicing
expressed in this Canticle, lights are lit at Vespers ; either
because the Canticle is of the Gospel, or that we, being of the
number of the wise virgins, may run with the lamp of good
works in the odour of the ointment of the Blessed Virgin,
entering with her into the joy of our Lord. And because our
works are not radiant in lamps, except they be moulded by
love, therefore the Canticle closes with the Antiphon whereby
love is signified.

Incense is offered at the Magnificat [i] ; and Origen thus
explains its use : Behold how our High Priest standeth and
offereth Himself, to separate the living from the dead. Rise
to the loftier heights of His Word, and behold how the very
High Priest, Jesus Christ, having assumed the censer of
human flesh and set therein the fire of the Altar, that is,
the glorious Soul wherewith He was born according to His
Human Nature, and adding thereunto the incense, which is
His Immaculate Spirit, stood between the living and the dead
and suffered death to rule us no longer.

The preliminary Antiphon directs our minds towards her
whose song we are about to sing, so that we may enter into
all her dispositions. Our ever dear and blessed Lady ever
kept singing in her heart the Magnificat. Even in the hour

[i] The solemn incensing of the altar, which typifies our Lord, is reserved to the
priest when officiating at the Office. But there is nothing to prevent incense being
burnt at the Magnificat in a choir of nuns. The smoking thurible set in the midst
of the choir at the Magnificat would preserve the symbolism of the " Hour of
Incense."

AT VESPERS, OR EVENSONG 401

of her deepest sorrow she was magnifying the Lord Who had
done great things for her. And we, with our Magnificat, in
days of trial, sorrow and gloom, must never forget His mercy
towards us, or lose that inward joy which inspired this heavenly
Canticle. Let us therefore apply the words to ourselves and
sing it with the love, gratitude and humility our Lady had,
when at the Visitation she was greeted by St. Elizabeth as,
Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the Fruit of thy
womb [i], and accepted the blessing but referred it all to her
Maker. Let us read the Gospel narrative of the Visitation : —
And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country
with haste, into a city of Juda ; and entered into the house of
Zacharias, and saluted Elizabeth. And it came to pass that,
when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped
in her womb ; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost :
and she spake out with a loud voice, and said : Blessed art
thou among women, and blessed is the Fruit of thy womb. And
whence is this to me that the Mother of my Lord should come to
me f For lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in
my ears, the babe leapt in my womb for joy. And blessed is she
that believed : for there shall be fulfilled those things which were
told her from the Lord. And Mary said [2] ; —

(1) Magnificat dnima mea My soul doth magnify the
Dominum : Lord :

(2) Et exsultdvit spiritus And my spirit hath rejoiced
meus in Deo salutdri meo. in God my Saviour.

" Here," says the Myroure, " we may learn of our Lady
to forsake all vain joy. For after the Angel had been with her
from heaven, after she had conceived the Son of God, and
after Elizabeth had blessed her and praised her as most worthy
Mother of God, in all this she was moved to no vanity, or to
no presumption in herself, but to more meekness and to
praising and rejoicing in God. And that not feignedly, only
with the tongue, but of all the inwardness of soul. And there-
fore she saith not my mouth, but my soul praiseth and my spirit
rejoiceth. And that not in herself but in God Who is Maker
of all things and now is become Man and so Saviour of

[i] Luke L 42. [2] Luke i. 39-46.

26

402 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

mankind, and also that of our Lady. And therefore He is
specially and singularly her Saviour [on account of the pre-
eminent grace of the Immaculate Conception], and none other
in that wise. For by her health and salvation are come to
Man. Therefore she saith my spirit, that is, my soul, hath
joyed in God my Saviour : Here saith St. Bede, we note that
his spirit joyeth in God his Saviour who delighteth in nothing
that is on earth, neither is pleased with plenty of goods or of
worship, nor is broken with grudging or impatience in any
tribulation or disease, but only delighteth and joyeth in mind
of his Maker, of Whom he hopeth to have endless health."

(3) Quia respexit humilitd- For He hath regarded the
tern ancillce Sues : ecce enim ex lowliness of His handmaiden :
hoc bedlam, me dicent omnes for lo ! from henceforth all
generationes. generations shall call me

blessed.

" Here our Lady telleth why she praised, why she joyed
in God, why God was so singularly hers. For He beheld her
meekness, whereby you may see that meekness was the cause
why God chose her to be His mother. And therefore, says
St. Jerome, what is more noble and worthy than to be the
Mother of God ? What is more bright and worshipful than
she whom the brightness of the Father's glory chose to Him-
self ? What is more chaste than she that bore in her body the
Body of Christ ? And yet she saith that God beheld only her
meekness that is the keeper of all virtues. And what follows
thereupon : Lo ! from henceforth all generations shall call me
blessed. All generations of heaven and of earth, of Christians
and of heathen, of Jews and of Saracens, of men and of
women, of poor and of rich, of men and of angels, of right-
wise and of sinners, of wedded and of single, of sovereigns
and of subjects ; all shall say me blessed, all shall praise the
blessedness that God, my Saviour, hath wrought with me and
hath given to them by me. For of every nation and people
some are turned to the faith of Christ, [and] praise His holy
Mother."

(4) Quia fecit mihi magna For He that is mighty hath
Qui potens est : et sanctum done great things to me : and
Nomen Ejus. holy is His Name.

AT VESPERS, OR EVENSONG 403

" What be these great things that He did to her ? That He
kept her clean from all sin. That He hallowed her and
endowed her with gifts of the Holy Ghost ; that He took His
body from her. That she a creature brought forth her Maker ;
she His servant bore her Lord ; that she a Virgin is Mother
of God. That by her He purchased mankind and brought
His chosen to endless life. These great things did He that
is mighty to reward above all that any man may deserve.
And as He is mighty He hath done mighty and great things,
and Holy is His Name; for He is more good and holy than
may be thought or spoken. And for His holy Name, not
for man's merits, hath He done great things for the health
of man."

(5) Et misericordia Ejus a And His mercy is from

progenie in progenies : timenti- generation unto generation : to
bus Eum. them that fear Him.

"This is that mercy that He hath wrought by our Lady and
by His Incarnation and Passion to mankind. The mercy of
salvation that David asked after when he said : Lord show us
Thy mercy [i] ; as if he said : Thou hast shown Thy power
in making all things out of nothing ; Thou hast shown us Thy
wisdom in marvellously governing all things ; Thou hast
shown us Thy righteousness in punishing sinners both in
angels and] in men; and therefore show us now Thy mercy,
by the Incarnation of Thy Son for the Salvation of mankind.
This mercy bringeth our Lady forth and saith : His mercy is
from generation unto generation. From one kindred unto
kindred, from the kindred of the Jews unto all kindreds of the
world. For amongst the Jews Thy mercy was wrought, and
afterwards spread abroad unto all people. But all take not
profit and salvation by this mercy ; for though it be more
sufficient that all men needeth, yet it availeth not but to them
that dispose themselves thereto. And what is that disposition ?
The fear of God ; for without that fear none may be saved.
Not the fear of pain, but the fear of God ; as our Lady saith :
His mercy is to them that fear Him."

[i] Ps. Ixxxiv. 8.

404 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

(6) Fecit potentiam in bra- He hath done might in His
chio Suo : dispersit superbos arm : He hath scattered the
mente cordis Sui. proudinthe will of His heart, [i]

"That is to say, His Son. For as the arm cometh from
the body and the hand from both arm and body, so the Son
hath His being from the Father, and the Holy Ghost from
the Father and the Son. In this arm, that is, His Son, He
hath done might ; for by Him He hath made all things, and
by Him He hath saved mankind, and by Him He hath
thrown down the power of fiends. And therefore saith our
Lady : He hath scattered the proud in the will of His heart.
These proud are fiends, and Jews are all proud people. For
as a host that is dispersed is not mighty to fight, right so the
proud fiends are dispersed by the Passion of our Lord Jesus
Christ and not mighty to war against Man as they were before.
The proud Jews also that would not humble themselves to the
faith of Jesus Christ are dispersed abroad in the world, so
much that they have neither land nor country, nor city, nor
town to dwell in all the earth. But some dwell in one land
and some in another, and some in one city and some in
another, under tribute and thraldom of Christian people.
Thus are these fiends and Jews dispersed by our Lord in the
will of His heart, that is to say, in the rightful judgment of
His privy Doom. All proud people also are dispersed in the
mind of their own heart ; for as meek people live in unity and
rest, right so proud people are both scattered in their own
hearts by many vanities and unlawful desires, and also they
are divided against others by trouble and envy and debate."

