Liturgy (Part 2) | Praying the Psalms

These articles on The Rule of Saint Albert are concerned with the pillars of Carmelite life: sacred reading, work, the liturgy, silence, solitude, self-denial, and unceasing prayer. We will now expand on the topic of the liturgy. It receives special note because, as was mentioned in the last article on the pillars of our life in Carmel, liturgy and its celebration is the sum and summary of Christian life. The Opus Dei (work of God) par excellence is the celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours in the chanting of the Divine Office. Seven times a day the Church gathers throughout the world to sing the praises of God, chanting the Psalms with one voice and one heart. It is the voice of the Bride calling in response to the love of the Bridegroom. The Church fulfills the prophetic exclamation of the Psalmist: "I will sing of your mercies, O LORD, forever; with my mouth I will proclaim your faithfulness to all generations." (Ps 89, 1).

Psalmody: Unceasing PrAYER

"…My soul sings psalms to you unceasingly…" - Ps 30, 13 (Grail Psalter)

Besides thinking of a mountain, when someone hears the word "Carmel" they will usually make associations with the brown habit, asceticism, prayer and contemplation, union with God, St. Teresa of Jesus, St. John of the Cross, and St. Therese. In short, the word "Carmel" elicits thoughts in the mind of everything that has to do with the mystical life. There is another dimension of Carmelite life which should not be overlooked because it is the atmosphere or environment from which all prayer in Carmel is born. I am speaking of the Psalms and the way they are used in the liturgy of the Church. Singing and praying the Psalms is central to the plan of Carmelite religious life. The Rule of St. Albert states the following as a precept:

"Those who know how to say the canonical hours with the clerics shall say them according to the institution of the Holy Fathers and the approved custom of the Church."

In the formula vitae of St. Albert (the primitive form of the Rule) the text is different in some significant respects, for example the precept above is introduced in the following manner:

"Those who know their letters and can read the Psalms…" rather than, "Those who know how to say the canonical hours with the clerics…"

In the first monastic experiment on Mount Carmel, St. Albert of Jerusalem (between 1207 - 1214) legislates for a semi-eremitical form of life, and did not make the praying of the canonical hours a juridical obligation. The formal requirement to pray the Divine Office is defined with the Innocentian reform of the Rule in 1247. The canonical hours, thus, become a definitive element of religious life in common. This change, in fact, reflects the transition towards mendicancy in the late 13th century as the Carmelites migrated from Mount Carmel to Western Europe. The first hermits, on the other hand, would pray the Psalms privately in their cells - it would not be as such, a formal participation in the liturgy of the Church, but a way of prayer learned from the example of the monastic fathers. Most likely, the hermits would pray the Psalter from memory. In the age of early monasticism, one could not make profession until all the Psalms had been memorized!

The text of the formula vitae continues: "…shall say for each of the hours those [Psalms] which are appointed for those hours…" Praying a certain number of Psalms at set hours in the day had always been an established element of monastic life. The Psalms, as mentioned, would be committed to memory, and the desert Fathers would meditate upon a verse of a Psalm outside formal times of prayer as they performed their manual labor. It was a means for remaining steadfast in the solitude of the cell. The praying of Psalms helped the solitary to persevere in continual prayer and to overcome temptation. Life in the desert is very simple and for that reason is susceptible to tedium and boredom. Praying Psalms at intervals helped to break up the monotony of monastic routine. The monk must always be wary of the noonday devil who seeks to discourage the spiritual athlete from persevering in the contest of the desert. For a moment, let us turn our eyes to Anthony the Great:

"When the holy Abba Anthony lived in the desert, he was beset by accidie, and attacked by many sinful thoughts. He said to God, 'Lord, I want to be saved but these thoughts do not leave me alone; what shall I do in my affliction? How can I be saved?' A short while afterwards, when he got up to go out, Anthony saw a man like himself sitting at his work, getting up from his work to pray, then sitting down and plaiting a rope, then getting up again to pray. It was an angel of the Lord sent to correct and reassure him. He heard the angel saying to him, 'Do this and you will be saved.' At these words, Anthony was filled with joy and courage. He did this, and he was saved." (Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Abba Anthony #1, trans. Benedicta Ward, SLG).

Praying the Psalms at intervals was a matter of his eternal salvation. Anthony was getting ready not just to leave his cell, but he intended rather to quit the desert all together. Prayer and work in combination saved his vocation and helped him to persevere in his cell. Work and prayer saved him in the tedium of his solitude. The alternation between prayer and work (what is called "ora et labora" in the monastic milieu) throughout the various moments of the day will eventually become the pattern for all forms of religious life. Praying the Psalms at set times creates structure in a monastic day, providing the basic rudiments of an horarium (hourly schedule). The Psalter is "the monastic prayer book" and the Psalms define a monk's prayer. It is the essential text which records the dialogue that transpires between God and the one praying. Psalmody provides a rhythm, which is supernatural in character, to the ebb and flow of contemplative life.

Elijah, the Psalms and Carmelite Tradition

In an ancient medieval Carmelite text familiarly known as The Ten Books by Felip Ribot (written around 1385), Elijah is set forth as the ideal of the eremitcal monastic life. He is the first to take up this way of life - in solitude, silence, renunciation; but, also in the perpetual singing of God's praises. Accordingly, the Psalter having a prophetic character transforms the singing of the Psalms into a kind of prophesying. Elijah is acting as a prophet when singing the praises of God in inspired song. This prophetic office will be passed on to every son and daughter of Elijah in the Carmelite family.

