XIV. The Opus Dei: Means of Union with God

Summary. — Divine praise, the Opus Dei, is likewise a means of union with God and of sanctification. — I. It furnishes excellent forms of prayer and impetration. — II. It provides oppor¬ tunities of practising the virtues well. — III. It constitutes the best manner of being made one with Christ. Dispositions in which the Divine Office ought to be accomplished : immediate preparation ; intentions to be formulated. — V. Attitude of the soul during the Divine Office : to pray worthily, with attention, and devotion. — VI. Final exhortation.

IF the Opus Dei were presented exclusively as a homage rendered to the Divine perfections in union with Christ Jesus, it would already, and on this ground, eminently merit all our fervour. In the last conference we tried to show what a lofty work the Divine praise constitutes ; it is the Opus Dei by excellence, the voice of the Church addressing herself officially to the Father, being entitled, as Christ's Bride, to offer Him her adorations ; it is the homage of a soul wherein faith is active, hope assured and love ardent. It is for these reasons that liturgical prayer is so pleasing to God : Laudabo nomen Dei cum cantico, et placebit Deo super vitulum novellum.

Worship is also a conversation, an exchange ; man, being full of needs, asks at the same time that he adores ; and God gives more than He receives. This is why the Opus Dei is an abundant source of precious graces for the soul. After having said in the Psalm, that the sacrifice of praise is pleasing to Him, God, Who is magnificence itself and ever bestows the hundredfold, adds that this sacrifice becomes for him who offers it, a way of salvation : Et illic iter quo ostendam illi salutare Dei. It is impossible indeed for a soul to come, near to God, to come before Him in the name of His Son Jesus, and, finding strength in the infinite merits of this supreme High Priest, to offer unceasing homage to God, without the Father delighting in this soul and pouring special graces upon it. When He sees in us “ the Son of His love, ” — and He sees Him during the Divine Office celebrated in the aforesaid dispositions — the Father from Whom comes down “every perfect gift," cannot but i. Ps. lxviii, 31-32. — 2. Coi. i, 13. — 3. Jac. 1, 17. enrich us with heavenly favours. In one of her collects, Christ’s Bride herself logically links together these two aspects of the Divine Office : “ Grant, O Lord, to the people consecrated to Thee to find the source of increase in the affections of pious devotion, that, being taught by the sacred rites, they may be filled with favours so much the more precious, according as they become more pleasing to Thy Divine Majesty.” God, being moreover the first Author of our sanctification, the daily and repeated contact that we have with Him in the Divine Praise veritably constitutes for us an inexhaustible principle of union and holiness.

This principle is true for every soul, even for those of simple Christians ; the faithful who, although in a more restricted manner, take part in Divine worship with faith and devotion, imbibe the Christian spirit as from its fount. This is what Pius X, of holy memory has so explicitly said : “ The active participation of the faithful in the sacred mys¬ teries and in the public and solemn prayer of the Church is the first and indispensable source whence is drawn the true Christian spirit a. ”

But is it not manifest that this truth is to be applied still more appropriately to those who, like us, have the happiness of the monastic vocation ? Besides the means of sanctification that are common to all the members of Christ’s Mystical Body, such as the Sacraments, there exists, so to speak, in each Order, a special means corresponding to its institution and to which souls belonging to this Order ought preferably to be attached, so as to arrive at perfection. Upon Christian predestination, God has engrafted for us the Benedictine predestination ; we must not think indeed that God has left our monastic vocation to chance ; every religious vocation, constituting a signal grace, is the fruit of the infinite and privileged love which Christ Jesus bears to a soul : Intuittis e-um dilexit eum 3 ; and it is only by an act of His sovereign and Divine will that the Word gives us this immense grace. We definitely responded to this call on the day of our profession ; but do not let us lose sight of the fact that we have made profession secundum Regulam S. P. N .Benedicti*. The particular character like the singular splendour of the holiness that God expects of us, should be derived from the monastic code of our great Patriarch. It is not in following the Rule of St. Augustine or the institutions of the Carthusians, however great and lofty they be, that we shall arrive at the perfection that Christ demands of us. To a particular vocation, a special perfection, or rather a special form of holiness, ought to respond.¹

Now our Holy Father ordains that among all the positive 1 works of piety that his monks are to perform, none is to take precedence of the Divine Office : Nihil 0 fieri Dei firarponatur 2. Doubtless, it is right to repeat that this work is not in our case exclusive of the others ; but being the one which, in the Rule of St Benedict, is given the first place, it becomes by that fact, for us monks, a very sure and authentic means ol attaining that form of perfection which God willed for us when He called us to the cloister. Thus if it is averred that we are pleasing to God in the measure that we give our¬ selves up to this work, it will not be less truly averred that the Divine Praise constitutes one of the most infallible means of realising in ourselves the eternal and special idea that God has of our perfection.

Let us then explain how the Divine Office is a means of union with God and of sanctification ; it will next remain for us to point out the requisite conditions in order that this means may produce all its fruits in our souls.

I

One of the most important truths of the spiritual life is incontestably the necessity of prayer for obtaining the Divine help : “ Ask, ” said Our Lord, " and it shall be given you ; seek, and you shall find : knock, and it shall be opened to you 3. ” Our needs are immense, and without Christ’s grace we can do nothing. How are we to obtain Christ’s help ? By praj^er : Petite ei accipietis 4 / omnis enim qui petit, accifiit 5. Now, the Divine Office contains wonderful suppli¬ cations as pressing as they are varied. Undoubtedly, as we have seen, it is first and before all a Divine Praise, the cry of the soul that, full of faith and love, admires and magnifies God’s perfections : Magnus Dominus et laudabilis nimis 6. We do not come to the choir primarily to beg ; no ; we come to praise God, to glorify Him, to think upon His glory, to lend material creation our lips with which to sing, and our heart with which to love God : The first and direct end of the Divine Office is the glory of the Creator : Domine, Dominus noster, quant admirabile est nomen tuum in universa terra! The dominant idea of the Opus Dei is drawn from these words of the Psalmist, as it is summed up in the ever recurring doxology of the Gloria.²

But the Divine Office contains, however, numberless forms of prayer and supplication. The psalms, for example, ex¬ press not only admiration, joy, exultation of soul in presence of God’s admirable perfections; all the needs of the soul are also found therein set forth as it were in God’s sight. We can, with the Psalmist, beseech forgiveness of our sins : “ Have mercy on me, O God, according to Thy great mercy. And according to the multitude of Thy tender mercies blot out my iniquity. Wash me yet more from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin... Turn away Thy face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities... Cast me not away from Thy face ; and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me a. The sins of my youth and my ignorances do not remember : Delicta juventutis meae et ignorantias meas ne memineris ; ab occultis meis munda me, et ab alienis parce servo tuoi. Out of the depths I have cried to Thee, O Lord... if Thou, O Lord, wilt mark iniquities, Lord who shall stand. Hope, therefore, O my soul, hope in Thy Lord, for His Redemption is abundant, and He shall redeem thee from all thy ini¬ quities : Et copiosa apud eum redemptio 6. Thou shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow. To my hearing Thou shalt give joy and gladness : and the bones that have been humbled shall rejoice... Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation, and strengthen me with a perfect spirit... O Lord, Thou wilt open my lips : and my mouth shall declare Thy praise 6. ”

