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Liturgy
(-)GethsemaniAbbeat
LibROR(Y
:ist e r c ia ns
o f
t he
st r ict
o bs e r v a nc e
>L.7 N0.2
JUNE 1973
L I T U R G YVol ume7, Number 2 / June 1973
EDITOR'S PAGE1THE OFFICE : A PROGRESS REPORT3G rard DUBOISTHE
CELEBRATION OF THE PASCHAL MYSTERY : QUESTIONNAI RE RETURNSFROM THE
FRANCOPHONE MONASTERI ES OF EUROPE15Paul HOUIXJeani ne HUYGHPl aci
de VERNETSISTER AEMI LIANA LBHR : OCTOBER 24, 1896 - JULY 28,
197259Obi tuary Noti ce from Herstel l eA SESSION DEVOTED TO THE
DISCIPLI NE OF THE BODY71
Cl ement de BOURMONT
A COMMUNITY CHALLENGED BY THE CHURCH : REFLECTIONS BY A
BISHOP77
Mgr . Grard HUYGHE, Bi shop of Arras
MONASTIC LITURGY IN PROCESS
A GLANCE AT THE LITURGY OF THE
Robert MORHAUS
[HOURS
93
LITURGY bulletin serves to share with others whatever thoughts
and ex periences may contribute towards the development of a living
liturgy for today.
Manuscripts should be forwarded to: Fr. Chrysogonus
Gethsemani Abbey
Trappist, Kentucky 40073 (U.S.A.)
Material for the next issue (October, 1973) should arrive no
later than late September.
1
ED ITOR Is PAG E
It's the Monday after Pentecost, and Pentecost texts and
melodies are still swirling about in my mind and heai.t. This year
I had occasion to ponder over sorre of the Targurn texts fran which
Saint Luke apparently cribbed part of 1he material he used in
shaping up his account of the first Pentecost in the Acts of the
Apostles.
Targums are fascinating things.Early Jewish camtunities
apparently had as much difficulty in grasping biblical Hebrew as
rcodem Catholic congregations have in following a Latin liturgy. So
the ancient Hebrew sacred texts were turned into Aramaic, though
not usually with a view to providing a literal translation of the
original; for the Aramaic text was
m:>re of a paraphrase amd adaptation than a literal
translation -sanething
midway between a translation and a ccmrentary. This made it
possible for the fellow responsible for the Targurn to highlight
certain points of detail whose theological resonance might
othei:wise go unperceived . Often it was
a matter of interpolating only one or two words.
A case in point is Saint Luke 's description of the first
Pentecost.
The Fathers and nost contemporary exegetes are pretty well
agreed that Saint Luke of set purpose presents the climactic event
as the inauguration of the New Covenant, and as the pranulgation of
the New Law.For many de tails, his point of reference is, of
course, the inauguration of the First Covenant, and the
pranulgation of the Old Law at Sinai; so it's not par ticularly
surprising that much of the vocabulary of Acts 2 is found in Exo
dus 19.But a few important details are to be found, not in the
simple, straightfm:ward text of Exodus 19, but in the interpolated
version found
in sane of the Ta.rgums .
For instance: "When the day of Pentecost had cane, they were all
to gethser in one place." Camentators tell us that the stress on
the "one place" isn't so much a geographical detail, as a
theological reality, ex pressing in a subtle way the profound unity
of the follc:Mers of Christ as they were gathered in prayer,
awaiting the caning of the Promise.The "in one-place' theme isn't
all that explicit in the Hebrew text of Exodus;
but it certainly is in the Targuns. So also with the expression
"All
2
these devoted themselves to prayer with one aaoo:r>d"
(literally, with hearts at one), in Aats 1:14. In the Targums, this
vocabulary of unanimity is f0lll1d throughout the episode of the
prcmulgation of the Law: "Israel camped before the face of the
irountain as of one Jiea:r>t"(Targurn on Ex 19:2); they
answer
Moses as of one hea:r>t (Tragum on Ex 19:8) when he questions
than as to their willingness to accept the Covenant. And, as one
Tannalte a:mnentai:y has it, "When they were all at M:>unt Sinai
to receive the Law, they were all of one heart only, so as to
accept the Kingdan of God with joy" .Acoording to another Jewish
annotator, whose exact words I foLget, the gist of all this is
simply that the Chosen People could not enter into the Covenant and
receive the LcM' until they were of one heart. Acoordingly, Saint
Luke would be telling us,
in his Pentecost account, that THE FOLI!MERS OF JESUS COULD NO!'
RECEIVE THE SPIRIT, THE NEW UU'I, UNI'IL THEY WERE OF ONE
HEARI'.
Actually, of course, it's the Holy Spirit who effects our unity;
and yet, there's got to be sane kind of initial togetherness and
oneness of aspira tion if the Spirit is to cane upon the ccmnunity
as a whole. In his book,
Ten Rungs, Martin Buber writes a propOS the rung Of love:
The myriads of letters in the Torah stand for the myriads of
souls
in Israel. If one single letter is left out of the Torah, it
becanes unfit for use; if one single soul is left out of the union
of Israel, the Divine Presenre will not rest upon it.
In these days of pluralism within unity, we sanetimes make too
little of the fact that the pluralism has to take place within the
cxmtext of a deep, living unity. Renewal in the area of liturgy is
going to be, in the fi nal analysis, the work chiefly of the Holy
Spirit; because only the Spirit of God can re-actualize and
concretize the Mystery of Christ, and make it possi ble for us to
enter into it and interioriztand be transfonned by it. But the
Spirit of God isn't going to rest upon or hover over those
cx:mnunities where too many souls are left out of the. union of the
brethren. Authentic renewal of our liturgical life will take place
only where the brethren are gathered together in one plare (and
here, as in Acts, "one place" is nore a theological reality than a
geographical location) Evidently, there's got
to be great ooncem for revision of texts and music and
liturgical fonns; but unless the brethren begin by being of one
mind and heart
{ .111tfwt ''
T H E0 F F I C E :
AP R 0 G R E S SR E P 0 R T
GETI'IlJG a.JR BEARINGS
On July 8, 1971, the Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship sent
a letter to the three branches of the Benedictine family (O.S.B.,
O.Cist.,
o.c.s.o.), asking than to cane to some kind of agreerrent "as
regards the
b a s i ce 1 e m e n t sof the Ordo Liturgiae Horarum"- a kind
of "ccmnon basis" 'Which each Order could use asthe startinq-ooint
for shaping up the Office. This "a:mnon basis" was to be drawn up
with
enough flexibility to ensure that "each and every cxmuunity,
according to
its avn proper physiogncmy and its type of exterior activity,
would be able to recognize it as its ovm.". For the psalter, the
Sacred Congrega tion advised them to draw up three schemata which
would distribute the psalms over a period no longer than two weeks
at the most.
So it was a question of shaping up a kind of c h a r tfor the
Offire. This would bring to an end the period of experimentation
which had been opened, for our own Order, in Decerrber, 1968, when
we received the jndult authorizing the use of the three schemata,
"A", 'B", and 'C".
This was made general in virtue of the "loi-cadre11 of May ,
1969; and the indult was renewed for a i:MJ-year period in 1971. In
accord with an authori tative interpretation, the above mentioned
letter of July 8, 1971, includes the prolongation of the loi-cadre
indult until such time as we can agree on
aca:rmon basis for our. Office.
Havever this may be , whatever arrangement we a::me up with is
going to have to be approved by the tonost authority of the various
Orders or
monastic Congregations. is scheduled for 1974.
For us, this means our next General Chapter, which One of the
difficulties will probably be that of
coordinatin:J the reactions of severald i s t i n c tanda u t o
n o - m o u sasserrblies of Superiors.To make matters still rrore
dif f icult, these Superiors will not be meeting at the same time ,
which means there
will be no possibility of ef fecting a workable "give-and-take"
dialogue between three separate and autonarous groups.The on1y
workable solution seems to be a document so f lexible that the
particularities of each of the three branches of the rronastic f
amily can be included.All this ties in with the expressions used in
the letter of July 8"basic elerrents" , ncarrnon basis' , '{each
and every ccmnunity . .would be able to recognize
(the cx::mron basis) as its CMn.11 , "particular law will be
able to propose possible nonrs for .i.rnplanenting whatever might
be called for by the particu lar circumstances or exigencies of
each ccmnunity" .
This f lexibility is likewise necessary ad intra, so that the Of
f ice can be wholly suitable for each camn.mity (possibility of f
inding suitable
music, the size of the cxnm.mi:t {r the level of fonnation ,
etc. ) . OUr General Chapter of 1971 rreant precisely this when it
expressed the wish (by a vote. of 60 to 13 which is a majority of
more than four-f if ths) that "any future legislation concerning
the Of fice should have the sane
f lexibility currently made possible thanks to our lei-cadre
indult" (Vote 35 of the Proceedingsl.
This last..-rrentioned position has ledsane to think that there
'lr.OUld be need of no legislation f or the Of f ice other than the
loi-cadre.Fran the point of view of those monasteries which have
already carried out their liturgical aggiornarnento, this might be
true , in the sense that the Of f ice such as they have shaped it
up seems to suit them well, and rroreover makes possible whatever f
urther evolution might be needed as regards the f tmction of
certain elements of the Off ice (responsories, troparia, etc.) or
the function of certain structures.But there are other monasteries
which are
still waiting for further details about the Of f ice; while the
Sacred Congre gation for Divine Worship, for its part , wishes to
have a clear guarantee against any possible abuse relative to the
Liturgy of the Hours.This Congregation is not ready to renew' the
loi-cadre indult time andagain.
Rather, it is asking very precisely that we draw up a
legislative teXt about
the Of f ice, such as will be rrore def initive than the present
lei-cadre.We
(6)
(The Offiae: A Progress Report) (5)
cannot ignore this f act.
Moreover, when our Consilium Generale of June, 1972 , expressed
the desire of no longer having to oollaborate with the Benedictines
in things liturgical (see p.28 of the French text of the Minutes)
-so as to en sure the proper character of our liturgy, especially
as regards separation fran the w::>rld -the Congregation replied
on November 3 to a letter sent earlier by our Abbot General , and
dated July 11, 1972 , that we have to continue "the work of
revision for the Propers of both Missal and Of f ice" in
oollaboration with the other monastic Orders.If , however, we have
particular reasons for not accepting this work dcne in CXJ11T0n, we
shall
be able to present our special requests for whatever we
need.
