The Order of the Psalmody
Each of the day hours begins with the verse, "O God, come to my assistance; O God, make haste to help me(Ps 70:2)," followed by the Doxology and the appropriate hymn.
Then, on Sunday at Prime, four sections of Psalm 119 are said. At the other hours, that is at Terce, Sext and None, three sections of this psalm are said. On Monday three psalms are said at Prime: Psalms 1, 2 and 6. At Prime each day thereafter until Sunday, three psalms are said in consecutive order as far as Psalm 20. Psalms 9 and 18 are each divided into two sections. In this way, Sunday Vigils can always begin with Psalm 21.
The psalms for Prime and the day hours of the psalmody—Terce, Sext and None—are relatively ordinary. They simply recite Psalms 1–20 in order. But they do it with two major emphases. The first is the opening of the Office with the verse, “O God, come to my assistance,” the continuing reminder that even prayer is a gift from God.
The second is to form a kind of drumbeat for the highlight of the next week, the Vigil of Sunday that opens always with Psalm 21, which stands as both warning and promise. It details the underlying truth of life: the monastic is to remember, however powerless they may feel, that no ruler is as powerful as God; no ruler deserves our praise as does God; no ruler really rules anyone. However powerful particular rulers may seem, we know that in the end it is God who will prevail, it is God in whom we must put our trust.
About the Rule of Benedict
Benedict of Nursia was born in the year 480. As a student in Rome, he tired of the decadent culture around him and left to live a simple spiritual life as a hermit in the countryside of Subiaco about thirty miles outside of the city. It wasn't long, however, before he was discovered both by the people of the area and disciples who were themselves looking for a more meaningful way of life. Out of these associations sprang the monastic life that would eventually cover Europe.
The Rule of Benedict is not a treatise in systematic theology. Its logic is the logic of daily life lived in Christ and lived well. This early monastic rule is part of the Wisdom tradition of Christianity and is rooted in the Bible for its inspiration and its end. It deals with the meaning and purpose of life. The positions taken in the Rule in the light of themes in the wisdom literature of other culture find Benedict of Nursia in the stream of thinkers who lived out of a single tradition but from the perspective of universal and fundamental insights into life.
Excerpted from The Rule of Benedict: Insights for the Ages by Joan Chittister, OSB