(7) Deposuit potentes de He hath put down the mighty
sede : et exaltdvit humiles. from their seat : and hath

exalted the lowly.

"These mighty are they that have great power, temporal or
spiritual, and misuse it against the Will of God, and against
their fellow Christians, and against their own soul's health.
And these mighty God throweth down from the seat of Grace ;
for by grace God should have His seat in their hearts ; and
from the seat of dignity and power which they misuse ; and

[i] This is the old pre-reformation English translation of the Vulgate. Both St.
Augustine and the Carthusian follow this reading instead of the more usual their
hearts.

AT VESPERS, OR EVENSONG 405

from the seat of knowledge and wisdom, for they are blinded
in their own malice ; and at last from the seat of Doom where
the apostolic power shall sit and judge with Christ them that
shall be judged at the end of the world [i]. From that seat
shall such mighty be thrown down, and to that seat shall the
lowly be lifted up. For He hath lifted up the meek here in
grace and afterwards to bliss everlasting. These words our
Lady spoke as prophecy of things to come, and yet she saith
as if the fulfilling were passed ; for it was as sure to be fulfilled
in time to come as if it had been already past. And for that
cause prophets used often such manner of speaking."

(S)Esurientesimplevitbonis: The hungry He hath filled

et divites dimtsit indnes. with good things : and the rich

He hath sent empty away.

" Bodily hunger is an appetite for meat, so ghostly hunger
is a desire of grace and of virtue. He that is hungry hath need
of meat ; so he that is spiritually hungry thinketh that he hath
nought that is good, namely, not of himself nor by his own
merits. And because he feeleth himself needy of all goods,
therefore he seeketh and desireth and laboureth fast to get
them. And such hungry (ones) God filleth with goods spiritual
in grace and endless in bliss. But the rich are they that
presume of themselves and think themselves to be better than
they are, and to have more than they have, or to know more
than they can. And what they have, or can, or may, they
count it to their own merits and worthiness as though it all
came from themselves. These rich (ones) God leaveth empty
of grace and glory. For they that are here wilfully poor of
worldly wealth and comfort, and hunger and desire God's
grace and heavenly comforts, their desire shall be fulfilled ;
but they that have here riches, and worldly property and take
their joyous comforts therein and seek after none other, they
shall be left void from all goods temporal and everlasting."

(9) Suscepit Israel puerum He hath taken Israel His

Suum : recorddtus misericordia: servant : being mindful of His
Suce. mercy.

" Israel was one of the patriarchs that was called Jacob,
of whose lineage our Lady came. And therefore she saith

[I] Cf. Matt. xix. 28.

406 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

that God hath taken Israel, that is to say, a Body of mankind,
of the lineage of Israel ; which Israel is called God's child for
He was meek and obedient to God as a child to His father.
And in this deed God hath been mindful of His mercy, by which
He promised to the patriarchs and prophets that He would
become Man. And therefore saith our Lady further : —

(10) Sicut locutus est ad As He spoke to our fathers :

patres nostros : Abraham et to Abraham and to his seed for
semini ejits in scecula. ever.

"That is, to Abraham and to the people that came from
Abraham by bodily generation, of whom came our Lady, and
from her our Lord Jesus Christ, not only to the help of that
people, but of all that truly follow the faith and living of
Abraham unto the end of the world. For they are properly
called the seed and the children of Abraham with whom they
should be partners of the fruit of our Lord's coming endlessly
in joy and bliss. Amen." [i].

GLORIA PATRI.

Glory be to the Father Who regardeth the lowliness of
His handmaiden. Glory to the Son Who is God her Saviour.
Glory to the Holy Ghost Who hath done great things to her.

The Kyrie and Versicle as at Lauds (see page 303).

THE COLLECT.

Concede nos fdmulos Tuos, Grant us Thy servants, we

qucesumus Domine Deus, per- beseech, 0 Lord God, to rejoice

petua mentis et corporis sani- in perpetual health in soul

tdte gaudere : et gloridsa bedtce and body : and, by the glorious

Marice semper Virginis inter- intercession of the Blessed Mary

cessione, a prcesenti liberdri ever a Virgin, to be delivered

tristitia et ceterna perfrui Ice- from present sorrow and to

titia. Per Christum Dominum attain eternal glory. Through

nostrum. B?. Amen. Christ our Lord. Amen.

Perpetual health of soul and body. That is all we need for
keeping our soul in God's favour, and our body fit to do the

[i] Myroure, pp. 157-163.

AT VESPERS, OR EVENSONG 407

work He allots us. It is the same idea as the words in the
Hymn, Bona cuncta posce : Ask for us all good things.
Present sorrow is the need of this health of soul and body, sin
and the various ills of life which impede us from serving God
with a pure heart. Eternal joy is that state when our joy shall
be made full and no man can take it from us ; the joy which
here below was intermittent, which never ends or fades ; the
joy which the God of all joy has prepared for them that
love Him.

Vespers, like Lauds, ends with the Commemoration of the
Saints and the Versicles (see page 304).

During Advent.

The Antiphons for the Psalms are the same as at Lauds for
this season. Also the Little Chapter. The Hymn and Ver-
sicle is as above. The Collect is that of Lauds, and the
Commemoration of the Saints follows the same (see page 308).

During Christmas-tide.

The Antiphons for the Psalms are as at Lauds during this
season. The Little Chapter is from the Common. The
Hymn and Versicle are from the Common, but the Antiphon
at the Magnificat is proper (see page 311).

Magnum hereditdtis myste- A great mystery of inheri-

rium ; templum Dei factus est tance : the womb of one not

uterus nescientis virum : non knowing man becomes the tem-

est pollutus ex ea carnemassu- pie of God : taking flesh from

mens. Omnes gentes venient her He is not defiled. All the

dicentes : Gloria tibi Domine. Gentiles shall come, saying :

Glory be to Thee, 0 Lord.

God's inheritance is the hearts of His people ; and in order
to win it unto Himself He wrought the great mystery of the
Incarnation. The Jews and Gentiles form the inhabitants of
this inheritance and they all came testifying to the new-born
King. The shepherds first, led on by the angels' song of Gloria
in excelsis Deo ; and the three Wise Men who came from afar

4o8 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

to worship, with mystic gifts, Him Who was born King of the
Jews.

The prayer is from Lauds and the Commemoration of the
Saints that of the Common.

During Paschal Time.

The Antiphon at the Magnificat is Regina cceli, for which
see after Compline.

409

CHAPTER IX.

AT COMPLINE, OR NIGHT-SONG.

The end of our day has arrived, and before seeking rest
we come once more for our Father's blessing, and to pay
the last tribute of love to our Mother. This Office, says
the Myroure, " is the seventh and the last hour of Divine
Service, and it is as much as to say, a ' fulfilling ' ; for in the
end thereof the seven hours of Divine service are fulfilled ;
and therewith also is ended and fulfilled speaking, eating,
and drinking, and labouring, and all bodily business. So
that after that time ought to be great stillness and strict
silence, not only from words, but also from all noises and
deeds save only quiet and private prayer, and holy thinking
and bodily sleep. For Compline betokens the end of Man's
life, or the end of the world when the chosen of our Lord
shall be delivered from all travail and woe and be brought to
endless quiet and rest. And therefore each person ought to
dispose himself to bedward as if his bed were his grave. For
as a man dieth or he be born to his grave and buried, right so
at Compline tyme ye should be disposed as if ye were dying.
And keep ye so sober and still afterwards as if ye were dead
for all bodily deeds and words " [i].

The Office of Compline is due to St. Benedict, who made
it the night prayer for his monks. The present office,
however, dispenses with the monastic introduction of con-
ference and mutual confession. Like the old English use of
Sarum, it starts at once after a preparatory Ave with the follow-
ing Versicles : —

[i] Pp. 164-5.

410 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

y. Converte nos Deus salu- Turn us 0 God our Salva-

idris noster. tion.

B/. Et averte iram Tuam And turn away Thine anger

a nobis. from us.

y. Deus adjutdrium, &c. 0 God come to my assist-

ance, &c.