When the soul is in trouble, in distress, when beset by temptation, when sadness overpowers it, when discouragement takes possession of it, it has but to open the inspired Book : “ O God come to my assistance ; O Lord, make haste to help me. Why, O Lord, are they multiplied that afflict me ? many are they who rise up against me. Many say to my soul : There is no salvation for him in his God. But Thou, 0 Lord, art my protector, my glory, and the lifter up of my head... Arise, O Lord, save me.” Why art thou sad, 0 my soul ? and why dost thou disquiet me ? Hope in God, for I will still give praise to Him : the salvation of my countenance, and my God. And let all them

1. Ps. viii, 2. - — 2. Ibid, l, 3-4, 11, 13. — 3. Ibid, xxiv, 7. 4. Ibid, xviii,

13-14. __ 5. ibid, cxxix, 1, 3, 5-8. — . 6. Ibid, l, 9-10, 14, 17. — 7- Ibid. lxix, 2. — 8. Ibid, hi, 2-4. 7- — 9- Ibid, xlii, 5. be glad that hope in Thee... O Lord, Thou hast crowned us, as with a shield of Thy good will ” : Et laetentur omnes qui sperant in te... Scuto bonae voluntatis tuae coronasti nosx. “ In the Lord I put my trust, how then do you say to my soul : Get thee away from hence to the mountain ? Hear, O Lord, the voice of my supplication, when I pray to Thee ; when I lift up my hands to Thy holy temple... Save, O Lord, Thy people, and bless Thy inheritance : and rule them and exalt them for ever.

Does the soul need light ? strength ? courage ? Words wherewith to invoke God flow endlessly to our lips : “ My soul is as earth without water unto Thee. Send forth Thy light and Thy truth, they have conducted me, and brought me unto Thy holy hill, and into Thy tabernacles. And I will go to the altar of God : to God Who giveth joy to my youth. To Thee, O God my God I will give praise upon the harp " : Confitebor tibi in cithara Deus, Dcu-s meus&.

Then, above all, the holy longings of the soul to attain one day to God rise ardently from the sacred poesy, the expression of its thirst for the divine meeting : “ For what have I in Heaven ? and besides Thee what do I desire upon earth ?... Thou art the God of my heart, and the God that is my portion for ever ” : Quid tnihi est in caelo et, a te, quid volui super terrain*?... “As the hart panteth after the fountains of water ; so my soul panteth after Thee... when shall I come and appear before the face of God ? I shall be satisfied when Thy glory shall appear ” : Satiabor cum apparuerit gloria tua! Thus, the soul's most intense desires, its deepest aspirations, its most pressing and extensive needs find wonderful forms of expression fur¬ nished by the Holy Spirit. And each soul can appropriate to itself these forms as if they had been made for itself alone.

To the inspired texts are to be added the “ Collects ”, the prayers composed by the Church herself, where are daily gathered up the supplications that the Bride of Jesus offers in her children’s name, in union with her Divine Spouse. They are ordinarily very concise, but contain, in their brevity, the true pith of doctrine. As you know their structure is almost always the same : the Church addresses her homage to the power and goodness of the Eternal Father, then a petition in correlation with the Feast of the day, the whole under a condensed, but often profound form ; finally, the invoking of the infinite merits of Christ Jesus, the Beloved Son, equal to His Father, Who lives and reigns with Him and the Spirit, in the heavens : Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum F ilium tuum, qui tecum vivum et regnat...³

How should a like prayer fail to be powerful with God ? How could God refuse His grace to whomsoever beseeches Him according to the words He Himself has inspired ? God loves all that comes from Himself or from His Son, and so this prayer which we address to Him in the name of His Son is most pleasing to Him, and efficacious for us : Pater ego sciebam quia sem-per me audis 2.

On this head, the Divine Office possesses great power of sanctification. I am certain that a monk who gives himself up to it with devotion cannot fail to obtain from it an abundance of divine help for every circumstance of his life. This is so much the more true in that the devout recitation of the Office familiarises us with these holy forms of prayer : spontaneously then, in the course of the day, these arise again from his soul under the form of “ ejaculatory ” prayers, short but ardent aspirations, whereby the soul is lifted up to God to remain united to Him. St. Catherine of Siena had a special devotion to the Deus, in adjutorium meum intende ; she often repeated it during the day 3. So many verses of the Psalms, after having served us in choir can thus become, outside the Divine Office, bonds of union between God and ourselves, uprisings from the heart to beseech His help or to tell Him that it is our will never to turn away from Him : “ It is good for me to adhere to my God, to put my hope in the Lord God 4. Preserve me, 0 Lord, for I have put my trust in Thee. I have said to the Lord, Thou art my God 6. When my strength shall fail, do not Thou forsake me®. My soul hath coveted to long for Thy justifications, at all times... I have stuck to Thy testimonies, O Lord : put me not to shame 7. ”

Each soul can thus choose from among so many formulas those which most aptly express its innermost aspirations, those which best help it to remain united to Our Lord. Often it has no need to seek them. When the Divine Office is recited with fervour, it is the Holy Spirit Who throws His Divine light upon some text of the Psalms or of the⁴

Liturgy ; this text then particularly strikes the soul, and by this vivid, penetrating and effectual action of the Spirit of Jesus, it hereafter becomes a principle of light and joy, and like a wellspring of living water where the soul may constantly allay its thirst, renew its strength, and find the secret of patience and inward gladness : Psalterium meum, gaudium meum.

II

It is not only in itself and directly that the Divine Office is a means of sanctification ; it also gives us the occasion of practising many virtues several times a day. Now this practice, according to the Council of Trent, is a source of union with God and of progress in perfection.

When a soul is in God’s friendship, each act of virtue it makes increases grace in it, and this is above all true of charity which is the queen of every virtue. Now, the Divine Office recited with fervour, is a continual exercise of the most varied virtues. We saw, in the last conference, the frequency with which acts of faith, hope, and charity occur in the course of the Divine Office ; charity especially shines out in it ; it finds the purest and most perfect expression in the Opus Dei , namely, complacency in God ; and this com¬ placency is manifested at almost each moment in accents of admiration and joy. When, for example, we have recited Matins and Lauds with devotion, we have made numerous acts of perfect love.

To the theological virtues, which are the specific virtues of our state of children of God, must be joined the virtue of religion. Religion has no purer manifestation than the Divine Office gravitating around the Eucharistic Sacrifice which is its crown. The Divine Praise encompassing the altar, where the holy oblation is offered, is the purest expression of the virtue of religion ; it is also the most pleasing to God, because this expression is determined by the Holy Spirit and by the Church, Christ’s Bride ; worship finds its plenitude in the Divine Office 4 i. S. Augustin. Enarrat. in Psalm. 137,11. 3, P. L. 37, col. 1775. — 2. Sess. vi, c. .10-11, — 3. It is a great mistake to imagine that a sacrifice is only valuable and agreeable to God if it is sad and mortifying to nature. The Holy Bible gives testimony that God receives flowers and fruits as well as blood, and joy. as well as tears. There are certainly many tears in the sacrifice of praise which is named the Psalter, but how joy overflows in it and how often one is made aware of a jubilant and ravished soul ! " Mgr. Gay. Entretiens siir les mysteres du Rosaire, I. pp. 80-8 1. — 4. Cf. Lottin, L'&me du culte, la vertu de religion.

It is in the Divine Office too that we learn reverence towards God ; the Liturgy is the best school of respect ; all within it is regulated by the Church herself in view of magnifying God’s Sovereign Majesty. When the soul performs ah the ceremonies, even the smallest, carefully and lovingly, it is gradually formed to that inward reverence which is, as we have said, the very root of humility. It is impossible for a monk to be devoutly assiduous at the “ Work of God ” without gaining in a short time a great knowledge of the divine perfections, and without that respect and reverence springing up in his soul from this contemplation.

