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Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Another Little Black Book

Not a missal this time. I am now the proud owner of a traditional Benedictine breviary, the Monastic Diurnal published by St. Michael's Abbey Press. Those folks have a shop with other nifty books, cds, cards, statues, and things.

Aside from the obvious value of the work of God("Ergo nihil operi Dei praeponatur."
- Rule of Benedict XLIII.3), I pray the Office in pursuit of a long-time goal: committing Scripture, prayers and hymns to memory. I once heard a story about men, imprisoned in a concentration camp, who entertained each other and preserved sanity by reciting passages from Scripture. In the event of a persecution, what fortifies martyrs and discomfits enemies of the Faith more than the Veni Creator or Te Deum? If I found myself in similar circumstances, at this point, I could contribute little. To that end, I hope to learn a few psalms in Latin.

Omnes sancti martyres, orate pro nobis!

3 Comments:

Blogger James said...

This is a great little book. There is a yahoo group set up to support those of us who use this Diurnal.

I can forward the address if you are interested.

9:17 AM  
Blogger Raindear said...

That would be marvelous. Please do!

Also, is there any way I can fiddle with the java thingy in the side bar so the text wraps around?

9:47 AM  
Blogger James said...

Here is the group:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BenedictineMonasticDiurnal/

I will look into the sidebar, and contact you on the list.

11:27 AM  

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