This Office, says Durandus, begins contrary to the manner
of the other hours ; for, because as we have been, as it were,
singing Psalms all day, and it is well-nigh impossible but that
we should have contracted some dust of pride, therefore we
humble ourselves, saying : Turn us 0 God our Salvation ;
for, says the Apostle : // we say we have no sin we deceive our-
selves [i]. . . . We then proceed to call on the Divine
help, saying : 0 God come to my assistance. Turn us refers
to the taking away of past sins ; 0 God come to the doing of
future good works . . . And because all is done in praise
of the Blessed Trinity, therefore follows the Gloria [2].

This is followed by three more of the " Gradual Psalms,"
which we may say in honour of the Blessed Trinity and of
our Lady's relationship to the Divine Persons.

PSALM CXXVIH.

Title. — A Song of Degrees.

Argument.

Tomasi : That Christ routs those who fight against us,
lest we should be hurt by them. The voice of the Church.
This tenth step contains the voice of Christ against the Jews
who, fighting against Him on the Cross, are shown to have
done Him no hurt, because it proved that He rose again from
the dead.

Venerable Bede : Endurance in suffering is counselled
in this tenth step. In the first paragraph the Prophet counsels
Jerusalem to say what conflicts and fights she has endured
from her enemies, lest any of the faithful should despair

[l] I John i. 8.

[2] See also the explanation of this verse in the second Psalm at Prime, p. 322.

AT COMPLINE, OR NIGHT-SONG 411

because of his own troubles. In the second he prays in
parables against the enemies of the Church that there may
come upon them that which he knows will happen in the
future Judgment.

(1) Scepe expugnav&runt me Many a time have they
a juventiite mea : dicat nunc fought against me from my
Israel. youth up : may Israel now say.

(2) Scepe expugnaverunt me Yea, many a time have they
a juventute mea : etenim non vexed me from my youth up :
portuerunt mihi. but they have not prevailed

against me.

St. Augustine applies these words to the true Israel, the
Church, in her struggles against sin from the Fall of Man, yet
in his early youth ; from the days of the righteous Abel, and
in the early days of the Christian Dispensation. And it is true
of the Head as it was of His members ; for He was sought
after as the King of Israel, by Herod to slay Him in the
Cradle ; driven by necessity into Egypt ; harrassed by the
incessant plots of His enemies ; and, finally, was put to
death. It holds good, says St. Bruno, of every saint who,
having put off the Old Man with his works and put on the
New, has begun in this wise a spiritual youth ; for at once he
becomes the mark for the hatred of the doer of iniquity.

Many a time; for, adds St. Hilary, when once the Tempter
is overcome he does not therefore leave us, but returns and
tries again and again to conquer.

But they have not prevailed against me ; for, says St. Peter :
Who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is
good [i] ; and St. Paul adds : If God be for us who can be
against us? [2].

(3) Supra dorsum meum Sinners have wrought upon
fabricaverunt peccatores : pro- my back : they have prolonged
longaverunt iniquitdtemsuam. their iniquity.

The figure which commentators have seen in the words
is a mass of precious metal lying on the anvil and beaten out
into greater breadth and length by the hammers of the smith

[i] I Peter iii. 13. [2] Rom. viii. 31.

412 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

until a costly vessel is produced by their labour. Some have
it that the mention of the back implies what does not show
itself before the face ; and thus secret injury, calumny, and
detraction ; but St. Augustine's view, that it is the sense of
meekly bearing a burthen, seems to suit better with the mention
of open violence in the preceding verses.

(4) Dominus Justus concidit But the righteous Lord hath
cervices peccatorum : confun- broken the neck's of the ungodly :
ddntur et convertdntur retror- let them be confounded and
sum, omnes qui oderunt Sion. turned backward, all they who

hate Sion.

St. Augustine sees here the punishment of the proud and
stiff-necked enemies of God's Church who refuse to bear His
easy yoke, and loudly proclaim that they have done no
wrong. The latter clause admits of a twofold interpretation :
the one stern and literal, of a sense of punishment in this world
and in the next ; and in the other more gentle, which hints
at repentance, reclaiming the sinner, and withdrawing him
from the broad road leading to destruction, thus changing
him from a rebel into a servant.

(5) Fiant sicut foenum feet- Let them be even as the grass
drum : quod priusquam evel- upon the house-tops : which
Idtur, exdruit. withereth away afore it be

plucked up.

(6) De quo non implevit Wherewith the mower filleth
manum suam qui metit : et not his hand : nor he that
sinum suum qui manipulos bindeth sheaves his bosom,
colligit.

St. Gregory the Great says : That as grass growing on the
roof has no firm root, so a hypocrite while making a show
of doing great things is not established ; for his heart is not
sincere. And as grass on the roof withers before it can be
rooted up, so, when a hypocrite undertakes any good work,
without first making his conscience right, he loses all the merit
thereof, and shows he was flourishing without a root. Upon
which St. Augustine remarks it were wiser to grow lower down
and thrive better. Such as these, proud, violent, hypocrites,
unlike those sheaves the angel-mowers carry back rejoicing

AT COMPLINE, OR NIGHT-SONG 413

from the field of this world, shall be left in the field, as they
have borne no fruit and are fit for nothing but to be burnt.
But, says Haymo, those who have passed their life in good
deeds shall be led by the hands of the Mower, and those who
have served God in contemplation shall be carried in angels'
bosoms to their heavenly rest.

(7) Et non dixerunt qui And they that passed by

prceteribant, Benedictio Do- have not said, The blessing of
mini super vos : benediximus the Lord be upon you : we
vobis in Nomine Domini. have blessed you in the Name

of the Lord.

That is, remarks St. Augustine, as the mowers will take no
heed of the worthless grass on the house-tops, there will be
nothing to attract the passers-by, or draw from them a blessing.
They that pass by are our fellow-pilgrims in this world who
bless by their prayers those who help them along the way by
giving a good example. It is especially here taken of the
Prophets and Apostles who do not bless those whom they see
striving after worldly honours and lacking the love of God
which is the root of all real good. So, says the Carthusian,
the teachers of the Old Law have no blessings, but only warn-
ings and threats for their people if they refuse to hear their
King and reject Sion, His new Covenant. Perez takes the
whole Psalm as a prophecy of the rejection of the Synagogue,
and compares its ceremonial law, bearing no fruit of itself, to
grass on the house-top, withering away from want of grace
and not being planted in the rich soil of the foundation which
is our Lord. St. Hilary ends up his commentary on this
Psalm with this advice : Let us, then, sow profitably, that we
may make our labours ready for filling both hands and bosom
and become sharers of that blessing of God which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord.

GLORIA PATRI.

Glory be to the Father Who ever protects Israel. Glory to
the Son, the Mower Who bears us in His bosom. Glory to the
Holy Ghost Who blesseth His people.

4H THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

PSALM cxxix. [i].

Title. — A Song of Degrees.
Argument.

Tomasi : That Christ may grant us forgiveness of our sins
without marking our iniquities. The voice of Christ and of
the Church. This Psalm is to be read with the Prophet Jonas.
Wherefore this eleventh step denotes the voice of St. Peter
weeping bitterly after his fall ; hence it is that of repenting
sinners.

Venerable Bede : The Prophet, placed on the eleventh step,
prostrates himself to fulfil his penance, because no saint, so
long as he is in the flesh, can be entirely free from sin. And
this, too, is to be said, that every sin belongs, as it were, to the
number eleven, because it over-passes the perfection of the
Ten Commandments. The Prophet cries to the Lord for
deliverance out of the depths of sin and from the troubles
he experiences. Then, without delay, he comes to the joys
of thanksgiving, that penitents may know with what favour
they will be received, and how soon the remedy is bestowed
on them.

(i) De profundis clamdvi Out of the depths I hare

adTeDomine: D6mine,exdudi cried to Thee, 0 Lord : 0 Lord,
vocem ineam. hear my voice.

Out of the depths. A cry of the Jews from the depths of
their Captivity, seemingly without hope ; for, as says St.
Augustine, it is the cry of any one trying to ascend out of the
abyss of sin ; even as Jonas cried unto the Lord out of the
belly of the great fish [2]. The depths in which we find our-
selves are the depths of this world. All who realise that they
are in this abyss cry, groan, and sigh till they be freed from it,
and come to Him Who sitteth over all the depths and upon

[i] This Psalm, the eleventh Gradual Psalm, St. Augustine tells us, consisting
as it does of eight verses, teaches that no man can so live throughout the perfect
term of his working life here (denoted by the Six Days of Creation) without trans-
gressing the Ten Commandments, and so pass on to Eleven, the symbol of evil ;
but that by persevering in penance and prayer the sinner may at last reach that
Octave of the Resurrection, when Christ shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.

