The Little Office Of Our Lady – At Compline Or Night-Song, pt 5. By E. L. Taunton.

THE COLLECT.

We beseech Thee, 0 Lord, that the glorious intercession of the blessed and glorious ever Virgin Mary may protect us and bring us to life eternal. Through our Lord, &c.

This short, simple, direct prayer includes everything and is a model for our own private prayers. It is only the second part of the Hail, Mary, that she may pray for us here and at the hour of our death. What can be simpler, more childlike and more true ?

This hour, unlike the others, ends up with a solemn invocation of the blessing of the Holy Trinity upon us now going to rest.

May the Almighty and merciful Lord, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, bless and guard us. Amen.

During Advent-tide.

The Little Chapter and Versicle are the same as at None during this season. And the Antiphon at the Nunc Dimittis as at Lauds, followed by the ordinary Advent Collect.

During Christmas-tide.

The Little Chapter and Versicle are as above ; the Antiphon at the Nunc Dimittis is the same as at the Magnificat during this season, together with the Christmas Collect.

During Easter-tide.

The Antiphon at the Nunc Dimittis is Regina Caeli (see page 429).

THE ANTIPHONS.

The following Antiphons of our Lady are said according to the Rubrics for the various seasons of the year. These concluding hymns seem to have been introduced into the Office by the Franciscans, who began to add them to the daily recital. St. Bonaventure, about 1274, is credited with being the first to add them to the Liturgical Prayer. Among the English Benedictines the use seems to have been general at an early date ; for by the acts of the Chapter of the English Congregation, held at Northampton, 1444, a decree was renewed ordering their recitation every day at the end of Compline, " in order before sleep to implore her help by whom the serpent's head was crushed." They were made of obligation to the whole Church by St. Pius V. in his reform of the Roman Breviary.

I.

From Vespers on the Saturday before the first Sunday of Advent to the second Vespers of the Purification inclusively.

Mother of Christ, hear thou thy people's cry,
Star of the deep and portal of the sky,

Mother of Him Who thee from nothing made,
Sinking we strive and call to thee for aid : 

O by that joy which Gabriel brought to thee, 
Thou Virgin, first and last, let us thy mercy see.

The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary.
And she conceived by the Holy Ghost.

Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts: that we who know the Incarnation of Christ Thy Son by the message of the Angel, may by His Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of His Resurrection. Through the same, &c.

From the first Vespers of Christmas to the second Vespers of the Purification (February 2nd) the following is said: —

After bearing thou didst remain a maiden undefiled.

Mother of God intercede for us.

followed by the ordinary Christmas Collect: Deus qui salutis aeternce, &c.

This Antiphon, made up of words borrowed from St. Fulgentius, St. Epiphanius, and St. Irenaeus, is said to have been composed by a Benedictine monk of the monastery of Reichenau, Herman Contractus, who died 1054. There is but little need for exposition as most of the expressions have been explained. Cadenti populo, the people, sinking beneath the black waters of sin, stretch forth their arms to Mary for help. Natura mirante. Nature struck with wonder at the unheard-of thing, a Virgin conceiving and bearing a Son, the Creature given birth to her Maker.

II.

From Compline on the Feast of the Purification till Easter.

Hail, O Queen of Heaven enthroned: 
Hail, by angels Mistress crowned :

Root of Jesse; Gate of Morn ! 
Whence the world's true Light was born.

Glorious Virgin, joy to thee ; 
Loveliest whom in Heaven they see,

Fairest thou where all are fair 
Plead with Christ our sins to spare.

Make me worthy to praise thee 0 Blessed Virgin.
Give me strength against thine enemies.

The prayer is the common prayer at Vespers : Concede misericors.

The author of this Antiphon is not known. Like the former, the various praises are to be found in the works of the fathers of the Church, and the expressions used have been already explained, i.e., Radix, the stem of Jesse; Porta, the Gate closed to all except the Lord, and also the Gate through which the Day-spring from on high hath visited us. Super omnes speciosa. The grace of the stainless Conception was increased by that of the Divine Motherhood ; and then, once more, by that of the Sanctification in the Pentecostal Fires. Thus, as the grace which possessed the soul of our ever dear and blessed Lady far exceeded that of any created being, so was her spiritual beauty above that of all others. " Thou art all fair, O Mary, and the stain of original sin is not in thee," sings Holy Church on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

III.

From Compline on Holy Saturday to None on the Saturday after Pentecost inclusively.

