The Sabbath in Ordinary Benedictine Life According to the Rule of St. Benedict
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ausra Vasiliauskaite (sr. Gabriele OSB)
Vytautas Magnus University
Abstract: The Sabbath in Benedictine monasticism is the summit or pinnacle of liturgical life, where the presence of the Risen Christ, which sanctifies time, is made manifest to the person’s soul. In this Presence and communion the monk becomes an architect of time in the world. The goal of this article is to demonstrate that the concept of the Sabbath as sanctified time is a vital element of Benedictine monastic life according to the Rule of St. Benedict. The present paper reveals the fullness of the liturgical Sabbath celebration in the Rule of St. Benedict without touching on the central liturgical event, which is the Eucharist. The celebration of the Sabbath unfolds during the Sunday liturgy, beginning with evening vigil on Saturday and ending with night prayers on Sunday. A monk’s activity on the day of the Sabbath, i.e. day of the Lord’s resurrection, is to live in the Lord’s presence during this holy time and thereby to fill and sanctify space and the work of the upcoming week.
Keywords: Sabbath, Ordinary Benedictine Life, Rule of St. Benedict.
Introduction
The Sabbath is a broadly examined topic. Biblical scholars discuss the Sabbath as a heritage of the Israelite nation with its full liturgy, attending not only to its beauty, but also to its meaning. The most detailed book on the subject is Sabbath in the Making: A Study of the Inner – Biblical Interpretation of the Sabbath by Ottilia Lukács.[1] Many authors write about Sabbath as a day of rest, because the Lord himself rested at the end of the process of creation.[2] Others attribute a deeper meaning to the Sabbath, emphasizing that the Sabbath is not an ordinary day, but one that can never be contained in time.[3] Researchers of monasticism write about the day of the Lord, i.e. Sunday, being an extraordinary day, but often fail to establish a clear connection with the Sabbath as it is celebrated in Jewish culture.[4] The deep liturgical meaning is fully revealed in the Rule of St. Benedict, henceforth referred to as RB[5]. After researching various ways of liturgical worship set down by St. Benedict, it is important to examine, at least partially, the rich and varied forms of Jewish liturgical worship unique to the Sabbath day. Nonetheless, the goal of this article is not to offer an extended scholarly study of the Jewish Sabbath liturgy, but to reveal the importance of celebrating Sundays as the Sabbath for Christians. The article, then, is an invitation to think of Sundays as the Sabbath and to reflect on the importance of time and the quality of life. In this way, Sabbath worship becomes pertinent and important not only to monks, but to all Christians. Monastic men and women can witness to the importance of experiencing the Sabbath through the Sunday liturgy. Monks, too, need to be reminded of Sunday, its importance, and the need to constantly learn Sabbath worship. (In the context of this article, Sunday will at times be called Sabbath.)
The goal of this article is to demonstrate that the Sabbath as sacred time is a part of Benedictine monastic life according to the RB, and to reveal the fullness of the liturgical celebration of the Sabbath in the RB.
Research Question and Methods
The present article was inspired by a 2010 study: “On 11 June, sociological research, commissioned by the news portal DELFI and carried out by ‘Spinter tyrimai’, was published. […] It showed that while an absolute majority of Lithuanians (80,7%) consider themselves Catholic, only 4,9% attend Holy Mass every week and, in this way, truly celebrate Sundays.”[6] Thus one can conclude that most Lithuanian Catholics are either ignorant of, or choose to ignore, the significance of celebrating the Sabbath. Some understand it as performing certain liturgical rites, others as resting and refraining from work, but the all-encompassing meaning of the Sabbath has not been fully comprehended. This may be the reason why Lithuania has the highest rates of suicide,[7] because there is no sacred time to get away from space, to just Be instead of Doing, to return to oneself by returning to God. The Sabbath is what allows the priorities of the upcoming week to fall into place; it prevents the things in space from swallowing the human being and trapping him.
The question arises: What lifestyle could prevent a person from being swallowed up by objects in space and consumed by the worries of everyday life? That of the Benedictines, for example, who live the Sabbath fully. In this way, they pay tribute to the space of the week, i.e. to objects and to routines, but on the eve of the Sabbath, i.e. on Saturday evening, they focus their attention on the time. “Six days a week we live under the tyranny of things of space; on the Sabbath we try to become attuned to holiness in time”[8]. Benedictine life can help by revealing the fullness of the Sabbath according to the RB and by inviting us to take at least a baby step towards a real Sabbath. The celebration of Sabbath is central to Benedictine life, where everything is based on the RB. But how and by what means is the Sabbath revealed in ordinary Benedictine life according to the RB?
This article uses aspect analysis to define the concept of Sabbath in Benedictine monasticism. Structural- and aspect analyses will be used to study the liturgical celebration of Sabbath in the RB and to clarify monk’s activities on the day of the Sabbath. In order to achieve a theoretical synthesis, it is necessary make generalizations about Benedictine monasticism and theological literature.
