In the fall of 2013, Fr. Cassian Folsom discussed the power of continual prayer. He shared insight into the power contemplative prayer. The Jesus Prayer, practiced by our Orthodox brothers and sisters, is a simple and powerful prayer that seeps into the soul and begins to have transformative ability to pray within us. That prayer is worded, “O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” St. Benedict offers a similarly simple, powerful, and transformative prayer that leads us to a state of prayer. The prayer that St. Benedict directs us to begin each of our hours of prayer “God, come to my assistance; Lord, make haste to help me.”[1]
Fr. Cassian mentions the ancient desert fathers handing down the formulary for maintaining a perpetual awareness of God (which is the goal for all monks). That formulary was the same prayer cited in the previous paragraph. Because that prayer addresses every need, invites God into every circumstance, invoking His aid and asking for His help in any crisis, it contains the humility of confession, the acknowledgement of our frailty, and the assurance of being heard. Likewise, when we find joy or enriched spiritual formation we cry out our praise in the words, “God, come to my assistance; Lord, make haste to help me.” In good times and bad, we are sure that God is an ever-present help.[2]
Benedict continues by specifying which Psalm is to be said in each prayer for each day. Those specifics may appear overbearing to the contemporary disciple. However, we would do well to ask ourselves the source of our protest. Where does my pride appear in my resistance to this ancient rule? Is there a better way? We are wise to remember that The Rule has guided religious communities for 1,500 years. Time is not the only reason for devotion, but endurance lends credibility to the effectiveness of the practice. His order of saying the Psalms provides for both repetition and progress through all the Psalms, which are said weekly when praying all the hours.
Sr. Joan Chittister acknowledges that the mid-day hours of prayer repeat the same messages over and over. Daily the community hears that God delivers us, God is our refuge, God saves us from those who desire our destruction, and God brings us home. The Psalms offer us safe space to bewail our laments, as well as rejoice in our salvation. The Psalms offer seeds of trust and faith.[3]
Those of us who practice The Rule realize the Psalms as central to our prayer lives. The Psalms reflect the full spectrum of life’s emotions; the pains, anger, hopes, and joy. We say the Psalms in an orderly fashion so the Word may shape our attitude rather than picking and choosing what we read based on our feeling. Our attitude is not intended to shape the Word. We are careful to say all the Psalms to the full formation of our spirits. Again, Sr. Chittister writes, “Ours is to be a full spiritual palate…We are to tap into every human situation that the psalms describe and learn to respond to them with an open soul, an unfettered heart, and out of the mind of God.”[4] Saying the Psalms in the Benedictine discipline is like reading the Scripture Lessons during Holy Communion per the common lectionary. As a minister, I love the lectionary because it forces me to process all Holy Scripture, not only the familiar, favorite, and easy lessons. However, I hate the lectionary because of the same thing. It forces me to process all Holy Scripture, including the unfamiliar, challenging, and difficult lessons. This is the discipline that form my spirit in a balanced way, forcing me to grow from my childish tastes and eat the food of maturity. As we grow, we incorporate prayers and Psalms into the hours of daily living. As a community, we cry and laugh together, we listen to one another, ask questions together, and look to God for reassurance.
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[1] Benediet, Saint, Abbot of Monte Cassino. The rule of St. Benedict in Latin and English with notes. Collegeville,
MI: Liturgical Press, 1981. 45.
[2] Psalm 46:1.
[3] Joan Chittister, The rule of Benedict: a spirituality for the 21st century (New York: Crossroad, 2010), 125-126.
[4] ___. 129.