[2] Jonas ii. I.

AT COMPLINE, OR NIGHT-SONG 415

the Cherubim. Whence, then, does this cry come ? Out of
the depths. Who is it that cries ? A sinner. And with what
hope does he cry ? Because He Who came to loose the
bonds of sin hath also given hope even to a sinner in the
depths of his iniquity. Man must needs call, too, out of the
depths of humility, recognising the abyss of misery into
which he is plunged, and call upon the depths of God's
mercy : Depth calleth upon depth [i]. Note, too, says
St. Gregory the Great, it is not written " I am calling,"
but / have called, showing us thereby not to end our
prayer until by perseverance it has been granted. God loves
to be asked, to be constrained, to be overcome, as it were,
by importunity ; for the loving repetition of His Name marks
the affection and confidence of His client. It has been
pointed out that this verse puts before us six conditions of
a good prayer — it is humble, out of the depths ; fervent, have I
cried ; direct to God, unto Thee ; reverent, 0 Lord ; awed, Lord
repeated ; one's very own, hear my prayer. This Psalm is
used so frequently for the Dead that a reference here to it in
that sense will not be out of place. It is the prayer of souls
abiding in the depths of Purgatory, overwhelmed with the
sense of their own impurity and imploring the Ix^rd to take
them to His rest.

(2) Fiant aures Tuce inten- Let Thine ears be attentive :

denies : in vocem deprecationis to the voice of my supplication,
niece.

It is not enough to be heard, says Bellarmine, that we
should cry aloud; He Who is called upon must also listen.
It is true God sees and hears everything ; but when He
remains silent it seems as though He heard not. So the
Psalmist in the vehemence of his desire beseeches God to turn
an attentive ear to his cry and grant him speedily his petition.
God, says the Carmelite, is said to bow down His ear, that is,
His readiness and mercy, to us ; but we, on the other hand,
are to lift up ours to Him. And it is to be noted that the
form of the human ear teaches three silent lessons : It is
always open, not like the eyes or lips, signifying we should

[i] Ps. xli. 8.

4i6 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

be more ready to hear than to see or speak ; it is small, not
like that of the brute animals, warning us to take heed how
we hear, and not to believe everything that is spoken ; it is
erect because we ought to listen for words coming from
heaven rather than from earth.

(3) Si iniquitdtes observd- If Thou shalt mark iniqui-
veris :D6mine quis sustinebit? ties ; Lord, who shall abide it ?

No man is safe from sins, which howl around him like
angry beasts ; none is of spotless conscience, none pure of
heart because of his own righteousness. When God marks
down in the Book of Doom all our sins and reads them out,
who shall abide it, that is, endure the shame and the guilt ?
Wherefore we beseech God not to act as Judge only, but to
exert as King His prerogatives of mercy, and add : —

(4) Quia apud Te propi- For there is with Thee for-
tidtio est : et propter legem giveness : because of Thy Law
Tuam sustinui Te Domine. I have waited for Thee, 0 Lord.

If Thou wast strict in judgment, and punishment fell
swift upon the sin, all would perish. Therefore if Thou desirest
to be feared, forgive, and drive not sinners into despair,
wherein they cease to fear because they have lost all. There is
with Thee forgiveness, since He Who is the propitiation for our
sins [i] is seated in glory at Thy right hand.

Because of Thy Law : God's Law, by which He rules us
now, is Mercy and Love ; confiding in this the Psalmist
awaits His Coming, though well aware of his own unworthi-
ness to abide it. / have waited patiently, bearing all chas-
tisement because of Thy Law, knowing that Thou actest
righteously and mercifully in all things, and in judgment
forgetteth not mercy.

(5) Sustinuit dnima mea My soul hath relied on His
in Verbo Ejus : sperdvit dnima Word : my soul hath hoped
mea in Domino. in the Lord.

(6) A custodia matutina From the morning watch
usque ad noctem : speret Israel even until the night : let Israel
in Domino. hope in the Lord.

[i] i John ii. 2.

AT COMPLINE, OR NIGHT-SONG 417

God has promised mercy through the Incarnation and
Sacrifice of the Word, His only-begotton Son ; and the
Psalmist declares that he is relying upon a promise which
can never fail.

From the morning watch even until the night. St. Augustine
takes these words of the trust of the Church in Christ
from the early morning of His Resurrection until that Night
in which no man can work [i], which is to be followed
by that other Resurrection Morning for us all. Others take
it of the breaking of the Light of Faith upon the soul till the
close of life, working, as St. Hilary says, through all the
burthen and heat of the day until the Reward we know is
awaiting us is bestowed.

(7) Quia apud Dominum For with the Lord there is
misericordia : et copiosa apud mercy : and with Him plentiful
Eum redemptio. redemption.

Says Cassiodorus on this glorious verse : Here is the reason
for Israel to hope in the Lord : because in His hand is Mercy
which can make the sinner righteous, the weak strong, and
give to the carnal the purity of angels. There is also the
plentiful redemption which is the Precious Blood stored up
for us in the Church and ready to do its healing work at every
turn of our life. Daily and hourly It is being offered in the
Sacrifice of the Mass on our behalf to the Eternal Father ;
daily It is washing away Original Sin and Actual Sin ; daily
It is giving grace to all men by the Sacraments of the New
Law, the channels by which It is brought to the soul. This
Precious Blood gives the force and the Divine influence to
all the Sacramentals of the Church, and covers her and all
her members with a blood-stained robe, so that she can say
to Her Head, Jesus, : Thou art a Spouse of blood to me [2].
It is this Blood pleading for forgiveness and shed so
abundantly in the Passion which is the plentiful Redemption
which our good God in His mercy hath arranged for us.

(8) Et Ipse redimet Israel: And He Himself shall redeem
ex Omnibus iniquitdtibus ejus. Israel : from all his iniquities.

[i] John ix. 4. [ 2] Exod. iv. 25.

27

418 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

No one else but God is our Redeemer ; as the prophet
said : God Himself will come and will save you [i]. Before He
came on His errand of mercy the name of Saviour was given
to Him : Thou shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His
People from their sins [2].

From all his iniquities : not from temporal captivity and
suffering, which is our appointed share in the work of release,
but from the more bitter bondage of sin, a work He alone
can do. And mark, iniquity is entirely taken away, blotted
out : For He that sitteth on the throne said : Lot I make all things
new [3].

GLORIA PATRI.

Glory be to the Father unto Whom we call from the
depths. Glory to the Son, His Word in Whom we rely.
Glory to the Holy Ghost with Whom there is mercy.

PSALM cxxx.

Title. — A Song of Degrees.
Argument.

Tomasi : That Christ teaches us not to be lifted up in
pride. The voice of Christ to the Father. This twelfth step
is understood of the Blessed Virgin-mother of Christ and of
every soul that rendereth not evil for evil, nor cursing for
cursing, but contrariwise. The voice of the Church.

Venerable Bede : After penance comes sweetness. The
whole of this Psalm concerns meekness and humility, that the
sweetness of glorious devotion may refresh those whom the
toil of previous confession hath wearied. In the first part
the Prophet appoints a heavy punishment for himself if he
does not receive God's command in all humility. In the
second he bids Israel hope always in the Lord, that so we
may be able to endure all the troubles of the world.

(i) Domine non est exaltd- Lord, my heart is not

turn cor meum : neque eldti haughty : nor are mine eyes
sunt oculi mei. lifted up.

[i] Is. xxxv. 4. [2] Matt. i. 21. [3] Apoc. xxi. 5.

AT COMPLINE, OR NIGHT-SONG 419

(2) Nequc ambuldvi in mag- I do not walk in great

nis : neque in mirabilibus things : nor in things too
super me. wonderful for me.

In the first verse there is, says St. Bruno, a confession
that only God's grace, not man's inherent strength, has
enabled him to climb so far as this degree of ascent from
the Valley of Weeping. Here, says Albert the Great, is a
check put on inward thoughts of pride, and outward tokens
of the same, such as are shown by uplifted glances and proud
looks. The Pharisee looked up brazenly and boastingly ;
the Publican would not so much as lift up his eyes towards
heaven [i]. In saying My heart is not haughty, says St.
Augustine, we must understand the Psalmist to say less than
he means, for his intent is to declare his heart is contrite and
humble, and therefore a sacrifice pleasing to God [2].

