The Book of Job draws a clear image of life, of renewal, of regrowth, of development:
There is hope for a tree, if it be cut down that it will sprout again and
that its tender shoots will not cease. Even though its roots grow old in the
earth, and its stump die in the dust, yet at the first scent of water it may
flourish again and put forth branches like a plant. (Job 14:7)
This document is about the growing life of the Liturgy of the Hours in priories of American Benedictine women. Tracing the purpose and historical place of the Hours in Benedictine monastic life, it treats the theology which permeates them and the elements of ritual which sustain them. It acknowledges the christological center of Benedictine liturgical life: Christ present and celebrated in the Liturgy of the Hours and in the Eucharist. Particularly, but not exclusively, this statement focuses on the real presence of Christ through the word of Scripture. Though it is not a document on Eucharist, Eucharist is discussed when a better understanding of the theological or historical meanings of that liturgy helps to define the nature and place of the opus Dei in communities of Benedictine sisters.
Two factors give impetus to this new emphasis. In the first place, the theological insight that Christ, the center of Benedictine life, is really present both in Scripture and in Eucharist brings the two realities into focus without diminishing or displacing either. In the second place, the actual conditions in various communities of Benedictine women--the lack of ordained celebrants; the emergence of new pastoral ministries for sisters; the heightened appreciation for liturgies of high quality and relevance--all make imperative the need for Benedictine women to become actively responsible for the liturgical dimensions of their lives.
The purpose of this document, then, is to nourish new buds, new branches: to make continuous, creative, and central the long, deep heritage of the scriptural tradition of Benedictine life, a tradition that is particularly suited to communities whose members are unordained but in great need of spiritual growth and sustenance as they spend themselves to build the Kingdom, to bear fruit, to harvest.
AMERICAN BENEDICTINE WOMEN: COMMUNITIES OF WORSHIP
Saint Benedict, founder of Western monasticism, placed high value on praying in community, intending common prayer to be a sustaining force for his followers in their personal lives of prayer and work. Benedict strongly emphasized the value of the opus Dei when he declared that nothing is to be preferred to it (RB 43:3). According to the Rule of Benedict, the daily Liturgy of the Hours is one of the central elements of Benedictine prayer life and spirituality. It is the recurring sign of the community's unity with Christ and within itself.
The opus Dei or Liturgy of the Hours in Benedictine communities is a response to the basic human need to pray, to pray daily, and to pray with others. In his arrangement of the Hours, Benedict drew on the living prayer traditions of his day: those of the clergy and laity, the monks of the desert and the monks of the cities (RB18). While not totally original, he was genuinely creative in his use of these available prayer forms. From them he developed a new pattern of communal prayer responsive to the spirituality and life of his times and the needs of his communities.
Others who succeeded Benedict developed the Hours, adapting them again and again to their lives of faith. American Benedictine women have inherited a rich tradition of the opus Dei, chanted in choirs of Benedictine women and men assembled in grand monastic churches and in austere monastic chapels. In these settings they have functioned as the ecclesia offering praise to God.
American Benedictine women today accept this heritage with reverence and witness to its value for their lives. Central to every community of American Benedictine women, large and small, is the commitment to the daily liturgical assembly, the commitment to be ecclesia orans, a manifestation of the praying church.
In 1975 the Benedictine prioresses of North America issued a common statement, Upon This Tradition: A Statement of Monastic Values in the Lives of American Benedictine Sisters. This document publicly affirmed the Western tradition of cenobitic monasticism characterized by community life under a Rule and an Abbot,and maintained that a stable community of persons leading a balanced life of prayer and work is an environment in which Christians can grow in holiness. An integral relationship between daily corporate prayer and participation in the Gospel ministry has always been an important element in the Benedictine way of life. The Eucharist and the Liturgy of the Hours continue to be privileged times of celebration for a Benedictine community. These liturgical assemblies have been the constant pivots of days given over to service to the community and to the local church. In their prayer assemblies, communities daily gather up their life of ministry and offer it back to God, who called them to mediate his care for others.
Every liturgical assembly both expresses and shapes the faith of the worshipers. A renewed and deepened understanding of the mystery of Christ in our times is stretching and expanding the tradition of Christian worship. Worship is always a very human act. Its forms bear the imprint not only of faith but also of the cultural experiences and commitments of those who assemble to praise the living God. Ours is a time when the search for God through Jesus Christ and the search in the Spirit of Jesus for a more human society have provoked great flux in religious and cultural forms. The call to renew our corporate worship in these times provides us with the occasion to reflect on our common heritage and our present circumstances to see in what ways our past and our present impinge on our renewal efforts and the character of our liturgical celebrations.
