The opening of Matins/4 - Why does the Benedictine Office repeat Psalm 3 every day?

In the last post I looked at the rubrics around Psalm 3.  I this post, I want to consider briefly just why St Benedict sets Psalm 3 for Matins every day.  My view is that is because it is meant to remind us of five key aspects of St Benedict's spirituality.

1. Against Manichaenism: we have bodies as well as minds: One of the key reasons for the selection of this psalm as the first for Matins then, must surely lie in the words of verse 3, for in the early hours of the morning, well before dawn, the monk or nun can truly say with the psalmist, 'I have slept and taken my rest, and I have risen up because the Lord has protected me'.

St Benedict seems, in his Rule, to enjoy finding ways in which to carry out quite literally the injunctions of the psalms while pointing to the underlying spiritual meaning of doing so.  'Seven times a day have I given praise to you' is translated quite literally, for example into seven hours to be prayed during the day, while 'at midnight I rose to give praise to thee' justifies Matins (RB16). 

The spiritual meaning of this verse surely lies in its Christological interpretation, for the oldest surviving Patristic reference to Psalm 3, from St Clement of Rome (c96), states that the verse alludes to Our Lord's death and Resurrection.  

Indeed, an early tradition is that the first three psalms of the psalter are about, respectively, the life (Psalm 1), death (Psalm 2) and Resurrection of Christ (Psalm 3).

And of course, the Fathers urge us to apply its message to ourselves as well: we must trust that God will protect us so we rise up, both each day now, and at the last, with him.    

2. The spiritual warfare: The idea that we must wage spiritual warfare against our enemies with the help of God resonates throughout the St Benedict's Rule.  Indeed, in the very opening lines of the Prologue he urges us to renounce our own will, in order  'to fight for the true King, Christ', and take up the 'strong and glorious weapons' of obedience.

The psalm, particularly in verses 1 and 7, makes it clear that we cannot expect the spiritual life to be easy: rather, it is a battle.  We must struggle daily with enemies ranged around us, such as discouragement and temptation. 

It is worth noting too, that verse 7 is closely paralleled by verse 7 of Psalm 90, said at the last hour of each day at Compline.

3.  Time to amend:  This psalm opens by asking why God allows us to be surrounded by our enemies (verse 1), and also asks why the good often seem so badly outnumbered (verse 7).  The challenge posed by a God who often seems to sit back, allowing sinners to flourish while oppressing the good (verse 2) is also a key theme of the psalms the saint places at Prime each day.  Why then does God seem to hold back?  

This psalm doesn't directly answer the question, but in the Prologue to the Rule the saint does suggest one key reason, namely to give all of us - including those we might view as our enemies, those mired in evil - time to repent that we might yet be saved:

"And the days of our life are lengthened and a respite allowed us for this very reason, that we may amend our evil ways. For the Apostle saith: Knowest thou not that the patience of God inviteth thee to repentance? For the merciful Lord saith: I will not the death of a sinner, but that he should be converted and live."

4.  Ask God for help: Another reason for God's delay is suggested by Verse 7 of the psalm, which introduces some key motifs or memes in the Benedictine Office, often used in antiphons and elsewhere, in the word 'exsúrge', or arise.  

In the Prologue to the Rule, St Benedict tells us to 'arise because Scripture rouses us, saying 'Now is the hour to arise'.  The Psalm parallels this, by asking God to arise and save us, for without this  help we cannot rise.  

St Benedict seems to have had some particular attachment to these sentiments for he deliberately splits psalms in two, even across days in order to arrange for these two phrases (or slight variants thereof) to be used as incipits twice on Wednesday: firstly at Matins (Psalm 67/68) and again at Prime (Psalm 9 pt 2/Psalm 11).

5.  God our lifter up, our sustainer:  Finally, closely linked to the requirement that we actively ask for God's help is the deep sense of trust in God to make everything come out right, and help us win the race that we must cultivate.  

