The Psalms of Vespers

1. Preliminaries of the Office

Pater and Ave Maria.—The Lord’s Prayer, recited before Vespers and all the other canonical hours, is the abridgment of all that we shall ask of God during the office. All the intentions which we can have are there p. 87recalled: first, the sanctification of God’s name, the coming of His reign in our hearts, the accomplishing of His will; then, the granting of all our needs, the pardon of all our faults, victory over temptation, deliverance from all dangers. What graces to ask! What necessities to satisfy! And consequently what motives to pray, and to pray well! The Ave Maria, recited before the office, is a souvenir of the fervor of our fathers. The public office was accompanied by the office of the Blessed Virgin; some religious orders still recite it thus. The reason for this is wonderfully beautiful.

The different parts of the office celebrate the mysteries of our redemption; and to Mary, called by the doctors of the Church the coredeemer of the world, for the active part she bore in the work, a testimony of gratitude is due. The recitation of the Ave Maria before the canonical hours is the only vestige of this custom remaining to us. The intention of the Church in retaining this prayer has doubtless been to hold Mary up to us as our model, according to the words of St. Ambrose: “May the spirit of Mary reign in each one of us to praise God worthily.” (In Luc. ii. 26.)

At the Ave Maria our thoughts should be borne to Calvary, and we will ask Mary, standing at the foot of the cross, for some of the feelings that filled her heart. These prayers are said in a low voice. It is time to ask ourselves why the Pater is said aloud in the Mass, when in the other offices it is otherwise. For the solution of this difficulty we must go back to the first centuries. The Lord’s Prayer and the Creed, considered as the watchwords of Christians, were not taught to p. 88catechumens until a little while before their baptism. Respect forbade saying these prayers aloud in those assemblies where pagans and catechumens might be present. These being allowed to take part in the offices of the day and night, care was taken to say these prayers secretly. It was not the same case with the Mass. The Church did not admit to the sacrifice those who had not been regenerated in the waters of baptism; there being no fear then of compromising the mysteries by reciting these prayers; they were solemnly chanted.

Deus in Adjutorium.—The priest and the faithful arise, and turn toward the altar. At this solemn moment of the public prayer, the Church cannot forget that the demon, like a lion full of craft and rage, prowls around the faithful band, above all when our heart offers to God the incense of prayer. Do we not know this of our own experience?

In the ordinary occupations of our life our mind is entirely upon that which we do. But when we begin to pray, then a swarm of foreign and importunate thoughts buzz around us; distractions carry us into unknown and fantastic regions; the body is in the holy place, but a mysterious power draws the mind abroad. And what invisible force swells the storm of temptation during prayer? Temptations to idleness, vanity, frivolity, sleep, not to speak of others more humiliating to the Christian who desires to recollect himself before God.

All these things are the work of the demon. Against the attacks of the enemy the Church, before the office, arms us with the cross, and puts on our lips the cry of distress and confidence: Deus in adjutorium meum intende—“O God, come to my assistance: make haste to help me.”

What a holy boldness in these words! What truly filial confidence! He who hopes in God shall not be deceived. “Thou hadst hardly called Me when I had heard thee,” says the Lord.

The Church, knowing that her prayer is already heard, that the angels of God come to cover the pious flock with their love and their protection, intones one after another the chants of her gratitude to the adorable Trinity.

Gloria Patri.—We have come into the holy place to glorify God. God is outraged on earth by His own children; at the very hour when we are united at the foot of the altar, what blasphemies are uttered against heaven, what scandals committed in the light of day, what crimes in the darkness! While the sinner raises his voice in insult against God, let us raise ours in praise: Glory be to the Father, the source of all power; glory be to the Son, source of all wisdom; glory be to the Holy Ghost, source of all love. Glory be to the Father Who has created us; glory be to the Son Who has redeemed us; glory be to the Holy Ghost Who has sanctified us. These first words of the Gloria go back to the time of the apostles. The Arians having dared to say that there was a time when the Son did not exist with the Father, the Council of Nice, to protest against this blasphemy, decreed that to the Gloria Patri these words should be added: Sicut erat in principio—“As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.”

This is the first meaning of the Sicut erat. There is p. 89a second which explains in what manner we should glorify God: Glory be to God, now as it was in the beginning. Our heart, like a broken harp, cannot give forth melodious sounds; our lips, whether dumb or soiled, are incapable of praising God as He deserves. We pray then the Blessed Trinity to vouchsafe to receive in the place of our unworthy praise the praises which were offered in the beginning, that is to say, from all eternity, when the Father praised the Son Who is God of God; the Son praised the Father Whose Word He is; the Father and the Son praised the Holy Spirit Who lives and reigns with them. Not only do we wish that God may be glorified, now as He was in eternity, but we also ask the Divine Persons that their praises may be always on our lips and in our hearts, and in the world that never ends we may have the happiness to bless and praise them. How sublime is the Sicut erat! And to think that it can pass like an icy breath over lips still colder!