Collaboration between the dif ferent Orders took on a more of f
icial
fm:m last November, 1971, and the f irst occasion for the
ooncrete exercise of this oollaboration was provided by thern o n a
s t i cc a 1 e n -
d a r.As we know, this calendar was approved in April, 1972.OUr
re
quests were granted as regards the specif ically monastic
celebrations; but at tl'ie same time we had to retain the Ranan
Calendar , with all its
obligatory and optional rnenorials , intact. (Only a f ew
derogations of this principle were allowed us .This General
Monastic calendar was canpleted by our proper "Cistercian
supplement" , which was approved on July 31 of
the same year.In the meantime , the question of theO f f i c
ewas by no means lying donnant. Infonnation was circulated
(previous experiments, questionnaires, schemata for the
distribution of psalms ) ; and a great deal of thinking was going
on.There was no meeting of our Order 's Litur gy Camdssion Cin
point of f act , most of the members were designated by
the various Regional Conferences only in the course of 1972) ,
but there was a considerable exchange of correspondence.A circular
letter dated October 16 , sent not only to members of the
Camri.ssion , but also to rnen bers of the Consilium Generale and
to the Presidents of the Regional Con ferences of both the male and
f emale branches of the Order ,SUJgested a practical modus agendi :
not an Institio generaZis monastiaa parallel to the Ranan
Institutio, but a certain number of points or principles which
\\O'Uld be characteristic of our Of f ice relative to the Ranan
Institutio
(that is to say, the Ranan General Presentation of the Litu:rgy
of the Hours) For example, we should be allowed to retain those
elanents canfonta:l to
the Holy Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as various other
schemata for the distribution of the psalms (over a one-week or
two-week period), lo cal adaptations of tre sung elements of the
Office, the possibility of celebrating the Little Hours and
Cclrq?line outside choir The point
'Which at that tine seemed to me to be rather delicate, as
reganis oollabo ration with the Benedictines, was the choice of
schemata for the distri bution of the psalms . Which schena.ta were
going to be proposed? It could be feared that the operative
criteria governing our ONil choice W)uld be irreducibly different
fran those adopted by the Benedictines.
A NEW srAGE OF DEVELOPMENT
This problen was going to be clarified during theting held at
Sant" Anselm:> (Rane) , on Deceni:>er 13 and 14 , 1972 . The
Benedictine Abbot Primate, tf!e Presidents of the Liturgy
carrnissions of the two Cistercian Orders, and Dern Henry
.Ashwortll, Secretacy of the Litu:rgy Comnission of the Benedictine
Confederation, took part in the meeting. The point under dis
cussion was the possibility of reaching an agreerrent as regards
the general lines of an effective inter-Order collaboration for
questions touching on the Office. So as to avoid remaining at a
merely theoretical level, we tried to draft a project which. would
lend itself to future discussion.
'Ihe general line of this project was the following:
There were to be:
I. Different examples or "specinens" of the Office based on the
various psalm-distribution schemata.
There was to be no question of simple charts of the various
schana
ta, such as had previously been circulated, but rather of
sarething m:>re ample -sanething which w::>uld indicate
antiphons, psalm-titles, versicles, etc., as well as the essential
structure of the Hours
(intrcxluction, hyrm ) At the same time, the texts of the hynms,
readings and psalms W)Uld not be transcribed; only the proper refer
ences would be given . So this would resemble sanething along the
lines of the Ordo Cantus Missae recently pranulgated by the Holy
See.
- For the schema of 150 psalms distributed over a one-week
period: (over and above the schema of the Rule)the schema by Dan
Notker Filglister. (This schema provides for no repetitials of
psalms.)
For the series of 150 psalms distributed over a two-week
pweriod
(and alloong for certain repetitions): schanata "A" and "B" al
ready authorized for the Strict Observance. The first of these twJ
schenata adopts a numerical order based on the options of the Ho Zy
Ru Ze, which makes it possible for nonasteries which wish to do so
to use the nonastic antiphona:ry without great difficulty (this is
especially true for Vespers).
Nevertheless -
OUr Schema "C" was not excluded as a possible choice. Moreover,
any of the three schemata authorized in the Order since 1968, but
not :retained in the above inter-Order project, will be
presented
just the same for approval by the Holy See for use in our own
Order, in keeping with the special provisions included in the
letter fran cardinal Tabera dated Novenber 3, 1972 .
A special nonn of our project provides for the use of any other
distribution of the psalms within a one-week period, in keeping
with the vecy letter of the Ho ly Ru le, Chapter 18.
To the above"111.eiltioned Office-specimens "V.Ould be added
instructions for the use of tle Roman psalm-distribution over a
two-week period instead of a fcnrr..-iweek pericxl -sanething along
the lines of what was provided by the Sacred Congregation for
Divine Worship, last August 6 , 1972 (see Notiti;ae 76,
pp.254-258).
The Praenotanda , :rrentioned a rncrnent ago, woold render
possible "local adaptations" of all these schemata. Other
arrangements such as \\Ould depart substantially from the schemata
described above would have to be the object of special arrangements
with the Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship(indults).
We have to face the fact that any decision as :regards the
choice of psalm-distribution schemata is the one point in the
proposed project which will prove difficult for some. It fails to
correspondto the desire expressed by our General Chapter, and
recalled above (page 4 - the description of Vote 35 t:?lken during
the General Chapter of 1971). But a definitive legislative text
dealing with the Office could hardly fail to make mention of
precise psalm-schenata -especially since this
(8)
(The Of fice : A Progress Report) (7)
was indicated in the letter fran the Sacred Congregation for
Divine W::>rship, July 8, 1971. We could, of course, make
special mention
of the fact that the various schemata al:ready in use in our
m:masteries
b e f o r ethe approval granted by the lbly See to the proposed
project, can still be retainedso long as they remain within the lim
its of a two-week pericxl.
II. Praenotanda would give the basic principles for the
celebration of the Divine Office, and would shCM hCM the various
specinens of the Office appended to the project could be
:i.mplenented.
The Praenotanda-draft drawn up last December was used as the
basis for further revision, and will be published. in the new
redaction in the next issue of Liturgy.But, as of nCM , it might be
useful to make the follCMing observations.
a-. OUr point of reference remains the Holy Rule of Saint
Benedict, al though we also allCM for adaptations based on a
certain degree of pluralism: evidently, the need for adaptation is
felt variously in various quarters.
We did not wish to propose a simple choice between the
Institutio generaU.s Liturgiae Horarum C = IGIJI ) and the Holy
Rule, for the following reasons:
aa..,.. For monks , the two docun:ents are of unequal weight:
the Rule,
with its fourteen centuries of tradition, remains our basic
legislation; while the IGIH is a document which enters into
considerable details in matters which will doubtless evolve, and
which are rather relative to the current situation of our CMl1
day.
bb- There can be no question of the outright adoption of the
IGIH. Indeed, the letter fran the Sacred Congregation, dated July
8, 1971, expresses it clearly: "Simply to align yourselves on
the prayer of the clergy with the pastoral ministry, such as is
to be found in the Liturgia Horapm , would deprive the spirituality
of the Church of the characteristic note given by the rronastic
Orders".
(This is quite independent of any alleged "privilege" concern
ing the Cistercian Rite or Monastic Rite.)
b- But it renains no less true that we have to keep in mind
the
text of the IGIH.Sare of its material calls for a f ew
precisions relative to our CMl1. nonastic context -especially nn.24
and 31.
- N. 24 of the IGLFI f ails to make a suf f icient distinction
between the situation of monks and that of canons. Canons are
clergy in the service of a local church (diocese or p:relature
"nullius") ; the nonastic camnunity does not, of course, constitute
a "par
ticular church" in the strict sense of the word , although it
too
is situatedwithin a particular territory.But it is
i.rrp:>rtant to realize that the participation of the
lay-members of the camm.l nity contributes as nruch to the nonastic
Of f ice and liturgical prayer of the cx:mmmity as does the
participation of those monks who are also clerics. In brief , the
nan-clerics also contribute
to delineate the visage of the praying Church. This f act has
not always been taken into accounteven in docurrents of a f airly
recent vintage.
- N. 31 of the IGLFI deals with the choral obligation to the Of
f ice, and refers to particular legislation.We have to be clear as
to what our own "particular legislation" is.Our revised draf t,
like the f irst one, takes this into account, and with regard to a
par ticular point;but it is a good idea to mention that the parti
cipation of each member of the canrunity {apart f ran the priests)
can be dete.nnined by the abbot, particularly in the context of
the unif ication of our comnuni.ties (cf . the decree Cum
monacho r:urn , even though the f o:onu1ation of this decree f
ailed to meet the expectations of the General Ch.apterl .
we also insist on the sung nature o;f the camrunity prayer; and
it is this point which justif ies a nwnber of desirable adapta
tions.
c- Asecti,on of our revised draf t is in reply to a dif ferent
problem; What is it that gives our prayer its liturgical character?
There
are two exaggerations to be avoided:
- one would consist of saying that evecything ought to be
regulated by the hierarchy, even in the least detail;but this
\\Ould go contrary to histo:ry (and, in particular, to the histo:ry
of the organization of the Off ice} , and would suppress at t:Jte
ve:ry root ever:y possibility of local adaptations and of a
ccmrunity's being able to express itself . Indeed, if the principle
were to be followed through to the end, its appli:catJ..".on would
result in the suppression of the Hoty Ru Ze ts litur gical
prescriptions, since the Rule is not a docurrent f:ran the Holy
See.