We have likewise seen how the Divine Office is moreover a school where, on account of the common life, may be exercised the virtue of patience and self-forgetfulness.

Thus the virtues most necessary to our state as children of God, faith and confidence, humility, love, and religion, find each day not only the means of being exercised, but of being maintained, and strengthened ; the Divine Office hence becomes an abundant source of holiness.

III

The sanctifying power of the Divine Office however goes further than this. Not content with being the best form of impetration for our spiritual necessities and giving us the opportunity of daily practising lofty virtues, this praise constitutes for us the best way of being made one with Christ. We must never forget this capital truth of the spiritual life : all is summed up, for the monk as for the simple Christian, in being united, in faith and love to Christ Jesus in order to imitate Him. Christ being the very “ form 2" of our predestination, is at the same time the ideal of all holiness for us. He is the centre of monasticism as of Christianity : to contemplate Christ, to imitate Him, to unite our will to His will in order to please His Father, that is the sum total of all perfection. The Father has placed all things in His beloved Son ; we find in Him all the treasures of redemption Justification, wisdom, heavenly knowledge, sanctification ; for us everything lies in con¬ templating Him and drawing near to Him. For the thought of Jesus, the looking upon Jesus, are not only holy, but sanctifying.

And nowhere can we better contemplate Our Lord in His⁵

Person and in His mysteries, than in following the liturgical cycle established by the Church, His Bride, she herself guided in this by the Holy Spirit. From Advent to Pentecost, the liturgy is Christocentric ; in it all leads back to Christ, all converges towards Him ; it is a representation, but a living representation of His mysteries : His Incarnation, His most sweet Nativity, His hidden life. His public life. His sorrowful Passion, the triumph of His Resurrection, His admirable Ascension ; the Mission of the Holy Spirit. The Church leads us by the hand in Jesus' footsteps ; we have only to listen, only to open the eyes of faith : we are following Jesus.

The mysteries of Jesus thus contemplated with faith and love, give rise within us to the affections that we should have felt had we been present at the Birth of Jesus, had we followed Him to Egypt, been with Him at Nazareth, in His discourses, in the Garden of Gethsemani, upon the Way of Sorrows, and at Calvary; as we should have felt if we had been present at His Resurrection, and Ascension K This is what \yas said by a holy Benedictine, Mother Deleloe : “ At Christmas tide, during all those solemnities of our Sa¬ viour’s Birth, L received great favours ; His Majesty often gave me a vivid light so that I knew these divine mysteries as if they were then really taking place 2. "

Indeed, although Christ is no longer upon earth, although the historical reality of His mysteries has gone by. He ever remains our Head and the virtue of His actions and of His life is ever fruitful : Jesus Christus heri et hodie: ipse et in saecula 3. It is as the Head of the human race, and for the human race, that He has lived these mysteries : there¬ fore, simply by contemplating them with faith, the soul is moulded little by little upon Christ, its Ideal, and is gradually transformed into Him, by entering into the sentiments felt by Hi§ Divine Heart when He lived each of His mysteries. Jesus lives the reality of His mysteries in us, and when we have faith, and rest lovingly united to Him, He draws us with Him, making us partakers of the virtue proper to each of these states. Each year, as the soul follows the Liturgical cycle, it shares ever more intimately in these mysteries, and is identified more and more with Christ, with His thoughts, His feelings, His life. Hoc enirn sentite in vo bis, quod et in Christo Jesu 4. Gradually it is transformed into the likeness of the Divine Model ; not only because this Model is represented in each stage of His terrestrial existence, but above all because a divine virtue goes out from these mysteries to sanctify us, according to the measure of our faith, and to make of the soul the living reproduction of Him Who is our Elder Brother. Does not all our pre¬ destination, all our holiness consist in being made conform¬ able to Christ for the glory of His Father ?⁶

It is this custom of following, under the Church’s guidance, the mysteries of Jesus that gives to Benedictine spirituality such a specifically Christian character : the piety of the soul, traced upon the very piety of the Bride of Christ, becomes extremely lucid. It is a fact of experience that with souls, who say the Divine Office devoutly, who let themselves be replenished with the truths of the Psalms and follow Our Lord step by step in each of His mysteries, the spiritual life is very limpid, sane, and at the same time abundant and fruitful ; in these souls piety is exempt from all compli¬ cation, nor is there anything forced about it. If we try to create or arrange our own spiritual life, there is danger of putting much of ourself into it much that is human, and there is the risk at times of not taking the way that God wishes us to follow in order that we may attain to Him. Walking in the footsteps of the Church, there is no risk of going astray. The secret of the safety, as of the simplicity and breadth, of Benedictine spirituality lies in the fact that it borrows not from ever fallible man, but from the Church, from the Holy Spirit, all its elements even to its framework, which is nothing else than the representation of the life of Christ.

This is a point of extreme importance. Our holiness indeed is of the supernatural order, absolutely transcendent, having its source, not in us, but in God. Now, says St. Paul, we know not how we ought to pray, we know not, in this unique affair of our sanctification, what is befitting ; but the Spirit of Jesus, Who is in us since our Baptism, Who directs the Church, Who is as it were the Soul of the Mystical Body, prays in us with ineffable groanings.

In the Liturgical Office, everything is inspired by this Divine Spirit or created under His action. The Holy Spirit, Author of the psalms, deeply ingraves in the docile and devout soul, the truths whereof they give admirable formulas. He fills the soul with the affections that the sacred canticles express. Little by little the soul lives on these truths, is nourished on these sentiments which make it see and judge all things as God sees and judges them ; it lives constantly in the supernatural sphere ; it cleaves to Him Who is the unique object of all our religion, the One Who is placed unceasingly before our eyes in the reality of His mysteries and the power of His grace.⁷

There is no surer way than this of keeping united to Jesus, and consequently going to God. The Church, guided by the Holy Spirit, leads us to Christ, Christ leads us to His Father and makes us pleasing to Him : what incomparable security and what powerful fecundity of the inner life this spiritual way guarantees to us !

IV

The Divine Office will produce its precious fruits in us only if it be well accomplished ; it does not act in the manner of the Sacraments, ex opere operato ; its fruitfulness depends in great part on the dispositions of the soul. It is a divine work, extremely acceptable to God ; it is a privileged means of union and sanctification ; — on condition however that we bring the necessary dispositions. What are these dispo¬ sitions ?

Before the Office, we must first of all, prepare our¬ selves. The perfection with which we acquit ourselves of the Work of God depends in great part on the preparation of the heart ; it is the heart which God looks at first of all : Pr aeparationem cordis eomm audivit auris tua x. “ Whatever good work thou undertakes t, " our holy Patriarch says, speaking to us in general, “ beseech God with most earnest prayer to vouchsafe to bring to a good end " : Quidquid agen¬ dum inchoas bonum, a Deo perfici instantissima oratione deposcas 2. If this recommendation extends to all our under¬ takings, how much more expressly is it to be applied to a work which demands of us faith, love, patience, the sense of reverence, and which is for us the “ work ” by excellence, because it is ‘ the Work of God ? ” If we do not beg the help of God before giving ourselves to tne Divine Praise, we shall never accomplish it well. Not to recollect ourselves before the Office, but to let our minds wander, then begin ex abrupto, and imagine that fervour will be born of itself in the soul, is to be under a singular illusion. Scripture tells us : “ Before prayer prepare thy soul : and be not as a man that tempteth God : Ante orationem, ptaepara animam tuam, et noli esse quasi homo qui tentat Deum 1. What is “ to tempt God ? It is to undertake an action without being assured of the means of carrying it out. If we begin the Divine Office without preparation, we cannot recite it as is befitting ; to expect the necessary dispositions to come to us from on high, without first using the means of producing them within us, is to tempt God.⁸

1 he first disposition required of us then is that we prepare our soul by most fervent prayer : instantissima oratione. It is with this object in view that we assemble at the “ station ” in the cloister before entering the Church. The silence of the station ought to be inviolable. It is important that each one should respect the recollection of his brethren and not trouble (even by words which are necessary but might be said at other moments) the work of a soul that is preparing itself to be united to God. The moments which pass at the station are golden moments. Experience proves that fervour during the Divine Office is to be very exactly measured by the immediate preparation. Almost infallibly, if we do not prepare ourselves, we come out from the “ Work of God ” as we entered, with, moreover, the culpability of our negligence.