But it shall be so no longer. Our hearts shall repeat in ecstasy: “Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.”

During the Gloria the clergy bare their brows, and all heads are bent. These uncovered brows, these bowed heads well express the sentiments of the faithful soul. The best praise to offer God is the practice of Christian humility, the extinguishing of self.

When pride is enthroned in the heart, how dare we recite the thrice-holy chant? With lying lips and hypocritical posture pretend to return to God all glory, when the heart has already stolen it from Him? If our words are always the echo of our true sentiments, and humiliation of body is a symbol of interior humility, we shall escape the reproach of the Master: “These people honor Me with an exterior worship, but their hearts are far from Me.”

The Alleluia.—Again a chant of praise, for this Hebrew word signifies praise the Lord. The Church wills that all tongues come to render homage to Him Who has redeemed the entire world. The Alleluia is ceaselessly chanted around the throne of the Lamb by the celestial choirs; the Church, in placing it on our lips, recalls that He Whose grandeurs we celebrate is the same God glorified by angels. To the same God the same respect, the same love. Alleluia.

The Anthem of the Psalm.—The principal feasts of the saints for a long time had two offices, the office of the feria, that is, the day of the week upon which they fell, and that of the feast itself. In this case a double office was recited, as is still done on the second of November. These solemnities took the name of double feasts. Other, less important feasts had two half-offices, one of the feria, the other of the saint. These were called semi-doubles.

Later the Church, to render the divine office less onerous, suppressed on the feasts the office of the feria. As a remembrance of the older custom on doubles, the anthems were doubled, being said before and after the psalms; on the semi-doubles, half of the anthem, or the first words, was placed at the beginning of the psalm, and the whole was recited at the end. This custom exists still in the Church.

2. The First Psalm

The first psalm of Vespers on Sunday celebrates all the glories of Jesus Christ: His eternal generation; His eternal priesthood; His eternal empire over all people become His footstool.

But, some one may say, Vespers especially honor the sorrows of Jesus Christ and His blessed Mother, and here is the Church, kneeling at the foot of the cross, singing nothing but hymns of joy and chants of triumph. Beyond the humiliations of Calvary and the silence of the sepulchre, the glories of the resurrection show themselves to her. And in her joy she cannot cease repeating to her children: Jesus Christ, humiliated on the cross, humiliated in the world, will soon triumph. The Holy Spirit announced it many centuries ago by the mouth of the Royal Prophet.

“The Lord said to my Lord: Sit Thou at My right hand.”

Crucified between two thieves, trodden under the feet of the populace like a worm of the earth, Jesus Christ will take His place, even on the throne of God, on the day of His glorious ascension.

“Until I make Thy enemies Thy footstool.”

Jesus Christ has not only children in the world; He has also enemies. Those who attack the Church, the Pope, the pastors; those who live obstinately in sin,—these are the Saviour’s enemies. They refuse to fall to-day at the feet of the mercy which raises and pardons; one day an irresistible force will throw them at the feet of that justice which crushes and punishes. The enemies of Jesus Christ will be the footstool of His tribunal on the last day when He comes to judge.

“The Lord shall send forth the rod of Thy power from out of Sion: rule Thou in the midst of Thine enemies.”

On the clouds of heaven shall shine the cross so often insulted. With this sceptre of power in His hand Jesus Christ will judge us. Too late all will recognize in Him the King of kings and Lord of lords. It is the hour of that reign so often invoked: Adveniat regnum tuum.

“Thine shall be the dominion in the day of Thy power, amid the brightness of the saints: from the womb before the day-star have I begotten Thee.”

The power of princes and kings is in Thee, as in its source. It flows from Thee upon the elect on Thy right hand; it is by Thee that kings reign. The world has not perceived it through the ages; it shall see it in the day of Thy might. The saints, despised here below, will stand in their splendor, like a rich diadem around the King of glory; they are the princes of the eternal kingdom. May the strength of the great King, may the majesty of His elect, not find us unprepared! It is He of Whom the Father has said: “Before the day-star I have begotten Thee.”

“The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent: Thou art a priest forever according to the order of Melchisedech.”

This is the true Priest-King, Whose Vicar Rome has the glory of sheltering. The sacrifice of Calvary He has continued to offer on all the Catholic altars, where He is at the same time high-priest and victim. He will be priest until the end, and eternity will have its ineffable sacrifice, its divine banquet.

“The Lord upon thy right hand hath overthrown kings in the day of His wrath.”

The pride of kings has conspired against the religion of Jesus Christ, above all against His divine priesthood. The watchword, Destruction to the altar, has passed over many lips. Vain efforts! The Lord protects His Church; He has broken all the crowned conspirators in the day of His wrath.

“He shall judge among the nations, He shall fulfil destructions; He shall smite in sunder the heads in the land of many.”