During our first century in North America, the Benedictine tradition of liturgical celebration brought from European convents was often mediated to our communities directly or indirectly by monks who were themselves formed and educated in European monasteries. In an era when monastic liturgy was perceived as a fixed tradition, faithful imitation of the received forms was a normative response among American Benedictine women.
For decades, monks of the Order were the principal transmitters of their schooling in the Liturgy of the Hours. But under the influence of the liturgical movement and in response to the renewal of worship mandated in 1963, American Benedictine communities of women have moved from a posture of receptivity to one of responsibility. Many in our communities have undertaken formal and informal study of liturgical theology and practice and the tradition of sacred arts. As a result, within the past decade, creative expression has flourished within our liturgical celebrations. We are increasingly aware that we are not only receivers but also active interpreters and co-creators of a living liturgical tradition. With this experience, we are prepared to identify and to endorse the theological and liturgical principles which guide our celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours. Much of the diversity which has emerged in our celebration of the Hours has developed for reasons which would not have been foreign to the mind of Benedict (RB18). In our search for God and for ways to express our commitment to daily prayer together in these times, we have become newly sensitive to our creative and intuitive insights, for love is always inventive.
In this present era of community renewal, we have come to recognize circumstances peculiar to our lives, shared neither by our Benedictine brothers nor our European foundresses--circumstances intrinsic to our identity as communities of American Benedictine women which have significantly influenced the prayer of our communities.
Historically, our communities typically have included both a motherhouse and a cluster of larger and smaller mission communities distant from the motherhouse for apostolic service. Frequently, only the former was seen as the Benedictine community officially at prayer, even though the latter also maintained the choral office. Today there is a growing recognition that whenever any part of the community gathers, the community as church is at prayer. The forms of the Liturgy of the Hours are stable yet flexible enough to bond the several households of each priory into a single community of faith, presenting the one prayer of the community in the prayer of each of its parts.
In the Middle Ages the Benedictine tradition of liturgical life developed under clerical influence to include not only the full celebration of the Hours but also the daily Eucharist. Women's communities were able to approach that particular model of daily celebration only through dependence on priests from outside their communities.
Presently our communities live with two active liturgical traditions in tension: one is clearly lay, the other quasi-clerical (RB 62). The first reflects more closely the circumstances of the monastic communities for whom the Rule of Benedict was written, i.e., lay communities who gathered for the Hours. The second mirrors a daily liturgical life which became standard for later clericalized communities, communities whose internal resources combined with the spirit of the times made possible, and eventually customary, the celebration of both the Eucharist and the Hours on a daily basis. The continuing development of our liturgical life will demand our responding to this dual heritage of American Benedictine women. Should it become possible to ordain one or more members of our essentially lay communities, these might well preside at the eucharistic action of the community--an arrangement recommended by the Rule of Benedict (RB 62) but not yet possible for Benedictine women. Under such circumstances and in keeping with the liturgical renewal of our times, there is every reason for the Liturgy of the Hours to retain its proper place in daily corporate worship.
This document acknowledges that, in the renewal of their liturgical life, communities of American Benedictine women share common experiences and common needs. It recognizes the importance of their interdependence as they seek to deepen, to clarify, and to extend their tradition of corporate worship. It accepts the liturgical tradition stemming directly from the Rule as appropriately theirs, a tradition which has sustained them for more than a century as Benedictine communities. It also affirms the validity and authenticity of the new liturgical expression which is rising from past and present experience as communities of Benedictine women.
We enjoy an uninterrupted liturgical heritage. In faith and hope, we dare to advance it.
The climate of prayerfulness, which results from answering together the Lord's invitation to pray without ceasing (1 Thess 5:17), reflects the monastic identity of communities of American Benedictine women within the church. To be church, a community of believers who are guided by the Gospel in the search for a response to the Holy One in our midst, always carries with it an intrinsic necessity to praise God. It is in the light of this faith imperative that we understand our commitment to the Liturgy of the Hours. We are a priestly people, ordained through our Christian initiation to worship God. Therefore the preeminence of the Liturgy of the Hours in our lives is not dependent upon any ecclesiastical mandate, but is part of the total Christian life of response. Strong moments of daily communal prayer highlight the continuity of our search for God as the People of God: they become moments of celebration. As such, they flow from basic principles of Christian life and the Benedictine charism and give expression to them. We here identify both theological principles and principles of celebration.
THEOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES FOR THE LITURGY OF THE HOURS
1. Benedictine faithfulness to the daily corporate assembling for the Liturgy of the Hours is a sacrament of the mystery of the church as communion.
All who listen to the living word of God and who respond in faith are filled with the one Spirit of the risen Lord Jesus. They are, in communion with one another through the Holy Spirit, a holy people, the Body of Christ.
The Benedictine community gives expression to the ecclesial mystery that human and divine communion are both a future hope and a present reality for those who open themselves day by day to God's action in Christ.
Therefore, although many Christians pray the Liturgy of the Hours regularly, Benedictines commit themselves, not only in theory but also in fact, to its daily corporate celebration. This is a distinctive aspect of the Benedictine spiritual tradition within the church.
2. The Benedictine celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours gives voice to the prayer of the church, a prayer of praise and supplication to the Father with and through the risen Christ in the Holy Spirit.
The Liturgy of the Hours rehearses the many and diverse ways of God's self-disclosure and of our response, all of which reach their fullness in the dialogue of Christ and his Father. The liturgical assembly contemplates this dialogue of salvation, praises God for the mystery at work among us, and prays for the completion of salvation, namely, the reconciliation of all things in the risen and glorified Christ.
3. The Liturgy of the Hours, like other liturgical actions of the church, is effective prayer. It is simultaneously remembrance (anamnesis) and invocation (epiclesis).
The Liturgy of the Hours is one of the principal means by which the Benedictine community overcomes its tendency to lose itself in the mundane activities of life and so to forget its origin and destiny in Christ and its present experience of the call to life in Christ.
In the very act of celebrating aspects of the mystery of salvation, the power of that mystery is effectively present to the worshipers. It transforms them day by day in the measure that they are open to the Spirit of the Risen Christ in their midst.
4. The Benedictine vocation, to seek God in and as community, is manifested each time the Benedictine community assembles for this daily liturgy.
Because the assembly for the Liturgy of the Hours is both a sign and an expression of the reality of the cenobitic charism within the church, it is a privileged time of prayer for the community.
In the recurring daily liturgical assemblies, tangible expression is given to a life of faith centered in the living word of God which is focused through a community.
5. The corporate celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours is a constitutive element of the Benedictine way of cenobitic monastic life.
The Rule of Benedict establishes this daily liturgy in cenobitic life. Benedict ordered and structured a living liturgical tradition; he maintained much of an earlier tradition while also making adaptations to new circumstances (RB 18). Subsequent generations of Benedictines have acted similarly. For example, American Benedictine sisters of the Byzantine rite have celebrated the Liturgy of the Hours according to the Eastern tradition rather than according to the pattern designated in the Rule. The daily Liturgy of the Hours has often been adapted and augmented in response to developments in the church, to the spiritual tenor of successive eras, and to the actual gifts and needs of local monasteries of Benedictine men and women.
Today, new appreciation for our distinctiveness as cenobitic women's communities and for the spiritual giftedness of our members is finding rich expression in our corporate celebration of the Hours. Not insignificant is our growing concern for an inclusive language for public prayer, a language which recognizes the whole People of God, as well as for the selection of music, art forms, and other content that reflects the spirituality of Christian women.
Whether celebrations have been elaborate or simple, faithfulness to the corporate celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours has been a hallmark of Benedictine monastic life. The depth of faith, which inspired and sustained these daily liturgical celebrations and the spiritual vitality they generated, has been the barometer of the well-being of the Benedictine way of life.
6. The Liturgy of the Hours is intimately tied to the Scriptures and draws deeply, although not exclusively, upon texts of Scripture for its expression of the dialogue of salvation.
The word of God in the books of the Old and New Testaments forms the major content of the Liturgy of the Hours, in the readings, antiphons, responsories, canticles, and psalms. The psalms have always been a core element of the Liturgy of the Hours. The church has found in them a primer of prayer guiding the community to a relationship with God characterized by faith, openness, and trust. The psalms give us words to bless God, to repent, to bear affliction with courage, and to rejoice together. They translate the human desire and groping search for God into lyrical hymns of thanks, petulant cries for mercy, quiet utterances of trust, and unrestrained bursts of joy. The psalms are clearly prayers of deep religious feeling.