Verse 4 of the Psalm alludes to God as the one who is our sustainer or protector (susceptor), who lifts us up.  In many respects the themes of the psalm, and this verse in particular, echo the stanza of Psalm 118 that surround the Suscipe verse that is used as part of the monastic profession ceremony.

Indeed, the idea of God as our 'susceptor' has an important theology behind it.  St Augustine's take on the word points to the analogy of the Roman paterfamilias, who 'received' (acknowledged) his child, thus saving it from the fate of exposure.  He also explains it as a word used to mean a powerful man who takes up the cause of someone, or a doctor or lawyer accepting a case.   When God becomes our susceptor, in other words, he acts as a Father or powerful protector of us, someone who has taken our cause on as his own, and will work to sustain, help and heal us.  The monastic commentator Cassian (c. 360 – 435) took the discussion of its meaning a step further, for in Chapter 17 of his Conference 13 he discusses God's intervention in various types of vocation:

"Hence it comes in our prayers we proclaim God as not only protector and Saviour, but actually as our Helper and Sponsor [adjuitorem et susceptorem] for whereas He first calls us to him, and while we are ignorant and unwilling, draws us towards salvation, he is our Protector and Saviour, but whereas when we are already striving, He is want to bring us help, and to receive and defend those who fly to Him for refuge, He is our Sponsor and Refuge.' "

St Benedict's contemporary Cassiodorus' commentary on the verse puts more emphasis on the idea of God as our ongoing sustainer, particularly in the ennoblement of the flesh through grace made possible through the Incarnation:

"Sustainer, that is, of the form of slave, since the taking up of human nature is the Word made flesh. So it is the flesh which speaks of its glory and the lifting up of its head, for the all-powerful Word assumed it so that the divine and human substance might be one Person without any admixture. This verse is relevant too to the confounding of the Pelagians, who believe that man can by his own efforts achieve something good; for who, pray, could be self-sufficient for performing good without abundance of divine grace? It is through grace by which it is united to God that human nature has taken its place at the Father's right hand."

Throughout the psalm there is a clear message: if we but put our trust in God and cry out to him with strength, he will destroy our enemies, be they of the world, the flesh and the devil.  

No wonder, then, that St Benedict accounted this psalm worthy of daily repetition.

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
Psalmus David, cum fugeret a facie Absalom filii sui.	The psalm of David when he fled from the face of his son Absalom.
2 Dómine quid multiplicáti sunt qui tríbulant me? * multi insúrgunt advérsum me.	Why, O Lord, are they multiplied that afflict me? many are they who rise up against me.
3  Multi dicunt ánimæ meæ: * Non est salus ipsi in Deo ejus.	Many say to my soul: There is no salvation for him in his God.
4  Tu autem, Dómine, suscéptor meus es, * glória mea, et exáltans caput meum.	But thou, O Lord art my protector, my glory, and the lifter up of my head.
5  Voce mea ad Dóminum clamávi: * et exaudívit me de monte sancto suo.	I have cried to the Lord with my voice: and he hath heard me from his holy hill.
6  Ego dormívi, et soporátus sum: * et exsurréxi, quia Dóminus suscépit me.	I have slept and taken my rest: and I have risen up, because the Lord hath protected me
7  Non timébo míllia pópuli circumdántis me: * exsúrge, Dómine, salvum me fac, Deus meus.	I will not fear thousands of the people, surrounding me: arise, O Lord; save me, O my God.
8  Quóniam tu percussísti omnes adversántes mihi sine causa: * dentes peccatórum contrivísti.	For thou hast struck all them who are my adversaries without cause: thou hast broken the teeth of sinners.
9  Dómini est salus: * et super pópulum tuum benedíctio tua.	Salvation is of the Lord: and thy blessing is upon thy people.