In what then does this preparation consist 2 ? As soon as the bell calls us, venite adoremus 3, we ought to leave every other work : Mox exoccupatis mam bus, et quod agebant imperjectum relinquentes 4 ; direct our thoughts towards God and say to Him by a movement of the heart : “ Behold I come, O my God, to glorify Thee ; may I give myself alto¬ gether to Thy work ! ” We ought secondly, if needs be by a generous and vigorous effort of the mind, to put from us every irrelevant preoccupation, every distracting thought, and gather up our energies that all may be concentrated upon the work about to begin : our intellect, our will, our heart, our imagination, in order that our whole being, body and soul, may praise the Lord. We should be able to say in all truth : Benedic anima mea Domino, et omnia, quae intra me sunt, nomini sancto ejus&; to say like David, the sacred singer : Fortitudinem meam ad te custodiam 6 ; I will keep my strength for Thee, O Lord, and for Thy service ; I wish to consecrate to Thy praise every power within me.

1. Eccli. xvni, 23. — 2. We speak of the immediate preparation, supposing the remote preparation to be understood and admitted. The remote preparation is, in the moral order, purity of heart and the habit of the presence of God, and, in the intellectual order, knowledge of the sacred texts, of the rubrics and chant etc. — 3* Ps. xciv, 6. — 4. Rule, ch. v. — 5. Ps. cii, I. - 6. Ps. LVIII, 10.

Christ, tb j Ideal ot the Monk.

Then let us unite ourselves, by a spiritual communion of faith and love, to the Word Incarnate. We must have recourse to Christ Jesus ; in this as in all things He is our Model and our Head. Christ Jesus loved the Psalms. We see Him, in the Gospel, more than once making use of the inspired songs, for example, the magnificent psalm Dixit Dominus Domino meo, wherein is exalted the glory of Christ, the .Son of God, triumphant over His enemies. His Divine lips have recited these canticles " in such a manner that manifestly His soul took possession of the sacred poetry as belonging to Himself 2. ” We then recited the Psalms in Him, as now He recites them in us, in virtue of that mar¬ vellous union which grace establishes between Christ and His members. This is what Our Lord Himself made Saint Mechtilde understand. One day when she asked Him if He had really celebrated the Hours upon earth, He deigned to reply to her : “ I did not recite them as you do ; however, at these hours, I rendered homage to God the Father. All that is observed among My disciples, I Myself inaugurated, as for example Baptism. I observed and ac¬ complished these things for Christians, thus sanctifying and ; perfecting the works of those who believe in Me. ” Our Divine Saviour gave the following counsel to the Saint : “ In be¬ ginning the Hours, let these words then be said with the heart and even with the lips : Lord, in union with the atten¬ tion wherewith when upon earth Thou didst observe the Canonical Hours in honour of the Father I celebrate this Hour in Thy honour. Secondly let all our attention be kept for God. And when this practice having been often repeated has become a habit, this exercise will be so lofty and noble in the sight of God the Father, that it will seem to make but one with that which I Myself -practised 4. ” i. Ps. cix. — 2. D. FestugiSre, l. c., pp. 114-115. — 3. Oramus ergo ad ilium, per ilium, in Mo, et dicimus cum illo et dicit nobiscum ; dicimus in illo, dicit in nobis psalmi hujus oralionem. S. Augustin. Enarr. in Ps. lxxxv, i P. L. 3 7, col. 1082. All this § 1 should be read. — 4. The Book of Special Grace, 3rd part, ch. 31. Our Lord deigned still more explicitly to teach the same doctrine to another Benedictine nun, Mother Deleloe. "One day ’’ this holy nun relates, " the Well-Beloved drawing my heart close to Him, it seemed to me that truly this most lovable Spouse plunged it with warm caresses and demonstrations of love into the recesses of His Divine Heart, uS in a furnace of infinite Love. It was then given me to understand ho,T* this favour was granted me by the Well-Beloved, in order that my so*a which belonged entirely to His Majesty, should not come alone into the presence of the Eternal Father to confess and love Him, but that being accompanied by this Divine Saviour, united to Him, and as it were altogether transformed into the unique object of His eternal delight, it should love and honour the Divine Majesty the more, — with and by the most adorable Heart of jJis Only-begotten Son, my Beloved, — and be more acceptably received, through this

We must not forget that if Christ Jesus recited the psalms, it was “ not only individually but, moreover, as the Head of humanity, morally identifying Himself with all Adam's race, being touched at Heart with every peril, struggle and fall, with every regret and hope of men, uttering to His Father, at the same time as His own prayer, the supreme and universal prayer of all humanity L ” This truth applies to all the prayer of Jesus, to all His works, and to His sacrifice.

This is why, with its every movement, the Liturgy finds its support in Christ Jesus, the Son of dilection. All its prayers end in recalling Christ’s merits and Divinity : Per Dominum Nostrum Jesum Christum... At the Mass, which is the centre of the liturgy and of all our religion, the “ Ca¬ non, ” that most sacred part of the holy oblation, begins most solemnly by having recourse to Christ’s mediation : “ O Father most clement, we beseech Thee : accept these gifts through Jesus Christ Thy Son and Our Lord. ” It ends with the same thought, still more explicitly formulated : Per Ipsum, et cum Ipso, et in Ipso: it is through Christ, with Christ, and in Christ that we can render all honour and all glory to the Father. Why so much insistence ? Because the Father has appointed His Son as the one universal Mediator. St. Paul, who penetrated so far into the mystery of Christ, exhorts us in these terms : “ By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise always to God, that is to say, the fruit of lips confessing to His Name " : Per ipsum ergo offeramus hostiam laudis semper Deo, id est fructum labiorum confitentium nomini ejus.

In Christ Jesus, we find our best support ; He supplies for our deficiencies. Let us entreat Him to be in us the Word that praises His Father. In the Sacred Humanity, the personal principle of every work was the Word ; let us entreat Him also to take the initiative in all our praises -j let us unite ourselves to Him in the infinite love whereby, in the Trinity, He glorifies His Father, and in that immense love He bears to the Church, His Mystical Body, Christus dilexit Ecclesiam 3. Let us further unite ourselves to Him, praising Him for the glory that He gives to the Church triumphant, which is without spot or wrinkle in His holy sight : non habens maculam aut rugam 4 ; let us beseech Him to increase the glory of His Blessed Mother, of His means, by the Sovereign Bounty. ” La Mire Deleloe, p. 231. Collection " Pax XVI ".

1. D. Festugi^re, l. c. p. 115. — 2. Hebr. xm, 15. 3- Eph. v, 25. 4-

Cf. Ibid. 27.

