Advent Vespers Homily (Tuesday, December 16, 2008)
by Abbot Caedmon Holmes, O.S.B.

Vespers, from the Latin word vesper or vespera meaning "evening," is also called in Old English "evensong," that is, the song of the evening. Vespers at evening, Lauds in the morning, a night-time or early morning vigil service called Matins, one or more Little Hours during the day, and the bedtime prayer of Compline make up the prayer of the Church-as-the-Body-of-Christ. This prayer is called various names: the Divine Office, the Opus Dei, or the Liturgy of the Hours. Along with Holy Mass, it's the way Christ continues to worship and praise the Father in the community of his disciples, which includes us.

As you have perhaps noticed, the Divine Office is made up principally of psalms.  Which psalms we Benedictine monks sing and when was decided by St Benedict in the eighteenth chapter of his Rule.  The four psalms we have just now sung are the ones he prescribes for Tuesday evenings. The psalms are all from the Book of 150 Psalms in the Old Testament, and have been from time immemorial what you might call "the prayer-book" of the Jewish Synagogue and the Christian Church.

This evening's four psalms express longing for God, humble trust in him, remembrance of his promises to David and his descendants (the people of Israel, the Church, us), and admiration for how good it is to live united with the brethren who are blessed by the LORD, that is, with God's people.

Let's consider for a few moments this evening's first psalm, number 130, which begins with the words "Out of the depths have I called to you, O LORD."  [This psalm has been known as the De profundis from the Latin translation of its first words "Out of the depths."] What are these "depths?" Perhaps the depths of guilt and shame because of sin; but also the deep-down distance I feel separating me from God--- my insignificance, the weakness of my mind and character, my fragility, the brevity of my existence: a few years ago---and for ages and ages---I did not exist; a few more years and again I shall not exist, for ages upon ages. It's to the Lord I call, who is ageless, forever unchanging, endlessly good.

The psalm continues: "If you, LORD, were to note what is done amiss (that is, what is wrong and sinful),

O LORD, who could stand? (who could survive, who could escape uncondemned, if you were to keep a strict account of offences?)

But there is forgiveness with you;

therefore, you shall be feared."

How do you understand that---there is forgiveness with you, and therefore you shall be feared??

The original Hebrew words say "With you is the forgiveness, therefore you shall be feared."

Here is an interpretation:

The forgiveness is with him could mean that the only real forgiveness comes from God, he alone is the one really offended by sin, he alone has the power to free from sin, and so he should be regarded with a healthy fear: forgiveness is his to grant or to withhold.

Another interpretation (and these different explanations don't necessarily exclude each other: it doesn't have to be either/or, it can be both/and):

The forgiveness is with him: he means to forgive---not because he's slack, or lax, or soft; not because sin doesn't matter anyway (if so, what would be the point of forgiveness?), but because he means to accomplish in us what he created us for, that is, eternal communion with himself.  And he will have his way.  As we heard at yesterday's assembly in the passage from the Letter to the Thessalonians, "The one who calls you is faithful, and he will accomplish it." There is a reason to be in fear, in awe, of him. He has created you for himself, and he means to---is determined to---make you worthy of himself, and to share with you his eternal life.

Don't make the mistake of thinking that you care more about yourself or are more fearful about your fate than God is.  After all, you only exist: he makes you exist.  Which of the two, do you think, takes more power and purpose and determination? We have very good reason, then, to stand in awe of him.

If this is so, how should we react?  The psalm says, "Wait for the LORD; with him is mercy, and plentiful redemption." How do we wait for the Lord? How do we draw closer to the one who supports us, forgives us, and means to give himself to us? Why not look up the Book of Psalms in your Bible? Many of those psalms have been being used constantly by people for three thousand years now, because they reveal to us what regrets and fears and desires are in us, and provide us with excellent ways of expressing them to God.

Also, if you're free at 5:30 any evening, you'd be welcome to join in singing Vespers with the monks, or in just quietly listening to the psalms and prayers.

In a moment now we're going to sing---as we do at every Vespers---the Magnificat, Mary's own song, which shows how deeply she had pondered and made her own the prayer of the Psalms.