When the early church adopted the psalter, it interpreted the psalms as Christ-centered, each psalm speaking of Christ, to Christ, or Christ himself speaking to the Father in and with the Spirit. This christological understanding of the psalms recognized Christ Jesus in the just ones, the suppliants, the grateful, the faithful, the hopeful, and the victorious who find voice and recognition in the psalms. The words of the psalms, so understood, can become the words of the dialogue between Christ and his Father.
7. As a celebration of the ongoing dialogue of salvation, the Liturgy of the Hours is a liturgy of word and silence.
Benedictines who seek God together in community give corporate expression to the dialogical character of the saving action of God in the way they celebrate the Liturgy of the Hours. They not only proclaim and celebrate the living word with the harmony of many voices; they also attend in a shared silence to the transforming power of the word among them.
The liturgical silence of the Hours is a ritual expression of the essentially contemplative character of the Benedictine way of life. It is a way which attends to the mystery alive in the midst of the community and mediated through it. In silence individuals personally appropriate what is revealed and celebrated in the community.
8. The daily Liturgy of the Hours is time-bound, tied to the rhythm of the coming of light and darkness, the passing of the night and the day.
The Liturgy of the Hours marks each day as the day of salvation. It also intersects with the weekly celebration of the Lord's day and the annual cycle of feasts and seasons. It reveals the uniqueness of each day and marks all time as sacred through the proclamation of God's saving presence.
9. The dominant symbols within the Liturgy of the Hours are three: the assembly itself, the living word, and a moment of time set out as the time of salvation. Each is understood to be a bearer and mediator of the divine presence in the world.
The assembly is a sacrament of the mystery of the praying church aware of the Risen Lord in its midst and of its solidarity in the Holy Spirit through the baptismal consecration of each member, and receptive to its calling to be transformed into the Body of Christ.
The living word which is proclaimed, attended to, and celebrated has power to judge and to purify the assembly which seeks to be responsive to the admonition of the Scripture repeated in the Rule of Benedict, If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts (RB Prol 10).
Time is a sacrament of the mystery of the church on pilgrimage, an epiphany of Christ saving his people here and now. Celebrating these present moments of salvation in the Liturgy of the Hours, the People of God ritualize their ongoing response to past events and their hope in future promise.
10. Benedictine communities gathered daily for corporate celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours exercise a distinct ministry of prayer within the church.
The vocation of all peoples to offer themselves with Christ as a living sacrifice of praise to the Father is manifest in the Benedictine community assembled for the Liturgy of the Hours.
The christological focus of this prayer expresses the mystery that it is the prayer of Christ alone which sustains and nourishes the whole Body. With and in Christ, members of the Body daily gathered in Benedictine community give audible voice by the power of the Spirit to the words of praise, repentance, and supplication in the hearts of all people.
11. The transforming power of the word of God, proclaimed and celebrated in the Liturgy of the Hours, impels the Benedictine community to extend the healing presence of Christ to others.
Works of ministry to others beyond the Benedictine community are not simply the result of cultural or financial exigency, but an expression of authentic Benedictine spirituality nourished by the daily celebration of the Hours. Each community fulfills this Gospel ministry through a wide range of works expressive of the gifts and skills of its members, appropriate to Benedictine cenobitic life and responsive to the needs of the people of the area.
12. The daily liturgy of the Benedictine community is the corporate celebration of the Hours, directed toward and sustained by a regular corporate celebration of the Eucharist.
The spirituality of many Benedictine women today has been shaped by the practice of frequent and even daily participation in the eucharistic liturgy. Benedict, however, writing for lay communities, made no provision for daily eucharistic celebration. Rather, he delineated carefully an order of the day which balanced work, the Liturgy of the Hours, and personal and communal responsibilities for growth in Christ.
Therefore, while we hold that frequent participation in the eucharistic liturgy
is central to our lives as Christians, we recognize that dailiness is not equivalent
to centrality. Particularly where ordained ministers are lacking, daily Eucharist
may not always be possible. The Liturgy of the Hours, on the other hand, is
by its nature a daily liturgy prescribed by Benedict and embraced by our communities
to make time holy.
PRINCIPLES OF CELEBRATION FOR THE LITURGY OF THE HOURS
13. The authenticity of the celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours by a particular community is found in the harmony between the community's life and its prayer.