- The other exaggeration would claim that absolutely
everythinghas to spring f:ram the initiative of the local
ccrrmuni:ty, under pain of fail ing to be the prayer of that
particular ccrmunity.
a Organization of the liturgical day:
We ought to recall that, according to the very tenor of the
letter of July 8, 1971, the particular legislation of each Order
will have to give further precision to sane of the nonns of the
general legislation cx::mron to the three Orders in question.Dif
ferent options can indeed be taken. The Hcucucon baset wlti.ch the
three \tbranches of the rconastic f amily'' should
esta?>lish,will accordingly include the broa,d spectrum of these
various options.Th;i:p r hc:Mever, does not mean tha,t each oroer
ought to recognize
ead'l and every opti n as being suitable for itself ,
'lfuls , our or.rvrl Genera.]. Chapter has i:naintained the
three Little Hours,
though these can ee celel:>rated outside choir.In the
Benedictine CorU:ed.era
tion, a dif ferent solution appll- s, in vieN of the f act that
a great many
(10)
(11) (The Offiae: A Progress Report)
of theU" monasteries have an acQ.'V.
estolate (parishes, colleges } : in
SOILeCES , the cc:mmm.ity is $le to gather for prayer in cannon
only once between Lauds and Vespers.
So also our STatute an Unity and Pluralism presupposes
indirectly that Vigils are celebrated bef ore dawn;but this is not
the a:mron practice arrong Benedictines.OUr camon textprovides for
all these different
situations.
The same is true farther on in the project, with regard to the
possi bility of dividing the series of Vigils psalms over a
t.\\0-week pericxl in certain of the schemata, or of having a dif f
erent grouping of the psalms assigned to the Little Hours :this
possibility concerns only those who are engaged in the active
apostolate.
No one should be surprised to find Prime mentioned.Our text
states that Prime can be anitted.This was necessary since Prine is
described in the Rule (which remains our point of reference) , and
since the present text will eventually replace all the partial
indults granted in times previous.Also, in our original draf t ,
there was no rrention of Ccnpline being arrong the Hours which can
be celebrated outside choir:but this was simply an oversight which
has been corrected in the new text.
e- Since we do not refer directly to the IGIJI , it was
necessary to rren tion certain points of the docurcent which it
would be easy for us to implement; for instance, the case of two
juxtaposed Of f ices, or of an Of f ice integrated with the
Mass;and of the periods of silence during the Of f ice.
fWe kncM that there are two aursus of biblicalreadings in the
new
:Ranari Of f ice;one conprises a twcryear cycle, and the other
-the only one so f ar edited in the Liturgia Horarum --.--- is only
a one-year
cycle.We rerorrnend the two-year cycle (which will eventually be
printed
in Volume 5 of the Ronan breviary, which has not yet been
printed) . But this m no way keeps us f ran having longer readings
at Lauds and Vespers; and, for this reason, we can no:lify the
order of readings at Vigils.
As regards readings f ran the Fathers and ecclesiastical authors
, the O;ff ice-:-specimens refer to the Liturgia Horarumand a
nonastic SUpple rcen.t.Nevertheless , the terms regarding the
readings included in our l?resent loiadre will be maintained
(though, in their choice of such readings, the ones making tl1e
choice will have to follow the noxms
laid down by the Holy See: exclusion of living authors and of
non
catholic authors) .
g- One of the paragraphsof our text says that, for the
celebration of
the Of f ice in the vernacular, the stmg elements of the Of f
ice can be
adapted acoording to the nature of the language.This fomiula
extends to antiphons and other el.enEnts of the Of f icewhat was
said in IGLH with regard to responsories (n.49) and hymns (n.178)
.
'Ibis systan of "Of fice-specimens" and of Praenotanda makes it
possible at one and the sane=
... to have SCITIE!thing precise to serve as a guide such as
certain rrona steries, as well as the Sacred COngregation for
Divine Worship, think would be usef ul;
..... to assure that the legislation have all the f lexibility
it needs;
and this is. .an exigency also expressed in the letter of July
8, f rom the Sacred c.ongregation for Divine Worship, as already ex
plained earlier.
'Ihis project nCM has to be discussed in the various Liturgy
camd.ssians and nee:t.ings of Superiors . For our CMn Order , this
means the Regional COnferences, the Consilium Generale, and the
General Chapter.Not all
the dif f iculties have been sunrounted (especially f ran the
standpoint of the Cistercians of the Ccmoon Cbsexvance) . But at
least a f irst step has been made so as eventually to cnne to an
agreercent, both with the various branches of the nonastic Order,
and with the Sacred Congregation for Divine tbrsltip.
FINAL REMARKS
In keeping with. the decision made at the SantJW)ehoo rreeting
of last DecarPer, 1972, a working ca:rmission wasorganized at Sant
t Ansel.noduring the m:mth of Marcil of the current year, so as to
draw up the dif ferent
Off ice:Urens described above.When the work was f inished (Fr.
Chl:y
::;ognus Waddell and Fr. Placide Vemet represented our Order) ,
it becane clear that the Of f ice-specimens would be really useful
only for those
who use the Benedictine monastic antiphonai:y; noreover , it
will be neces saxy for each linguistic group to ef fect certain
adaptations when this maten'al is tranSlated.This is why it seenm
dif f icult to have this project discussed in detail at the level
of the highest authority of the various Orders.In ef fect, the only
items which will be sul:mitted for
discussion and approval by the Benedictine abbots and by the
General Chap-
(12)
(13) (The Office: A Progress Report)
ters of the t\\O Cistercian Orders will be the Praenotanda and
the different psalm-distribution schemata -perllaps accarpanied by
an Ordinarium giving a surrmary description of the structure of the
Office. But such an Ordinarii.Am would be presented only as pro
opportunitate,
that is to say, facultative; and the various projects already
being i.rrple
m:mted oould continue as before -this, at least, is what we
hope.
'!he text of the first draft of the December, 1972 version of
the Praenotanda was touched up in a fw places during a rreeting
with the Abbot Primate on March 25 and 26. A preliminary paragraph
was added so as to indicate with greater precision the nature of
the Praenotanda, and
a few textual revisions of the original version were made. The
text will
be published in the next issue of Liturgy.
Translation, Gethsemani Abbey
Gfil'ard OOIDIS t-des-cats
T H EC E L E B R A T I 0 N0 FT H E P A S C H A LM Y S T E R
Y
QUESTIONNAIRERETURNS
FROM THE FRANCOPHONE MONASTERIES OF EUROPE
May - December ,1972
Int:roducto!Y. Letter fthe "Infonnation - Fonnation"
SUbccmnission
(16)
(15)
of the Cistercian Frana?phone Litw:gy Ccmnission
January , 1973
La.St May, 1972 , the 0Infonnation-Fonnation" Subccmnission
circulated
a questionnaire about thec e 1 e b r a t i o no ft h eP a s c h
- a 1M y s t e r yin the French-speaking monasteries of Europe .The
large number of replies (18 monasteries of men , 14 of nuns : 32
returned questionnaires out of 38 sent} and the quality of the
answers are proof
of the interest stirred up by this questionnaire.We hope that
this report will justify the ef forts made by the canmunities in
answer to our questions.
As we said when we f irst circulated this questionnaire, scrrE
of the questions were a bit superf icial but there were others
which were meant to give rise to a certain ref lection.We got what
we wanted, as the re plies amply demonstrate.There were even sane
of our m:mks and nuns who
told us tl'lat this questionnaire proved to be the occasion for
their ref lec tion on questions or aspects of the Paschal Mystery
which, until then,
had done little to attract their attention.
We think , however , that the real usef ulness of this
questionnaire begins in a special way with this report, which is of
f ered to you as a instrurrent for \\Ork and ref lection.
On the one hand, the replies -which have been reprcxluced
here
as objectively as possible. . make it possible to grasp f ran
real life the manner in which this or that rite is celebrated by
the cx:mnunities as a whole, and the way all this is experienced by
the Ironks or nuns who celebrate these rites.Note, f or instance,
the special interest
of the replies given to Questions 22 and 31-though it is
important to
situatetheseparticular questions within the cx:mtext of the
whole report.This or that detail, which appears to beunimportant,
can take on considerable importance when viewed in its proper
oontext.
On the other hand, the replies are often follCMed by a HRef
lection" cx::ming either f ran the camrunities themselves or f ran
our "Infonnation Fonnation" Subcamri.ssion(and our own ref lection
represent no more than our own personal ideas!) .It might well be
that such "Ref lections" will serve as the occasion for your own
deeper, more personal ref lection.It should also be noted that the
occasionally quite personal tone of same of the ref lections is an
indication thatthe replies were made by a single member of the
ccmnunity, or else by a small group. Nevertheless , we f eel
that the overall impression is one of a serious objectivi ty..We
hope ,
then, th.at this report will help our brothers and sisters to
celebrate
t,:he Paschal Mystery even rrpre fruitfully in 1974 .
For our part, our Subccmni.ssion hopes to use this report by
asking carpetent persons to help us to perceive, by means of the
replies and the nore or less explicit questions raised, the main
dynamic ideas and the points which. call for further study.
May the Lord draw us all into the dynamism of his Paschal
Mystery!
f r. Paul HOOIX
sr. Jeanine EUYGH f r. Placide VERNET
ABBREVIATIONS
Monasteries of MonksMonasteries of Nuns
(18)
(17) (The Celebration of the Paschal Mystery)
AC = Acey
AI = Aiguebelle
Kr = Atlas
BF = Bellefontaine BR = Bricquebec
er = c1teaux
ro = Danbes
ME = Melleray
MO = Mont--des-cats
NE = Nei es
OR = Orval
PO = Port-du-Salut
ro = Rochefort SC = Scounmnt SE = Sept-Fons
TA = Tami
TI = Tirnadeuc
TR = Trappe
BE =Belval
ro = Bonneval
CA = Cabanoule (Paix-Dieu) CH = Charnbarand
CL = Clairefontaine FI = Fille-Dieu
GA = Gardes
GR = Grace-Dieu IG = Igny
JO = (la) Joie (e!ac)
IA = Laval
PA = (la) Paix (a Chimay) SO = Soleilmont
UB = Ubexy
I. L E N T
"lent readies the faithful for celebrating the Paschal Mystery
"Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, n.109
CUESTION 1 What celebration do you have to mark the beginning of
lent? 1.The Liturgy for the :imposition of ashes
All mention this, with one exception.
At least 18 have integrated this into the Mass (as in the
Missal).
