Vespers And Compline [Import]

Please find here the Pater Noster with its traditional introduction explaining how we dare sing this prayer of the Lord, the Magnificat with its liberating and revolutionary message, and the comforting hour of OCmpline, the monk's ancient bedtime prayer, sung by heart in darkness. In fact the context of these prayers is lost in recording, sort of like wondering whether to genuflect when passing before a photograph of the elevated Host, so often pictured on book covers from Ratzinger to McBrien.

As one who lived years with these chants, I in particular, seeking solace by replaying the disk all night long and all day for peace and comfort and companionship, often pause wondering whether to bow where the bow is called for, and wondering why I can smell no incense. What is most disturbing however is not hearing the Pater prayed in the voices I once knew and cherished so much, so comforting. In fact I quickly discovered I must not play these while driving.

THere is a very specific time of day for each of these recordings, and it seems odd to hear Compline in bright daylight. I must pause and pray the Confiteor with them of course, and stop to bless myself at the blessings, wondering whether they are valid, but the most chillingly real moment, as one ever learns in a monastery, is the moment of silence, any moment of silence of course, but here at the moment when all of the monks silently pray the Pater Noster after the first words are intoned and before the final lines are chanted. I know what that silence bears, and in my own present silence join in prayer in community wityh all prayerful perons of the world at that moment. SIlence is universdal and eternal and thus really present, uniting me in prayer with those good and holy monks recorded years ago. And as the Pater Noster in Latin remains my main prayer, as Jesus ordered, I can still slip it in before the closing lines are intoned. I hope that sharing this with you now does not break our Lord's prohibition against public and show-offy prayer, but to pray in silence hidden in your room where no one can see.

As one who once knew the Office of Compline by heart (as it is chanted in the darkness of the evening), having recited it over a year with these same gentlemen, I found the quality of recording there frustrating in some verses, as the sound became quite muddy with the ambient resonance and reverberations, and the unity of voices tragically divided. Thus the listener might choose to follow this office with one of the many monastic diurnals available, including here on the amazon, as the home listener is free to light a lamp to read.

The central Biblical message and meaning nevertheless rings clearly:
Love, compassion, mercy, blessings and peace.
Faith Hope and Charity

Hear it here. Put it into practice at all times and places.

I pray the prime, sext and compline almost every day.

So in great expectation I played the CD and immediately I got all confused.

Then it just got worse and worse.

This is not a recording of the Vesper and Compline of the Divine Office.

This is a recording of the Post-Conciliar Liturgy of the Hours.

The monks of Solesmes do chant beautifully, but the material is flawed.

The Latin of the Liturgy of the Hours is awful.

It's like chanting the Tax Code.

Secondly, the sound quality of the recording is substandard.

It sounds as if they recorded it in a fishbowl.

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