Joy to thee, O Queen of heaven,
Alleluia, 

He Whom thou wast meet to bear, 
Alleluia, 

As He promised hath arisen. 
Alleluia. 

Pour forth to Him thy prayer.
Alleluia,

Rejoice and be glad, 0 Virgin Mary,
Alleluia.

For the Lord is truly risen. 
Alleluia.

Let us pray.

O God, Who by the rising of Thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, hath vouchsafed to fill the world with joy : grant, we beseech Thee, that by His Mother, the Virgin Mary, we may attain the joys of eternal life. Through the same, &c.

In 596, during Easter-time, a pestilence was ravaging Rome, and St. Gregory the Great appointed a procession to be held to avert the scourge. On the day appointed he came with his clergy at dawn to the church of Ara Ccdi and, bearing in his hand the picture of our Lady attributed to St. Luke, he set out in procession to St. Peter's. But whilst passing what was then called the Castle or Mole of Hadrian, voices were heard high up in the air singing Regina Ccdi. The holy Pope, astonished and enraptured, replied with a loud voice : Ora pro nobis Deum. Alleluia. At that moment an Angel shining with a glorious light appeared and sheathed the sword of pestilence in its scabbard. The plague ceased from that day. The name was then changed from that of the Emperor to the Castle of San Angelo, and the heavenly words were inscribed on the roof of the church of Ara Caeli. In memory of the event the religious of that convent used to sing the Antiphon whenever any public procession passed their church. This simple anthem is one burst of joy which recalls the exultation which filled the heart of our ever dear and blessed Lady when, on that Resurrection Day, she first saw her Son in the glory of the new life. The Angels share in this joy and call upon us to join with them in the heavenly song of Alleluia.

IV.

From the first Vespers of Trinity Sunday to None on the Saturday before the first Sunday of Advent.

Mother of Mercy, Hail, 0 gentle Queen ; our Life, our Sweetness, and our Hope, all hail.

Children of Eve, to thee we cry from our sad banishment; to thee we send our sighs, weeping and mourning in this tearful vale.

Come, then, our Advocate; 0 turn to us those pitying eyes of thine. And our long exile past, show us at last Jesus, of thy pure womb the Fruit Divine.

O Virgin Mary! 

Mother blest ! 

O holiest!

O sweetest, gentlest, holiset !

Pray for us, &c. 

That we may, &c.

O Almighty and Eternal God, Who hath prepared by the cooperation of the Holy Ghost the body and soul of the Virgin-mother Mary as an abode worthy for Thy Son, grant that we who rejoice in her commemoration, may by her kind intercession be freed from present evils and from death eternal. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

This Antiphon is sung for six months in the year. It is generally attributed to the Benedictine monk, Herman Con-tractus. St. Bernard, it is said, added the last invocation during a visit to the Abbey of Affligheim. The Antiphon, which is expanded at length by St. Alphonsus, in " The Glories of Mary," is very sweet. Its fragrance lingers over our soul when, at the end of a long day, or at the end of any hour, we place our prayers in Mary's hands, that she, the pure and glorious one, may offer it with all the power of a Mother's love to her God, to that Son, the blessed Fruit of her womb. Thus do we put all under her care ; and we go to Jesus, the Door of Life Eternal, through her, the appointed Gate. All for Jesus through Mary, as one of her servants used to say. Our prayers coming through her hands will be doubly acceptable to her Son ; and we shall be the sooner heard for the reverence He has for His Mother.

At the end of the Antiphon is said :—

May the Divine assistance remain with us alway. Amen.

PATER. AVE. CREDO.

And this closes the Office. We began by calling on God to come to our aid. He has heard our prayer, now as always. So we conclude by asking that His help should be ever with us; for His grace is sufficient to free us from present evils and from death eternal, and to bring to us the joys of life eternal. This powerful assistance, which the Divine Goodness has given to men, is the love of Mary, the Mother of Divine grace, exalted by her Son to be the Refuge of sinners and the Help of the afflicted. She is the appointed channel of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ to man ; for having given us our Saviour, she gives us all things in Him.

A PRAYER AFTER THE OFFICE.

In respect of which Pope Leo X. has granted to all persons who, after saying the Office, shall devoutly recite it on their knees, forgiveness of the shortcomings and faults of human weakness committed by them in saying the Office.

To the most holy and undivided Trinity :
To the Manhood of our Lord Jesus Christ crucified :
To the fruitful Virginity of the most blessed and most glorious Mary, always a virgin :
And to the whole body of all the Saints :
Be praise everlasting, honour and glory from all creatures :
And to us the forgiveness of all our sins. World without end. Amen.

Blessed be the womb of the Virgin Mary which bore the Son of the Eternal Father.

And blessed be the breasts that gave suck to Christ the Lord.

PATER. AVE.

FINIS.

From - The Little Office of Our Lady; a treatise theoretical, practical, and exegetical - Taunton, Ethelred L. (Ethelred Luke), 1857-1907

The Little Office Of Our Lady – At Compline Or Night-Song, pt 4. By E. L. Taunton.

THE LITTLE CHAPTER [Eccle. xxiv. 24.].

I am the Mother of fair love and of fear and of knowledge and of holy hope.

Thanks be to God.

Pray for us O holy Mother of God.

That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

At the end of the day, when Sleep, the image of Death, awaits us, the Little Chapter comes to complete the work the Psalms have begun in us. It directs us to Mary, who is our example of all the virtues a creature can possess. Faith, Hope, Charity, and the Fear of God are the lessons she teaches us; and in them all is summed up. She is the Mother of the Knowledge of Faith, for without her we can never understand Jesus : Whom to know is Life Eternal [Cf. John xvii. 3.]. She is the Mother of hope; for she is the Mother of Him Who is our Redemption and our Advocate with the Father. She is the Mother of fair love; for she is the Mother of the Incarnate Love of God; and she, full of the love of God, loves us as her most dear children in Him. She is also the Mother of holy fear; of reverence and awe for Him Who has done such great things for her. She therefore teaches us Whom to believe in, Whom to hope in, Whom to love, and Whom to fear. So in the Versicle and Response we pray that she, God's Own Mother, may pray for us that we may be made worthy of receiving the promises Her Son has made to those who believe, trust, love, and fear Him.

ANTIPHON.

Beneath thy patronage we fly, 0 holy Mother of God: despise not our prayers in necessities, but from all dangers deliver us, O ever Virgin, glorious and blessed.

This Antiphon gives the keynote to the Song of departure, the Nunc Dimittis. It is under the safe patronage of God's Own Mother that we close our day's course of prayer and praise, and it is holding her hand we ask God to dismiss His servants in peace.

CANTICLE: NUNC DIMITTIS [Luke ii. 29-32.].

We sing the Song of Simeon, Nunc Dimittis, says Durandus, first, in order that, finding peace after his example, we may attain the true Light which is Christ; secondly, because as holy Simeon said these words, desiring to pass from this life to another, so when we are about to sleep it is as though we were to die ; for sleep is an image of death, and by the saying of this hymn we commend ourselves to the Lord. Thirdly, the Song of Simeon is sung in the seventh hour, by reason of the seventh age of the world, that is, rest. And the author of the Myroure adds another reason : " For by this Compline is betokened your death and by your going to bed your burial, as I said before ; therefore this song is said at Compline rather than at other hours, that ye should every night be ready to desire death as Simeon did." The reference to peace reminds us, too, of our Lord's visit on Easter Evening to His disciples and His gracious salutation, twice repeated : Peace be unto you [John xx. 19.].

St. Luke thus tells the history of the Canticle :—[Luke ii. 22-32.] And when the days of her purification according to the Law of Moses were accomplished, they brought Him to Jerusalem to Present Him to the Lord, (as it is written in the Law of the Lord : Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord [Exod. xiii. 2.]), and to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the Law of the Lord, a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons. And behold there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost that he should not sec death before he had seen the Christ of the Lord. And he came by the Spirit into the Temple. And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus to do for Him after the custom of the Law, then took he Him in his arms and blessed God and said : —

(1) Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace : according to Thy Word.

Says the pious author of the Myroure : " This man was now glad to die ; for the very Peace of Mankind was come by Whom he should be brought to endless peace. Before that time all went to hell [That is to hell in the same sense as in Creed : He descended into hell, i.e., Limbo.] and knew not when they would be delivered. But this man was surer of his deliverance, for he had his Saviour in his arms, and therefore joyfully he said : Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy Word; to the promise that he should not see death till he had seen the Christ [pp. 170-171.]."

Or again, his departure was to be in peace according to Thy Word Who is the King of Peace, and our Peace, and Who through His death was to overcome the sharpness thereof.

(2) For mine eyes have seen : Thy salvation.

" That was the same Child that he bore in his arms, which was and is the Saviour of all His true people. Him he saw with his bodily eyes in His Manhood, and Him he saw with his ghostly eyes by faith after His Godhead" [Ibid.].

Thus were the words of the Holy Ghost fulfilled. The promise was kept, and the old man had nought else to live for. He had seen Thy salvation, that salvation in which he was to share; and he had seen Him in the arms of that Virgin-mother, whose heart he foresaw was to be riven with sorrow.

(3) Which Thou hast prepared : before the face of all people.

" He that is before a man's face may be easily seen. So the faith and knowledge of our Saviour Jesus Christ was made open to him by His Apostles before all people. And therefore at the Last Doom He shall be seen in His Manhood as a merciful Saviour to all that in faith, and in dread, and in love behold Him there before their face. And to all others that turn their backs to Him here, by misbelief or deadly sin, and so die, He shall be seen as a most fearful Judge. Thus as this holy man saith : He is made ready before the face of all people, not only of Jews, but also of heathens : And therefore he saith further [Ibid.]:—

(4) A Light to enlighten the Gentiles : and to be the glory of Thy people Israel.

Compare this verse with the last verse of the Benedictus. To enlighten them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. It is the same thought, for it was said of Him Who is the Light of men, the Light shining in the darkness which did not comprehend it [John i. 5.]. "The heathen were then all in darkness of misbelief, and therefore our Lord Jesus Christ was to them Light, to bring them out of all darkness into the light of Faith and Grace, as the Apostle St. Paul said to them afterwards : Ye were sometime darkness but now are light in the Lord [Eph. v. 8.]. The Jews that were in the light of right belief had great worship of our Lord Jesus, in that He took His Manhood amongst them of their own kindred. And therefore Simeon calleth Him the Glory, that is, the joy and the worship of the people Israel. . . . . In this song our Lord Jesus Christ is called Salvation, Light and Glory. He is Salvation to sinners of mercy ; and whom He saveth from sin He enlighteneth by grace, and therefore He is called Light; and whom He enlighteneth by grace He rewardeth by endless bliss, and so He is called the Glory of His people [Myroure,]."

GLORIA PATRI.

Glory be to the Father Who dismisses us in peace. Glory to the Son our Salvation. Glory to the Holy Ghost the Glory of Israel.

After the Kyrie and ordinary Versicles follows—

From - The Little Office of Our Lady; a treatise theoretical, practical, and exegetical - Taunton, Ethelred L. (Ethelred Luke), 1857-1907

The Little Office Of Our Lady – At Compline Or Night-Song, pt 3. By E. L. Taunton.

PSALM CXXX.

Title. —A Song of Degrees. 

Argument.

Tomasi : That Christ teaches us not to be lifted up in pride. The voice of Christ to the Father. This twelfth step is understood of the Blessed Virgin-mother of Christ and of every soul that rendereth not evil for evil, nor cursing for cursing, but contrariwise. The voice of the Church.

Venerable Bede : After penance comes sweetness. The whole of this Psalm concerns meekness and humility, that the sweetness of glorious devotion may refresh those whom the toil of previous confession hath wearied. In the first part the Prophet appoints a heavy punishment for himself if he does not receive God's command in all humility. In the second he bids Israel hope always in the Lord, that so we may be able to endure all the troubles of the world.

(1) Lord, my heart is not haughty : nor are mine eyes lifted up.

(2) I do not walk in great things : nor in things too wonderful for me.

In the first verse there is, says St. Bruno, a confession that only God's grace, not man's inherent strength, has enabled him to climb so far as this degree of ascent from the Valley of Weeping. Here, says Albert the Great, is a check put on inward thoughts of pride, and outward tokens of the same, such as are shown by uplifted glances and proud looks. The Pharisee looked up brazenly and boastingly; the Publican would not so much as lift up his eyes towards heaven [Luke xviii. 13.]. In saying My heart is not haughty, says St. Augustine, we must understand the Psalmist to say less than he means, for his intent is to declare his heart is contrite and humble, and therefore a sacrifice pleasing to God [Ps. 1. 17.].

I do not walk in great things. But while, as St. Hilary says, it is a very perilous thing to be content with walking in moderate things and not to dwell amidst wonderful things (for God's words are great and He is wonderful in the highest), we must note the words above me ; for they show how we are to understand the Psalmist. God's commandments are not beyond us, for He said : This commandment which I command thee, this day, is not above thee, nor far off from thee [Deut. xxx. II.]. The meaning is clear. We are to be contented with serving God in the Vocation He has called us to, and not waste our time in day dreams about the wonderful things of other Vocations ; as, for instance, for a Sister of Mercy to long after the silent, retired life of a Carmelite. The great art of the spiritual life is—to serve God as He wishes, not as we wish. The perfection we have to strive after is the perfection to which He calls us in our Vocation. Everything else is a wonderful thing above us. Again, we can take the verse of the homage that Reason pays to Faith. There are doctrines far above the comprehension of our Reason. They are not against it, but simply above it. Faith teaches us these doctrines; and the light of Faith enables us to believe them without doubting. These are the wonderful things that are above us, and the highest and most perfect act of our Reason is to know its own limits and to bow itself to the higher light of Faith.

(3) If I was not humbly minded: but exalted my soul.

(4) As a child that is weaned towards his mother: so be retribution upon my soul.

If I have been proud let God withdraw nourishment from my soul till it becomes weak, as an infant refused the breast, and unable to take any other food; or, as it has been taken : Let vengeance cling to me and lie as closely upon me as a babe does upon its mother's breast. But another interpretation, that of St. Bruno of Aste, is deeper and truer : God makes this world, with all its sorrows and disappointments, the training school of His servants ; so that whereas St. Paul saith to his imperfect converts : I have fed you with milk and not with meat, for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither are ye now able, for ye are yet carnal [I Cor. iii. 2.] ; Isaias, on the other hand, says : Whom shall He teach knowledge f And whom shall He make to understand doctrine ? Them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts [xxviii. 9.]. Here, says the Carmelite, we, newly born in faith, must be nourished with the Milk of Christ's Manhood before we are able to receive the Bread of His Godhead and see Him face to face.

(5) Let Israel trust in the Lord : from this time forth for evermore.

This ending of the Psalm, says Bellarmine, tells us whither true humility tends. The Psalmist, preaching the duty of holiness to the people, does not tell them to look to himself, to follow his teaching, to mould themselves to his will, but, as St. Augustine says, to trust in the Lord, and that not for a time only, nor at intervals, but through the whole of life on earth, and through the endless years of eternity.

GLORIA PATRI.

Glory be to the Father Who is the Hope of Israel. Glory to the Son Who lay a Child on Mary's breast. Glory to the Holy Ghost in Whose grace we are humble.

With this Psalm ends the recital, in the Little Office, of the Gradual Psalms, to wit, twelve out of fifteen. And it is not without reason that a pause is made here and we rest on the step of humility; for unless we are thoroughly practised in lowliness we shall never ascend the other three which lead into the presence of the King. So the fruit of each day's office is to be more humility as the foundation of all our spiritual life.

The Hymn is Memento rerum Conditor, as at Prime.

From - The Little Office of Our Lady; a treatise theoretical, practical, and exegetical - Taunton, Ethelred L. (Ethelred Luke), 1857-1907

The Little Office Of Our Lady – At Compline Or Night-Song, pt 2. By E. L. Taunton.

PSALM CXXIX. [This Psalm, the eleventh Gradual Psalm, St. Augustine tells us, consisting
as it does of eight verses, teaches that no man can so live throughout the perfect
term of his working life here (denoted by the Six Days of Creation) without transgressing
the Ten Commandments, and so pass on to Eleven, the symbol of evil ;
but that by persevering in penance and prayer the sinner may at last reach that
Octave of the Resurrection, when Christ shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.].

Title. —A Song of Degrees.

 Argument.

Tomasi: That Christ may grant us forgiveness of our sins without marking our iniquities. The voice of Christ and of the Church. This Psalm is to be read with the Prophet Jonas. Wherefore this eleventh step denotes the voice of St. Peter weeping bitterly after his fall; hence it is that of repenting sinners.

Venerable Bede : The Prophet, placed on the eleventh step, prostrates himself to fulfil his penance, because no saint, so long as he is in the flesh, can be entirely free from sin. And this, too, is to be said, that every sin belongs, as it were, to the number eleven, because it over-passes the perfection of the Ten Commandments. The Prophet cries to the Lord for deliverance out of the depths of sin and from the troubles he experiences. Then, without delay, he comes to the joys of thanksgiving, that penitents may know with what favour they will be received, and how soon the remedy is bestowed on them.

(1) Out of the depths I have cried to Thee, O Lord: O Lord hear my voice.

Out of the depths. A cry of the Jews from the depths of their Captivity, seemingly without hope; for, as says St. Augustine, it is the cry of any one trying to ascend out of the abyss of sin ; even as Jonas cried unto the Lord out of the belly of the great fish [Jonas ii. I.]. The depths in which we find ourselves are the depths of this world. All who realise that they are in this abyss cry, groan, and sigh till they be freed from it, and come to Him Who sitteth over all the depths and upon the Cherubim. Whence, then, does this cry come ? Out of the depths. Who is it that cries ? A sinner. And with what hope does he cry ? Because He Who came to loose the bonds of sin hath also given hope even to a sinner in the depths of his iniquity. Man must needs call, too, out of the depths of humility, recognising the abyss of misery into which he is plunged, and call upon the depths of God's mercy : Depth calleth upon depth [Ps. xli. 8.]. Note, too, says St. Gregory the Great, it is not written " I am calling," but I have called, showing us thereby not to end our prayer until by perseverance it has been granted. God loves to be asked, to be constrained, to be overcome, as it were, by importunity ; for the loving repetition of His Name marks the affection and confidence of His client. It has been pointed out that this verse puts before us six conditions of a good prayer—it is humble, out of the depths ; fervent, have I cried ; direct to God, unto Thee; reverent, 0 Lord ; awed, Lord repeated ; one's very own, hear my prayer. This Psalm is used so frequently for the Dead that a reference here to it in that sense will not be out of place. It is the prayer of souls abiding in the depths of Purgatory, overwhelmed with the sense of their own impurity and imploring the Lord to take them to His rest.

(2) Let Thine ears be attentive: to the voice of my supplication.

It is not enough to be heard, says Bellarmine, that we should cry aloud; He Who is called upon must also listen. It is true God sees and hears everything; but when He remains silent it seems as though He heard not. So the Psalmist in the vehemence of his desire beseeches God to turn an attentive ear to his cry and grant him speedily his petition. God, says the Carmelite, is said to bow down His ear, that is, His readiness and mercy, to us ; but we, on the other hand, are to lift up ours to Him. And it is to be noted that the form of the human ear teaches three silent lessons : It is always open, not like the eyes or lips, signifying we should be more ready to hear than to see or speak ; it is small, not like that of the brute animals, warning us to take heed how we hear, and not to believe everything that is spoken; it is erect because we ought to listen for words coming from heaven rather than from earth.

(3) If Thou shalt mark iniquities ; Lord, who shall abide it ?

No man is safe from sins, which howl around him like angry beasts; none is of spotless conscience, none pure of heart because of his own righteousness. When God marks down in the Book of Doom all our sins and reads them out, who shall abide it, that is, endure the shame and the guilt ? Wherefore we beseech God not to act as Judge only, but to exert as King His prerogatives of mercy, and add :—

(4) For there is with Thee forgiveness: because of Thy Law I have waited for Thee, 0 Lord.

If Thou wast strict in judgment, and punishment fell swift upon the sin, all would perish. Therefore if Thou desirest to be feared, forgive, and drive not sinners into despair, wherein they cease to fear because they have lost all. There is with Thee forgiveness, since He Who is the propitiation for our sins [i John ii. 2.] is seated in glory at Thy right hand.

Because of Thy Law : God's Law, by which He rules us now, is Mercy and Love; confiding in this the Psalmist awaits His Coming, though well aware of his own unworthiness to abide it. I have waited patiently, bearing all chastisement because of Thy Law, knowing that Thou actest righteously and mercifully in all things, and in judgment forgetteth not mercy.

(5) My soul hath relied on His Word: my soul hath hoped in the Lord.

(6) From the morning watch even until the night: let Israel hope in the Lord.

God has promised mercy through the Incarnation and Sacrifice of the Word, His only-begotten Son; and the Psalmist declares that he is relying upon a promise which can never fail.

From the morning watch even until the night. St. Augustine takes these words of the trust of the Church in Christ from the early morning of His Resurrection until that Night in which no man can work [John ix. 4.], which is to be followed by that other Resurrection Morning for us all. Others take it of the breaking of the Light of Faith upon the soul till the close of life, working, as St. Hilary says, through all the burthen and heat of the day until the Reward we know is awaiting us is bestowed.

(7) Quia apud Dominum For with the Lord there is misericordia: et copiosa apud mercy: and with Him plentiful Eum redemptio. redemption.

Says Cassiodorus on this glorious verse : Here is the reason for Israel to hope in the Lord : because in His hand is Mercy which can make the sinner righteous, the weak strong, and give to the carnal the purity of angels. There is also the plentiful redemption which is the Precious Blood stored up for us in the Church and ready to do its healing work at every turn of our life. Daily and hourly It is being offered in the Sacrifice of the Mass on our behalf to the Eternal Father; daily It is washing away Original Sin and Actual Sin ; daily It is giving grace to all men by the Sacraments of the New Law, the channels by which It is brought to the soul. This Precious Blood gives the force and the Divine influence to all the Sacramentals of the Church, and covers her and all her members with a blood-stained robe, so that she can say to Her Head, Jesus, : Thou art a Spouse of blood to me [Exod. iv. 25.]. It is this Blood pleading for forgiveness and shed so abundantly in the Passion which is the plentiful Redemption which our good God in His mercy hath arranged for us.

(8) And He Himself shall redeem Israel : from all his iniquities.

No one else but God is our Redeemer; as the prophet said : God Himself will come and will save you [Is. xxxv. 4.]. Before He came on His errand of mercy the name of Saviour was given to Him : Thou shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His People from their sins [Matt. i. 21.].

From all his iniquities: not from temporal captivity and suffering, which is our appointed share in the work of release, but from the more bitter bondage of sin, a work He alone can do. And mark, iniquity is entirely taken away, blotted out: For He that sitteth on the throne said: Lo, I make all things new [Apoc. xxi. 5.].

GLORIA PATRI.

Glory be to the Father unto Whom we call from the depths. Glory to the Son, His Word in Whom we rely. Glory to the Holy Ghost with Whom there is mercy.

From - The Little Office of Our Lady; a treatise theoretical, practical, and exegetical - Taunton, Ethelred L. (Ethelred Luke), 1857-1907

The Little Office Of Our Lady – At Compline Or Night-Song, pt 1. By E. L. Taunton.

AT COMPLINE, OR NIGHT-SONG.

The end of our day has arrived, and before seeking rest we come once more for our Father's blessing, and to pay the last tribute of love to our Mother. This Office, says the Myroure, " is the seventh and the last hour of Divine Service, and it is as much as to say, a ' fulfilling'; for in the end thereof the seven hours of Divine service are fulfilled ; and therewith also is ended and fulfilled speaking, eating, and drinking, and labouring, and all bodily business. So that after that time ought to be great stillness and strict silence, not only from words, but also from all noises and deeds save only quiet and private prayer, and holy thinking and bodily sleep. For Compline betokens the end of Man's life, or the end of the world when the chosen of our Lord shall be delivered from all travail and woe and be brought to endless quiet and rest. And therefore each person ought to dispose himself to bedward as if his bed were his grave. For as a man dieth or he be born to his grave and buried, right so at Compline tyme ye should be disposed as if ye were dying. And keep ye so sober and still afterwards as if ye were dead for all bodily deeds and words " [Pp. 164-5.].

The Office of Compline is due to St. Benedict, who made it the night prayer for his monks. The present office, however, dispenses with the monastic introduction of conference and mutual confession. Like the old English use of Sarum, it starts at once after a preparatory Ave with the following Versicles:—

Turn us 0 God our Salvation.

And turn away Thine anger from us.

O God come to my assistance, &c.

This Office, says Durandus, begins contrary to the manner of the other hours; for, because as we have been, as it were, singing Psalms all day, and it is well-nigh impossible but that we should have contracted some dust of pride, therefore we humble ourselves, saying : Turn us 0 God our Salvation; for, says the Apostle : If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves [I John i. 8.]. . . . We then proceed to call on the Divine help, saying : 0 God come to my assistance. Turn us refers to the taking away of past sins; 0 God come to the doing of future good works . . . And because all is done in praise of the Blessed Trinity, therefore follows the Gloria [See also the explanation of this verse in the second Psalm at Prime, p. 322.].

This is followed by three more of the " Gradual Psalms," which we may say in honour of the Blessed Trinity and of our Lady's relationship to the Divine Persons.

PSALM CXXVII.

Title. —A Song of Degrees.

Argument.

Tomasi: That Christ routs those who fight against us, lest we should be hurt by them. The voice of the Church. This tenth step contains the voice of Christ against the Jews who, fighting against Him on the Cross, are shown to have done Him no hurt, because it proved that He rose again from the dead.

Venerable Bede : Endurance in suffering is counselled in this tenth step. In the first paragraph the Prophet counsels Jerusalem to say what conflicts and fights she has endured from her enemies, lest any of the faithful should despair because of his own troubles. In the second he prays in parables against the enemies of the Church that there may come upon them that which he knows will happen in the future Judgment.

(1) Many a time have they fought against me from my youth up : may Israel now say.

(2) Yea, many a time have they vexed me from my youth up but they have not prevailed against me.

St. Augustine applies these words to the true Israel, the Church, in her struggles against sin from the Fall of Man, yet in his early youth ; from the days of the righteous Abel, and in the early days of the Christian Dispensation. And it is true of the Head as it was of His members ; for He was sought after as the King of Israel, by Herod to slay Him in the Cradle; driven by necessity into Egypt; harassed by the incessant plots of His enemies; and, finally, was put to death. It holds good, says St. Bruno, of every saint who, having put off the Old Man with his works and put on the New, has begun in this wise a spiritual youth ; for at once he becomes the mark for the hatred of the doer of iniquity.

Many a time; for, adds St. Hilary, when once the Tempter is overcome he does not therefore leave us, but returns and tries again and again to conquer.

But they have not prevailed against me; for, says St. Peter : Who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good [I Peter iii. 13.] ; and St. Paul adds : If God be for us who can be against us? [Rom. viii. 31.].

(3) Sinners have wrought upon my back : they have prolonged their iniquity.

The figure which commentators have seen in the words is a mass of precious metal lying on the anvil and beaten out into greater breadth and length by the hammers of the smith until a costly vessel is produced by their labour. Some have it that the mention of the back implies what does not show itself before the face; and thus secret injury, calumny, and detraction ; but St. Augustine's view, that it is the sense of meekly bearing a burthen, seems to suit better with the mention of open violence in the preceding verses.

(4) But the righteous Lord hath broken the neck's of the ungodly: let them be confounded and turned backward, all they who hate Sion.

St. Augustine sees here the punishment of the proud and stiff-necked enemies of God's Church who refuse to bear His easy yoke, and loudly proclaim that they have done no wrong. The latter clause admits of a twofold interpretation : the one stern and literal, of a sense of punishment in this world and in the next; and in the other more gentle, which hints at repentance, reclaiming the sinner, and withdrawing him from the broad road leading to destruction, thus changing him from a rebel into a servant.

(5) Let them be even as the grass drum: upon the house-tops : which withereth away afore it be plucked up.

(6) Wherewith the mower filleth not his hand : nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom.

St. Gregory the Great says : That as grass growing on the roof has no firm root, so a hypocrite while making a show of doing great things is not established; for his heart is not sincere. And as grass on the roof withers before it can be rooted up, so, when a hypocrite undertakes any good work, without first making his conscience right, he loses all the merit thereof, and shows he was flourishing without a root. Upon which St. Augustine remarks it were wiser to grow lower down and thrive better. Such as these, proud, violent, hypocrites, unlike those sheaves the angel-mowers carry back rejoicing

from the field of this world, shall be left in the field, as they have borne no fruit and are fit for nothing but to be burnt. But, says Haymo, those who have passed their life in good deeds shall be led by the hands of the Mower, and those who have served God in contemplation shall be carried in angels' bosoms to their heavenly rest.

(7) And they that passed by have not said, The blessing of the Lord be upon you : we have blessed you in the Name of the Lord.

That is, remarks St. Augustine, as the mowers will take no heed of the worthless grass on the house-tops, there will be nothing to attract the passers-by, or draw from them a blessing. They that pass by are our fellow-pilgrims in this world who bless by their prayers those who help them along the way by giving a good example. It is especially here taken of the Prophets and Apostles who do not bless those whom they see striving after worldly honours and lacking the love of God which is the root of all real good. So, says the Carthusian, the teachers of the Old Law have no blessings, but only warnings and threats for their people if they refuse to hear their King and reject Sion, His new Covenant. Perez takes the whole Psalm as a prophecy of the rejection of the Synagogue, and compares its ceremonial law, bearing no fruit of itself, to grass on the house-top, withering away from want of grace and not being planted in the rich soil of the foundation which is our Lord. St. Hilary ends up his commentary on this Psalm with this advice: Let us, then, sow profitably, that we may make our labours ready for filling both hands and bosom and become sharers of that blessing of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

GLORIA PATRI.

Glory be to the Father Who ever protects Israel. Glory to the Son, the Mower Who bears us in His bosom. Glory to the Holy Ghost Who blesseth His people.

From - The Little Office of Our Lady; a treatise theoretical, practical, and exegetical - Taunton, Ethelred L. (Ethelred Luke), 1857-1907