2 have retained the traditional Cistercian rite (00 and
GA.).
11 1IEI1tion the hanily.
... The fonnula for imposing the ashes is adapted by the abbot
according
to tl1e individual m:mk receiving the ashes: invitation to
conversion (newcaners}, fidelity to onets VCMS and to one's
baptisnal pn:mises (AC).
Individuals are free to participate in the rite barefoot (BF)
.
2.A ccmnunal celebration of penance
- Not every year; facultative; open to guests (OR).
3.The Liturgy of the Hours
- 4 camrunities stress the fact that they begin the lenten
version of the Office on Ash Wednesday(rather than an the First
SUnday of lent).
- Only one oonmunity begins Lent only with the rite for the
inp:>sition of ashes (MO)
4.:Reading of the Rule's prescriptions about Lent
- Mentioned by one nonastery. OR)
5. Fasting
A number mention the fast(bread and water).
Possibility of having an integral fast (BF)
6 . Distribution of lenten books
In several rronasteries.
Qualified as a "paraliturgy" (BR).
In one nonasteey, this takes place in the evening, before
canpline (TA)
Sane see the reading of this book in tenns of a catechesis.
:Reflection
The replies shCM the importance of the beginning of Lent for a
monastic ccmnunity.
Does the fast appear sufficiently as a celebration? Does it
appear rather as too much of a simple observance? Moreover, it is
the monaste:ry 'Where a number observe an integral fast that seems
to
be nost free as regards strict forms of observances of
traditional practices.
QUESTION 2 Is there a special catechesis during lent?
Sane understood this question as though it were a question of
sanething over and above the ordina:ry liturgy, and answered NO. In
general, hc:M ever, the replies shCM that this catechesis exists,
and takes on several different fonns.
1. The texts of the liturgy, in particular:
The reading of Holy Scripture at all the Hours.
The reading of Christian authors at Vigils; at times the choice
of readings is based on thematic content' _:prayer, fasting,
charity).
2. The hanily
According to different fonnulas:daily, or several times a week
.
Along the lines of the Mass hanily, the monitions fonnulated by
presiding celebrant at 1ass (TI}
3. Lenten reading
- Special effort for Zectio divina: one m:maste:ry goes into
great de tail (BR}, but 6 others of monks and number of nuns
mention it more briefly
... Occasional readings in camrunity:refector-y, Conpline.
4.Spiritual conferences
- Instructions in chapter (abbot, abbess, chaplain} on a chosen
theme (ascesis, purity of heart according to our Fathers:PA).
- In several monasteries, facultative listening to the broadcast
of the lenten series of conferences of Notre-Dane (BF, CI).
Reflection
The liturgy is still considered the principal means of effecting
a lenten catechesis.
But all the traditional monastic means are also current.
c.uESTION 3Which foIITIS(old new) of g:nance do you cbserve?
1. BodilY: e tures during_the celebrations
In 5 monasteries (and prooably more}: kneeling during prayer
(pro strate against the choir-desks} at the end of the Hours.
2. Fast?ng
... Traditional practices: suppression of this or that
ep concern to invest the fasting with a a:mnunal character (CI,
BF, BR. )
3. Alms
Concern to translate privations in the refectory into alms (this
is particularly pronounced in our ccmnunities of nuns).
4. Penitence in daily life
Ascesis of work, reading, silence, rrD.ltual help (AI ) , of
fasting based on one's personal needs (CTf}
Ascesis and purity of heart(PA}
Accepting what the lord pennits to happen (CA)
A general vigilance according to the Rule(OR)
5."'di$cif!in
- Taken during Lent in 2 monaster:t_es.
(20)
(19) (The CeZebration of the PaschaZ Mystery)
Reflection
- "When we studied the questionnaire, we realized that this is a
point which calls for further reflection on our part" (GR).
- Renew and make :rrore evident the ecclesial nature of penance
(cf. BF} .
- On the whole, concern for a greater effort at the personal and
the a:mnunity level is clear.
- Re-read nn.109-110 of the Constitution on the Liturgy, and the
Apo stolic Constitution "Paenitani.ni.11 Along these lines, special
men tion should be given the "bowl-of-rice" neals at OR; or the
Thurs day exercise at TI:
Every Thursday evening in Lent, a celebration of brotherly
love:
A reading based on an appropriate theme . (unity, pardon,
ronversion)
Silence.
A facultative self-accusation of faults against charity. A
litanrprayer based on the the.me of charity.
Washing of the feet in silence.
"God is IDve, O Father" sung as the ooncluding chant.
This weekly rite reminds us of the exigencies of oonversion, and
orientates us tcwards the Great Mandatum of Holy Thursday.
II. P A L MS U N D A Y(or PASSION SUNDAY)
C(JESTICN 4 Where does the ccmmunity gather (before the
procession)?
Evei:ywhere there is a special roncem to have a really living
procession.
Special account has to be taken of local circumstances: the
arrangerrent of the buildings, the question of the cloister (for
nuns) There is no practical solution which holds good for all
carrnunities.
1. 1-bnks
In chapter(6}; in the cloister (2); in an entrance hall (l); in
a place accessible to the guests taking part in the Mass (7).
2 . Nuns
In chapter(2); in church(31; elsewhere in the cloister (3);
outside
the church,and nar the rronaste:ry gate(3}.
Reflection
- The replies shCM the difficulty felt by monks and, a fortiori,
by nuns, in integrating the faithful fran outside the rronastery
into their procession or solenm entry rite. We are here fac:Ed with
a special problem of "hospitality" in the liturgy as celebrated by
a monastic ccmnunity. It would be interesting to knCM what
monks
did in times past
.... The problem of Tierce has received various solutions: at
ID, the rite of the branches is preceded by a-psalm for Tierce; at
CI, the Tierce psalmody is follc:Med by the reading of the gospel,
then the
hanily and blessing. But we recall that our Order's Liturgy
can
mission has proposed the suppression of Tierce on this day, and
that the Canmission's project for Palm Sunday has been approved by
the Holy See O?rot.n. 396/73, dated January 31, 1973) .
QUESTION 5 'In our m:>nasteries of rnll:!S i - is advantage
taken of the per- mission accorded by the Instruction "Venite
seorsum" (S,f) for the priest and ministers to enter the cloister
for li turgical processions?
1. Yes (10).
2. In several monasteries, the arrangement of the buildings
places a limitation on the use of this pennission.
Reflection
''Venite seorsum" pennits the celebrant to cane into the
cloister.
But same oorrmunities which receive a fairly large number of the
faithful for their lituigical celebrations find this solution in
sufficient. Would the consent of the local bishop suffice to al lCM
these "outsiders" to take part in the procession?
" the Palm Sunday procession and that Paschal Vigil procession
concern the guests as well as the nuns. 'Ihese rites belong to the
entire Christian people. So our ccmnunities of nuns ought to be
able to ensure the participation of their guests in these
rites"
QUESTION 6 HcM is the procession conceived?
A - As a going forth to meet the Lord, with a stational Cross in
the cloister or elsewhere? And which signs do you use to express
this encounter:gestures, chants?
(22)
(21) (The Celebration of the Paschal Mystery)
1.M:>nks: 11
The Cross is in the cloister (5)
The Cross is at the entrance to the church (5).
Nuns: 9
The Cross is in the cloister for the :rrost pa.rt.
2.Chants
"Ave,. Rex nester": in I.atin (4}; in French (7).
''Gloria, laus" : in Lat.in(3);French (6)
.,.. Other chants -especially hymns.
3 '(;estures, actions
These accarpany the chants: kneeling, profound bows ,
prostration "on the knuckles" -11 as a sign of our worship, our
love, our
gratitude" (BF) .
- As regards the veneration of the Crucifix:
Special lighting; decorated with flcMers; aca:xrpanied by
lights. The Cross cones to meet the procession (CH}.
The brethren leave their branches at the foot of the Cross after
it
has been placed bet.ween the altar and the asserrt>led
faithful (CI).
B- As a s;iml2le procession to church?
1. Monks : 7
Nuns; 5
2. Various interpretations
Walking with the Lord.
Walking with Christ, who is entering in triumfii into the lbly
City.
Follc:Ming the Lord as he goes tc:Mards Jerusalem and his
Passion; participation in the Paschal Mystery .
3. Entrx into church
3 cx:rmrunities have a station.
2 concrete examples:
The carmunity gathers in chapter; the nuns are holding the
branches; procession through the cloister, with the Cross
leading;station at the back of the church, rather than at the
entrance from the cloister, so as to allCM the visiting faithful to
participate; processional entrance chant; the ce.lebrant enters the
presbytery (CL).
Reflection
The procession leaves fran the chapter roan, with the Cross
leading; procession through the cloister; station before the Cross,
but only after entering the church (to allcM the participation of
the guests) (NE)
As regards the fonn referred to above, under Question 6-A, it
would be useful to read: s.Marsili, o.s.B., "La procession des
rameaux:recon stitution historique ou reystere?", in Asserrblees du
Seigneur, 1 sie,
n. 7, pp.7-20; C. Waddell, o.c.s.o., "A Note on the Cross in the
Palm Sunday Procession," in Liturgy o.c.s.o., 2/2(.August 1967), pp
.20-24.
QUESTION 7 How is the Passion perfonned? (structure, chant)
1. Monks
Read: 15 corrmunities Sung: 3.
Number of readers or singers: 1 (1 nonastery)
2 (1)
3 (10)
4 (1)
2.Nuns
Read: 9
Number and gender of readers: 3 male readers (8)
5 female readers (1)
In several nonasteries, the readers are drawn fran arrong the
chaplains, the nuns, and laymen..
3. Gestures and actions
The reading or the chant.in:} has intercalated acclamations
(6).
Prostration at the mcrnent when Christ's death is announced.
(8)
Reflection
1.The Passion is read nore often than sung.
2.A number of oorrmunities of nuns use nuns arrong the
Passion-readers, but: "This experiment seemed to be unsuccessful;
too theatrical" (IG).
"It struck us as being artificial, a bit theatrical" (GA).