/ do not walk in great things. But while, as St. Hilary says, it
is a very perilous thing to be content with walking in moderate
things and not to dwell amidst wonderful things (for God's
words are great and He is wonderful in the highest), we
must note the words above me ; for they show how we are to
understand the Psalmist. God's commandments are not
beyond us, for He said : This commandment which I command
thee, this day, is not above thee, nor far off from thee [3]. The
meaning is clear. We are to be contented with serving God in
the Vocation He has called us to, and not waste our time in
day dreams about the wonderful things of other Vocations ; as,
for instance, for a Sister of Mercy to long after the silent, retired
life of a Carmelite. The great art of the spiritual life is — to
serve God as He wishes, not as we wish. The perfection we
have to strive after is the perfection to which He calls us in
our Vocation. Everything else is a wonderful thing above us.
Again, we can take the verse of the homage that Reason pays
to Faith. There are doctrines far above the comprehension
of our Reason. They are not against it, but simply above it.
Faith teaches us these doctrines ; and the light of Faith
enables us to believe them without doubting. These are the

[i] Luke xviii. 13. [2] Ps. 1. 17. [3] Deut. xxx. n.

420 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

wonderful things that are above us, and the highest and most
perfect act of our Reason is to know its own limits and to
bow itself to the higher light of Faith.

(3) Si non humiliter senti- If I was not humbly minded :
ebam : sed exdltdvi dnimam but exalted my soul.

meam.

(4) Sicut ablactatus est super As a child that is weaned
matre sua : ita retributio in towards his mother : so be re-
dnima mea. tribution upon my soul.

If I have been proud let God withdraw nourishment from
my soul till it becomes weak, as an infant refused the breast,
and unable to take any other food ; or, as it has been taken :
Let vengeance cling to me and lie as closely upon me as a
babe does upon its mother's breast. But another interpretation,
that of St. Bruno of Aste, is deeper and truer : God makes this
world, with all its sorrows and disappointments, the training
school of His servants ; so that whereas St. Paul saith to his
imperfect converts : / have fed you with milk and not with meat,
for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither are ye now able,
for ye are yet carnal [i] ; Isaias, on the other hand, says : Whom
shall He teach knowledge f And whom shall He make to under-
stand doctrine f Them that are weaned from the milk and drawn
from the breasts [2]. Here, says the Carmelite, we, newly born
in faith, must be nourished with the Milk of Christ's Manhood
before we are able to receive the Bread of His Godhead and
see Him face to face.

(5) Speret Israel in Domino : Let Israel trust in the Lord :
ex hoc nunc et usque in scecu- from this time forth for ever-
lum. more.

This ending of the Psalm, says Bellarmine, tells us whither
true humility tends. The Psalmist, preaching the duty of
holiness to the people, does not tell them to look to himself,
to follow his teaching, to mould themselves to his will, but,
as St. Augustine says, to trust in the Lord, and that not for
a time only, nor at intervals, but through the whole of life on
earth, and through the endless years of eternity.

[i] I Cor. iii. 2. [2] xxviii. 9.

AT COMPLINE, OR NIGHT-SONG 421

GLORIA PATRI.

Glory be to the Father Who is the Hope of Israel. Glory
to the Son Who lay a Child on Mary's breast. Glory to the
Holy Ghost in Whose grace we are humble.

With this Psalm ends the recital, in the Little Office, of the
Gradual Psalms, to wit, twelve out of fifteen. And it is not
without reason that a pause is made here and we rest on the
step of humility ; for unless we are thoroughly practised in
lowliness we shall never ascend the other three which lead
into the presence of the King. So the fruit of each day's
office is to be more humility as the foundation of all our
spiritual life.

The Hymn is Memento rerum Conditor, as at Prime.

THE LITTLE CHAPTER [l].

Ego Mater pulchrce dilec- I am the Mother of fair love

tidnis et timoris et agnitionis and of fear and of knowledge

et sanctce spei. and of holy hope.

Deo Gratias. Thanks be to God.

y. Ora pro nobis santa Dei Pray for tis, 0 holy Mother

Genitrix. of God.

1%. Us digni efficiamur pro- That we may be made worthy

missionibus Christi. of the promises of Christ.

At the end of the day, when Sleep, the image of Death,
awaits us, the Little Chapter comes to complete the work the
Psalms have begun in us. It directs us to Mary, who is our
example of all the virtues a creature can possess. Faith, Hope,
Charity, and the Fear of God are the lessons she teaches us ;
and in them all is summed up. She is the Mother of the
Knowledge of Faith, for without her we can never understand
Jesus : Whom to know is Life Eternal [2]. She is the Mother
of hope; for she is the Mother of Him Who is our Redemption
and our Advocate with the Father. She is the Mother of fair
love; for she is the Mother of the Incarnate Love of God;
and she, full of the love of God, loves us as her most dear
children in Him. She is also the Mother of holy fear; of

[i] Eccle. xxiv. 24. [2] Cf. John xvii. 3.

422

reverence and awe for Him Who has done such great things
for her. She therefore teaches us Whom to believe in, Whom
to hope in, Whom to love, and Whom to fear. So in the
Versicle and Response we pray that she, God's Own Mother,
may pray for us that we may be made worthy of receiving the
promises Her Son has made to those who believe, trust, love,
and fear Him.

ANTIPHON.

Sub tuum prcesidium confu- Beneath thy patronage we

gimus, sancta Dei Genitrix : fly, 0 holy Mother of God :

nostras deprecationes ne despi- despise not our prayers in

das in necessitdtibus, sed a necessities, but from all dangers

periculis cunctis libera nos deliver us, 0 ever Virgin,

semper Virgo gloridsa et bene- glorious and blessed,
dicta.

This Antiphon gives the keynote to the Song of departure,
the Nunc Dimittis. It is under the safe patronage of God's
Own Mother that we close our day's course of prayer and
praise, and it is holding her hand we ask God to dismiss His
servants in peace.

CANTICLE: NUNC DIMITTIS [i].

We sing the Song of Simeon, Nunc Dimittis, says
Durandus, first, in order that, finding peace after his example,
we may attain the true Light which is Christ ; secondly,
because as holy Simeon said these words, desiring to pass from
this life to another, so when we are about to sleep it is as
though we were to die ; for sleep is an image of death, and
by the saying of this hymn we commend ourselves to the
Lord. Thirdly, the Song of Simeon is sung in the seventh
hour, by reason of the seventh age of the world, that is, rest.
And the author of the Myroure adds another reason : " For by
this Compline is betokened your death and by your going to
bed your burial, as I said before ; therefore this song is said
at Compline rather than at other hours, that ye should every

[l] Luke ii. 29-32.

AT COMPLINE, OR NIGHT-SONG 423

night be ready to desire death as Simeon did." The reference
to peace reminds us, too, of our Lord's visit on Easter Evening
to His disciples and His gracious salutation, twice repeated :
Peace be unto you [i].

St. Luke thus tells the history of the Canticle : — [2]
And when the days of her purification according to the Law
of Moses were accomplished, they brought Him to Jerusalem to
Present Him to the Lord, (as it is written in the Law of the Lord :
Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the
Lord [3]), and to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said
in the Law of the Lord, a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons.
And behold there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was
Simeon, and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the
consolation of Israel ; and the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it
was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost that he should not sec
death before he had seen the Christ of the Lord. And he came
by the Spirit into the Temple. And when the parents brought in
the Child Jesus to do for Him after the custom of the Law, then
took he Him in his arms and blessed God and said : —

(i) Nunc dimittis servum Lord, now lettest Thou Thy

tuum Domine : secundum servant depart in peace -.accord-
verbum Tuum in pace. ing to Thy Word.

Says the pious author of the Myroure : " This man was
now glad to die ; for the very Peace of Mankind was come by
Whom he should be brought to endless peace. Before that
time all went to hell [4] and knew not when they would be
delivered. But this man was surer of his deliverance, for he had
his Saviour in his arms, and therefore joyfully he said : Lord,
now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy
Word ; to the promise that he should not see death till he
had seen the Christ [5]."

Or again, his departure was to be in peace according to
Thy Word Who is the King of Peace, and our Peace, and Who
through His death was to overcome the sharpness thereof.

[i] John xx. 19. [2] Luke ii. 22-32. [3] Exod. xiii. 2.

[4] That is to hell in the same sense as in Creed : He descended into hell, i.e.,
Limbo.