Each community has its own character and an authentic celebration by that community will reflect its spirit and help to create it. To be faithful to its own tradition, be it Western or Eastern rite, the community must allow its celebrations of the dialogue of salvation in the Liturgy of the Hours to be shaped by its past and present experiences of God. In the same way the community will allow itself to be shaped by, and experience itself as formed by, the Liturgy of the Hours which it celebrates daily.
For this reason the notion of a monastic Liturgy of the Hours continues to enjoy ecclesiastical endorsement. Even today the church does not intend that the revised Roman Liturgy of the Hours should suppress the distinctiveness of the monastic liturgy, as paragraph 31b of the General Instruction on the Liturgy of the Hours clearly provides.
14. The scriptural word of God, especially the Psalter and the readings, forms the core of the Liturgy of the Hours.
In the selection of readings, preference is given to Scripture and Scripture-related texts which recount the history of salvation and reveal the paschal mystery as central to our lives. The repertoire of readings draws on the heritage of lessons commonly designated for the Hours during the cycle of liturgical seasons and feasts. During ordinary times the major hours reflect the monastic practice of the continuous reading of selections from particular books of the Old and New Testaments.
The Psalter gives voice to the entire range of religious feeling. For this reason the monastic Liturgy of the Hours values the recitation of the entire range of the Psalter.
While male composition was an historical reality of the Mosaic covenant, all those who have been baptized are invited to be a new creation. The prayer of those who have been joined to Christ should acknowledge and celebrate their conviction that now there are no longer male and female but all are one in Christ. Therefore, sensitive use of the Psalter for Christian prayer calls for translations whose language is inclusive of all the People of God.
Hymns, prayers, poems, and other elements of the Liturgy of the Hours are chosen for their congruence with the scriptural word and for their ability to help us enter more fully into the mystery of God's love as it is revealed in the feast or season being celebrated. The call to worship, responses, antiphons, litanies, movements, and gestures enhance the liturgy by emphasizing aspects of revelation appropriate to the time. Equally important, they provide an opportunity for variety and creativity in expressing and reflecting the community's faith experience.
15. The structure of the Liturgy of the Hours is that of a dialogue between the community's life and its prayer.
While the basic structure of the Liturgy of the Hours includes hymns, psalms, canticles, readings, and prayers, the importance of silence is recognized as preparation for, reflection on, and response to the word of God proclaimed in the assembly. The relationship between the various parts mirrors the relationship between God and his people: the dynamic of call and response.
16. The gathering of the community for prayer is a primary sacrament of the dialogue between God and his people expressed through ritual action.
Because a community gathers together several times each day to pray, a regular pattern of symbolic action, known as ritual, is an essential ingredient and means of carrying out the celebration.
The coming together of the community signifies its desire to be church, to both express and deepen the bonds already existing between God and each individual, as well as the bonds uniting the community with one another and with him. Therefore, liturgy is an activity which communicates on many levels and in diverse ways. For this reason the ritual must integrate the kinetic, acoustical and visual dimensions in order to speak to the participants through all their senses. Thus bodily actions of the gathered community are integral elements of prayer. They intensify and express in a fully human way meanings which go beyond words. The postures assumed, and the gestures, movements, and silences of the assembly are important to the celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours because they give concrete expression to the intangible realities.
Since the prayer of a group is closely linked to the place of its celebration, care is taken that the Liturgy of the Hours is celebrated in a setting which expresses the centrality of the living word of the risen Christ in the midst of a community gathered in his name. The book from which the word is proclaimed, as well as objects used, has both dignity and beauty. A space hospitable to the community celebration will permit the members of the assembly to see and hear one another as well as those with special ministerial roles. It allows them to experience themselves as a community in dialogue with God, who is both transcendent and in their midst. Other elements used to enhance the setting such as lights, plants, or artifacts, are characterized by a dignity, simplicity, and authenticity of materials.
17. The quality of our relationship to God in the formal prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours is dependent on our relationship to God at every moment of the day.
To the degree that our life in God is nourished by lectio, by prayer in solitude, by mutual love, and by service to those in need, the community will have something to celebrate when it comes together to praise God and to intercede with him in and through Christ.
The reality of a praying community exceeds the notion of getting in a number of prayers or a number of liturgical gatherings. It implies a willing attentiveness to God's presence, a harmony of mind, heart, voice, and life, a readiness to internalize and share God's message of salvation, a desire to be the church at prayer (RB 19).
18. Times of prayer are periods in which we are brought back again and again to the meaning of human existence redeemed by Christ.
The various liturgical feasts and seasons permit us to concentrate our attention now on one aspect of the mystery of Christ and now on another. In this way we may penetrate more deeply their meaning for our lives. In planning our yearly cycle of liturgical celebrations, we move toward Easter as the central liturgical feast. In planning the week, we celebrate the Sunday as a special day of the Risen Lord in the midst of the workdays which surround it. In planning each day, we respond to the coming of light and darkness in our celebrations of the hinge hours of morning and evening prayer.
Varying circumstances allow for the celebration of the minor hours: Vigils, Midday Prayer, and Compline.
The time-bound character of the Hours and the actual rhythms of community life, considered together, will help to determine for each community the actual number of assemblies it will schedule daily so that the lives of its members will be set in a framework of prayer.
The Liturgy of the Hours thus establishes the daily context for the Gospel ministry of the community so that whatever spiritual or practical services are extended to others are understood to have their origin and meaning in the work of Christ.
19. In ordering the celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours, a balance is maintained between the recurrence of familiar elements and the introduction of new ones, so that the celebration reassures by repetition and refreshes by surprise.
Because of its dailiness, the Liturgy of the Hours necessarily has a certain continuity and predictability of content and structure, freeing the participants for contemplation and enabling them to integrate form and content with a measure of serenity. Yet, by their nature, the seasons and feasts, Sundays and ferial days call for various degrees of solemnity in celebration. Likewise, since liturgy reflects as well as creates the spirit of a community, the Liturgy of the Hours is necessarily adapted to express our new understandings of God, who is constantly revealing himself.
20. Baptismal ordination calls every Christian and thus every community member to a life of worship. Therefore, the widest possible participation in the liturgical ministries of the Liturgy of the Hours is encouraged.
The ministries of presider, reader, acolyte, and cantor are normally exercised by different persons in order to encourage mutual service and heighten personal response. Although not every member is competent in every role, those members who are called by the community to exercise specific ministries are provided with suitable training and prepare sufficiently for their service.
Since the total assembly is called to fruitful participation in the Liturgy of the Hours, each member shares the responsibility for achieving this by participating as fully as possible. In this way presence and participation in the liturgical assembly are in themselves an exercise of liturgical ministry.
21. Because of its expressive power, music plays an important part in the celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours.
The combination of rhythm and melody in song invites the involvement of the whole person in a union of body, emotions, voice, and intellect in the act of praise. Thus, music serves a ministerial function in the celebration of the Hours. It heightens texts, unites worshipers in one voice, and announces the tone of the celebration. An important consideration is that the music be done well and be structured to meet the abilities of the praying community.
The elements of the Hours which most lend themselves to singing are the hymns and canticles, which are essentially songs of praise. Basically two kinds of repertoire are needed: a stable structure of good music which wears well for daily celebration and a collection of special music for seasonal and festal celebrations.
22. Each Hour of prayer is an integral celebration with its own specific character.
Other liturgical actions such as eucharistic liturgy or eucha-ristic communion services are celebrated separately from the Liturgy of the Hours, except in extraordinary circumstances, so that each liturgy retains its own distinctive spirit.
23. Corporate celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours according to these principles assures that no single book, such as a monastic breviary, will satisfy the needs of any one of our communities, much less the needs of all of them.
The repertoire of resources for celebrating the Benedictine Liturgy of the Hours is as varied as our communities, as deep as our faith, and as broad as our inventiveness.
American Benedictine women welcome occasions to join in the celebrations of the Hours in other priories and monasteries and to exchange resources for celebration, since these opportunities continually enrich each local priory. At the same time they are effective reminders of the intimate relation between each community's life and its own Liturgy of the Hours.
CONTEMPORARY COMMUNITY CELEBRATION: EFFECTS AND IMPLICATIONS
A study of Benedictine monasticism, of the nature of liturgy, and of the character of women's monastic communities underscores three factors which affect the liturgical life in priories of Benedictine women:
1) The corporate celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours is central to the spiritual heritage of Benedictine life.
2) The function of liturgy is to create and express a relationship with a personal God, to bond the Christian community and to give rhythm and regularity to the Benedictine consciousness and contemplation of the Christ life, past and present.
3) Priories of American Benedictine women, like the earliest groups in the Order, are lay rather than ordained.
These realities have implications for the present tenor and character of community life as Benedictine women continue to adapt and develop, to deepen and to grow in harmony with the twentieth century but also with their spiritual heritage and tradition.
1) The opus Dei remains the foundation of the liturgical life of American communities of Benedictine sisters. Nevertheless, it is also true that Benedictine women are engaged in ministries that are wide and varied. Consequently, the American Benedictine woman must balance a rich public prayer life with the ministries, internal and external, that derive from the cultural demands of her society, the cry of the poor, and the needs of her community. Perhaps only at special times or periods of her life can she enjoy long spaces for uninterrupted prayer. It is necessary, then, for Benedictine women to integrate prayer and work, as well as simply to mark poles of the day, the turn of the seasons, the cycles of redemption. Therefore, prayer for communities of American Benedictine women will be both brief and rich, formal and real, regular and related to the demands of their total lifestyles.
2) Since liturgy both expresses and shapes faith, it will be rooted in the experience, needs and personality of the assembly. American Benedictine women must therefore be intent to participate actively in the composition of community liturgies, to express their prayer in a language inclusive of all God's people.
3) Like the monastic communities founded by Benedict himself, priories of American Benedictine women are lay, and at present without ordained membership. In this lay community, as in the Rule of Benedict itself, the Liturgy of the Hours takes a preeminent place in the metanoia experience of the members and of the whole community. For this reason, and because the presence of God is revealed in the bread of the word, it is in celebrating the word of Scripture that Benedictine women can express and respond to spiritual realities in a way basic to the tradition for which they have a serious responsibility. Otherwise, undue emphasis is put on eucharistic liturgy as the exclusive measure of the spiritual environment, and too little focus on the liturgical possibilities of our communities themselves.
4) If the Liturgy of the Hours is the public prayer of the church bonding the community and offering all of creation back to the Father, then it can be neither exclusive nor privatized. The Benedictine community has traditionally extended hospitality to guests who wish to join its assemblies to celebrate the Liturgy of the Hours.
In contemporary communities of women Benedictines, this corporate ministry of prayer calls also for the extension of their liturgical life to local parishes and dioceses through community members who have been schooled in prayer in community and have had the training necessary to prepare them for liturgical leadership. This tradition calls for the hospitable involvement of guests in the prayer life of the community by inviting participation and by providing texts and guidance so that the liturgy can be meaningful and life-giving to the total assembly.
5) As bearers of a great liturgical tradition, communities of Benedictine women must confidently assume their places as liturgical centers, as public manifestations of the praying church, as prophetic interpreters of a living faith. Concentration then must be on the development of liturgical celebrations that are vital, meaningful, and relevant, rather than on structures or regularity that can easily become either legalistic observance or formalism.
6) The integration of the eucharistic celebration within the liturgical life and experiences of the community is an essential element of Benedictine christological spirituality. The selection of ordained celebrants and community liturgists who will make joint efforts to achieve this ideal is extremely important. Regular eucharistic liturgies express the faith life of the total community as well as the primacy of Sundays and feasts. Opportunities for more frequent celebrations of the communion service may also be provided when this rite, properly placed and celebrated, brings the community to the realization of its eucharistic orientation.
7) Liturgy creates and expresses a personal relationship with a personal God. It is of the essence of Benedictine religious life that this relationship have a corporate, public dimension. However, although monastic communities of American Benedictine women are stable cenobitic groups, the members seldom reside together in a single place. In fact, it is often the situation that more sisters live in sub-communities away from the priory than actually live together at its central house. Consequently, to assume obligations to choral prayer for one part of the community, the motherhouse--as was often the case--but not for the other, is to fracture, at the very moment of prayer, the meaning of community and the concept of charism itself. Benedictine women pray the Liturgy of the Hours in large groups and small, at the priory and away, not to satisfy legal prescriptions--which, strictly speaking have never really bound sisters--but because they are Benedictines.
With these factors in mind, this document has defined the principles of the
Benedictine tradition of the Liturgy of the Hours. It has interpreted these
in the light of contemporary questions and circumstances, and focused the realities
inherent in the prayer life of American Benedictine women in such a way that
they can be seen in their full character and potential. Only when this liturgical
tradition is claimed by Benedictine women will our weakness be a strength, our
heritage a support, our long tradition the sure foundation of a full future.
Then is our time made holy as was the time of the great Benedictine women who
have gone before us, whose fidelity we admire, whose courage we imitate.
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