On the other hancl, we should point out the rronastery where the
entire Passion was read by nuns only - five of them (SO); this is
:,_egitirnate, since the rubrics allow for the whole of the
Pa.Ssion being read by laymen.
3. Three replies f ran monasteries of men of fered ref lections
in f avor of a simple reading of the Passion by a single
individual:
"The singing of the Passion raises a question for a number of
the brethren, who are asking themselves if a good reading of the
text would not be better; and perhaps the reading of the Passion by
a single person rather than by three \\Uuld be still better."
"Personally, I do not like hearing the Passion read by three
persons, in keeping with tlte classical practice:this smacks too
much of a theatrical perf onnance, and masks the purity and
brutality of the messag being transmitted" (SE)
- The Passion is read by one of the brethren who is a priest.At
the death of Christ, we kneel.The simple reading of the text gives
a gcx:xi impression.No hcmily, but a long period of silence ,
during which we are seated" (TI) .
4 . We note.. th.at sane conmunities do not sing the Passion on
Palm Sunday, but sing it on Good Friday (cf . Question 17) .
III.H 0 L YT H U R S D A Y
The End of Lent and the Beginning of the Paschal Triduum
QJESTION 8Do you still have the f ootwashing of the poor? If so,
how
does it take _E!ace?
-No one retains this; the nuns never had it.
-'IWo ccmnunities are thinking of canbining it with the f
ootwashing of the brethren.
One ccmnunity has given this rite a partially new-
expression:
We have not had this footwashing of the poor for the past three
years;but it has fqund its equivalent in its 'bx> traditionally
inseparable elements.almsgiving and a meal se:rved by the abbot. As
in earlier years, 25hospitalized persoos cared for by the Little
Sisters of the Poor cx::>m:! by hired car f ran Dijon, 13
miles
away.We receive them in the a::mnunity refecto:cy, where they
mix '
with the camrunity.'lhere are tablecloths on the refectm::y
tables , etc.The abbot , assisted by sare of the brethren , serves
the meal; but f irst he welcares our guests and of fers a suitable
prayer.We have our meal with background music; and each rronk takes
care of
his neighbors, with whan he carries on a conversation.Each of
thests also f inds an alms in an envelope at his or her plce in the
refecto:r.y (CI) .
QJESTION 9 Is there any penitential celebration on this day
which oor-
. respcmds to the e::nitential elanertt for the beginning of
Lent?
In one rronastery, a penitential celebration, open to
retreatants, take place each year(OR} Other rronasteries do not
have this. Still, the question has been raised in various ways in
various rronasteries:
1. There -are sane whoet explicitly the absence of a
penitential
elt:
- "There is penitential celebration oorresponding to the ancient
rite for the reoonciliation of penitents" (ME}
.,... "The ecclesial aspect of penitence deserves to be put in
high relief on this day" (BF)
2.''OtherS) m the cont, glad at this absence :
...... "No; on the contrary, Holy Thursday has always been an
extremaly festive day in our camrunity"(CL).
3.Others sinply ask the question:
- "Does Holy Thursday really have a penitential character?" (GR)
Reflection
"Since the readings and the atrrosphere of the Office are
markedly peni tential, and oonstitute the culminating point of our
Lenten efforts, this seems to suffice" (BR).
This reflection reminds us, as it should, that traditionally,
and ac oording to the present nonns, Lent concludes with None, and
the Paschal Triduum begins with the Evening Mass of the I.Drd's
Supper
....Perhaps we should ask ourselves the follo,..ring
question:Have we a peniten tial Holy Thursday Rite which \\Uuld
fonn a pendant to the rite for the beginning of Lent on A.sh
Wednesday -a rite such as was ooncretized, in ti.Ires past, by the
Holy Tnursday reoonciliation of the penitents?
"The whole of Lent leads to the footwashing rite which we
understand
and experienre precisely as the culminating point of Lent" (NE;
in this camrunity, the Mandatun is celebrated before the Mass,
which means that the penitential rite at the beginning of the Mass
is anitted) So also, CI stresses the fact that the meal of charity
provided for the poor,
and the acccmpanying alms, is an integral part of this penance.
CI also inte:rprets the footwashing (as does the whole of
tradition) in tenns of the efficacious remission of sins
(acoo:rdingly, the penitential rite of the Mass which follo,..rs is
anitted)
(The Celebration of the PaschaZ Mystery) (25)
26.
QUESTIOO 10 Does the f ootwashing of the brethren take place a-
durin9 the Mass?
b- or outside Mass? and if so, when?
a- During the Mass:Monks (11) ; nuns (3)
1. Who washes the f eet?
The abbot and an assistant; the abbess (GA, CA) ; the abbess and
a sister (CH) , etc. .
2. Whose feet are washed?
6 of the brethren and 6 guests; the non-ooncelebrants; 6 priests
, 6 monks , and 6 laymen;the brethren and those of the retreatants
who are willing;sane of the sisters and sane children; 12 sisters,
etc.
3. When and hav?
Af ter the hanily (TR, PO, BF , SE , AI, GA, CA) .
Before the hanily (OR) .
After the gospel, but in silence (TI) .
- As a t substitute" for the hanily (CH) .
b- outside M..ass: Monks (7); nuns (11).
1. Where?
In chapter or in the cloister.
2. How?
- As traditionally d:me in times past ,
immediately bef ore the M..ass (CI and NE stress the link
between this Mandatum and the M..ass) ;
and the gospel Jn 13, 1-15 is f irst read (CI , LA).
Ref lection
When we recall that our lord f irst of all washed the feet of
his disciples before explaining what he had done , we can
appreciate the intention of those ccrrmunities where the f
ootwashing imnediately follavs the reading of the gospel, before
the hanily -whether at Mass or in chapter -as a sort of "hanily
acted out". Along these lines, one would do well to read the
proposals made. by the Liturgy CcmTiission at the Viaceli
Meeting.
The reply to the following question will thrav lighton the
reading of Jn 13 - 17.
QUESTION 11 Do you read the Gospel acoording to Saint J ohn ,
i.e. , the Farewell Disoourse?If so, when?
Monks : Yes (17 out of 18) ; nuns: Yes (unanilrous) .
'When and hav?
- As in times past:ITOnks (4) ; mms (9 , but with variants).
- Before canpline:monks C4) ; in the chapel of the
Reservation.
- As part of the thanksgiving:
after Carmunion:ITOnks (2) ; nuns (4) ;
after Mass:ITOnks (2 ) .
- Special note for CI and-=
Jn 13:1-15 before the Footwashing; 1k 22:7-20 at Mass;
Jn 14 after Canmunion (only at CI);
Jn 15 - 17 at Ccrnpline, in place of the short reading.
- A number of comnunities use a selection of pericopes.
-Ref'lect:i::on
1. 'lWo of the ccmnunities take into account the prop:::>sals
made by the Liturgy Ccmnission. On the other hand, perhaps it has
not been noticed that the section which ccnpletes Jn 13 is nav read
at the Mass of Tuesday in Holy Week.
2. Although this tradition and its importance are pretty much in
evidence, it seems likely that the real value of the Farewell
Discourse in this context -whether in the ITOnastic tradition, or
in the Church's tra dition in general -has not always been fully
appreciated.See H. Schmidt, S.J., "Es;?rit et histoire du Jeudi
saint", in La Maison-Vieu 37, pp .66-89, or Hebdomada San.eta II
(Herder and Herder 1957), 766 ff.; these studies can help us to
grasp the real significance of this read ing.
c;uESTION 12 Tbes the prpcession to the place of Reservation
receive a special fo:rm?
1. Three attitudes:
Carried out in the "traditional way", that is to say, in a
procession which, in keeping with the old rite, goes to the place
of Reservation "the long way";
Reservation of the Bl. Sacrament in a manner particular to this
day, but with the ubrost simplicity;
Irrpossibility of reserving the Bl.Sacrament elsewhere than in
the usual place.
2. The chants:
In Latin: "pange lingua", "Adoro te" .
In French:various appropriate eucharistic a:::mpositions.
(28)
(27) (Th12 Ce lcbPation ofthe Pascha l My s tery)
Ref lection
1. There is, in general , great sirrplicity; at the sane ti.Ire,
care is taken to give the Eucharistic Resexvation a particular , f
estive character (lights , f lo,.vers, incense)
2. Where it is possible to have a real, f unctional procession,
take care to keep it simple and sober.Where such a procession is
impossible, avoid anything which would resemble a
pseudo-procession.If the ordi nary place for reserving the BL
Sacrament has to be used for the Holy Thursday Reservation , there
is no reason to regret this:the most suitablelocaleis the one which
best serves the purpose of the Eucharistic adoration recommended
for Holy Thursday evening, af ter
the Mass.
3. If the arrangement of the place makes it dif f icult f or the
whole can
munity to take part in the procession , the f olla.ving is
suggested:
Af ter Ccmnunion (and the reading f:rorn the Gospel according to
St.
John) , silent adoration;
a hyim or other chant to the Bl. Sacrament , (incesnation and)
prayer af ter Ccnrnunion;
- the Bl. Sacrazrent is reserved by the celebrant or deacon;
- dismissal verse.
QUESTION 13 'Areorovisions made f or the adoration of the Bl.
Sacra ment at the level _ of the c:nmmunity?
1. No organization of a c::mnuni ty vigil Monks: 12; nuns:
11.
2 . What do the others do?
Readings f ran St. John 's Gospel, at the place of Reservation
(TR,
SE , ORD) ;
adoration pennitted on Good Friday , in place of the traditional
Good Friday psalter (OR)-;
celebration made up of psalmody on Gocx1 Friday (MO, TA) ;
at NE , a Night Watch (similar to Vigils) ;
a nunber of comnunities of nuns allCM the liberty of an
additional hour of adoration befo:!'.'P. going to bed.
Ref lection
1. Liberty, which is put to excellent use, is clearly evident in
ref lec tions such as the following ones:
- "There is no pressure of time; there is , in point of f act ,
all the
time in the world available" (SE) .
"It depends on what each individual wants to do with her
permission
to keep watch" ( )
- "On the night of Holy Thursday, a few of our nuns take turns
keeping watch until midnight" (IA}.