Angels and of His Saints ; then let us unite our love to His love for the Church suffering, in order that we may help those of His members who are waiting in the place of expiation ; let us unite ourselves to Him in that prayer which He made at the Last Supper for all His Church here below : Pater, rogo pro els qui credituri sunt in me x.

As the ages succeed one another, Christ leaves His Bride to accomplish a part of the prayer that He recited when on the point of offering His sacrifice. Although this prayer is of infinite efficacy, Our Lord wills us to join our own to it. One day our Divine Saviour, casting His gaze upon the multitude of souls to be redeemed, said to His Apostles whom He was about to send to preach the Gospel : Rogate dominum messis ut mittat operarios in messem suam 2, “ Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He send labourers into His harvest. " The Apostles might have replied : “ Lord, why dost Thou tell us to pray ? Does not Thy prayer suffice ? ” No, it does not suffice : Rogate: “ Pray, ” you also. Christ Jesus chooses to have need of our prayers as of those of His Apostles. Let us think, at the moments when we are recollecting ourselves at the “ station ” that from the depths of the tabernacle, Christ is about to say us : Rogate Dominum messis : “Lend Me your lips and hearts that I may prolong My prayer here below while in Heaven 1 offer My merits to the Father. Prayer first of all : the labourers will only come afterwards and their work will bear fruit only in the measure that My Father, attentive to your prayer, which is Mine, will pour down the heavenly dew of His grace upon earth. "

Before beginning the Divine Office, let us then cast a glance over the world : the Church, the Spouse of Christ, is ever in travail of redemption. Let us behold the Sovereign Pontiff, the pastors of dioceses and parishes, the religious Orders, the missionaries who carry the good word to the heathen in order to extend the Kingdom of Jesus; let us behold, in spirit, the sick in the hospitals, the dying whose eternal salvation is about to be decided at this very moment ; let us think of prisoners, of the poor, of those who suffer, of souls in temptation ; of sinners who wish to return to God but are weighed dowrn by the burden of their chains ; of the just who ardently long to advance in divine love. Is it not this that the Church herself does on Good Friday ? Remembering the sacrifice for the redemption of the whole world, and feeling herself strong in the very strength of the⁹

Saviour, the Church lets her motherly gaze travel over the diverse series of souls who have need of help from on high, and she offers special supplications for each. Let us imitate this example of our mother and approach God with confidence, for at this moment we are the mouth of the whole Church : Totius Ecclesiae os.

I was saying in the preceding conference that, in choir, we are the Church s ambassadors. Now what is the most fundamental quality of an ambassador ? To be clever ? powerful ? to have a large fortune at his disposal ? to have influence ? to shine by his personal talents ? to be persona grata with the sovereign to whom he is sent ? All this is useful and necessary ; all these qualities would contribute without any doubt to the success of his mission, but they would be insufficient and sterile, they would even deviate from the end in view did not the ambassador identify himself first of all, and as perfectly as he possibly could, with the intentions and opinions of the sovereign who sent him, with the interests of the country he represents. The Church deputes us to the King of kings, to the throne of God. We must then identify ourselves with her views and wishes ; the Church confides to us her interests, which are those of souls, those of eternity. This is not a trivial matter ! Let us then take into our hearts all the needs, all the necessities of the Church — so dear to Jesus since she is purchased by His Blood — the anguish of souls in pain, the perils of those who are at this moment grappling with the devil, the anxieties of those who have to direct us ; in order that all may receive God’s help. This is what was done by the holy Sister Mechtilde of Magdebourg. She took all Christendom in the arms of her soul to present it to the Eternal Father that it might be saved. “ Let be, ” said Our Lord to her, " it is too heavy for thee. ” “ No, Lord, " replied the Saint, “ I will lift it up and bear it to Thy feet with Thine own arms, that so Thou mayest bear it Thyself upon the Cross. ! ” An example of the faith of great souls which constrains them to put the dogma of the Communion of saints into the highest and most perfect practice.

Let us imitate these models, and we may be assured that light, consolation, help, and the grace of forgiveness will flow down abundantly from the throne of mercy upon the whole Church. Remember what Our Lord Himself said : “ Amen, amen, I say to you ; if you ask the Father

X* S. Bern. Senen. Sermo xx. — 2 The Light of the Divinity, b. II, ch. 12. anything in My Name, He will give it you. " Rely upon this promise, ask much, ask in all confidence, and the Father from Whom “ every perfect gift comes down 2, ” will open His hands to fill every soul with blessings 3. For it is not we who pray, who intercede at this moment ; it is the Church, it is Chiist, our Head, the supreme High Priest Who prays in us, and stands before His Father to plead the cause of the souls He has redeemed : Ut appareat vultui Dei pro nobis... 4 Semper vivens ad inter pellandum pro nobis.

It is true that men of the world shrug their shoulders when they learn that we stay such long hours in choir praising God. For them, nothing is worth anything unless it is exterior, unless the results can be touched or felt, unless it is something that is talked about, that is successful and brilliant ; but, says St. Paul, in his inspired energetic language, the sensual man, whose natural reason is his only guide, cannot understand the things of God : Animalis homo non per ci pit quae sunt Spiritus Dei ; the supernatural sense is lacking to him. For him, these hours are lost and wasted hours ; but to the eyes of faith, in the sight of God, — and who is just and true as God ? — these hours are rich in graces for the Church, and of great weight for souls as regards eternity. It is at these hours we fulfil the most excellent apostolic work, even towards our neighbour ; we obtain for him the grace of God, we give him God : this is the greatest good for a soul. St. Bernard, that great monk and apostle, consumed with zeal, says, “ all apostleship demands three things : the word, example, prayer. But of these three prayer is the most important, because it is prayer which obtains the grace and efficacy of the word and example 7. ” Indeed “ unless the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it. Unless the Lord keep the city, he watcheth in vain that keepeth it. ” It is truly God Who holds the eternal destinies of souls within His hands : In manibus tuis sortes meae ; and when we fervently recite the Divine Office for the whole Church, in union with Christ Jesus, we labour for the salvation and sanctification of souls in a mea¬ sure we cannot compass. i. Joan. XVI, 23. — 2. Jac. i, 17. — 3. Cf. Ps. cxliv, 16. — 4. Hebr. ix, 24. — 5. Ibid, vii, 25. — 6. I Cor. n, 14. — 7. Manent tria h.iec: verbum, exemplum, oratio; major autem his est oratio; nam, etsi vocis virlus sit opus, et operi tamen et voci gratiam efficaciamque promcretur oratio. Epistola, 201, n. 3. P. L. 182, co. 370. A disciple of Sl Bernard, Dom Chautard, Abbot of Sept* Fons, has written on this subject a most valuable work translated into English under the title of " The True Apostolate” , which we cannot sufficiently recoinmcnd. — 8. Ps. cxxvi, 1. — 9. Ps. xxx, 16. — 10. See La Vie con¬ templative et son r6le apostoliquc, by a Carthusian monk.

The Work of God ” is an eminently apostolic work, although this does not appear outwardly ; this character of the Office is perceived by faith alone, but for those who have faith, how much the value of this work is enhanced ! A Sister of Charity can count the number of sick persons she has assisted, the number of the dying for whose conversion she has laboured ; a missionary can verify the success of his preaching, take into account the good that he does, and therein find encouragement for his efforts and motives for thanksgiving. We cannot keep any such register. It is in the obscurity of faith that, during the Divine Office, we work for souls ; it is in heaven alone that we shall see all the glory we have given to God by devoutly singing His praises, all the good we have gained for the Church and for souls ; below we cannot gauge it ; this is one sacrifice the more that faith asks of us. But although the apostolic efficacy of the Work of God well performed does not appear to our bodily eyes, it is no less deep and far-reaching.