The Concept of the Sabbath in Benedictine monasticism
In Jewish culture the Sabbath is a holy day of rest.[9] In the Catholic tradition, the day is to be used for contemplative purposes, since “the activity of contemplation with its praxis toward God is acknowledged as a good.”[10] This is even more evident in monastic life.
Benedictine monasticism is the first form of monastic life in which all elements maintaining the balance of the human life and adapting to various cultures are wisely arranged. This is a lifestyle which has its own theology. The main elements of this Benedictine life are the following: life in a cenobitic monastic community, Benedictine monachism, work, and asceticism. The component of silence is involved in all of these elements. Naturally, Benedictine life is impossible without obedience to the abbot and the Rule.[11]
Thus Benedictine monastic life is based on the RB from which comes the famous and succinct description of monastic activities, ora et labora.[12] Prayer and work reach their culmination exactly on the day of the Sabbath, when the pastoral care of Silence becomes the pinnacle of week-long contemplation.[13] Immersed in the divine life of grace, a monk achieves his most important goal. The whole life of the monk becomes liturgy: praise and worship of God and an act of thanksgiving.
The Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy defines the liturgy as
an exercise of the priestly office of Jesus Christ. In the liturgy the sanctification of the man is signified by signs perceptible to the senses, and is effected in a way which corresponds with each of these signs; in the liturgy the whole public worship is performed by the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, that is, by the Head and His members. (SC 7).[14]
But “[…] the liturgy, in all its forms, is the manifestation and realization of the Church as the Body of Christ.”[15] One of the ways to worship God is to sing or to read out loud the Liturgy of the Hours. The Liturgy always serves the good of the community. Thus, the Liturgy of the Hours is the public service of a community which praises, worships and serves God. Of course, the most important and central act of worshiping God and meeting Him happens in the celebration of the Eucharist. “The Eucharist and the Liturgy of the Hours are of central importance […]”[16] not only in the life of a monk, but in the life of every Christian.[17] St. Benedict offered an all-encompassing definition of the liturgy when he called it opus Dei, or the work of God. “[The] Rule of St. Benedict writes about the main service, i.e. opus Dei – work of God […] RB 7, 62; 43, 3; 48, 1; 50, 3; 52, 2; 58, 7 […].”[18]
While various forms of service are enumerated in the RB, the most important to Benedictines is the work of God.[19] This work is performed in two directions: “[…] the work of God”[20] for us and our work for God. This is the source of the phrase of St. Benedict ora et labora – “pray and work”. For six days, monks live as pilgrims traveling to the peak of contemplation, i.e. the Sabbath, where they meet the Living God, and are immersed in His presence and grace.[21] From this perspective the Sabbath can be understood in three ways. First, the Sabbath is the summit of living with Christ. Since
[…] Sabbath as a day of rest, as a day of abstaining from toil, does not serve the purpose of recovering one’s lost strength and becoming fit for forthcoming labor. The Sabbath is a day for the sake of life. Man is not a beast of burden, and the Sabbath is not meant to enhance the efficiency of his work. Sabbath, last in creation, first in intention, is the end of the creation of heaven and earth. The Sabbath does not exist for the sake of weekdays – they exist for the sake of the Sabbath. It is not an interlude, but the climax of living.[22]
The second aspect of understanding the Sabbath might be that Sabbath is the summit of the whole Liturgy, because Liturgy is life. Since Benedictines spend most of their time singing the Liturgy of the Hours, it is important to note that singing on the day of the Sabbath becomes even more solemn. To be more exact, the entire week is a preparation for the solemn worship of the Sabbath. As Abraham Joshua Heschel writes in his book The Sabbath:
Angels have six wings, one for each day of the week, with which they chant their song; but they remain silent on the Sabbath for it is the Sabbath which then chants a hymn to God. It is the Sabbath that inspires all the creatures to sing praise to the Lord. […] The Sabbath teaches all beings whom to praise.[23]
Thus everyone is invited to sing and to praise God on the Sabbath.
The third aspect is that, through liturgy, the Sabbath becomes the sanctification of time in Benedictine monastic life because “we can only master time in time.”[24] Monastic men and women become architects of time.[25] In this time of the risen Christ, “Sabbath is the presence of God in the world, open to the soul of man.”[26] This presence is most manifest in the celebration of the Eucharist.
In Benedictine monasticism, the Sabbath is the climax of liturgical life, where the closeness of the Risen Christ is revealed to the human soul, thereby sanctifying time. In this Presence and communion, the monk becomes an architect of time in the world.