2. Particular orientations:
"There is, however, a custan of going to the chapel of Reser
vation at the end of each Office until the Good Friday aftemoon
Liturgy . There are doubtless a number who are in favor of this pi
ous custan. Iam not against piety, butIdo question this mani
festation, this tendency to "localize" Christ, whic.l.-i is
exercized too often at the expense of an awareness of his real,
though purely spiritual presence, in all places and at all
times.Nav, it seems
to me that this latter mode of presence is absolutely first from
the point of vie1.v of faith. Salvo meliori iudicio. "
[We here remark that, according to the Constitution Sacrosanctum
Concilium, n.7, there are several nodes of the presence of Christ,
even within the context of a single liturgical celebration; one
mode of presence is not op[X)sed to th.e others, and each has its
avri s cific character.]
- "The chapter roan remains open all night long, and our nuns
can enter freely. Adoration takes place in silence. We have t.he
"grand silence" from '11hursday to Friday evening, so as to carmune
all the better in
the Mystery of the Passion of Christ, and in the sufferings of
the Church of silence" (UB} .
QUESTION 14 Does the t:iJne of C line raise any problems for
you, be cause of the preceding Evening Mass of the Lord 's
Supper?
1. NO
Monks : 13; nuns: 14 (= unanimity).
Most of these justify their reply by indicating the time for the
Mass of the Lord's Supper.
2. Various exolanation
a- 2 monasteries suppress Canpline on this day:
"Compline is felt to be unwarranted because we celebrated Vigils
of Good Friday before the Bl. Sacram:mt" CNE) .
"We think that the Mandatun and the reading of the Farewell Dis
course after the :Mass of the Lord 's Supper take the place of Can
pline" (BB}
b- "There would be a problem only if the Mass were later" (TR;
so also
BE}.
(30)
(T he .":e lebrat1:on ofthe Paschal My stery) (29)
c- others find this celebration normal, for instance:
"Mass ends at 6 P.M . It is quite nonnal that we gather for
prayer before going to bed" CSE ) .
"canpline follows after the reading of Jn 13 - 14 , which we
listen to in church; the hymn is "Crux fidelis" (in a French
translation)" MO}.
"Canpline is part of the overall rhythm; it serves to prolong
the Mass of the Lord ts Supper by its special hyrrai., by the
reading of the Farew'ell Disrourse, and by the prayer.All in all,
fran the footwashing (which takes place just before the Mass) until
the Angelus, there is just one single prolonged celebration, fran
3:15 PM onwards (this includes the period allaved for silent
adoration before the Bl. Sacrairent)" (CI).
IV.G O O DF R I D A Y
QUESTION 15 Does the traditional recitation of the, Good Fri
Psalter take on any particular form in your ccmnunity? and if so,
please describe it.
This tradition, which was once general in the Middle Ages, was
abandoned by our Cistercian Rituale of 1689; but it was restored by
the Trappists. Our nuns do not have this practice.
1. M:>re or less ample celebrations (12)
With invitatories, selected psalms, periods of silence,
oollects, various choir postures;
the length of time varies fran one to two hours.
2.A more arrple celebration of the Canonical Hours (4)
- "This tradition has been integrated with the Office, which has
a much more ample psalm:xfy than is usual; the psaJros are
specially chosen, and are arranged in such, a way that they form a
unified whole, and serve as a sort of step by step meditation on
the Passion of our Savior. At Vigils, we have a special structure
proper to this one day of the whole year:there is an alternation of
psalms (sung or read}, responsorial elements, hynns, readings,
prayers -
all within the framework of a canvas on which is sketched the
history
of our salvation as recapitulated in Jesus Christ. This Office
lasts around two hours, but it gives the impression of being simple
and un cluttered" (BR}
- "In practice, the two Little Hours which have been ma.de
m::>re ample by means of the recitation of part of the
psalterare Tierce and Sext ..we begin each of these two Little
Hours by a reading f ran the Passion-narrative: "It was nineo
tclock . ." ,"When it was midday. . ." The psalms are altemated
between two soloists (of which there are several teams of two each)
; and, between each se ries of 3 or 4 psalms, all take up the sung
hymnic-elements.At the end of each series there is a moment of
silence and a psalm prayer.Ead1 of these Hours lasts around 35
minutes" (MO) .
- "We no longer have the Goc:rl Friday p:;alter: and the reason
is the importance t".Te give to the day 's celebration and its
overall struc ture and ensemble (cf . Question 20 , below) , with
the reading of
the gospel at every Hour.Besides , at Tierce and Sext, Psalm
118
is recited in it entirety, w:ith a pause for silent prayer af
ter every 3 or 4 sections. So, too, at the beginning of the af
tern.oon liturgy(which relaces None} , there are three specially
selected
psalms immediately before the opening oollect.There is also an
appropriate collect for eadl of the Hourst(CI} .
"An Of f ice of psa.lm:Jdy lasting an houris said instead of
Tierce"
CNEI.
Fefl ection
1. Our f ine tradition of the Good Friday psalter is still with
us!
2. We might read or re-read with prof it the account by Etheria
where she describes , in her Peregrinatio (pp.226-239 of the
edition in Sources chrtiennes 21) the celebration of the various
Hours of the Passion at JerUsalem.
QUESTION 16 Do you go barefoot for the af tern.oon
celebration?
1. Monks
Yes (5)
- No (10)
Facultative (2)(BF: 11but :rrost of us do go baref oot"; 00)
Only f or part of the celebration (1 -AI, f or the veneration of
the Cross) .
2. Nuns
Yes (3)
- No (1)
Facultative (21
Only for a part of the rite (8) .The nuns have always had the
custan of removing their shoes only af ter the solemn prayers , for
the vene ration of the Cross.
(32)
(33) (The Celebration of the Paschal Mystery)
Reflection
1. Going barefoot has given rise to various attitudes:
- There are sane who find no real meaning in going barefoot:
"This custan has lost all its rreaning , and distracts one fran
the celebration. No one is sorry to see this custan disappear''
(NE)
..... others have suppressed the custom, but new regret it:
". especially the younger manbers of the cx:mrunity" (GR)
- Elsewhere there is an appreciation of the note of
"renunciation and silence" ('I'I) thus given to the
celebration.
2. It might be useful to recall the penitential aspect of this
celebra tion of the Passion in the hispanic (so-called "Mozarabic11
) liturgy, which pre-dated sane of the Ranan liturgical fonns (see
H. Schmidt, op .cit ., p.791) , and seans to be by no means alien
to our own tradi tion as regards the veneration of the Cross (see
Question 19} .
QUESTION 17HON do yorfonn the Passion acoording to Saint
John
(structure and chant) ?
1. MJnks
- As for Palm Sunday (13) .
A number have it sung, although it is only read on Palm
Stm.day
(TR, TA, TI, OR); on the oontrary, CI hasit sung on this
day.
2.Ntms
Read in all canrrunities of ntms.
Reflection
1. Not Itnlch new when canpared with the Palm Sunday
practice.
2.Exactly the sane intention of effecting a better celebration
is given concrete expresssion in different ways: sane choose
singing as the best means , while others renounce singing so as to
ensure a deeper note of simplicity and sobriety .
QUESTICN 18ing the solann_ _prayers, whichtures do you adopt for
the various elements: invitation to pray, silence, pra ?
1.Standing, turned towards the altar :
- Monks (8)
- Nuns (9)
2. The three traditional 129stures (standing for the
invitato:ry, and turned ta.vards the altar; prostrate before the
choir-desks for the period of silence; bo.ved over on the
misericords for the prayer):
Monks (1) (another was thinking of restoring these changes of
posture for the 1973 celebration).
Nuns (2)
3. ed towards the, _jand tile celebrant) for the invitato:ry and
the prayer, but kneeling (or prostrate against the choir-desks) for
the period of silence;
- Monks (8)
- Nuns (21
Reflection
1. We are here dealing with two different conceptions relative
to the role of the body and its participation in the liturgy:
a- Not too nn.ich changing of postures!
"We think that too frequent changes of posture are no help to
prayer, but, on the contrary, make it painf ul , difficult, and, in
the final analysis, not very fruitful'1 (TR).
- ". . .to avoid noise, and also for the sake of the aged
brethren"(RO)
- "It does not look good to be constantly shifting position"
(JO).
b- We ou:;ht to incarnate our prayer:
"We are standing, but we also prostrate against the dloir-desks
for the silent prayer: the silence is total (we are barefoot, and
the church furnishings make no noise when we kneel or rise or sit),
and our Brother Body helps his Sister Soul" (CI).
"One only posture -standing turned tCMards the altar.We re alize
that we have to have different postures so as to help our prayer;
and we had them in times past -but then we used to ccrrplain about
there being too much moverrent. We just have not been able to find
a really satisfying solution!" (NE}
2. In 4 monasteries, the invitatories are said by same.one
different fran
the celebranti for instance:
- "This year, a short biblical text was read hy one of the
brethren as a sort of nonition or invitato:ry" (TAl
This rerriinds us that the "solemn prayers" are only a solenn
fonn of the 11univeral prayer" or "general intercessions".
QUESTION 19 For the veneration of the Cross, which do you
follav: a- our Ritua le?
b- the proposals of the Liturgy c:amiission?
1. In numbers
Our Ri tua Ze (more or less adapted}:monks (10)
mms (8)
The proposals of the Liturgy Commission:monks (3)
nuns (4)
(for a detailed description of these proposals, see the Minutes
of the Viaceli meetingl
The Ronan Missal: in its entirety (1); with adaptations (3).
Still others have nore or less adapted our Ri tua le, with the
adapta tions tending in the direction of simplification.
2. A fEM reflections and descriptions of the usages followed in
a number of our monasteries:
a- 'We follav our CMn Ritua le , but -obviously -with everything
in French. The Cross is unveiled in one single gesture, and there
is only one "Ecce lignum" . We have retained the long fonn of the
vene ration (by monks prostrating in couples), and the visiting
laymen
put great store in participating in this rite in its entirety"
(SE).
b- "After Tierce, during which we read Mk 15:22-32, the Cross
(Cruci fix) is placed in its usual place behind the altar. It is
left un veiled, and remains behind the altar until time for the
veneration of the cross.