The nations will have their turn. The stroke of vengeance will pour curses on those “who have met together against the Lord and against His Christ, and who have said: Let us cast their yoke from us.” (Ps. ii. 1–3.) They will fill up the vast abysses of hell. As to the multitude who cry: “There is no salvation for him in his God” (Ps. iii. 2), Jehovah will break them against the earth. A comparison naturally presents itself to the mind. The prophet says: “He shall smite in sunder the heads of a great number,” and later Our Lord repeats sadly: “Many are called, but few are chosen.” Let us not follow the multitude; they hasten to their loss.

“He shall drink of the brook in the way: therefore shall he lift up his head.”

The brook in the way is sorrow. Jesus Christ has drunk there in long draughts. He has humiliated Himself even to taking the form of a slave; He has eaten the bread of a laborer by the sweat of His brow; He has known the privations of exile. This is the way marked out for each Christian: suffering, humiliations, tears; but the reward follows. The true seed of glory is suffering.

3. The Second Psalm

The second psalm of Vespers sings the blessings which Jesus Christ has merited for us by His death. This is also the canticle of thanksgiving for the institution of the Eucharist.

“I will praise Thee, O Lord, with my whole heart: in the assembly of the just, and in the congregation.”

At the recollection of all that Thou hast done for me during the course of my life, more particularly in the week that has just passed, I feel that I must praise Thee, O Lord, in the fulness of my heart. The solitary and private praise which the Christian gives to God in the sanctuary of his heart is not enough. To those who say that a prayer said at home is as good as one made in the church, the Holy Spirit has taken care to answer that it is necessary to praise God in the heart, but also in the assemblies and congregations of the people.

“Great are the works of the Lord: sought out are they unto all His pleasures.”

All the works of the Lord bear the triple seal of power, wisdom, and goodness. There is nothing useless in creation; all there is great, all responds wonderfully to the designs of God. “To move the heart of man by the grandeur, the harmony, the beauty of the spectacle which creation offers him; to raise his mind to God, the architect of all these marvels. So that the vast universe is a book always open before our eyes.” (St. John Chrys., In Psal. cx.)

“His work is His praise and His honor: and His justice endureth for ever and ever.”

“God does everything for love,” says St. Chrysostom. p. 93When He strikes or when He blesses; when He pours upon the fields the dew of heaven or the treasures of His wrath; whether He sends sickness or health, poverty or abundance, honor or humiliation, above all shines His goodness as well as His glory. Even when crime seems to triumph over innocence, be far from us the least murmur: there is a justice which endureth for ever and ever. And the victim and murderer will fall into its hands. If this divine justice is patient and slow, as has been said, it is because it is eternal.

“The merciful and gracious Lord hath left a memorial of His marvellous works: He hath given meat to them that fear Him.”

A memorial of the creation, the Incarnation, the Passion, the Resurrection, the Ascension, the Eucharist is truly the abridgment of the marvellous works of God; the greatest work, wherein mercy and goodness have, in a sense, exhausted their divine inventiveness. I see nothing greater than communion but the incarnation, and after the holy Table there is but heaven. Jesus Christ has not instituted this sacrament only to be adored. He immolates Himself as victim that He may give Himself as food to them that fear Him. Let us not put asunder that which God has joined; let us assist at the sacrifice, but also take our place at the holy Table. The essential condition for participating in this heavenly food is the fear of the Lord; a tender and filial fear of God makes us bring to the divine banquet a pure conscience and all necessary dispositions.

“He shall ever be mindful of His covenant: He shall show forth unto His people the power of His works.”

In communion man contracts a close alliance with God, an alliance sealed in the blood of the august Victim. Oh, how fragile are our pledges and our promises! For many the very day of communion passes in forgetfulness of such a grace. But God remembers; He will demand a rigorous account of His eucharistic visits. Above all, God will remember to reward and bless the earthly angels of the Eucharist. On the last day He will raise them up; He will clothe their bodies, so often nourished with the celestial bread, with a mantle of glorious immortality; the virtue of the Sacrament of the Altar, a virtue concealed to-day, will then be divinely manifested.

“That He may give to them the heritage of the gentiles: the works of His hands are judgment and truth.”

“He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood,” says Our Lord, “hath everlasting life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” (St. John vi. 50–57.) Jesus Christ will remember this; His promises are founded on justice and truth. Heaven, the true inheritance of all nations, is thus assured to the soul nourished by the sacred bread, for the Saviour said: “He hath eternal life.”

“Faithful are all His commandments; they stand fast for ever and ever: they are done in truth and equity.”

To attain to this glory we have received certain precepts. Let us keep the laws of the Lord, for they are faithful, they can never deceive. All that they promise they fulfil: the assured recompense of the good, as well as the punishment reserved for the wicked. The second character of the laws of God is that they do not change. The Gospel is to-day what it has been for eighteen p. 94hundred years. As in the past, heresy and philosophy would like to change it; philosophers and heretics pass, and the law of God remains. Such stability will perhaps seem surprising to this generation, accustomed to see human laws fly before the breath of political storms. All surprise will disappear at the last words of the verse: “They are done in truth and justice.” Here is no deception, no prejudice, no error; a gold without alloy: in veritate. All mankind, without exception, are equally under the law; it includes nothing arbitrary, nothing superfluous, nothing impossible: et æquitate.