[Si PP- 170-171-

424 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

(2) Quia viderunt oculi mei: For mine eyes have seen ', Thy
salutdre Tuum. salvation.

" That was the same Child that he bore in his arms, which
was and is the Saviour of all His true people. Him he saw
with his bodily eyes in His Manhood, and Him he saw with
his ghostly eyes by faith after His Godhead" [i].

Thus were the words of the Holy Ghost fulfilled. The
promise was kept, and the old man had nought else to live
for. He had seen Thy salvation, that salvation in which he
was to share ; and he had seen Him in the arms of that
Virgin-mother, whose heart he foresaw was to be riven with
sorrow.

(3) Q nod pardsti: ante fdciem Which Thou hast prepared :
omnium populdrum. before the face of all people.

" He that is before a man's face may be easily seen. So the
faith and knowledge of our Saviour Jesus Christ was made
open to him by His Apostles before all people. And therefore
at the Last Doom He shall be seen in His Manhood as a
merciful Saviour to all that in faith, and in dread, and in love
behold Him there before their face. And to all others that
turn their backs to Him here, by misbelief or deadly sin, and
so die, He shall be seen as a most fearful Judge. Thus as this
holy man saith : He is made ready before the face of all
people, not only of Jews, but also of heathens : And therefore
he saith further [2] : —

(4) Lumen ad revelationem A Light to enlighten the Gen-
gen Hum : et gloriam plebis Tucc tiles : and to be the glory of Thy
Israel. people Israel.

Compare this verse with the last verse of the Benedictus.
To enlighten them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of
death. It is the same thought, for it was said of Him Who is
the Light of men, the Light shining in the darkness which did not
comprehend it [3]. "The heathen were then all in darkness of
misbelief, and therefore our Lord Jesus Christ was to them
Light, to bring them out of all darkness into the light of Faith
and Grace, as the Apostle St. Paul said to them afterwards : Ye

[I] Ibid. [2] Ibid. [3] John i. 5.

AT COMPLINE, OR NIGHT-SONG 425

were sometime darkness but now are light in the Lord [i]. The
Jews that were in the light of right belief had great worship of
our Lord Jesus, in that He took His Manhood amongst them
of their own kindred. And therefore Simeon calleth Him the
Glory, that is, the joy and the worship of the people Israel.
. . . . In this song our Lord Jesus Christ is called Salva-
tion, Light and Glory. He is Salvation to sinners of mercy ;
and whom He saveth from sin He enlighteneth by grace, and
therefore He is called Light ; and whom He enlighteneth by
grace He rewardeth by endless bliss, and so He is called the
Glory of His people [2]."

GLORIA PATRI.

Glory be to the Father Who dismisses us in peace. Glory
to the Son our Salvation. Glory to the Holy Ghost the Glory
of Israel.

After the Kyrie and ordinary Versicles follows —

THE COLLECT.

Beatce et gloriosce semper We beseech Thee, 0 Lord,

virginis Marice, qucesumus that the glorious intercession of
Doming, intercessio gloriosa the blessed and glorious ever
nos protegat : et ad vitam Virgin Mary may protect us
perducat ceternam. PerDomi- and bring us to life eternal,
num nostrum, &c. Through our Lord, &c.

This short, simple, direct prayer includes everything and is
a model for our own private prayers. It is only the second
part of the Hail, Mary, that she may pray for us here and at
the hour of our death. What can be simpler, more childlike
and more true ?

This hour, unlike the others, ends up with a solemn invo-
cation of the blessing of the Holy Trinity upon us now going
to rest.

Benedicat et custodial nos May the Almighty and mer-

omnipotens et misericors Do- ciful Lord, Father, Son, and
minus, Pater, et Filius, et Holy Ghost, bless and guard its.
Spiritus sanctus. Amen. Amen.

[i] Eph. v. 8. [2] Myroure,

426 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

Duritig Advent-tide.

The Little Chapter and Versicle are the same as at None
during this season. And the Antiphon at the Nunc Dimittis
as at Lauds, followed by the ordinary Advent Collect.

During Christmas-tide.

The Little Chapter and Versicle are as above ; the Antiphon
at the Nunc Dimittis is the same as at the Magnificat during
this season, together with the Christmas Collect.

During Easter-tide.

The Antiphon at the Nunc Dimittis is Regina Cceli (see page
429).

THE ANTIPHONS.

The following Antiphons of our Lady are said according
to the Rubrics for the various seasons of the year. These
concluding hymns seem to have been introduced into the
Office by the Franciscans, who began to add them to the
daily recital. St. Bonaventure, about 1274, is credited with
being the first to add them to the Liturgical Prayer. Among
the English Benedictines the use seems to have been general
at an early date ; for by the acts of the Chapter of the English
Congregation, held at Northampton, 1444, a decree was re-
newed ordering their recitation every day at the end of Com-
pline, " in order before sleep to implore her help by whom the
serpent's head was crushed." They were made of obligation
to the whole Church by St. Pius V. in his reform of the Roman
Breviary.

I.

From Vespers on the Saturday before the first Sunday of
Advent to the second Vespers of the Purification inclusively.

Alma Redemptoris Mater, Mother of Christ, hear thou

qucK pervia cceli thy people's cry,

Porta manes, et stella marts, Star of the deep and portal of

succure cadenti, the sky,

Surgere qui curat, populo : tu Mother of Him Who thee from

genuisti, nothing made,

AT COMPLINE, OR NIGHT-SONG

427

Natura mirdnte, tuum sanc-
tum Genitorem,

Virgo prius ac posterius,
Gabrielis ab ore

Sumens illud Ave, peccatdrum
miserere.

y. Angelus Domini nuntid-
vit Maria.

E?. Et concepit de Spiritu
sancto.

Oremus.

Gratiam Tuam, qucesumus
Domine, mentibus nostris in-
funde : ut qui, Angela nunti-
dnte, Christe Filii Tui incar-
nationem cognovimus, per
passionem Ejus et crucem ad
resurrectionis gloriam perdu-
cdmur. Per Etimdem, &c.

Sinking we strive and call to

thee for aid :
O by that joy which Gabriel

brought to thee,
Thou Virgin, first and last, let

us thy mercy see.

The Angel of the Lord de-
clared unto Mary.

And she conceived by the
Holy Ghost.

Pour forth, we beseech Thee,
O Lord, Thy grace into our
hearts : that we who know the
Incarnation of Christ Thy Son
by the message of the Angel,
may by His Passion and Cross
be brought to the glory of His
Resurrection. Through the
same, &c.

From the first Vespers of Christmas to the second Vespers of
the Purification (February 2nd) the following is said : —

Jf. Post partum Virgo in- After bearing thou didst

violdta permansisti. remain a maiden undefiled.

1^. Dei Genitrix intercede Mother of God intercede for

pro nobis. us.

followed by the ordinary Christmas Collect : Deus qui salutis
ceternce, &c.

This Antiphon, made up of words borrowed from St. Ful-
gentius, St. Epiphanius, and St. Irenaeus, is said to have been
composed by a Benedictine monk of the monastery of Reiche-
nau, Herman Contractus, who died 1054. There is but little
need for exposition as most of the expressions have been
explained. Cadenti populo, the people, sinking beneath the
black waters of sin, stretch forth their arms to Mary for help.
Natura mirdnte. Nature struck with wonder at the unheard-
of thing, a Virgin conceiving and bearing a Son, the Creature
given birth to her Maker.

428 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

II.

From Compline on the Feast of the Purification till Easter.
Ave Regina ccelorum :

Ave Domina Angelorum :

Salve Radix, salve Porta,
Ex qua mundo Lux est orla.

Gaude Virgo gloriosa,
Super omnes speciosa,

Vale 0 valde decora,
Etpro nobis Christum exdra.

y. Digndre me lauddre te,
Virgo sacrdta.

1%. Da mihi virtutem con-
tra hostes tuos.

Hail, 0 Queen of Heaven

enthroned :
Hail, by angels Mistress

crowned :

Root of Jesse ; Gate of Morn !
Whence the world's true Light

was born.

Glorious Virgin, joy to thee ;
Loveliest whom in Heaven they

see,

Fairest thou where all are fair
Plead with Christ our sins to

spare.

Make me worthy to praise thee
0 Blessed Virgin.

Give me strength against
thine enemies.

The prayer is the common prayer at Vespers : Concede
misericors.