You can find verse by verse notes on the psalm by following the links below:

Introduction to Psalm 3
Psalm 3:v1
Psalm 3:v2
Psalm 3:v3
Psalm 3:v4
Psalm 3:v5
Psalm 3:v6
Psalm 3:v7 
Psalm 3:v8

Opening section/2 - Why Domine mea aperies? O Lord open my lips: our praise as a means of rebuilding the Church

Agnès de Kiqeumberg's Matins, c1425

O Lord, my lips You shall open, and my mouth shall tell of Your praise: Your praise, because I have been created: Your praise, because sinning I have not been forsaken: Your praise, because I have been admonished to confess: Your praise, because in order that I might be secured I have been cleansed...

Not even we have been left without a Sacrifice to offer to God.

For hear what he says, having a concern for his sin, and wishing the evil thing which he has done to be forgiven him: If You had willed, he says, sacrifice, I would have given it surely. With holocausts You will not be delighted. Nothing shall we therefore offer? So shall we come to God? And whence shall we propitiate Him? Offer; certainly in yourself you have what you may offer. Do not from without fetch frankincense, but say, In me are, O God, Your vows, which I will render of praise to You. 

St Augustine on Psalm 50

The first words a monk says each day...

In a monastery, the 'great silence' traditionally begins after Compline.  

It ends, at least as St Benedict prescribed it, with the first words of Matins, which is this verse from Psalm 50:  

16  Dómine, lábia mea apéries: * et os meum annuntiábit laudem tuam.

O Lord, you will open my lips: and my mouth shall declare your praise.

St Benedict instructs that it be said three times, as the monk or nun makes the sign of the cross over their lips, thus invoking the symbolism of the Trinity, that asks God to cleanse us from our sins, and make us worthy to praise him.

The sacrifice of praise and the sacrifice of justice

This verse of Psalm 50 seems to me to encapsulate the key purpose of the Divine Office, and indeed our existence - the offering of praise to God through our worship and deeds. 

It points to a twofold, and interrelated, mission in my view: firstly to praise and worship God; and secondly to work to advance his kingdom in the world.  

The task of praise is perhaps best explained by Pope Benedict XVI:

...in a monastery of Benedictine spirit, the praise of God, which the monks sing as a solemn choral prayer, always has priority...In the life of monks, however, prayer takes on a particular importance: it is the heart of their calling. Their vocation is to be men of prayer. In the patristic period the monastic life was likened to the life of the angels. It was considered the essential mark of the angels that they are worshippers. Their very life is worship. This should hold true also for monks. 

Monks pray first and foremost not for any specific intention, but simply because God is worthy of being praised. “Confitemini Domino, quoniam bonus! – Praise the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy is eternal!”: so we are urged by a number of Psalms (e.g. Ps 106:1). Such prayer for its own sake, intended as pure divine service, is rightly called officium. It is “service” par excellence, the “sacred service” of monks. It is offered to the triune God who, above all else, is worthy “to receive glory, honour and power” (Rev 4:11), because he wondrously created the world and even more wondrously renewed it. (Visit to Heiligenkreuz Abbey)

But that work of renewing the world is something we are co-workers in.  The work of advancing Christ's kingdom is symbolically the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem, and constantly turning us to that time when God will once again accept 'the sacrifice of justice', something mentioned also in Psalm 4 at Compline.

What is the sacrifice of justice?  It is surely Christ's sacrifice on the cross, to which we are invited to join ourselves, to take up our own cross, as we offer our small sacrifices such as the Divine Office.  And why do we offer it?  Both for our own sins and those of the world; above all to rebuild the desolated walls of holy Mother Church.  St Bede, for example, commented that:

For the fiftieth psalm - in which the prophet prays specifically for the construction of this city, saying Deal favourably, Oh Lord, in your good will with Zion, that the walls of Jerusalem may be built up - is one of repentance and forgiveness.    

On the fiftieth day of the Lord's resurrection, the Holy Spirit; through which not only the desire to repent is poured into us but also the gift of pardon is conferred on those who repent, came to the primitive Church.    

Now there are two precepts concerning charity, namely love of God and of neighbour, in which, once pardon for sins has been granted to us by the Holy Spirit, we are commanded to endeavour to attain eternal life.    