“He hath sent redemption unto His people: He hath commanded His covenant for ever.”

The Eucharist applies to us the merits of the redemption. The sacrifice of Calvary is renewed on the altar every day. The covenant of God with man must be eternal; nothing can break it except sin.

“Holy and terrible is His name: the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”

Let us approach tremblingly to this august banquet; He Who gives Himself there to us, however poor and humble He may appear, is the same God Whose name is holy and terrible. If we do not feel this pious fear in our soul, let us ask it of the Holy Ghost; it is one of His gifts and the beginning of wisdom. “Fear,” says St. Bernard, “contains a true savor; now savor makes a man wise, as science makes a learned man, and riches a wealthy man, for the word sage, or wise, comes from savor.” “Fear,” St. Francis de Sales says, “precedes love ordinarily and serves as its harbinger; it is St. John the Baptist going before the Lord; it is the steel needle piercing the material to draw through p. 95and leave after it the golden or silken thread which will embellish.”

“A good understanding have they all that do thereafter: His praise endureth for ever and ever.”

Following the order of the gifts of the Holy Ghost, understanding comes after wisdom; it is like its mystical blossom, the divine flower. In the Eucharist all is mystery; our faith needs a ray of that divine light to come and enlighten it. The priest asks this before the sacrifice. “Send forth Thy light and Thy truth; by the light of this celestial torch I will go unto Thy holy mountain and into Thy tabernacle.” God enlightens the humble and fearing soul, and for all eternity it will chant the praise of Him Whom it has loved with fear and feared with love.

4. The Third Psalm

The flower needs dew, fruit the sunshine, and man craves happiness. He asks for it of all that presents itself to him. Riches, power, glory, beauty, offer to him but a bitter and impoisoned fruit. Where then is this happiness to be found which all so desire? The Holy Spirit has revealed it to us in the third psalm of Vespers. “Fear is the beginning of wisdom,” the prophet-king had sung. He will now show to us that it is also the road to true happiness, even in this life.

“Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord: in His commandments he shall have great delight.” How many are there who see in the precepts of God but a yoke and a burden! A few find therein the unction and sweetness that God has concealed for His faithful servants. The first steps in the law of the Lord are nearly always difficult. Courage; after the labors you will taste delights unknown to the crowd.

“His seed shall be mighty upon the earth: the generation of the righteous shall be blessed.”

Would coming generations be feeble and weak if the fear of the Lord and the love of His commandments were held in honor? Would youth be cut down in its flower and springtime if all fathers and mothers had fulfilled the duties laid upon them? The Holy Spirit answers: Potens in terra erit semen ejus. The countries where faith still reigns show us a vigorous race. Place these noble branches of a powerful root beside that other generation which has for its cradle a country where Jesus Christ is a God forgotten or unknown, and you will understand the profundity of these words: The fear of the Lord will give power and strength to the generations.

“Glory and riches shall be in His house: and His justice endureth for ever and ever.”

The avowed esteem of the good, the secret esteem of the wicked form a crown around His brow. His acts may be criticised publicly: what chatter, what jests we hear everywhere on the conduct of those who practise their religion! This is but on the surface; in reality they are approved, praised, esteemed. God also recompenses the just man in this world. The fear of the Lord has made him sanctify Sundays and the feasts; the richest blessings will bring abundance into his storehouses and increase his riches. Glory and fortune, that rock of shipwreck to the majority, will not change him; his virtue, his simplicity remain unalterable: everywhere and always he is the just man.

“Unto the righteous there hath arisen light in the darkness: He is merciful, compassionate, and just.”

Life is full of darkness. Doubts, sorrow, and trials shed upon our soul the blackness of night. For the unhappy sinner there is no torch to guide. But the righteous, on the contrary, is surrounded with light; the light of consolation, the light of counsel. This light is God Himself, God compassionate, merciful, and just. Before this triple manifestation of compassion, mercy, and justice, the darkness disappears, like the clouds of night before the rising sun.

“Acceptable is the man who is merciful and lendeth; he will guide his words with judgment: he shall not be moved for ever.”

An immense indulgence for all the frailties of poor human nature fills the heart of the righteous. Has a fault been committed, he does not criticise, he does not blame, but he pities his brother. “He lends” in so doing, says the prophet-king, for he who judges not shall not be judged; he who condemneth not shall not be condemned; to him who has shown mercy will mercy be shown in large measure.

Wisdom also guides all his words; affable with inferiors, charitable with equals, respectful to superiors, and always, with all, the perfume of kindliness in his speech. Wisdom excludes from his conversation calumny, evil-speaking, and lying. It teaches him to speak and to be silent at the right time. That is why, adds the psalm, he will never be moved and vanquished by the demon. Has not St. James said that “if any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man”?

“The just man shall be in everlasting remembrance: he shall not be afraid for evil report.”

Time effaces everything from the memory of man, everything except virtue. St. John Chrysostom says: “Hear what is necessary to raise a monument which shall perpetuate your name. Is it heaped-up marbles? No. High walls or towers? No. But the examples of good works.” (In Psal. cxi.) The greatest conquerors are forgotten or unknown to the masses, yet all the Christian family knows the humble virgin of Nanterre or the shepherd of Pibrac. The name of the just man engraved in the memory of mankind is also written in the book of life. At the last day, when the terrible sentence: “Depart from Me, ye cursed,” shall throw the reprobate into hell, he will not fear. To him will be said: “Come, thou blessed of My Father, possess the kingdom prepared for thee.”

“His heart is prepared to hope in the Lord; his heart is fixed: he shall not be moved until he look down on his enemies.”

There are those who, in trial, are always ready to complain, murmur, to despair, to accuse Providence. Christians, these, without faith and without love. Very differently does the just man act. His first glance then is toward heaven, his first thought for God, his first feeling hope. He throws himself entirely into the paternal arms of the divine mercy. This confidence clothes his heart with such strength that he despises his enemies, the devil and his infernal legions.

“He hath dispersed abroad, he hath given to the poor; His justice endureth for ever and ever: His horn shall be exalted in glory.”

The confidence of which we have just spoken is not rash; it is the recompense of charity. Priests often see it at the dying bed. The hand which has sown alms clasps the crucifix in ecstasy. In that last hour God pours immense consolations into the charitable heart. Death does not cause it to fear. It knows that the penny given in alms returns a hundred for one; that the sowing of good works, justice, to use the language of the prophet, will bring forth eternal fruit. Let us give if we would be enriched, because God assures a double recompense, beginning in this world, to him who relieves the poverty of his brothers: glory, that is to say, the blessings of the unfortunate, then abundance and prosperity in his earthly possessions.

“The sinner shall see it and be wroth; he shall gnash his teeth, and consume away: the desire of the wicked shall perish.”

The man who now laughs at your faith and your love will one day be the witness of your triumph. When the Sovereign Judge says: “I was hungry, and you gave Me to eat” (St. Matt. xxv. 35), he will understand too late the worth of charity. Despair will seize his heart; he will tremble and gnash his teeth, as he sees all his vain hopes vanishing. And you in the midst of celestial choirs, you will repeat for the first time in heaven the canticle of eternal praise: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

5. The Fourth Psalm

This psalm, as well as the following one, was chanted by the newly baptized as they came out of the sacred fonts.

The remembrance of Baptism should have its place in the office of Vespers beside the Eucharist, because the blood and the water which sprang forth under the iron of the soldier’s lance figured these two sacraments, according to the unanimous opinion of the doctors of the Church. At the urgent invitation of the Church let us thank God for the grace of Baptism, so ill appreciated; let us also renew our resolution to serve better a God so powerful.

“Praise the Lord, ye children: praise ye the name of the Lord.”

All you who, by such a touching favor, have in holy Baptism become the children of God, praise the Lord. The greatness of such a blessing, refused to so many others, calls for all your gratitude. Praise His holy name, which is nothing else than power, wisdom, His bounty shown in this sacrament.

“Blessed be the name of the Lord: from this time forth for evermore.”

When the brow is still wet with the waters of Baptism, when the heart still beats with the unspeakable emotions of holy communion, the lips of the child can only bless. Soon he will hear blasphemies against God, murmurs against Providence. “Take care,” the Church anxiously warns him. “In youth, in middle age, in old age, in prosperity, as in trial, bless always the name of the Lord. Never insult the God of your Baptism and of your first communion.” At this verse the heads are bowed. By this humble position, and still more by the ardor of your love, repair all the blasphemies which earth vomits forth against heaven.

“From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same: the name of the Lord is worthy to be praised.”

Respect this divine name, whose grandeur everything proclaims. Look around you: from the dawn to the sunset, from the east to the west, from springtime to winter, everything chants the praises of God. Deaf and thrice deaf he who does not hear this great concert of nature; blind and thrice blind he who does not see the name of God written on all the works of creation. The star or the insect, the oak or the blade of grass, the drop of dew or the immensity of the ocean, the grain of wheat or the bunch of grapes, as well as the angels and mankind, chant the power, the wisdom, the goodness of the Creator: “A solis ortu usque ad occasum laudabile nomen Domini.”

“The Lord is high above all nations: and His glory above the heavens.”

The greatest enemy of the Christian, that which causes most desertion from the army of the soldiers of Jesus Christ, is human respect. Would the promises of Baptism be so soon forgotten if we were penetrated with the grandeur of God and the nothingness of man? Let us take for our device and war-cry this verse of the psalm: “The Lord is high above the nations, and His glory above the heavens.” The nations and the princes who command them, the thrones and the armies that sustain them, the opportunities and honors which they p. 99afford, all the most ambitious grandeurs of the earth, before the Lord are as a grain of dust raised by the wind, or the drop of water which falls from an over-full vase. These expressions are those of the Holy Scriptures. The prophet, to make them stronger, adds: “that all nations are as nothing before the Lord.” (Is. xl. 15–17.) Who then to please man would dare despise the Lord? That we may have an idea of His glory we are told that it is above the heavens. To proclaim that the Lord has made His tent of the pavilion of the heavens, His throne of the sun, His mantle of the light; to say that the lightning is a ray of His glory, the thunder the accents of His voice, the empurpled clouds His triumphal chariot, are so many rude images by means of which the Christian loves to represent to himself the glory of God. The Lord is infinitely above the splendors which fall within the cognizance of our senses or which our imagination can invent. “Et super cœlos gloria ejus.”

“Who is like to the Lord our God, Who dwelleth on high: and regardeth the things that are lowly in heaven and earth?”

This was the cry which rallied the angels under the banner of Saint Michael: Who is like unto God? This thought alone should preserve us always faithful. Who is good like God? Who is beautiful as God? Who is great as God? Who is powerful as God? Who is wise like God? Who is faithful like God? In the moment of temptation let us ask our heart this question; it will assuredly turn to the side of the Sovereign Good.

The prophet-king, in this same verse, speaks of the divine Providence. Nothing escapes the direct action of God; He provides for all. Neither a bird of the air nor a hair of our head can fall to the ground without His permission. Incredulous philosophy repeats unceasingly: We are too little for God to occupy Himself with us. If these philosophers would come to Vespers, they would hear the Word of the Holy Ghost: “The Lord Who dwelleth on high regardeth the things that are lowly in heaven and on earth.”

“Who raiseth up the needy from the earth: and lifteth the poor from off the dunghill.”

Behold, all that God has done for humanity in the Incarnation He continues for each one of us in holy Baptism. We have been this needy one in the dust, this sinner in the mire: figurative expressions which depict to what degree of humiliation and degradation original sin has reduced man. God takes him by the hand and raises him up.

“That He may set him with the princes: even with the princes of the people.”

The Christian is called to reign with the angels, the princes of the heavenly court. His throne is ready; each good work is a new diamond added to his crown. But the conquest of this eternal kingdom suffers violence; the renunciation of ourselves and of creatures is the victorious sword which will open to us the gates. The sign of our royalty has been imprinted on our brow by the Church; holy Baptism is only the consecration of the Christian.

“Who maketh the barren woman to dwell in her house: the joyful mother of children.”

The Church is this barren woman. Everything seemed to condemn her never to know the joys of maternity. p. 100Her divine Founder has established her in virginity and martyrdom. And behold the world has seen, astonished, “this infant republic multiply herself by chastity and death, though these are sterile means and contrary to the design of increase.” (Balzac, Socrate Chrétien.)

6. The Fifth Psalm

The grandeur of its images, the richness of its poetry, the depth of its prophecies make this psalm the most beautiful chant of the old law. David therein celebrates the deliverance of the Hebrew people on the day after the Passover, the passage of the Red Sea, the tremblings of Sinai, the miracles of the desert. The lips that celebrated the miracles worked in favor of the ancient people prophesied at the same time, says St. Augustine, the marvels which should shine on the steps of the new nations. We will look at this sublime psalm on its prophetic side. It will appear to us as really a history of the Church, her combats, her triumphs, and the blessings showered upon her.

The Hebrew ritual prescribed that this psalm should be recited during the celebration of the Pasch, and several authors have thought that this was the psalm which Our Lord said after the last supper. (Baronius, Ann. 34.) This consideration can but increase our fervor.

“When Israel came out of Egypt: the house of Jacob from among a strange people.”

Israel and the house of Jacob figure the Church and the Christian people; Egypt, the servitude of the demon from which Baptism has freed us, and also the world p. 101fallen into the power of the infernal despot. The unfortunate people over which he reigns speak a language of which we should be ignorant. Lying, evil-speaking, blasphemy, and impurity are its principal elements. May the language of the world be to us always foreign and unknown!

“Juda was made His sanctuary: and Israel His dominion.”

Under these two names, of which the first means the praise of God, and the second strength of God, the prophet designates the children of the true Juda, the family of the divine Israel. The Church has become the only sanctuary where God is worthily praised, as well as the scene where He manifests His power. The expression which the Royal Prophet uses says much more. The Church has been chosen as the instrument of sanctification upon the earth. It is the divine salt which preserves from corruption, according to the words of Jesus Christ; without her the abominations of Sodom and Ninive would have been surpassed long ago. The impetuous torrent of vice, in its lamentable overflow, has always encountered a breakwater against which its waves have dashed in vain: the sanctity preached and practised by the Church. If the body social, all covered with leprosy and infected with contagion as it is, subsists still, thanks are due to the spouse of Christ; her divine life repels death. Those who will not see this miracle, so evident and constantly renewed, cannot help recognizing the fact that God has wrought by the Church and in favor of the Church His greatest marvels; the power He has chosen “for His dominion,” says the sacred text. Without pretending to enumerate all that the Lord has done for His spouse, let us recall briefly that she has felt all the swords of persecution crossed on her breast; that she has been the butt of the hatred of princes and of nations, that twenty times events seemed to have dug her grave. Constantly attacked, she has always been victorious. Thrones have crumbled, dynasties have disappeared, crowns have fallen, nations have been wiped out, and the Church is always standing, because she is the throne of the power of the Lord: “Israel potestas ejus.”

“The sea beheld, and fled: Jordan was turned back.”

The world is often compared to the sea, because of its depths and its storms. It has wished to oppose the mission of the Church, raising against her the waves of evil passions. During four centuries the blood of martyrs reddened its waters. The spectacle presented to it bore so unmistakably the seal of sanctity and of might that it has opened a passage to the holy one it persecuted. Its waves were, so to speak, turned back by admiration and awe. “Mare vidit et fugit.” This is not all. Mankind, relinquishing itself to the course of its passions, descended toward the abyss, like the river whose waves throw themselves into the ocean. The Church has renewed for it the miracle of the holy ark on the shore of the Jordan. They have returned to their source, that is to say, to God. This beautiful thought is St. Augustine’s. (In Psal. cxiii.)

“The mountains skipped like rams: and the little hills like lambs of the flock.”

The conversion of the pagan world has filled the entire Church with joy. To express it David uses a figure as bold as sublime. “The mountains skipped p. 102like rams, and the little hills like lambs of the flock.” But what are these mountains? What are the little hills? By the former St. Augustine understands the apostles and all the preachers of the Gospel, raised by their ministry to sanctity and to heights which the eye could not measure; by the latter, the faithful whom the word of the Gospel has begotten to the Church; the name of Christian demands that they should raise themselves above the majority by a higher life. (In Ps. cxiii.)

“What aileth thee, O thou sea, that thou fleest, and thou Jordan, that thou wast turned back? Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams: and ye little hills like the lambs of the flock?”

The prophet, as the witness of all these prodigies, demands their cause: sea, Jordan, mountains, hills, answer me.

“At the presence of the Lord the earth was moved: at the presence of the God of Jacob.”

The Lord has shown Himself to the earth: He has perpetuated His presence in the midst of His children by the institution of the adorable Sacrament of the Eucharist. Alone and forgotten in His tabernacle, He governs from it the earth; He moves it. The explanation of the sanctity and power of the Church is found in this promise: “I am with you always, even to the consummation of the world.” (St. Matt. xxviii. 20.)

“Who turned the rock into a standing water: and the stony hill into a flowing stream.”

The rock was the figure of Jesus Christ, says St. Paul; the rod of Moses is the lance of the soldier, and the water bursting abundantly from the opening represents the torrents of grace flowing from the pierced side of Jesus Christ. Our Lord calls us to these divine springs: “If any man thirst, let him come to Me, and drink.” (St. John vii. 37.) Let us hasten; each one of His wounds has become a life-giving fountain. St. Bernard says that “the earthly paradise had four rivers whose waters flowed in all directions, bringing freshness and fruitfulness. And in Jesus Christ, our paradise of delights, we find four springs: the first is the source of truth; the second, the source of wisdom; the third, the source of virtue; the fourth, the source of charity. Let us add to these another, the fifth, the source of life, promised to man after the trials of exile, and toward which the prophet sighed when he said: My soul thirsts for God, fountain of living water. It was, perhaps, to open these first four sources that Our Lord was wounded in four places before breathing His last sigh; to figure the fifth, after His death His side was opened by a lance.” (Serm. i. de Nativ., Serm. lxvi.) May he who thirsts for truth, wisdom, virtue, charity, and life, come to quench his longing at the divine spring, at the feet of Jesus crucified!

“Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us: but unto Thy name give the glory.”

Our deliverance from slavery, the wonders of sanctity and power wrought by the Church, the conversion of infidels, all the testimonies to the divine goodness should not puff us up with pride. To God, to God only, be the honor and glory; to us humiliation, for how many would serve the Lord better than we if they had been called to the faith! Bowing our heads, let us pay homage to God for all our works, all our goods, all our honors, all our talents. The glory which they have p. 103procured for us goes back to God as to its source and end.

“For Thy mercy and Thy truth’s sake: lest the gentiles should say: Where is their God?”

It would seem that the nations, enlightened by the events of history, should recognize the divine intervention in the government of the Church. But this is not so. Whenever a tempest assails her, if the arm of God is slow to be displayed, the Christian hears repeated the old blasphemy of impiety: Where then is your God Who has promised to be the pilot of this worm-eaten ship which you call the Church? He is deaf to your prayers, or powerless to help you. Let them rave; our hope is unalterably fixed upon a God full of mercy and faithful to His promises. He would interfere sooner did not mercy claim her right; His patience gives the persecutors time to repent. Justice will have its hour; then the world once more will see the accomplishment of the promise that never fails: “The gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church.”

“But our God is in heaven: He hath done whatsoever He would.”

What man can say to himself that nothing resists his will, that he has done whatsoever he would? Some can, but will not; others would, but cannot. God alone has an infinite power at the service of a will entirely merciful. Why do you fear, ye men of little faith? Our God is the God of heaven; all that He willed has been faithfully performed; it will be so for ever.

“The idols of the gentiles are silver and gold: the work of the hands of men. They have mouths, and they shall not speak; they have eyes, and they shall not see. They have ears, and they shall not hear; they have noses, and they shall not smell. They have hands, and they shall not feel; they have feet, and they shall not walk; neither shall they speak through their throat. Let all who make them become like unto them: and all such as put their trust in them.”

In these verses the prophet shows to Christians the folly of the pagan worship of idols made by man of gold or silver. They have ears, and do not hear the prayers addressed to them. Why then the incense burned on their altars, the flowers and the garlands? They cannot smell their perfumes. Their hands are never extended in blessing. You never see them come to your help, for, though they have feet, they rest immovable on their pedestals. Dumb gods, they never give you a word of consolation or hope. These are the gods which the world worshipped for centuries, and we should still offer them incense if God had not taken us away from idolatry: “In exitu Israel de Egypto.”

“The house of Israel hath hoped in the Lord: He is their helper and protector.”

“The house of Aaron hath hoped in the Lord: He is their helper and protector. Those who fear the Lord have hoped in the Lord: He is their helper and protector.”

The house of Israel, as we already know, is the Christian people; the house of Aaron, the high-priest of the old law, represents the Catholic priesthood. Ask of history, and it will tell you that the divine protection has never failed it.

By those who fear the Lord, and who have put their confidence in Him, we may understand all mankind who, outside of the Church, serve God with filial fear. Their p. 104confidence will never be deceived; the way of the Lord will never fail them. One day or another, the light of truth will shine forth to enlighten them.

“The Lord hath been mindful of us: and hath blessed us.”

“He hath blessed the house of Israel: He hath blessed the house of Aaron.”

“He hath blessed all those that fear the Lord: the least together with the greatest.”

The Lord remembers all. There is but one thing which He forgets, according to the Holy Book, and this is pardoned sin. He remembers our confidence, to bless us. Age, dignity, power, cleverness count as nothing; great and small are equal before Him. If His heart feel a preference, it is for those whom the prophet mentions first.

“May the Lord add blessings upon you: upon you and upon your children.”

And as for you, the Church seems to say, who have come into the holy place to praise and bless, be you blessed. May the Lord add new blessings to those which He has already given you; may He fill your measure and that of your children.

“Blessed be ye of the Lord: Who hath made heaven and earth.”

St. John Chrysostom says that “man blesses when he praises and exalts those who distinguish themselves by riches, glory, and power. These are ephemeral blessings which add nothing to what we possess. It is not so with the blessings of the Lord.” (In Ps. cxiii.) His power has made heaven and earth; may His goodness pour upon your fields the dew of one and the fatness of the other; may He give you the blessings of time and of eternity!

“The heaven of heavens is the Lord’s: but the earth hath He given to the children of men.”

Infinity is the dwelling-place of the Lord. When we say that He dwells in the highest heaven, it is only to make it understood that He there manifests His glory to His elect. He has given over to man the earth and all the riches which it holds.

“The dead shall not praise Thee, O Lord: neither all they that go down into hell.”

At the thought of Thy love, Thy greatness, O Lord, we make the resolution to remain always Thy children, for those that are dead to grace can no longer love Thee nor praise Thee. They are like those unhappy souls who are plunged into the eternal abyss.

“But we who live bless the Lord: from this time forth for evermore.”

Let us always live in the love of God, in His holy grace, and we shall delight to sing His praises. The divine office will bring us regularly each Sunday to the foot of the altar, to thank the Lord for His numberless blessings, while we await the happy day which shall open to us the gates of the eternal temple, where the light is without night, happiness without alloy, and praise shall never end.

7. The Little Chapter

The chanting of the psalms is followed by the recitation of the Little Chapter. This short extract from the Holy Book is thus named from the Latin word caput, head, because, on the feasts, it is usually taken from the beginning of the epistle of the day, and is read by the celebrant. We see that among the Jews and the early Christians each reunion was accompanied by the reading of the sacred books. The assembly listens in silence and standing, out of respect for him who presides; if the leader, our head, rises to read the Holy Scriptures, should not the faithful rise also to listen to it?

The Chapter ended, all respond, Deo Gratias, as we say grace after our repasts.