The author of this Antiphon is not known. Like the
former, the various praises are to be found in the works of
the fathers of the Church, and the expressions used have been
already explained, i.e., Radix, the stem of Jesse ; Porta, the
Gate closed to all except the Lord, and also the Gate through
which the Day-spring from on high hath visited us. Super
omnes speciosa. The grace of the stainless Conception was
increased by that of the Divine Motherhood ; and then, once
more, by that of the Sanctification in the Pentecostal Fires.
Thus, as the grace which possessed the soul of our ever dear
and blessed Lady far exceeded that of any created being,
so was her spiritual beauty above that of all others. " Thou
art all fair, O Mary, and the stain of original sin is not in
thee," sings Holy Church on the Feast of the Immaculate
Conception.

AT COMPLINE, OR NIGHT-SONG

429

III.

From Compline on Holy Saturday to None on the Saturday
after Pentecost inclusively.

Regina ccdi Icetdre, Alleluia, Joy to thee,0 Queen of heaven,

Alleluia,
He Whom thou wast meet to

bear, Alleluia,
As He promised hath arisen.

Alleluia.
Pour forth to Him thy prayer.

Quia Quern meruisti portare,
Alleluia,

Resurrexit sicut dixit. Alle-
luia.

Ora pro nobis Deum. Alle-
luia.

y. Gaude et Icetdre Virgo
Maria, Alleluia.

ty. Quia surrexit Ddminus
verc. Alleluia.

Alleluia.

Rejoice and be glad, 0
Virgin Mary, Alleluia.

For the Lord is truly risen.
Alleluia.

Oremus.

Deus, qui per resurrecti6nem
Filii Tui Ddmini nostri Jesu
Christi mundum Icetificdre dig-
ndtus es : prcssta qucesumus,
ut per Ejus Genitricem Vir-
ginemMariamperpetua capid-
musgaudiavitce. Pereumdem,
&c.

Let us pray.

0 God, Who by the rising of
Thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,
hath vouchsafed to fill the
world with joy : grant, we
beseech Thee, that by His
Mother, the Virgin Mary, we
may attain the joys of eternal
life. Through the same, &c.

In 596, during Easter-time, a pestilence was ravaging Rome,
and St. Gregory the Great appointed a procession to be held to
avert the scourge. On the day appointed he came with his
clergy at dawn to the church of Ara Ccdi and, bearing in his
hand the picture of our Lady attributed to St. Luke, he set
out in procession to St. Peter's. But whilst passing what was
then called the Castle or Mole of Hadrian, voices were heard
high up in the air singing Regina Ccdi. The holy Pope, aston-
ished and enraptured, replied with a loud voice : Ora pro nobis
Deum. Alleluia. At that moment an Angel shining with a
glorious light appeared and sheathed the sword of pestilence in
its scabbard. The plague ceased from that day. The name
was then changed from that of the Emperor to the Castle of San

430

THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

Angelo, and the heavenly words were inscribed on the roof of
the church of Ara Cceli. In memory of the event the religious
of that convent used to sing the Antiphon whenever any public
procession passed their church. This simple anthem is one
burst of joy which recalls the exultation which filled the heart
of our ever dear and blessed Lady when, on that Resurrection
Day, she first saw her Son in the glory of the new life. The
Angels share in this joy and call upon us to join with them in
the heavenly song of Alleluia.

IV.

From the first Vespers of Trinity Sunday to None on the
Saturday before the first Sunday of Advent.

Salve Regina, Mater miseri-
cordia, Vita, Dulcedo, et Spes
nostra, salve.

Ad tc clamdmus exsules,
filii Hevce. Ad te suspirdmus
gementes etflentes in hac lacry-
mdrum voile.

Eia, ergo, Advocdta nostra,
illos tuos misericordes oculos
ad nos converte.

Et Jesum benedictum Fruct-
um ventris tui, nobis post hoc
exilium ostende.

0 clemcns, 0 pia, 0 dulcis
Virgo Maria.

y. Ora pro nobis, &c.
B?. Ut digni, &c.

Mother of Mercy, Hail, 0
gentle Queen ; our Life, our
Sweetness, and our Hope, all
hail.

Children of Eve, to thee we
cry from our sad banishment ;
to thee we send our sighs, weep-
ing and mourning in this tear-
ful vale.

Come, then, our Advocate;
0 turn to us those pitying eyes
of thine. And our long exile

Past, show us at last Jesus,
of thy pure womb the Fruit
Divine.

0 Virgin Mary ! Mother

blest ! 0
holiest !

sweetest, gentlest,

Pray for us, &c.
That we may, &c.

AT COMPLINE, OR NIGHT-SONG

Qmntyotens sempiterne Deus,
qui gloriosce Virginis Mains
Marice corpus el dnimam, ut
dignum Filii Tui habitdculum
effici mereretur, Spiritu sancto
cooperdnte prcepardsti : da, ut
cujus commemoratione Icetd-
mur, ejus pia intercession ab
instdntibus malis et a morte
perpetua liberemur- Pereum-
dem Christum Dominum nos-
trum. Amen.

0 Almighty and Eternal
God, Who hath prepared by
the co-operation of the Holy
Ghost the body and soul of the
Virgin-mother Mary as an
abode worthy for Thy Son,
grant that we who rejoice in
her commemoration, may by
her kind intercession be freed
from present evils and from
death eternal. Through the
same Christ our Lord. Amen.

This Antiphon is sung for six months in the year. It is
generally attributed to the Benedictine monk, Herman Con-
tractus. St. Bernard, it is said, added the last invocation
during a visit to the Abbey of Affligheim. The Antiphon,
which is expanded at length by St. Alphonsus, in " The
Glories of Mary," is very sweet. Its fragrance lingers over
our soul when, at the end of a long day, or at the end of any
hour, we place our prayers in Mary's hands, that she, the
pure and glorious one, may offer it with all the power of a
Mother's love to her God, to that Son, the blessed Fruit of
her womb. Thus do we put all under her care ; and we go
to Jesus, the Door of Life Eternal, through her, the appointed
Gate. All for Jesus through Mary, as one of her servants used
to say. Our prayers coming through her hands will be
doubly acceptable to her Son ; and we shall be the sooner
heard for the reverence He has for His Mother.

At the end of the Antiphon is said : —

y. Divinum auxilium md-
neat semper nobiscum.
ty. Amen.

PATER. AVE. CREDO.

May the Divine assistance
remain with us alway.
Amen.

And this closes the Office. We began by calling on God
to come to our aid. He has heard our prayer, now as always.
So we conclude by asking that His help should be ever with
us ; for His grace is sufficient to free us from present evils and

432 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

from death eternal, and to bring to us the joys of life eternal.
This powerful assistance, which the Divine Goodness has given
to men, is the love of Mary, the Mother of Divine grace,
exalted by her Son to be the Refuge of sinners and the Help
of the afflicted. She is the appointed channel of the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ to man ; for having given us our
Saviour, she gives us all things in Him.

A PRAYER AFTER THE OFFICE.

In respect of which Pope Leo X. has granted to all persons
who, after saying the Office, shall devoutly recite it on their knees,
forgiveness of the shortcomings and faults of human weakness
committed by them in saying the Office.

To the most holy and undivided Trinity :

To the Manhood of our Lord Jesus Christ crucified :

To the fruitful Virginity of the most blessed and most

glorious Mary, always a virgin :

And to the whole body of all the Saints :

Be praise everlasting, honour and glory from all creatures :

And to us the forgiveness of all our sins. World without

end. Amen.

y. Blessed be the womb of the Virgin Mary which bore
the Son of the Eternal Father.

£7. And blessed be the breasts that gave suck to Christ the
Lord.

PATER. AVE.

FINIS.

433

APPENDIX.

That ye may approve the better things, that ye may be sincere and -without
offence till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruit of righteousness
through Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God [i].

CEREMONIAL.

Lei all things be done decently and in order, says St. Paul [2],
The use of Ceremonial is towards this end, and is inspired by
the spirit of reverence. In the following we offer sugges-
tions, based upon the practices of well-organised communities,
which have been found to answer.

(1) At the sound of the bell the community meet at some
place outside the chapel and form into two ranks, the youngest
nearest the entrance, the Superior last. At the given signal
they enter the choir, two and two, and, after genuflecting,
proceed to their respective stalls.

(2) Kneeling, they say silently the introductory prayer.

(3) When the Superior gives the signal (by a tap on the
desk) they rise, and bowing profoundly (so that the tips of
fingers may touch the knees), say in silence the Ave Maria.