It is therefore most appropriate that, when rebuilding the wall of the holy city that has been destroyed by the enemies, its citizens restore it in fifty-two days, because this, undoubtedly, is the perfection of the righteous in this life - namely that they should not only, by repenting through the grace of divine inspiration, set aright whatever sins they have committed, but afterwards adorn themselves with good works in love of God and neighbour. (On Ezra and Nehemiah, trans DeGregorio, pg 189)

The opening section of Matins/1 - The opening prayers: the rubrics

c1460-70

MS W 190, Digital Walters

In the aforesaid winter season, there is first the versicle Domine labia mea aperies et os meum annuntiabit laudem tuam to be said three times; then must follow the third psalm and the Gloria; then the ninety-fourth psalm to be chanted with an antiphon, or at any rate to be chanted. Let the hymn follow next…

Rule of St Benedict, chapter 9

This week I want to look at the opening section of Matins.  I'll mostly be using the example of a Sunday in Lent for illustrative purposes.

The structure of the opening section of Matins

As I've noted previously, the structure of this section, viz the opening prayer for the hour, Psalm 3, Psalm 94 and the hymn, is always the same, whether on Sundays, feasts or weekdays.

Sunday Matins	Festal Matins	Weekdays
Opening prayer – Domine mea aperies
Psalm 3 (without antiphon)
Psalm 94 (with responsorial verse)
Hymn (of day, season or feast)

Finding Sunday Matins

You can find Sunday Matins either:

• on Divinum Officium  - set the calendar to 3-12-2017, select Matutinum, pre-Trident monastic;
• at the start of the Clear Creek booklet; 
• page 1 of Monastic Breviary Matins; or 
• in your breviary. 

Using a breviary

If you have a breviary, look for the section labelled Dominica ad Matutinum (Sunday at Matins), in the psalter section of the book (probably near the front).  

Before Matins

Many of the books will instruct you to say the Our Father (Pater Noster), Hail Mary (Ave Maria) and Creed (Credo) silently before the opening prayers of the hour.

These are not actually in the rubrics of the 1963 Office, so you do not have to say them, but of course you can say them silently if you wish by way of preparation for the hour.

O God come to my aid?

In many older books, the standard opening prayer for the Office, the verse Deus in adjutorium...then follows.  There is an argument for this, and it is a great prayer, but it isn't included in the 1963 breviary, and in my view this is a good reform.

The verse that St Benedict actually specifies to be used, O Lord open my lips that my mouth proclaim your praise, has a particular appropriateness, given that in a monastery, in theory at least, these are the first words spoken of the day, ending the great silence that starts after Compline.  Fitting then, that the first words of the monk or nun each day should be a re-commitment to the vocation of praise of God.

O Lord open my lips: the rubrics

In choir, everyone stands for the opening of Matins.

If you are saying it by yourself, you don't have to follow the various postures, but it is a good idea to do so if you can.

The rubrics state that unless otherwise specified, Matins opens with the verse Domine labia mea aperies... said three times (ie invoking the Trinity) while making the sign of the cross on one's lips with the thumb.

Divinum Officium indicates this as follows:

Incipit V. Dómine, lábia ✠ mea apéries. Et os meum annuntiábit laudem tuam.V. Dómine, lábia ✠ mea apéries. Et os meum annuntiábit laudem tuam. V. Dómine, lábia ✠ mea apéries. Et os meum annuntiábit laudem tuam.

Start V. O Lord, ✠ open thou my lips. And my mouth shall declare thy praise. V. O Lord, ✠ open thou my lips. And my mouth shall declare thy praise. V. O Lord, ✠ open thou my lips. And my mouth shall declare thy praise.

The chant tones

The Liber Responsorialis, which I will talk about more in due course, suggests that the opening prayer should just be sung on one note.  A number of recordings, however, suggest more elaborate tones are also used, particularly on feasts.





Version with Domine then organum Deus in adjutoriuum: