chapter. The rite is carried out with a maximum of liberty, according to the local situation. The type proposed by the Liturgy carmission is ccnprised of a reading of a passage from the Holy Rule, the postulant's request to be received, the exhortation by the Abbot, and his acceptance of the postulant as novice, a prayer, and sore kind of chant or song. There's nothing against lengthening the cererrony by a nore spontaneous sort of expression of good wishes -for instance, in the novitiate, when the novice returns after having dlanged into the novices' habit. In doing as described above, we're simply returning to our tradition current in the Middle Ages. It's quite clear that, up to the time of the Middle Ages, having one's hair shorn (the tonsure) and the change of habit took place only at one's p r o f e s s i o n (for the habit, see what Saint Benedict has to say in his chapter on the'reception of brethren into the a::rrmunity; in the West, this tradition was codified in 816, at the Synod of Chapelle). In the Middle Ages, Citeaux maintained the tonsure in the text of profession; so also, the clothing with the cu.vl took place only after the actual profession. The novices, hc:wever, apparently word nacy clothes similar to those worn by the brethren of the cxmnunity. This habit wasn't blessed, and it was put on in the wardrcbe roan after the chapter roan cererrony. Cluny, an the contrary, gave the habit and the sure at the ve:ry beginning of the period of probation. But these actions didn't take place in chapter; as at c1teaux, they took place a f t e r the reception in the chapter roan. It would be interesting to t:ry to discern the influences operative in the evolution of the rites such as we find them in our Rituale 1689, which is the first witness we have to our till recently familiar practice. There must have been two factors at work:a certain kind of confusion with the roonastic profession rites,
and a desire to establish a parallel between entry into the nonastic life and ent:ry into the clerical state. COnfusion with the rites of nonastic profession: There are sane rronastic rituals (ms .fran the 14th oentu:ry, quoted by Martene, De antiquis monachorum ritibus, Lib. I ,5, c.l, n°4)which have the cu.vl given already at the beginning of the novitiate; others en-
our CMil civilization is not the sane as that of the RJmans • • • In practice, ha-lever , there 's anple opportunity for a certain degree of convergence - prayer before leaving for the m:>ming work (or else the mid-noming break , the "oof fee break") , prayer before the noontiroe break for dinner, prayer before leaving for the af temoan work. • • (In certain camru:nities, there can be a problem with reqard to COrpline, so of ten as we want Vespers to be an Hour which gathers together the tire camruni:ty. This means that the time for Vespers has to be quite quite late; and that it oould pe:rhaps take on the aspect of the f inal cmmunity prayer , i.nnediately before retiring for the night. • • ) At any rate, in keeping with n° 88 of the Constitution on the gy, we have to respect the vePitas HoraPUm, i.e., the relationship between each Hour and the oorresponding time of day or night; we have to respect , too, the oonditions of present day life; that is to say , we have to brate the situation as really experienced -sanething which the very texts used in the Liturgy of the Hours pre-supposei o..ir practice of even f airly recent tines is no longer thinkable -when, during Lent , in order to spect the 1e t t e r of the law (which wanted us to f ast till Vespers) , we f inished all the day Hours (Vespers included) before noon; or when, on Holy Saturday , we celebrated the Paschal "Vigil" ("O beata n o x") at 9 A.M. Trans., Gethsemani Abbey aro OOOOIS M:>nt-des-Cats
* H UMI L ITY AN D TH E SACRAME NTS O F FAITH I N W I L L I AM O F SAI NT-TH I E RR Y ' S SPECULUM FIDEI 1 Like his great and good friend Bemard of Clai:rvaux, Willimn of Saint-Thiercy was endcMed with a prodigious ability to assimilate and to make his own ideas and expressions borrowed from many different ces. Indeed, a certain amount of William 's literacy out-put consists of little nnre than patristic and biblical exoe:rpts strtmg together so as to fonn sane kind of a coherent whole. The De sacramento aUaris, for instance, ends with a florilegiwn of such texts used by William to undergird his own preceding treatise.2 So also, two of his ries on The Song of Songs, consisting respectively of texts by Ambrose J and Gregm::y the Great, 4 oontributed massively to his later and highly original Exposi tio altera super Cantica Canticorwn; 5 and in the prologue to his Expositio in Epistolam ad Romanos, 6 William describes his role as author-cnmpiler in tenns of a bird with borrowed 'plumage: if the ginal owners of the feathers were to demand back their plumage, William would be one bare little bird without a feather of his own.7 But even when William is less explicit as regards his sources, the knowledgeable reader is aware that whole paragraphs are sanet:i.mas cribbed straight from Augustine; or that William must have written this or that folio with his copy of Gregocy of Nyssa open before him on his work-des 8 and Etienne Gilson claims (a bit far-fetchedly, pe:rhaps) that, to the really perceptive ear, there are echoes of Pseudo-Deni;> to be found even in William 's literacy style.9 At times, one even has the impression that William of Saint-Thiercy is imitating William of
24 12 dlanet, 112-113; PL 180:38lb. Ibid. Ibid.; biblical references fran Eph 3:9 and 1:19. Excellent note on William's concept of saaramentum in dlanet, op. cit., p.25, with valuable remarks about William's witness to an aspect of 12th century sacranental theology deserving of closer study. 16 Dechanet, 134-135; PL 180:386bc. 17 Dechanet, 144-145; PL 180:389d. 18 In the dlanet edition, Chapitre VI, pp .166-129 (= PL 180:382- 385), passim. 19 chanet, 138-139; PL 180:387b. Ibid. Ibid. "A propos de I'epilogue du dlapitre VII de la Regle", in CoUeatanea O.C.R . 21 (1959), pp.289-301. Summa Sententiarum, Tract. Dl, Cap.I, in PL 176:117-118 (Hugh 's thorship of this treatise is disputed}; De saaramentis Z-egis l-is et sariptae, in PL 176:34. Petri Lombardi Libri IV Sententiarum, Lib. Dl, Cap.5, Ed.Quarrachi, Firenze, 1916, T.II, p.747. Summa Theologiaa III, q.61, a.2; In IV Sent., dist. 1, q.l, a.2, 1 ad 2um. In IV Sent., Dist.I, Pars 1, q.l, Ed.Quarrachi, Firenze, 1949, editio minor, T.4, pp.5-6. Cf . P.Innocenzo Colosio, O.P., "La prassi sacranentale cnre zio di mri.lita", in Rivista di Ascetiaa e Mistica 9 (1964), pp.101- 116.
Group Masses 'ln a Monastery 29 er oontext for this experience. These shared ref lections have enriched us oonsiderably , because, for the greater number of us , they provided us with the first occasion f or speaking about tlrings spiritual in f ront of our brethren. A number of the brethren felt a new f reedan at being able to express themselves in public in this manner. What a joy, too, to cover the riches of this or that brother, af ter having lived beside him for a number of years! Finally , the gospel was perceived under a new aspect. We can note , too, that these Eucharists with a smaller number of participants make possible a greater liberty , and by this very f act, teach the a:mnunity how to make good use of a legitimate creativity in liturgical matters. There 's yet another f ruit to be gotten f mn these small group brations: for rronk-priests, they provide a good schooling in hCJN to side at a celebration. At any rate, such celebrations make us nore manding as regards ourselves even in other oontexts , and at the larger conventual Masses. One gets a deeper insight into his prayer-lif e, so that one can celebrate the ccmnunity liturgy at perhaps a deeper level. Finally, in this type of prayer, which is si.rrpler , more f amiliar , and oonsequently easier to personalize , we 've of ten been able to be closer to one of the brethren on the occasion of sare evert which touched him foundly -for instance, the death of a f ather or of a rrother . In too large an assembly , a certain amount of discretion is absolutely necessary. DIFFia.JLTIES AND LIMITS But it 's also quite clear that the above manner of celebrating group Masses has its dif f iculties and its limits. One of the first which we soon ran up against was the lack of equality, at the level of decision-making and organization, between nonk-priests and monks who are not priests. These latter run the risk of being at the mercy of the fonner. In spite of dif f erent attts to solve the problem, this is always going to remain a delicate point.
There's another difficulty which became apparent over only a long period: there were sore priest-non.ks who were unwilling to preside at a Mass, and so were afraid to sign up as participants in such groups. This reinforces a bit the objection ma.de in the preceding paragraph. Another difficulty of an almost theological order:is it really legitimate to celebrate the Eucharist in small groups such as the fann brethren, for instance, or the students? (Note, too, that sore groups are oonstituted on the basis of mere friendship or canpatability of ties.) Ought not the Eudlarist, by its ver:y essence, to renain open? If one has experienced this, one perceives that it isn't easy to give a ple Yes or No answer. Sare have at times suffered a great deal because of the restrictiveness inherent in such group Masses. We also perceived that the Eucharist celebrated together is not necessarily the best and IOOSt imrrediate manner of having the groups in the carmunity get to meet and knav each other.This type of group counter is easy to effect, but is it always authentic? Doesn't it run the risk of illusion? We sanetirres had the impression that we were truly sharing reflections on the gospel, and experiencing the Eucharist together; but, in i;x:>int of fact, weren't we saretimes just talking for the sake of talking? and didn't we remain centered on our avn selves and oor CMil ticular problems? This can happen . On the other hand, if such group charists make it possible to becare aware of a certain lack of tion between brethren, this itself is already a sign of progress. We ought to note, too, that the problem of groups of young people with their particular needs has evolved over the past four years .In the beginning, group Masses of this type put them at their ease, arrl ma.de it i;x:>Ssihle for them to meet nonks as persons, and not just as personages hieratically glued in their choir-stalls; it also made it p::>ssible for them to discover neN ways of celebrating the liturgy. Navadays,
OKA On the one hand, thought is being given to re-arranging the recitation of the psalter in such a way as to shape up a real "vigil" or night-watch: participation left up to the individuai, who cares and goes as he likes; psalms read or sung only by individuals • • • On the other hand, Vigils would be structured so as to have as their point of departure a Lamentation sacething along these lines: Lamentation; A long New Testament reading; Hanily by the Abbot or one of the brethren; A rather elaborate litany-prayer. EN CAICAT Holy Thursday Vigils are built around the general thene of the Last Supper and Farewell Discourse. Several ideas are successively proposed for neditation: 1- One of you will betray me: Biblical text : Jn 13:1 Responso:ry Antiphon and Psalm 54 Reading: Jn Responsory Concluding prayer 2 - IDve one another: Biblical text : Jn 15:9-13 Antiphon and Psalm ll7 3 - I give you my peace: Biblical text : Jn 14:27-31 + 16:32-33 Antiphon and Psalm 114 Concluding prayer 4 - Lo::rd , where are you going? Hynm Litany-prayer Responsory 5 - Your sadness will change into joy: Jn 16:20-23 Responsory Antiphon and Psalm 65:6..,.14 Collect
48 to everyone except the Cantor). Meanwhile, the seven candles of the menorah are lighted by the se:rvant of the church. a a · , lo\ a a I 1- At prayer in the Garden of Olives, Je- sus Christ, 2- Betrayed by the kiss of Judas , J- Scourged and crowned with thorns, 4- Burdened with yoor Cross, IQ\ IC\ [l i 1... weeping with sadness and fear, 2- aband:>ned by your a- pestles, 3- clothed with a robe of purple, 4- rrounting even to Golgatha, canforted by an angel: delivered over to sinners : covered with scorn and shame: bearing the weight of our sins: ao c a II R, HAVE MER- CT., O I.ORD! i j , At the end of the Litany, evei:yone ran.a.ins kneeling while the one presiding prays the opening Collect at the lectern next to the irenorah. Let us pray. Ioro Jesus, this is the day of your longest and greatest suffering, the day of your deep and solerrm agony of sool and body . Make our hearts vigilant as we keep watch with you, and keep alive in us this truth: that 1 o v e is the deepest ireaning of it all. Grant this, o Savior of all iren, who live and reign, God, for ever. OFFICE OF PSAIMS AND READINGS The brethren take their seats; and as soon as everything is perfectly still, the Office of :psalms and readings begins. Each psalm and reading is read by a different individual however, who hopefully can read in a quiet,meditative rnarmer, and who won 't be too disorientated
50 that we ackncMledge you as truly Son of God, and let us be nunbe:red cmmg those blessed men of nercy and love who put their trust in God. This we ask in your own name, lord Jesus. PSAIM 21 - SILENT PRAYER Let us pray. lord Jesus, you were never one to soom. or despise the poverty of the poor; for, though being God, you became man, and not only a man , but a man subject to death, death even upon a cross, when fierce bulls of Ba.shan closed you in, and lions, rending and roaring, opened their jCMS, and holes were tom. in your hands and yoor feet. By your death and by your sufferings, O Friend of man, receive into your present glory and blessedness the countless thousands who llCM share with you the bitter chalice of suffering, humiliation, betrayal and contempt. We ask this in your own name, lord Jesus, who live and reign, God, for ever. PSAIM 26 - SILENT PRAYER Let us pray. lord Jesus, you are our light and our salvation; but darkness closes in upon us, and salvation seems far distant • • • .Abandon us not, do not forsake us. But rather, as we share in the dark and hidden mystei:y of yoor suffering, so also let us share in the fullness of life which you would give us. Let our heads be raised, and let our hearts be filled with song and rusic; and let us pass with you through death to life, O Savior who love the children of men, and wi1o live and reign, God, for ever. READIN:; This is a Lamentation specifically Lamentations 4 :1-6 . The text is sung in English according to a fonnula based on the wonderfully saber nelodic ''standard" fonnula of the Solesrres edition of the Ordo Hebdomadae Sanctae . The reading is followed, as usual, by a pericxl. of silent prayer.
OPENING COLLECT Let us pray. Your <llurch, Loro Jesus, is keeping sole.rm vigil gathered around your torrb. Earth held your body; but already you were visiting the places of darkness, the realms of the kingdom of aeath, bringing to thoEe who were thirsting for your light the fullness of the redeeming love poured out on Good Friday . King Jesus , as we reverence your bitter suf ferings, your blessed death by crucif ixion, and your burial, so let us gr<:1N in love and understanding, till our life becx:mes a sharing in your death , and our death a sharing in your life. We ask this in your own name , o Savior of all men. PSAIM 4 - SII.ENr PRAYER Let us pray. Lift up the light of your f ace on us, IDrd Jesus : for even in the darkness of death, when you ·. laid your body da-m in peace, and gave yourself to the swif t sleep of death , light streams f ran your countenance: because your death has becare the source of life , salvation, joy; and even in your death we behold glory. Lord, lif t up the light of your f ace on us. This we ask to the glory of your name, for you are God , living and reigning for ever. PS.AIM 14 - SILENI' PRAYER Let us pray. Lord Jesus, who shall be admitted to your tent? Who shall dwell with you on the high nountain of your transcendent glory? He who has f irst been admitted to a sharing in your suf fering; he who has f irst ascended with you the holy nount of Golgatha. Loro, may we so enter into cx:rnmunion with you in your suf ferings, that we may be at your side in the glory of your heave.". 'lly kingdom. We ask this, IDro, in your own name. PSALM 15 - SILENT PRAYER Let us pray. Your body rests in safety, Lord Jesus , your soul will never be lef t am:mg the dead , nor will you, Gerl. ts Beloved, knav decay and corruptioo. Help us to keep you ever in our sight, so that when fears rise in our heart - fears of death, of pain , of humiliation, of despair -
we may f ind strength and cx::mfort, . and may welcane with joy the heritage that f alls to us! Grant this, IDrd Jesus, who, having died, nt:M live and reign, God, for ever and ever. The READING which now follows is another section of Lamentations - Lam 5 :1-9,12,14-15,19-20 -sung with the sane nru.sical fonnula used on the preceding day. Then, as usual, a period for silent prayer and ref tion. PSAIM 23 - SILENr PRAYER Let us pray. The gates of death, ID.rd Jesus , opened to swallow you up into darkness; but they becarre for you gates that opened up into larger life, so that for those who would follow you in life and in death , the gates of death have becx:Jre gates of lif e. 0 gates, lif t high your heads; let us enter with trust and confidence, enter with Jesus, the King of glo:ry, who has overcane death, overcane sin, overcane pain. All this we ask through the same Lord Jesus. PSAIM 26 - SILENr PRAYER Let us pray. IDrd, you are our light, our salvation, the stronghold of our life. Though death draw near, though the grave devour our f lesh, we shall not fear; for death will open up to us an entiy into an eternal dwelling where we shall savor your sweetness and be with you throughout the endless day of eternity. Grant then, as we seek your f ace, O ID:rd, here in the land of shadows, we may one day behold your f ace unveiled, in the glory of eternal life. This we ask of you, ID.rd Jesus, who live and reign, God, for ever and ever. PSAIM 29 - SIUNI' PRAYER Let us pray. During the deep night of your suf fering, death, and burial, ID:rd Jesus, there were tears; but joy oorres with the dawn of Easter Day,
K }' p J' i 2- The earth was in ter-ror, the sun turned }:)la.ck ari,d hid. its t'ace r ' Jf= P tJ f p f •ol p "r r when it be-held you, the Light which knows no set-ting, r J , Js ; I lowered into the cold taab of death. R. 0 Life • • • 0 How shall I • • • p p J J J- You des-cend-ed in-to the realm of Death, O Life ; J I shat-tered the bronze gates of hell, de-stroyed Death 's king-dan. R. 0 Life • • • Concluded by : 0 -- How shall I la-nent for you , O Christ my God?
Sign and Symbol 75 Let the \'X)rds of my rrouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight , O I.Drd , my rock and my redeaner. -Ps 18 (19):14 But mether a person speaks or keeps silent, the fruits of the terior man becx:me manif est in many ways . The good man fran his good treasure brings forth good things; and the evil man fran his evil treasure brings forth evil things. - Mt 12:35 At this point it might be wondered 'Vbat syrrb:>lism has to do with love, a camnmion of love, a mity in love between all Goers people. But even in human love, that love begins with a sign , a word, a ges- or an action, and is carried on with tokens and synix>ls to express that love, that mutual love between the partners. So also with God 's dealings with men, where there are those signs and symbols, "sacraments" , and visible gestures and deeds such as are needed to foon and maintain friendship with God. Th.is f riendship is begun in baptism, and deepens , grows, and increases insofar as a person 's actions are all directed by f aith, hope and charity. Religious profession itself takes place in the setting of a oererrony; though , of course, a person is rrore diately c:xmcemed with his deep personal relationship with God , with his invisible mion with him, than in the material realities which symbolize this mion. There is a human need f elt to ex.press thoughts and esteem in words; desires and needs have to be translated into action; and there is a need for mutual sharing. God 's justice and the real needs of others or of ourself inp::>se a duty on us in this regard . At the same tine , a son can becane attached, can be misled, or can beoane unf aithful if he too readily or too foolishly expresses and manifests his CMI1 thoughts, notions, and ideas, while at the sane time perhaps suppressing or regarding the voice of God 's Spirit within , his inspirations and his xrovenents, light and life.
guage and linguistic foDTIS should not be confined, :restricted, or l.imi.ted by self -suf f icient and urmecessary ways. Louis Dupre speaks about symbols in Chs. 4 through 7: "On Holy Signs'; , "Symbolism of V«>rds'' , "Myth and Its Sw:vival" , and "The Sacred Revealed" 15 Great Religions of the World, p.128.
THE EXERCISE OF OUR RESPONSIBILITY IN THINGS LITURGICAL Note: This conference was given du:r>ing the cou:r>se of the recent meeting of the group Litu:rgie et Monases at Mortefontaine. The generai theme of the meeting, which provides the context for this ence, was "The Community and its Liturgy in the Life of the porar>y Chu:r>ch ". -- -- -------------------- - --- - -- - --- - - --- - - ---- - When one thinks about it, one readily preceives to what an extent many, if not all, have responsible roles to carry out in the celebration of the liturgy. As a general rule, this is true of ever:y "celebrant-asserrbly": each one, acoording to his own particular role, shares the responsibility f or that particular celebration. We have to admit, ho.vever , that the ooncrete situation dif f ers f ran place to place. The poor parish priest, for stance, scnetimes f inds himself f aced with a congregation in which 50% to 90% of those "assisting" are present chief ly "to do their Sunday duty , to fulf ill the Sunday obligation". In this situation , the priest has a harder time of it than he would in our own assanblies, where, we might well hope, there 's no one who assists in a purely passive manner. At least, this is what we ought to hope • • • As regards our own situation, our assanblies are rrore restricted as a general rule, and are made up of -and this is irrportant - ple who already know each other. The preparation of our celebrations has already been entrusted, not just to one person (as is of ten the case with the pastor in his own parish) but to several, and even - ideally - to ·a si zable number of the brethren. In our celebrations, the various functions are distributed between a nurrt>er of participants, and each ber of the a:mnunity can take his tum in perfomd.ng this or that lar function.
responsibility which affects our whole life of prayer, our whole life lived with the brethren. Take, for instance, even this meeting in which we're all taking part: our discussions and our reflections should enable us eventually to act in an even nore responsible marmer as regards the life of prayer as lived in our respective cx:mnunities. Idon t :make any claim to have seen every aspect of the questions I've discussed. Is.inply wanted to stir up your interest, so that you yourselves would want to pursue to the end avenues of thought I only touched upon . Trans., Gethsemani Abbey Marie GOUJar Septfons