Let these great thoughts occupy our minds at the moment of beginning the Divine Office ; they enlarge the horizon of the soul ; they increase its energies tenfold, they prevent routine. When we habitually act in this spirit of faith, when we thus forget our personal pain and troubles, in order to occupy ourselves with the needs and interests of souls, we go out of self ; we praise God with fervour, in spite of the weariness that may befall us, in spite of the repugnance which God sometimes permits us to feel ; and let us be assured that if we think, before all things, of God’s glory and of Christ’s Mystical Body, Jesus will think of us and will pour down blessings upon our souls surpassing all our hopes and desires. Has He not promised this Himself ? “ Give — and it shall be given to you ” : Date, et dabitur vobis.

V

After having formulated our intentions, in a few rapid but intense acts, let us ask God " earnestly ” instantissima oratione, to open our lips that we may praise His holy name ; to cleanse our hearts from vain, perverse, or simply irrelevant thoughts ; to enlighten our understanding, to enkindle our love, that we may praise Him worthily, with attention and devotion. This is all contained in the prayer Aperi which we recite before each Office ; we snould endeavour to say it with humility and fervour, for it points out the dispositions x. Luc vi, 38. that we ought to have during the work of God : Digne, attente et devote.

To pray worthily, — that is to observe faithfully the cere¬ monial, the rubrics, the rules of chanting, all that forms the protocol imposed by the King of kings upon those who present themselves before Him. If, being admitted to the court of an earthly sovereign, we did not trouble ourselves about etiquette, we should be quite reasonably taxed with being guilty of great disrespect. The Church, under the Holy Spirit’s action, has arranged the ceremonial of her prayer with extreme care. By this she manifests the reverence she bears to her Divine Spouse. Under the Old Covenant, God Himself gave the details of the worship to be paid to Him, and we see that He shed blessings upon the Jewish people in the measure that they observed His ordinances. And yet, what was the immediate object of this worship ? The ark of the covenant, containing the tables of the Law, and the manna. It was but a figure, a symbol, an imperfect shadow — egena elementa, to speak in the language of St. Paul L Ours is the true tabernacle, for it contains tho true Manna of souls ; it contains the One Who alone is holy: Tu solus sanctus, Jesu Christe 2. The Divine Office is celebrated around the tabernacle, under the eyes of Christ. The Father lovingly beholds a soul who seeks to procure the glory of His Beloved Son Jesus : Et clarificavi, et iterum clarificabo ; therefore all is pleasing to Him that composes or enhances the worship whereof Jesus is the centre. Let us then take care not to exempt ourselves from the cere¬ monial nor to recite or chant the Office according to our owm fancies or caprices ; this would be wanting in respect to God ; it would be exposing ourselves to a wrong kind of familiarity which could only be harmful to us. God remains God, that is to say the Infinite Being, full of in¬ communicable majesty, even when He admits us to praise Him. Neither let us say that the rubrics are small matters ; yes, these things are materially small ; but they are great by reason of the love "with which we should observe them ; great because they so closely concern God’s honour ; a soul who loves Our Lord shows this love by putting as much fidelity into small things as into great actions, for nothing is really small which is according to the Divine good pleasure.

Let us pray attentively . Attention must be distinguished from intention, although the one is not without influence on the other. We have just now pointed out the intentions we ought to have in the course of the divine psalmody. Attention, too, is very necessary, for the Divine Praise is a human action, performed by a being endowed with reason and will. Failing this attention, we should fill the mecha¬ nical role of a series of well tuned phonographs ; we should be like the praying-wheels of the monks of Thibet.¹⁰

But what is the kind of attention required ? St. Thomas distinguishes first : the attentio ad verba, the mental appli¬ cation to pronounce the words well ; it is this that beginners have to strive after first of all ; secondly, the attentio ad sensum, attention to the meaning of the words ; finally, the attentio ad Deum; this is, according to St. Thomas, “ the most necessary " : Quae quidem est maxime necessaria L

Our holy Lawgiver combines the whole in a sufficiently synthetical manner in his beautiful chapter De disciplines psallendi. He first of all lays down the principle : Ubique credimus divinam esse praesentiam, maxime tamen... cum ad Opus divinum assistimus : “ We believe, " he says, “ that God is present everywhere, but especially, maxime, when we are assisting at the Divine Office. ” From this principle he draws two conclusions ; we must sing God’s praises with the greatest reverence : Ideo semper memores simus quod ait propheta : servite Domino in timore; with understanding, knowing well what we are doing and saying ; Et iterum : Psallite sapienter. Then at the end of the chapter, he links together the two dispositions with these words : Ergo consideremus qualiter oporteat in conspectu Divinitatis esse, et sic stemus ad psallendum ut mens nostra concordet voci nostrae 2: “ Let us consider with what reverence we ought to behave in God’s presence, and so assist at the psalmody that our mind be in accord with our lips. ” We should weigh this teaching carefully.

We are first of all told that during the Office, we ought to remain interiorly prostrate in adoration before God. God is Infinite Holiness, " the Lord God of all things, ” our Blessed Father reminds us in the chapter De reverentia orationis. When Abraham, the father of believers, spoke to the Lord, he called himself dust and ashes 4. When Moses conversed with God, such was his profound sense of the Divine Majesty that he durst not raise his eyes to look upon Him :¹¹

Non audebat respicere contra Deum; and yet Scripture tells us, God spoke to him "as a man is wont to speak to his friend. ”

From the time of the dedication of Solomon’s Temple, " the Majesty of the Lord " filled the temple so exceedingly that the priests dare not cross the threshold. Even under the law of love, even in the Beatific Vision, which is the absolute perfection of intimacy with God, adoration does not cease. St. John shows us the Angels and the Elect casting themselves down before the Infinite Majesty : Et ceciderunt in facies suas 4. Now, during the Divine Office, we are introduced by the Church into the presence of the Father ; we are, it is true, the children of this heavenly Father, but His adopted children ; we ought not to forget our first condition of creatures. The Invitatory psalm which is repeated daily at the beginning of Matins and is like the prelude to the “ Hours ” of the whole day, is very expressive of this attitude. “ Come, let us praise the Lord with gladness... let us come before His presence with thanksgiving ; andmake a joyful noise to Him with psalms. FortheLord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. For in His hand are all the ends of the earth : and the heights of the mountains are His... For the sea is His, and He made it : and His hands formed the dry land. Come, let us adore and fall down. Let us weep before the Lord that made us, for He is the Lord our God 6. " What a magnificent open¬ ing ! “ Come, ” says the Psalmist, and at this moment, we bend the knee, to manifest our adoration, our reverence. Our fear is not that of the slave, unworthy of us and of God ; nor even an imperfect fear, like that of a servant ; but it is the fear of children in their heavenly Father’s house, for we are really His people, the sheep of His pasture : Nos autem populus ejus et oves pascuae ejus 6. It is an intense reverence, like that which even now in Heaven fills the Sacred Humanity of Jesus Himself : Timor Domini sanctus, permanens in saeculum saeculi.