After providing a brief overview of the Sabbath in Benedictine monasticism, we now go on to consider how the celebration of the liturgical Sabbath, i.e. Sunday, is understood in the RB. Sunday is the central day in the life of every Christian, and the way in which monks set this day apart is noteworthy indeed. They spend the day in prayer in liturgy. Sunday is “the great liturgy.”[27]
Liturgical Celebration of the Sabbath in the Rule of St. Benedict
The Sabbath as an extraordinary day must somehow stand out in the life of a monk, so St. Benedict in his Rule not only enumerates the psalms to be sung, but also includes the office of Vigil, of waiting. It is also important to note that the Roman Catholic Church begins the celebration of the Sabbath by singing the Liturgy of the Hours on Saturday evening.[28] Since Sunday is the day of the Risen Christ, the vigil symbolizes the waiting by His tomb. The “term ‘vigil’ is especially suitable for the Sunday service and is used exclusively to denote the Night Office throughout […]”[29] in the 11th chapter of the RB. “On Sunday the monks should arise earlier for Vigils” (RB 11,1). This early rising is the continuation of the celebration of the Sabbath. In the Vigil, twelve psalms are sung and twelve responsories are read. The whole vigil consists of two nocturnes, two units of six psalms each (twelve in total). The third nocturne consists of the Te Deum, a Gospel reading (read by the abbot), and the hymn Te Decet Laus. “If the community oversleeps, the readings and responsories are to be shortened.”[30] (See RB 11,12).
These vigils extend the Sabbath and allow the people to praise God and wait expectantly for Him. Vigils are also a form of training for the community. Monks are encouraged not to give in to laziness. Oversleeping is laziness, and St. Benedict warns his monks against it. If it happens, the offender must apologize to God in the church (see RB 11,13).
The office of Vigil is an addition to the regular prayer schedule of the other days, which consists of the usual seven hours: Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers and Compline. As we read in Scripture, “Seven times a day I praise you because your judgments are righteous” (Ps 119:164). All of this constitutes opus Dei, the Work of God, according to St. Benedict.
Extensive instructions precede each part of the Liturgy of the Hours in the RB. Saint Benedict determines how many psalms are to be sung, how they should be sung, and with what intention. He creates rationale for his system of psalmody and establishes his own order of the liturgy. In his Rule “after further instructions about the Sunday psalms, antiphons, versicles, lessons and responses which bring us to the end of the second nocturn, St. Benedict indicates a variation to be observed”[31] for a community of brothers living according to his Rule:
Next, three canticles from the Prophets, chosen by the abbot, are said with an “alleluia” refrain. After a versicle and the abbot’s blessing, four New Testament readings follow with their responsories, as above. After the fourth responsory, the abbot begins the hymn “We praise you, God.” When that is finished, he reads from the Gospels while all the monks stand with respect and awe. At the conclution of the Gospel reading, all reply “Amen”, and immediately the abbot intones the hymn “To you be praise.” After a final blessing, Lauds begin. (RB 11,6-10).
The first prayer of the morning is Lauds, also called Aurora, or dawn. It sanctifies time until sunrise and is undoubtedly connected with the Resurrection.[32]
Sunday Lauds begin with Psalm 66, said straight through without a refrain. Then Psalm 50 follows with an ‘alleluia’ refrain. Lauds continue with Psalms 117 and 62, the Canticle of the Three Young Men, Psalms 148 through 150, a reading from the Apocalypse recited by heart and followed by a responsory, an Ambrosian hymn, a versicle, the Gospel Canticle, the litany and the conclusion. (RB 12,4).
The psalms, responsories, and readings for this hour have to do with light, joy, and the wonderful acts of God (see Ps 66; 50; 117; 62; 148-150), all of which confirm the theme of the Resurrection.
Yet without the crucifixion there would be no Resurrection. Thus, the second part of the Liturgy of the Hours of the day is Evening Vespers, which sanctifies the time of sunset, evening, dusk. St. Benedict demands, however, that the Evening prayers be sung while it is still lightso that monks do not have to use a lantern.[33] These hours, Morning and Evening, should be prayed by the whole Church. Evening prayer corresponds to the “time of crucifixion,” when there still is enough light, but after death comes the darkness that covers the earth. When the Vespers end, the earth is covered in darkness. From this we conclude that Lauds and Vespers are the most important parts of the Liturgy of the Hours: they are inseparable like the Resurrection and Crucifixion. Moreover, the evening psalms are about begging to be saved, victory over enemies, saving the nation, and the sinners who will be crushed by God (see Ps 109,110,111,112). These themes are conducive to reflection on the Crucifixion.
Between Morning and Evening prayers are the smaller hours, the compulsory recitation of which varies throughout the universal Church. These hours are very short: Prime, Terce, Sext, and None consist of Psalm 118, which is broken into smaller pieces. The excerpts from Ps 118 are followed by other elements: a responsory, reading, hymn, and prayer, but the psalm is never sung in its entirety. During Prime, Ps 118, verses 1-4, during Terce verses 5-7, during Sext verses 8-10, during None verses 11-13 are sung. The Liturgy of the Minor Hours is important in a monk’s life because they prevent him from becoming distracted and help him to achieve focus.