Elijah will hand over the pattern of the eremitical life to his disciples, who would be called "prophets." Prophecy in this sense is nothing other than singing in praise of God. The first disciples of Elijah would radiate the charism of eremitical monasticism to future generations, and especially to the hermits on Carmel named by the Scriptures as the "sons of the prophets." The spiritual heirs of this charism would then be every Carmelite in every place and time. (Felip Ribot, O. Carm., The Ten Books on the Way of Life and Great Deed of the Carmelites, pgs. 29-32). The role of Carmelite religious in the Church is defined thus by our spiritual fathers. The prophetic role which we play in the Church is the worship of God by praising him in song from our silent retreat on the slopes of Mount Carmel. The following quote from The Ten Books explains:

"…when the Wiseman said to holy Elijah, 'You make prophets to succeed you,' he did not mean that Elijah conferred on his successors the spirit of foreseeing or foretelling the future, but rather, that Elijah established monks as his successors after him not only to observe the monastic life according to the form given him by God but also to perform this office, that is they should prophesy, which is to sing Psalms and songs and hymns devoutly to God, and to praise God not only with their hearts and tongues but also with musical instruments. And therefore, they were called prophets, that is psalm-singers, and their life was called prophetic, that is, dedicated to singing psalms to the Lord with musical instruments. And because they sang such psalms to God and observed the monastic life in the form given to Elijah by God, they obeyed the holy prophet with a ready heart, and thus they merited the blessing of the Wiseman spoken to their father Elijah: 'Blessed are they that heard you, and were honored with your friendship.'" (ibid., pg. 30).

In the mind of medieval Carmelites, prophesying was equivalent with the singing of Psalms in choir. They believed that it was Elijah himself who put into their hands a primitive form of what we now call the Divine Office. The first hermits heard the voice of Elijah echoing in their wadi and they were glad to take up his song of chant and praise to God.

The Importance of Praying the Psalms

"Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous ordinances." - Ps 119, 164

St. Benedict in his Rule states: "Nothing is to be preferred to the work of God…" The opus Dei (Latin for the Work of God) is the liturgy of the Church, which includes the Divine Office; otherwise known as the Liturgy of the Hours. The present precept of the Rule of St. Albert along with what is said elsewhere about the oratory places the praying of the Psalms at the heart of Carmelite religious life. It is an essential pillar in the structure of the spiritual edifice that is being built. The current Constitutions of the Order of Carmel also indicate the importance of Liturgical prayer, especially in the praying of the Hours:

"As religious we are called after the example of the early Church to pray together liturgically in the Eucharist and the Liturgy of the Hours. Liturgical prayer is the highest encounter with God: the community experiences and celebrates God's mystery in communion, and makes it a reality in their lives. Personal prayer is intimately linked with liturgical prayer; one flows from the other." (Constitutions of the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel 2019, #72).

Liturgical prayer is described here as the highest encounter with God and the fountainhead of all personal prayer. The praying of the Psalms and the Eucharistic sacrifice introduces the one who prays into the contemplation of God and his mystery. The Constitutions for the Order of Carmel go on to explain that, "Communal liturgical celebrations are moreover a central characteristic of our Rule." (ibid., #74). Carmelites are obliged by these Constitutions to grow "in love for liturgy and in… concern for its renewal." In this manner, it is hoped that each religious would experience a deepening in the contemplation of God's mystery which is celebrated in the liturgy. (ibid., #74). One cannot underestimate the value of the Liturgy of the Hours. St. Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi taught her sisters: "In comparison with the celebration of the Divine Office in choir any meditation or private prayer whatsoever is of little merit before God." (The Carmelite Directory of the Spiritual Life, p. 436). It is a tremendous privilege to have a place in choir and to participate in the official prayer of the Church. It is the best means for making intercession for all the people entrusted to our prayers.

The Psalms chanted in choir by the religious of Carmel is both a participation in the prayer of Christ and the prayer of the Church. In this song the voice of the Bridegroom is heard as Jesus sings to his Bride, the Church. The voice of the Bride is also heard as she extols her Beloved in song. Thus, the Liturgy of the Hours is a canticle of loving dialogue. Furthermore, it is a public work which is made on behalf of the Church - a work which sanctifies each hour of every day. Time is made holy as the Psalms are prayed. Singing the Psalms in choir is a continuation of the Eucharistic celebration recalling the mystery of redemption and making it present in each moment. The Carmelite Constitutions teach that:

"The public prayer of the Church is the manifestation of our participation in the Church at prayer, which, together with Christ, 'is ceaselessly engaged in praising the Lord and interceding for the salvation of the world.' From its pre-eminence as the public and official prayer of the Church, it is a fruitful source for the spiritual life of those who share in it…'The Liturgy of the Hours extends praise and prayer to the different hours of the day, making present the mysteries of salvation, the prayers of intercession, and the foretaste of heavenly glory which are offered to us in the Eucharistic Mystery.' Together with the Eucharistic celebration, the Liturgy of the Hours unfolds for us continuously throughout the liturgical year the mysteries of the redemption accomplished for us by Our Lord Jesus Christ, so that we may encounter them and thus be filled with the grace of salvation."

St. Albert exhorts all those who are able to say the canonical hours to join in the prayer of the Church because it is so vital for the life and spiritual welfare of the individual, the community, the Church, and all peoples and nations. Praying the Psalms is truly a pillar of Carmelite life. By these prayers, a Carmelite intercedes for the whole world with the voice of Christ and his Church and brings down upon all the grace of salvation.