(4) At the signal, all turning Eastward (i.e., towards the altar),
the Superior, or the Hebdomadary, that is, the one who for the
week conducts the service, begins Domine labia mea aperies,
making a sign of the Cross upon the lips ; then, Deus in
adjutorium meum intende, making the sign of the Cross on
the whole person.

(5) At the Gloria- all turn, facing each other, and bow
profoundly.

[i] Phil. i. 10, II. [2] i Cor. xiv. 40.

28

434 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

(6) Then the first Cantor goes into the middle to the
Lectern and commences the Invitatory, to which both sides
of the choir respond. The Psalm is said by the Cantor. On
the greater festivals two Cantors should be used.

(7) In the third verse at the words Venite adoremus all
kneel till the words Nos autem, when they rise for the repetition
of the Invitatory.

(8) The first line of the Hymn is given out by the first
Cantor and the rest of the verse is taken up by his side of the
choir ; then the second choir take up the second verse, and
so on, both choirs joining in and bowing profoundly for the
last verse.

(9) The Antiphon is given out by the first Cantor, and
also the Psalm up to the asterisk, then all his side of the
choir take it up. At the end the Cantor repeats the Antiphon,
and the second Cantor from the other side begins the second
Antiphon and Psalms.

(10) While the Psalms are being said the choir can recline
in their stalls or sit down.

(n) A short pause ought to be made just after the last
verse, and all, rising and bowing profoundly, say the Gloria
Pain.

N.B. — This always takes place before the Gloria Patri
whenever said at the end of a Psalm.

(12) The Psalms over, all rise ; the first Cantor says the
Versicle, to which all respond.

(13) The Superior, or Hebdomadary, says Paternoster aloud,
then all, bowing, continue it in secret till Et ne nos, which is
said by the Superior aloud, and all, rising, make the answer.

(14) The Superior then gives the Absolution.

(15) The Reader goes to the lectern and after genuflecting
turns, bowing towards the Superior, and says Jube domine.
After the blessing, given by the Superior, to which all reply
Amen, the choir sits while the Reader reads the Lesson.

(16) At the end of the Lesson the choir, started by the
Cantor, say the Responsory ; but the Versicle is said by the
Reader, who having said it retires to his place, while the next
one in order comes out to read the second Lesson.

(17) The Superior, or Hebdomadary, ought to read in his

APPENDIX 435

place the Third Lesson, during which, if it be the Superior,
all stand out of respect.

(18) The Lessons over, the Te Deum is started by the
Cantor, all rising and facing eastward.

(19) At the Te ergo all kneel, facing one another, rising at
the next verse.

(20) If Matins is not followed at once by Lauds, after
the Te Deum the Versicle, Domine exdudi orationem, with
the Prayer from Lauds and the concluding Versicles, are
said. Otherwise —

AT LAUDS.

(1) All turning towards the east, the Superior or Heb-
domadary begins, making the sign of the Cross, Deus in
adjutorium. At the Gloria all turn, facing one another, and
bowing profoundly, say the Gloria Patri.

N.B. — This ceremonial is used at all the hours.

(2) The first Cantor starts the first Antiphon and Psalm
and repeats the former at the end, and so with the third and
fifth.

(3) The second Antiphon and Psalm are started by the
second Cantor, and so with the fourth.

(4) During the Psalms in this and all other hours the choir
recline in their stalls or sit, as the custom may be. The
former for preference.

(5) If it is found that the reciting note is lowered after
several Psalms, at the Laudate it will be well for the first
Cantor to raise the pitch when giving out the Antiphon.

(6) The Psalmody over, all rise and face eastward while
the Superior, or the Hebdomadary, says the Little Chapter, to
which all answer, Deo Gratias. Then, all turning faceways,
the first Cantor gives out the first line of the hymn and
all his side continue it. The second verse is said by the
opposite choir, and all bow during the last verse.

(7) The Versicle is said by the Cantor, and all make the
Response.

(8) Then he starts the Antiphon and the Benedictus.

(9) At the Canticle, which is to be said more solemnly

436 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

than the rest of the7Office, all turn eastwards and make the
sign of the Cross.

N.B. — This is done at the three Canticles. The Gloria is
said as usual.

(10) After the repetition by the Cantor of the Antiphon, the
first Cantor's side start Kyrie eleison, to which the second
Cantor's side respond Christi eleison, both sides joining in the
last invocation. Then the Superior, or Hebdomadary, says the
Versicles, to which all respond, and the prayer, during which
all except the reciter bow profoundly, rising to answer Amen.
Then follows the Commemoration. All say the Antiphon ;
the Cantor follows with the Versicle, to which all respond ;
the Superior, or other, recites the prayer.

(u) After the concluding Versicles, all bow while saying
together in secret the Pater, rising for the Dominus dot nobis.

(12) All then kneel (except from Saturday Vespers until
after Sunday's Compline and during Paschal time, when all
remain standing, but facing eastwards) for the Antiphon of
our Lady, which being over, after a few moments' private
prayer, all retire as they entered. Having arrived at the
appointed place (called the statio) the Superior passes through
the ranks and turning, salutes each side, and then all depart
in peace.

THE LITTLE HOURS.

(1) These are said in the same way.

(2) The Hymn comes before the Psalms.

VESPERS.

(1) All as at Lauds, with the following exception : —

(2) In the second Psalm all bow while saying the Sit nomen
Domini benedictum.

(3) All kneel for the first verse of the Ave Maria stella.

COMPLINE.

(1) The Converte is said turned eastwards.

(2) The rest of the Office as above.

(3) The Superior gives the final blessing, during which all
bow profoundly.

(4) The Antiphon of our Lady follows at once.

APPENDIX 437

SOME GENERAL SUGGESTIONS.

(1) If the Antiphons are sung the Antiphons are taken up
by both sides of the choir.

(2) There should be, if possible, two Cantors, one for
either side of the choir. The ruling of the choir should
change every Saturday [i] at Vespers for the ensuing week,
so that each side in turn should have the first Cantor.

(3) The Hebdomadary should also take office from Satur-
day evening ; but the Superior always presides and leads the
Office on the greater feasts.

(4) The ordinary form of the Office is said from the
Matins of February 3 until the Vespers of the Saturday
before the first Sunday in Advent. The only change during
Paschal time is the Antiphon at the Three Canticles.

(5) The Advent Office is said from the Vespers of the
Saturday preceding the First Sunday of Advent until after
None on Christmas Eve.

(6) The Christmas Office begins at the Vespers on Christ-
mas Eve and goes on till after Compline on February 2.

(7) The Paschal Office begins at Vespers on Holy Saturday
and continues till after None Whit Sunday.

(8) On the feast of the Annunciation (even when trans-
ferred) the Office from Vespers of the Eve until Compline
of the feast is said according to the Advent Rite [2].

(9) From the beginning of Vespers on the Saturday before
Septuagesima until the beginning of Vespers on Holy Saturday,
Alleluia is omitted and Laus tibi Domine Rex ceternce glorm
is said instead.

(10) Te Deum is not said, except on feasts of our Lady
(even when transferred) in Advent, or from Septuagesima
until Easter.

N.B. — The feasts of our Lady are those observed in the
diocese.

(u) During Passion time the Gloria is to be said as usual.
(12) It is forbidden during the three days of Holy Week

[i] The Sunday celebration begins with Saturday Vespers.
[2] S.R.C., July 16, 1866, ad. iii.

438 THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY

to recite the Little Office publicly [ i ] . On these days it would
be more in the mind of the Church to say the Greater Office.

(13) On these days which are kept as doubles in the
diocesan calendar, all the Antiphons to the Psalms and
Canticles have to be said in full before and after. Hence the
term double, i.e., the Antiphon doubled [2].

(14) When several Little Hours are said together, separately
from Lauds, Pater nosier is only said after the last one. When
Compline is followed immediately after Matins, the concluding
Pater, Ave, and Credo must be said before the Ave Maria
of Matins.

(15) In private recitation it will be well to observe, as far
as possible, the ceremonial of the choir ; being mindful of the
words of the Psalmist : In the sight of the Angels will I sing
praises unto Thee; I will worship towards Thy holy Temple,
and will praise Thy Name because of Thy loving-kindness
and Truth [3].

That God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ,
to Whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen [4].

[i] S.R.C., July 16, 1866, ad. IT. [3] Ps. cxxxvii. 2.

[2] S.R.C., July 1 6, 1866, ad. ir. [4] i Peter iv. n.

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