Night prayer, or Compline, is just as important as morning and evening prayer. It is the end of the work of God. In it the monks examine their conscience and give thanks for the day. This part consists of three psalms: 4, 90, and 133. Night prayers are sung in a sober and grave mood, with monks calling upon God, asking for help, and asking God not to abandon them in the darkness, but to lead them on the journey towards divine light. Sleeping should also be part of the work of God, just as every other element of a monk’s life.
The Liturgy of the Hours on Sundays, then, is special in its content and distribution. On Sundays and feasts the vigils are composed of three nocturns. The Psalms chosen by Saint Benedict for Sundays are longer. Sunday Lauds or Morning Prayer (Matutina) must include a reading from the Book of Revelation. Let us now explore how the community is to perform the works of God in liturgy and prayer.
Monk’s Activities on the Day of the Sabbath
A monk must spend the whole Sunday in prayer and reading. The center of his activities is the liturgy, because liturgy is prayer. In chapters 19 and 20 of the RB, Saint Benedict discusses the relationship between liturgy and prayer. True and deep prayer begins when one stands in the presence of God. The disposition of the monk as he stands before God and the angels is important for St. Benedict. According to St. Benedict, a monk should be humble and entirely devoted; he should pray with a pure heart and repent amidst tears. The prayer and the words of the monk should be one. Good speech is good prayer. A monk’s thoughts must align with the liturgy, because it is sung in the presence of angels and of God.
Benedictine prayer is wholehearted participation in God’s Kingdom. True prayer is short and pure. The closer we are to God, the less we speak. In the presence of God, speaking increasingly gives way to listening. Maybe that is why St. Benedict does not strictly say that prayer should be short and clear. If God’s grace allows, prayer continues automatically. Sometimes prayer consists of tears of joy, sometimes of listening, sometimes of prostrating oneself in God’s presence. Other manifestations of prayer exist, but all are the fruits of God’s grace. According to St. Benedict, community “[…] prayer should always be brief; and when the superior gives the signal, all should rise together” (RB 20,5).[34]
So “the relation of liturgy and [personal] prayer is important to St. Benedict. Monastic men and women share the same goal: to cultivate a pure heart [all the time], so that they may stand in God’s presence without any obstacles, to worship and praise Him and to serve Him. On Sunday, the monk must immerse himself in prayer. Sunday is a special day of service. St. Benedict writes that if one is to serve, he must pray while doing so.”[35] Any other service is also a part of the work of God;[36] e.g. three cantors are chosen to serve by singing the three nocturnes.[37] Even by sitting in the community choir, a monk already participates in the community liturgy. Preparing food for the brothers, nursing the sick, etc. are also a participation in the work of God.[38] No matter what a monk does, he serves God, and on the day of the Sabbath, it is especially important for the monk to give himself to reading and other spiritual activities. Finally, the centre of a monk’s life must be the Eucharist. (See RB 38,5; 38,24; 63,4).
Conclusion
In Benedictine monasticism the Sabbath is understood from three aspects: it is the summit of a life with Christ, the climax of the liturgy, and the sanctification of time. Thus we can say that in Benedictine monasticism the Sabbath is the climax of liturgical life, where the presence of the Risen Christ is communicated to the heart of man, sanctifying time. In this Presence and communion, the monk becomes the architect of time in the world. Based on the RB, it can bravely be said that the Sabbath as sanctified time is a pillar of Benedictine monastic life. Its central importance is revealed through the liturgical celebration of the Sabbath and the monk’s activities on the day of the Sabbath.
Liturgical celebration of the Sabbath is understood as opus Dei. The Liturgy of the Hours is the public service of the community which praises, worships, and serves God. Liturgy itself is prayer. The liturgical celebration of the Sabbath is assigned a special place in the RB. In his Rule, Saint Benedict does not only provide the number of psalms to be sung, but also establishes the order of the Vigil. In addition to the Vigil, on the Shabbat, there are seven other times of prayer: Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers and Compline. The rhythm of monastic prayer mirrors the works of God: Morning prayer calls to mind the resurrection, Evening prayer the crucifixion, and Night prayer the end of God’s work. One purpose of the shorter Hours is to prevent the monks from getting distracted from the rhythm of God’s work. The arrangement of the liturgical hours on Sunday is a reminder of the most important Christian events: suffering, death and resurrection, though not in order, but with the power to evoke a spiritual disposition and a movement of heart.
A monk must spend the whole Sunday in prayer and reading/contemplation. The liturgy is at the heart of his activities is the liturgy, because liturgy is prayer. The Sabbath is a day when a monk must fully immerse himself in prayer to God.
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