After the universal prayer, the two officiants enter the
sanctuary and stand on either side of the Cross, facing the choir;
the breth ren in choir turn tc:Mru:ds the Cross. Two brethren in
CCMl cane to the steps of the altar and stand there, facing the
Cross. The two officiants sing one of the Reproaches; and the two
other brethren sing a section of the "Agios", with all the rest
taking up the "O holy God" . Then all the brethren protrate "on the
knuckles", turned tc:Mards the cross, and remain thus in silence.
Then the two offici ants begin the second reproach, etc.; then the
third, etc.
After the third prostration in silence, the officiants sing the
invitation to venerate the cross ("Ecce lignum"), and the brethren
arise. The two officiants lay the Corss on a large red cushion
which rests on a velvet carpet in front of the altar. The brethren
come and venerate the Cross in couples -a single full-length pro
stration, after which one rises, makes a profound bCM, and returns
to his place.
When everyone has finished, the "exaltation of the Cross" takes
place:the two officiants take the Cross back to its usual place
behind tl'l.e cl.tar , but they hold it aloft. Eve:ryone kneels,
and after a snort period of silence we sing the antiphon "Your
cross". There is another short period of silence, and the
officiants put the Cross in its stand" CI}.
c- ''OUr RituaZe. We have suppressed the two prostrations ''on
the knuckles" before the full.,..length prostration wflich
acronpanies the kissing of the large sanctuary Cross, which is
placed at the head of choir on a red caxpet.After the ccmnunity has
venerated
the Cross, two celenrants come to take it back to the sanctuary
"
(UB} .
d- "For this ceremony, the officiants make use of the
pe:rmission to enter the cloister, so as to carry out like the rest
of us the procession for the veneration of the Cross. The ceremony
is. ar ranged as follCMS :
Improperia, with the refrain "O my people" sung by all; the
verses are by a soloist. "Agios o thees" is sung in Greek by two
soloists
(who make a pause for silent prayer after the intonation), in
Latin
by the schola (which follows the same cererronies as the two
soloists), and then in French by the entire ccmnunity (also with
the sarre cere monies):in brief, this is stmg three times after
each verse of the Reproaches.
Presentation of the Cross. The unveiled Cross is brought in by
the celebrants frcm the chaplains' sacristy.They go to the
presbytery step and place the cross on a red cushion which rests on
a carpet. We prostrate "on the knuckles" when a soloist sings
"Behold the wood " The cx:mrnunity repeats this, still
kneeling.
Procession. We folla.v the cererroniPs of the old RituaZe in all
its details: two stations prostrate "on the knuckles"; the third
station is the full-length prostration for kissing the Cross"
(IA)
e- "OUr RituaZe. We have suppressed the two kneelings "on the
knuckles" before the full-length Erostration which accanpanies the
kissing of the large sanctuary Cross, which is placed on a red
carpet at the head of choir. After the ccmnunity has venerated the
Cross, two celebrants take it and cany it to the part of the church
reserved for the faithful. After they have kissed the Cross, it is
brought back and set up in the sanctuary" (IG).
Reflection
"As regards the evolution of the Cistercian rite and the
primitive.form of this particular rite for the veneration of the
Cross, it might be good
to re-read Chapter 22 of the Officia eccZesiastica.
(36)
(35) (The Celebration of the PaschaZ Mystery)
QUESTION 20Are the various Hours, 0f' the, day marked by the
celebration nf the Passion, and Death of our wrd? " and if so,
hCM?
1. Except for one canmunity of monks which states tha.t nothing
special is done, and four comnunities of nuns which retain the Of f
ices fran
f onuer years , all do sanething rrore or less accorc'Hng to
their taste
and the means at their disposal.
- Especially f or the readings and the prayers of the various
Hours;
- but also hymns, antiphons , responsories , and troparia.
- Sane caumunities also retain a fEM gregorian chants in Latin.
(What was said above, Question 15 , should not be forgotten.)
2. Three communities seem to have a specially adapted Of f
ice:
Vigils of a solerrnity;Tierce and Sext in a rrore ample f orm;
None leads into t11ecelebration of the Passion; special form of
Corrq:>line;reading of the Gospel at all the Hours:
Vigils: Jn 18:1-28a Lauds : Mt 27:20b-26 Tierce: Mk 15,
22-32
Sext:Lk 23:33-44
None:Jn 18:28b-19 :42
Ccrnpline: Mk 15:42-47(CI}
Everything is proper to the day , with a particularly ample fonn
of Vigils (BR)
Vigils , Tierce, Sext , None, and Ccrnpline receive a major
adaptation
(NE) .
other camrunities , of course , have done as Imlch, and perhaps
better; but if so, we have no detailed inf ormation about v..ihat
they ao. Also,
with Schema "C" (for the distribution of psalms ) , there is no
need
to change the usual Friday psalms (SE) .
3. The canponent elements of the monastic life (mention given
these par
ticularly by nuns)
Silence:
"The entire day is marked by a stricter silence" (LA).
The meal:
Special prayers (LA.)
Reading (SO) ; on the contrary, treal taken in silence (TI)
.
Ref lection
The Paschal Triduun begins with the Holy Thursday evening Mass
of the Lord 's Supper; it is normal, then , that Vigils of Holy
Thursday , but also all the other Hours till None (inclusive)
retain the ferial character of the Ienten lituv:Jy.It is quite a
dif ferent matter v..ihen it a:mes to Good Friday.
QUESTION 21For the Good Friday af tenioon celebration, do you
have any sIZcial '9lJI'ls 'OJ:it:qrgicalression meant to make the
celebration more alive and recollected?
In general, there seems to be nothing particular other than an
ef fort - - to put to good use the traditional elanents, and to
live this celebra tion in an ahnosphere of recollection.
1. I3odily participation
- Insistence on various prostrations .Several monasteries have
siropli f ied what seemed to them to have been excessive;but others
, which had abandoned such. prostrations , have now restored them
.
.... "We want to get a deeper appreciation of the traditional
postures
and gestures it ( CH)
2. Recollection
a- A number of rronasteries point out the importance of having a
calm
terrpo of celebration:
-''The f act that we take our time has made the Of f ice more
alive" (SE) .
-"We ITD.lch appreciate the recollection of this celebration ,
provided that the rhythm of celebration is not hurried" (AI )
-"Just a wo:rd of simple advice: keep the celebration
recollected!"
(PO)
-"Periods of silence throughout the celebration." (IG)
})..... Insistence on sooriety:
-"An extremely sober fonn of liturgical expression " {GA}.
-"We pref er to maintain a simple, sober rite reduced to its
essen- tials, and carried out with dignity" (ID}.
-''The liturgy is suf f iciently expressive of itself " (GR)
-"The liturgy is enough" (NE} .
-"Suppression of useless :rrovement and comings and goings .
"(QI}.
-''Suppression of so many manifestations of unity such ascan
never be carried out in practice as a united group" (CL} .
QUESTION 22 Whateneral impression does this celebration oonvey?
Does it ra i'se any:. f ! i culies?
1. I n 51eneral
Monks : f avorable impression (12}
:rrore or less important reserves (4)
Nuns :favorable impression (13}Not a discordant note!
(38)
(The CeZebration of the PaschaZ Mystery) (37)
2. Expression of ju ts
a..... Favorableressidns
... Monks : "very good.. CME)
"no dif f iculty", M:>} "recollected" (PO, BF, SC, OR}
Hsobriety and unity" (TI}
"interiority, meditative; truth, sirrplicity" (00) "simplicity,
intimacy, personal rnystei:y" (AT )
... Nuns:"no dif ficulties" . (GA, UB, GR, SO) "recollected"
(GA, IA, UB, PA, JO, GR) "it speaks to one.-.-.'-CGA}- - "sober''
'CUB; GA}-
"unencumbered-;-peaceful, simple" (CL) "prayerful" (BO, JO,
SO}-
"harmony between gestures , texts, and chants -thus con
centrating all one ts attention on the action being cele brated''
'(CH}
"perf ect equilibrium'' (BE)
b- Reserves expressed as regards points of detail
"Why re-read the beginning of the Passion acrording to Saint
Jclm when we had it . read at Vigils?Are not all the celebrations
of this day one single celeoration of the Passion and Death of our
lord?" (CI)
"Dif f iculty for the chanting of the Improperia (or
"Reproaches") (TR)
"One might wish fora more meaningf ul manner of praying the
"solemn prayers" (BF) .
"Too many gestures and actions" (TR, JO) .
''French cannot be canpared to gregorian" (NE)
... "The a.ssenbly t.s response to the presentation of the Cross
-"cane,
let us adore" -should be reviewed (CH}
.,. "The ceremonial for the veneration of the Cross ought to be
simpli f ied" (PA) .
"The choice of chants. " (CL}
"The ceremonial for the veneration of the Cross " (IG) .
c- Serious reserves
- "The texts are well articulated, but the hanage rendered the
eross could be incorporated into the rite at a dif f erent
InCJtel1t so as to provide a more un.ified whole" (PO} .
"The elemePts are rich , but f ollcm one another too rapidly.
Per haps the fo:r:mul of the solemn prayers oould. be re-studied:
the veneration of the Cross could be placed at the end of the
Passion, so as to stress the meaning of this rite as the
actuali
zatton of the gospel.. (SE) .
''This celebration, which is a bit dull and heavy, is beginning
to becane a problem!Too many disparate elements; the abundance of
cererronies seans excessive to sane of us;the veneration of the
Cross is alm::>st shocking(and the faitl\ful. share this same
general impression} " (BR}
- 'The ensemble lacks unity; the beginning is too abrupt, and
has
too many texts.One would prefer more action and a greater
number
of rites; we should think of centering everything on the
Passion" (TA)
..... "We cannot grasp the unity between the various parts. This
is the least successful of all tiie Roly w=ek Offices. Th.ere is a
special difficulty for the solerrn prayers, which should be set to
music,
and should be acccmpanied by gestures"(OR)
Reflection
1. This Good Friday celebration seems, for the most part, to be
satisfactory.
2. It would be good to envisage a two-fold effort along the
lines of:
a greater sobriety;
a greater inner coherence between the various parts of the
celebration.