This inward reverence for a " Father of infinite majesty, ” Patrem immensae majestatis 8, should from time to time be manifested outwardly. Let all, says our holy Patriarch, incline at the Gloria Patri which follows each psalm, and is the doxology wherein we translate our adoration, ob honor em et reverentiam sanctae Trinit atis ; let us, he says again, listen to the reading of the Gospel, at the end of Matins, standing in reverence and awe : Cum honor e et timore 1. These are some of the outward manifestations of inmost reverence, but we ought to be watchful to keep ourselves in this reverence throughout all the Office without however making violent efforts of mind or imagination.¹²

Nothing hinders us, while thus inwardly prostrate in adoration, from attending to the meaning of the words, to the affections that the Holy Spirit makes the Psalms express. This is what our Blessed Father asks of us when he tells us, in a lapidary phrase, to put our heart in unison with our lips : Mens nostra concordat voci nostrae. “ If the Psalm prays, pray ; if it weeps, weep ; if it rejoices, rejoice ; if it hopes, hope ; and if it fears, fear. All that is contained therein is our mirror *. ” We remain in adoration during all the time of the psalmody ; it is a fundamental attitude ; but over this reverence which holds the depths of our being in awe surge movements of love, joy, praise, complacency, confidence, intense longings, earnest supplications. All these modulations rise up from the Psalms, to the glory of our Father in heaven, and for the good of souls, in the measure that the Holy Spirit touches the chords of our heart. Our soul ought to be like a harp docile to the fingers of this Divine Artist, that so our canticle may be pleasing to God.

Under an apparent divergency, there is perfect accordance between the views of St. Thomas, quoted above, and those of St. Benedict. The angelic Doctor does not in any way teach that “ attention to God ” is exclusive of “ attention to the sense ” (of the words) ; he only wishes that the soul shall not be bound to follow word for word, that it shall be free to soar Godwards, in short that the means shall not become an end. And this is exactly how St. Benedict understands things ; he does not say that the soul ought to be tied down to each word we pronounce (verbis) ; he says that it ought to be in harmony with our voice, that is to say it ought to go towards God by using the wings that the liturgical theme offers. This is what the elect do in heaven’s liturgy ; they unceasingly remain in contemplation before God in most perfect adoration, without this contem¬ plation hindering then from praising each of the Divine attributes.

This moreover is what our Saviour, our Divine Model, did here below. The soul of Jesus was always plunged in the contemplation and adoration of the Father’s perfections. When He spent the night in prayer, in orations Dei, when His Divine lips murmured the sacred canticles, His under¬ standing sounded all their depth, exhausted all their pleni¬ tude.¹³

In the same way when the monk, united to Christ Jesus, enters the oratory, bearing in his soul the deepest and most precious interests of Jesus’ Mystical Body, when bis heart is filled, and then overflows with the varied affections to which the Holy Spirit successively gives rise by means of the words uttered by the lips, — he offers God an extremely pleasing homage, while torrents of light and love, flowing at his prayer from God's munificence, are poured out upon the world of souls.

The last disposition required for acquitting oneself well of the work of God is devotion : devote. Devovere means “ to consecrate. ” Devotion is the consecration of our whole self to God ; it is the most delicate flower and the purest fruit of love, for it is love giving itself wholly to the beloved being ; it is the literal fulfilment of Christ’s words : Diliges Dominum Denm tuum ex toto corde tuo et ex tota rnente tua 2. It is this totality in love which is the mark of devotion. When we love with all our heart, we do not count the cost, we willingly spend ourselves without measure for the sake of those we thus love. In regard to God and in the Work of God, these dispositions constitute devotion.

We must not confound this devotion with certain of its effects. It does not consist in feelings of sensible consolation; however frequent these may be, they are not the less acci¬ dental, depending as much on temperament and circum¬ stances as on Our Lord. It is good to feel sweetness in God’s service. The inspired singer says himself, Gustate et videte quoniam suavis est Dominus, but it does not constitute the essential of devotion. We must thank God if He allows us to experience that His service is full of sweetness, for that encourages us and stimulates love ; however we must not cling to tnese consolations as if they formed the very basis of devotion.

To be truly devout in the Divine Office is to strive with all one’s being to celebrate it well ; it is to go to the choir every day and several times a day, with all the zeal, strength and energy that we can bring, in order to accomplish the Work of God as perfectly as possible ; it is to persevere in doing this, not only when feeling consolation, but whatever be the state of our mind, the weariness of our body, the inward repugnance that God sometimes allows us to ex¬ perience. These are sacrifices to be accepted during the hours of praise ; we have mentioned several of them in the preceding conference. To accept them requires self-abnegation and much generosity. From whence will this generosity arise ? What will nourish it ? Love ; for devo¬ tion is love put into practice. When one possesses this fervour which is born of love, he truly gives to God a sacrifice of praise: Tibi sacrificabo hostiam laudis. Devotion is to praise God with one’s whole being, to make of one’s self a holocaust to God : Confitebor tibi Dontine in toto corde meo 2. A monk who does not sacrifice every thought foreign to the occasion, who, during the Work of God, does not concentrate all the forces of his intellect and will upon God, and assists at the office of praise scarcely moving his lips, neglecting the points of the ceremonial established by the Church for the glory of God, does not fulfil his duty as a monk in a satisfactory manner. This negligence, this indolence, is unworthy of a monk. While so many religious in purely active Orders, so many missionaries spend themselves without counting the cost in ministering to souls, it would be inadmissible that a monk should perform without fervour the lofty work devolving upon him. When we are in choir, we ought to be able to say in all truth : “ O my God, I can now glorify Thee, in union with Thy beloved Son ; I can do much for the interests of souls redeemed by the Blood of this Son ; without my prayer, which is that of Thy Son, there might perhaps be some at this moment who would be lost for eternity. Let all within me sing Thy praise ; let there be nothing in me which is not Thine ! ” God loves generosity in His service, but, according to the energetic expression of Scripture, He " vomits the tepid, ” those who are indifferent to the interests of His glory and those of souls.¹⁴

Let us then give ourselves wholly to this work of capital importance, after the example of so many holy monks who have found it the best means of showing their love to God and souls. It is related of St. Mechtilde that “ it was her custom to use all her strength in praising God with fervent love ; it seemed that she would never be stayed even if it were at the cost of her last breath. One day when she was weary with singing, as often happened, she felt ready to swoon. It then appeared to her that she drew all her strength from Christ’s Divine Heart, and could thus continue to sing, less by her own strength than by Divine virtue. In this union, she seemed to sing with God and in God, and Our Lord said to her : Thou dost now appear to draw thy breath in My Heart ; in the same way, every person who shall sigh after Me with love or desire, shall draw his breath not in himself, but in My Divine Heart. ”¹⁵

VI

For the Divine Office to be accomplished with the fervour entirely worthy of it, great faith and generous love are needed. If we have not this living faith and this ardour of love, it may happen that after some time we do not sufficiently esteem the Divine Office ; that we no longer have a high enough idea of its immense value for God’s glory and the welfare of souls, and we end by considering other works more im¬ portant. Without owning this to ourselves, we may perhaps feel some satisfaction if it happens that for such or such a reason we are dispensed from presence in choir.

On the contrary, to a soul inspired with a living faith, the Opus Dei always appears incomparably great and inexhaustibly fruitful. Joined to the Holy Sacrifice which it encircles, it appears as the most perfect homage we can offer to God, as an extremely effectual means of union with Him. Routine takes no hold on such a religious ; everv day the Divine Praise has fresh attractions for him ; every day it is a “ new canticle ” canticum novum 2 that all his being, body and soul, sends up to God to glorify Him. For example, at the oft repeated words of the Invitatory : " Come, let us adore the Lord, ” all heads are bowed, like a field of corn bending beneath the breeze. If this inclination is made by routine, without attention to the meaning the action expresses, it is an almost valueless ceremony, but if the soul, full of devotion, casts itself interiorly before God and gives itself entirely to Him, what magnificent praises then rise up to God ! The Angels alone can admire all the beauty of this action. In the same way, when we incline at the Gloria Patri at the end of each psalm, let us gather up into this action all our praise and all our devotion,

I. The Book of Special Grace. 3rd part. ch. 7. — 2. Ps. xcv, 1 : xcvn 1 •

CXL1X, I. ’ ’ ' ' and strive to penetrate ourselves with devotion at the thought of the oblation we ought to make of ourselves to the Holy Trinity in chanting these words.

