To all the cool kids out there...

[kitt3h]

How is it that I live with four other girls but it seems like none of them are home right now? Maybe it's just because it's a Friday night and I'm just a tad lame...not that I'm complaining. If I were constantly surrounded by all four of them I'd probably go nuts

Comments

[kitt3h]

Yeah, that's pretty much it. During the Divine Office the community I visited (and most other, especially, I think, Dominicans) sings through the psalms almost exclusively (maybe once or twice during the day they might just kind of prayerfully read through them). The day opens with the call "Lord, open my lips" and then the response "and my mouth shall proclaim your praise" and an antiphon followed by the introductory psalm (which can change from day to day among a select few), which is closed with the "glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen" and the antiphon being repeated. The hour/office then begins with a hymn that is followed by the psalmody (psalms and canticles with apporpriate antiphons and readings). In the monastery the office is usually sung in call/response fashion, so that one side of the choir will sing the first half of a strophe and the other half will respond with the remainder. For the laity and others who pray the Office it may be sung in similar fashion, quietly read, or prayerfully recited. The idea I suppose is just that you are taking a prayerful attitude in reading/reciting/chanting the psalms rather than analyzing them in a scholarly or similar fashion.

For the De Profundis procession, though, they kind of just read it slowly and prayerfully, probably in part because they have to walk and read at the same time.

Some communities pray the psalms/office in Latin as well. Really it varies widely, but I guess that's a general idea of how it works.