Wednesday, November 23, 2011



It's impossible to meditate on every word of each day's Office. One only has so much time.  But here's a few things that are jumping out at me today.

Morning Prayer -Psalm 77 - "This is what causes my grief; that the way of the Most High has changed."  The psalmist is just like us--wondering why God doesn't make everything better at once with a spectacular miracle, like he used to back in "biblical times."  It's not wrong to make this honest and childlike complaint to God. He responds--by changing the heart of the psalmist, who is able to draw strength in recalling  those ancient miracles without resentment or demands for repeat  performances on God's part.

Canticle - 1 Samuel- This is the "Song of Hannah", the childless mother whose prayers were answered with the birth of Samuel. It is called the proto-magnificat.  It is easy to see that Mary, whose mind and heart were imbued with God's word,  was inspired by this passage as she composed her own song of praise.

Psalm 97 - "Cloud and darkness are his raiment"   We have lots of dramatic cloudscapes this time of year which help one visualize this majestic image. The subscript in the breviary from St. Athanasius says "This psalm foretells a world wide salvation and that peoples of all nations will believe in Christ."  I had to read it again to see why Athanasius said this. Okay, there is it, "The skies proclaim his justice; all peoples see his glory."  A hopeful thought as we approach Advent..