If it happens that despite all our ardour to praise God in choir, we are there assailed with distractions, what are we to do ? Distractions are inevitable. We are all weak ; so many objects solicit our attention that our mind easily wanders. We need not be anxious about those distractions which are the result of our frailty. “ As for the distractions you experience in reciting the Divine Office, ” St. Teresa wrote to one of her correspondents, “ I am subject to them as you are, and I advise you to attribute them, as I do, to weakness of the head ; for Our Lord well knows that, since we pray to Him, our intention is to pray well. ”

This last phrase of the great contemplative is one to bear in mind. Inasmuch as we ought not to trouble our¬ selves about the distractions that arise during the Divine Office owing to the instability of our imagination, so, before the Work of God, ought we to do our utmost to prepare our¬ selves, in order to show “ our intention is to pray well. ” Otherwise, having made no effort before the Office to turn our mind towards God, to recollect ourselves in Him, to fill our soul with deep reverence and great devotion, it will be very difficult for us not to have those distractions which are to be imputed to negligence. We can appeal to our own experience ; the greater number of our distractions would be avoided if we gave the proper care to the immediate preparation ; and if, going through the Office in a mechanical manner, we let many lights and graces escape us, it is our own carelessness we have to blame.

But if, before offering our homage to God, we recollect ourselves with fervour ; if we unite ourselves, in an intense act of faith and love, to Christ Jesus, the Incarnate Word, that we may lend Him our lips, in order to praise His Father and draw down the lights and gifts of His Spirit upon all His Mystical Body, we may be at peace on the subject of the distractions that arise ; they are the result of our infirmi¬ ty ; as soon as we are aware of them, let us recover possession of our mind, but let us do so gently without any violent effort. In particular, let the Gloria Patri, by its frequent recurrence, be an opportunity of reawakening our vigilance. In pronouncing it, we bow in order to give to God the homage of our reverence and adoration ; it is the easiest moment for bringing back the soul to the sense of the Divine Presence. Distractions will thus serve to reanimate our fervour ; and if we continue to do out utmost to observe ail the rites carefully, our praise will remain none the less pleasing to God and fruitful for the Church.

This is what Bossuet admirably says in terms which we will borrow as the conclusion of this conference. “ Religious soul ! The fruit of Jesus Christ’s teaching upon prayer should principally be to be faithful to the hours consecrated to it. Were you to be distracted inwardly, if you lament being so, if you only wish not to be so, and remain faithful, humble and recollected outwardly, the obedience you give to God, the Church and the Rule, by observing the genuflexions, the inclinations and all the other exteriour pious observances, maintains the spirit of prayer. We pray then by state, by disposition, by will : but especially if we humble ourselves for our dryness and distractions. Oh ! how pleasing to God is this prayer ! How it mortifies body and soul 1 How it obtains graces and expiates sin 1 ” i. Meditations on the Gospel. Sermon on the Mount. 44th day.

Footnotes

1. 1. Proficiat, quaesumus, Domine, plebs tibi dicata piae devolionis affectu: ut sacris actionibus erndita, Quanto majestati tuae fit gratior, tanto donis potioribus augeatur (Saturday in Passion Week. — 2. Motu proprio ot Nov. 22nd. 1903. — 3. Marc, x, 21. — 4. Ceremonial of Monastic Profes¬ sion.
   ↩
2. 1. "Positive” in opposition to works of a rather "negative” character, such as the exercise of the virtues of poverty, humility, etc., which serve above all to remove obstacles. — 2. Rule, ch. xliii. — 3. Matth. vn 7. — 4* Joan, xvi, 24. — 5. Luc. xi, 10. — 6. Ps. lviiix, 2.
   ↩
3. 1. Ps. v, 12-13. — 2. Ibid, x, 2. — 3. Ibid, xxvn, 2, 9. — 4. Ibid, cxlii, 6. — 5. Ibid, xlii, 3-4. — 6. Ibid, xlxii. 25-26. — 7. Ibid, xli, 2-3. — 8. Ibid, xvi, 15.
   ↩

4. x. We evidently do not give the word, " inspired ’’ the same sense when it concerns the elements, of diverse origin, of the Divine Office. — 2. Joan., xi, 42. _ 3. Life by Drane, Ist part., ch. v. — 2. — 4- Ps. lxxii, 28. — 5- Ps. xv, r-2. — 6. Ps. L-xx, 9. — 7- Ps. cxviii, 20, 31. ↩

5. 1, See a remarkable commentary on this thought in D. Festugi^re. La liturgie catholique, essai de synthase, ch. xiii. La Lilurgie comme source et cause de vie religieuse, pp. in, sq. — 2. Cf. Rom. vxi, 29. ↩

6. 1. See the development of this idea in our work : Christ in His Mysteries !! Conference : Christs Mysteries are our mysteries. — 2. La Mire Jeanne Deleloe, p. 247, Collection " Pax — 3. Hebr. xm, 8. — 4. Philip, u, 5.
   ↩
7. 1. Cf. Rom. vii, 26.
   ↩
8. 1. Ps. x, 1 7. — 2. Prologue of the Rule.
   ↩
9. 1. Joan, xvn, 20. — 2. Luc. x, 2.
   ↩
10. 1. Cf. Gal. iv, 9. — 2. Gloria of the Mass. — • 3. Joan, xii, 28.
    ↩
11. 1. Triplex attentio orationi vocali potest adhiberi: una quidani qua attenditur ad verba, nc aliquis in eis errel; secunda qua attenditur ad sensum verborum; tertia qua attenditur ad finem orxtionis sc. ad Deum et ad rem pro qua oratur. ii-ii, q. 83, a. 13. — 2. Rule, ch. xix. — 3. Rule, ch. xx. — 4. Gen. xvm, 27.
    ↩
12. 1. Ex. hi, 6. — 2. Ibid, xxxiii, n. — 3. II Paral. vn, 2. — 4. Apoc. vii, 11. — 5. Ps. xc.iv, 1-7. — 6. Ps. xciv. We here give the text of the Breviary and not that of the Vulgate. ■ — 7. Ps. xvm, 10. — 8. Hymn Te Dcum. — 9. Rule, ch. ix.
    ↩
13. 1. Rule, ch. xi. — 2. Si orat psalmus, orate ; et si gemit, gemite ; et si gratulatur, gaudete; et si sperat, sperate ; et si timet, timete. Omnia cnim quae hie conscripta sunt, speculum nostrum sunt. S. Augustin, Enarrat. 11 m ps. 30. Sermo 3, N° I. P. L. 36, col 248.
    ↩
14. 1. Luc. VI, 12. — 2. Marc, xn, 30. — 3. Ps. xxxm, 9. — 4. This is what we say to God in the Postcommunion of the Mass of the Rogations : “ Vouch¬ safe, O Lord, favourably to receive our vows ; that receiving Thy gifts in the midst of_ our tribulation, we may, from the consolation Thou givest us, increase in Thy love " : de consolations nostra in tuo atnore crescamus.
    ↩
15. 1. Ps. CXV, 1 7. — 2. Ps. IX, 2. — 3. Cf. Apoc. Ill, 16.
    ↩