3. The follaving question, despite its modest appearances, seems
to express
the difficulty felt by the others:
"We would like to knCM the origin of this celebration, and the
historical context which gave it rise. We have difficulty in grasp-
ing t.he unity between the various elements. And whyhave Ccmnunion
on Good Friday, but not on Holy Saturday?" (00)
A number of helpful and interesting Good Friday articles can be
found in various issues of La Maison-Dieu, as well as in back
issues of Liturgy
O.C.S.O. In view of the limits of this survey, it seems that the
best we
can do for the rocment is simply to refer to these sources.
QUESTION 23 What fonn does the paschal fast take on? Does it
include Holy Saturday (in keeping with the universal nonns of the
Calendar, n.20)?
1. Two significant questions :
"A paschal fast -just what is it?"
"A paschal fast? No one has ever said anything about it!"
2. Concrete implementation of the fast
On Good Friday, 12 a::mnunities of monks and 7 of nuns mention
the bread and water fast;
For Holy Saturday, 10 camrunities of monks and 5 of nuns state
that the fast is the same as for Lenten weekdays;
Meal taken in silence (BF, TI)
(The Celebration of the Mystery of Christ) (39)
40
R.ef lectiDn
1. Good Friday and Saturda:y:
It appears clearly that, for Good Friday , the f ast retains its
importance and traditional fonns.
But it also seems that our ocmnunities f ind it dif f icult to
pro long this f ast to Holy Saturday.
2. justif ications
"The f ast is strict, but joyf ul; it is up to us to interiorize
it , and to give to others11 (RO)
"Everyone agrees that the fast should be prolonged until the
cele bration of the Jaschal Vigil" (AC) .
For Holy Saturday , there certainly is a great scope for
personal expression
in a number of m:masteries; for instance:
- "On Saturday, each one can follow his a-Jil bent, without
anything being imposed" (NE)
- "For Holy Saturday , each one can do as she pleases, in
keeping with
the Lenten progra:rrme approved for her by Mother Abbess" (GA;
so al-
.-
Ienten penance and the paschal f ast have been def ined by
Vatican Coun cil II in the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy
Sacosanctwn Concilium, nn. 109-110 .These are twod i f f e r e n
trealities.The one belongs to the time of lent; the other , to the
Paschal Triduum.Although f asting is one of the traditional forms
of Lenten penance, this is lef t unsaid by the Consitution.Since
the Council left it up to the Holy Father to deal with the question
of penance, it is the Apostolic Constitution Paenitemini
whichthough leaving intact the custans which the Religious
Institutes
wishto practice even in our own times - decrees a general f ast
on Ash
Wednesday (Latin text in AAS 1966 , pp.177-198) .We ought to
remind our selves of the doctrine exposed in this text.
The three days of the paschal celebration were originally , and
still remain (to the extent indicated belCM} the transition f rom f
ast to feast. This is why there is no Eucharist on Holy Saturday,
because the Eucharist means a breaking of onef ast.So it is a
question of a two-day f ast which tenninates witl'i the reception
of the Eucharist at the Paschal Vigil. This idea is so important
that Hippolytus reminds us that , if saneone is unable to fast for
two days , he f asts for one day only-. - Holy Saturday .
As he writes in his The Apostolic Tradition:
No one takes anything to eat at Easter before having made his
offering 1 c:i offertory rite J ;othe:rwise, he cannot be said to
have fasted. If a wanan is pregnant, or if scrneone is ill, and
unable to ;East for two days , t.l.i.e fast is observed
(only)on
Saturday because of the personal necessity; and one is
content
with bread and water.
--.-. Batte edition, pp.78-79.
V.H 0 L YS A T U R D A Y
QJESTION 24 HOtl does the repose of the Lord mark this day's
celebration? QJESTION 25 Do you have ero elenents to effect this (
hynms, antiphons,
Ef eY,ers ) ?
1. General structure of the celebrations
- Exceptions: in some monasteries, the Office of fo:rner times;
an Office as for a feast (CI);
Vigils with 3 noctnms (TR);
a special Office (AC)
('-)So we do not see nn.ich evidence -at least in the replies to
our questions -of a special Office-structure for this day.
Nevertheless, everywhere we note a special choice of readings,
prayers, etc.; though a number of monasteries regret being short on
suitable material.
2 General atm::>sphere
4 rronasteries make special mention of the absence of the
Eucharist.
others express themselves in positive tenns; 5 speak of the
atmosphere of waiting and of expectation:
"A day filled with peace, waiting for the Resurrection" (OR)
"The celebrations are centered rather on waiting for the Resur-
rection, baptism, the victory of Christ; not so nru.ch on the
lord's repose in the tanb" CI:I)
..,.... t'A vigil of recollected expectation and waiting, in
union with the Vi:rgin Mary-, who is present in our prayer in a
special way" (.
2 a:mnunities of nuns think that Tirursday, Friday, and Saturday
are too nru.ch alike CUB, 'G.Rl
(44)
(The Celebration of the Paschal Mystery) (41)
le.ct.ion
There is no dearth of elerrents.
Nevertheless:
"The difficulty we experience in finding elements adequate to
express the meaning cf this day derives in the deepest sense fran
the real significance of this Mystery. So far there has not been a
sufficient theological elaboration of the mystery of Christ's
descent into the underld; and this explains thelack. of literary
inspiration as re gards the teXt.s" (OR)
Would not the East have sanething to teach us?
VI .E A S T E RS U N D A Y
THEP A S C H A LV I G I L
QUESTION 20A what time do ycu begin the Paschal Vigil? 1.As
regards clock-time
:- In 13 o:mm.mities of rrnnks, saretime between 10 P.M .and 11
P.M .; in
2 other o:mnuni.ties,, the celebration begins at midnight;
- in 9 camrunities of nuns, likewise sanetime between 10 P.M .
and 11P.M .;
3 are in a bit rrnre of a hurry l 8:30 P.M .at GR!);
2 begin almost at midnight;-
- 5 camnunities celebrate the Vigils so th.at it ends with dawn
:
2 :15 A.M . (CI), 3 A .M . (NE) , 3:20 A.M. (OR), 3:30 A .M.
(CL) ,
2 :30 A.M .(IG).-
2. A f ew carments
- length of the celebration averages two and a-half hours in
rrnnasteries of men (CI, SE, NE) ;
- "The celebration ends at Easter dawn, just as every other
Sunday, for celebration of the Resurrection" (CI).
- "The first time, it was sarething of a surprise; but people
seemed to be satisfied. It"s really the beginning of Easter Day.
Moreover, we arentt taking the manbers of the parish ssible, we
reoorrmend that the fire be kindled . Fire is a sign of life and of
joy; it spreads, it transfm:ms objects; people gather around a fire
and enjoy themselves.
CPESTION 28 Does the Paschal Proclamation ("Exsultet") receive a
special fonn of execution?
This proclamation is sung. 1.The minister
The invitatory section is sung by 4 cantors (TA).
In our convents:
by a celebrant;
by a nun- at the presbytery step (IA);
- near the presbyte:ry step--aiid the Candle tempted to try the
sane arrangement).
2. The node of performance
(IG)(GRseans
A hymn arranged in stanzas, with the refrain "We praise you,
Splendor of the Father, Jesus, Son of God" (CH, CL, PA, IG,
PO);
Final acclamation: "Christ is light" (BF) ;
"O joyous Light!" (LA);
"W:! praise you, Splendor" (CI).
This is sung by candle light only (see above, the preceding
question): (TR, N:., AT, ME, MJ , BE).
Reflection
"Is there any reason to make another Paschal Proclamation later
on in
chapter?"} [This is a carry-over fran fo:rrrer days]
""" After the solemn proclamation by means of the "Exsultet",
the seoond proclarration in chapter can understandably be
suppressed.
QUESTION 29For the Liturgy of the Woi:d:
a- Hav do you have the readings read?
b- What fonn do you give the responsori al psalms?
THE NUMBER OF THE READINGS
(Obviously, it 's a question of the Old Testament readings,
since those f rom the New Testament are obligatory.
All: nonks (7) , nuns (6) .
Five: M::>nks (4 or 5) , nuns (3) .
Four: rronks (4) , nuns (3) .
Three: nuns (2 ) ; in this instance, 00 seems to have made this
option by reason of the gregorian chantsfran the old repertoire,
mich
are still retained; GRhas only three in consideration of the f
aith ful f rom outside therronastery.
THE FORM OF THE RESPONSORIAL PSAIMS
Atterrpt to f ind variety: polyphony, soloist, acccxrpanirnent
by the cithara (a kind of harp-like stringed instrurrent) ,
psal.rrody by stanzas , or altemated between groups, or sung as a
hymn , psalms read by a psal mist , gregorian chant graduals,
silence.
Marked predominance of the responsorial fonn.
Ref lection
Attention is drawn to the following Missal rubric (nn.20-21)
:
In this vigil, the rrother of all vigils , nine readings are
provided, seven from the Old Testarrent and two f ran the New
Testarrent (the epistle and gospel) .
The mmiber of readings f ran the Old Testament may be reduced
for pastoral reasons, but it :rmJ.st always be borne in mind that
the reading of the word of God is the funda:rrental elerrent of the
Easter Vigil.At least three readings f ran the Old Testa
ment should be read, although for :rrcre serious reasons the mnn
ber may be reduced to two.The reading of Exodus 14 , havever , is
never to be anitted.
OOESTION 30For the Liturgy of Baptism, do you sing the Litany of
Saints? 1. In numbers :
- YES: M:>nks (12 ) , nuns (7) ;
- NO:MJnks (5) , nuns (7) .
(46)
(The Celebration of the Paschal Mystery) (45)
2 . A few !:?Planations :
"This is hCM the brethrenprefer it; it 's the only time during
the year" (CI) .
"IDCal adaptation" (TA) .
"We like the litanies" (BF) .
- "Sung as if it were a large-scale universal prayer" (BE) .
''We thought we had to suppress the litany so of ten as there
wei:e
no baptisms being perfonned. " (GR)
"The litany of saints seems to belong to the baptismal rite, so
we aciit
