Thomas Merton, Monastic Observances: Lauds

 

 

I am old enough to remember when Thomas Merton was the official monk of the New York Times Review of Books and have lived long enough to know that his personal behavior was somewhat less than what one would expect of a  monk. What do I know? May be he went to Confession. I read many, if not all of his books and learned more from them about Thomas Merton than about the life he was living as a Cistercian. One could also learn about how to get your own way in a monastery. However, I have always thought that his best writings were the teaching he was assigned in obedience to his superiors to train novices. This is the source of Monastic Observances.

 

The spirit of lauds is a spirit of contemplative praise. Lauds {is} the Church's ancient morning prayer, the most beautiful and solemn of all morning prayers. Note that the Church has two morning prayers and two evening prayers: lauds and prime, vespers and compline. Lauds and vespers are the ancient morning and evening prayer; prime and compline though still ancient by our standards, are a relatively new morning and evening prayer. Both are due in large part to matutinorum solemnitas the solemnity of matins. (In our office the night office is vigils, and lauds is "matins." This is as it should be. Matins means "morning office.") The name lauds {comes} from the term laudes applied to the last three psalms (148, 149 and 150), which are invariably sung and invariably give this office a dominant note of praise. Vigils are deeply reflective, filled with compunction and prayer; lauds {is} clear and joyous, {filled with} triumphant confidence in God (although there are also many psalms of "compunction" here also); {for} prime, {the} dominant note is of petition for grace in preparation for the day's work. Prime {is} an eminently practical morning prayer; lauds, on the other hand {is} a contemplative climax in the day's office.

"I like to compare Lauds and Vespers to the first three petitions of the Lord's Prayer. These look to the increase and expansion of God's kingdom. Prime and Compline are more like the last three petitions, since they are concerned with deliverance from sin" (Parsch). And Parsch goes on, quite beautifully: "I am tempted to say that Adam could well have prayed Lauds and Vespers in the Garden of Paradise; but only after his fall, in exile on this earth, could he pray Prime and Compline" (idem ).

What is the source of the character of lauds as a prayer of praise? It unites the waking of creation with the mystery of Christ's resurrection. Christ is the "sol justitiae" Who, rising from death, illumines the world with the justice and truth and mercy of God. The material sun which rises in the morning is to us the symbol of the Lord triumphant over the darkness of sin, ignorance and death. This is particularly clear in lauds of Sundays (and great feasts). Lauds is above all a festive hour. It is always a celebration of the resurrection. But on feasts it also strongly brings out the celebration of the feast itself. Lauds and vespers are {the} two hours which keynote most strongly the character of the feast {being} celebrated. (Vigils of course with its long lessons and many antiphons, responsories, etc. is in a class by itself in this respect.) Prime and compline with us have little (prime) or nothing (compline) to do with the theme of the feast celebrated. "In Lauds, the theme of the feast and the thought of the hour are intrinsically related" (Parsch ). Parsch concludes: "The themes of the feast and the hour coin after his fall, in exile on this earth, could he pray Prime and Compline" (idem ).