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Scripture and the Liturgy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 August 2024

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When St Dominic's successor, Blessed Jordan of Saxony, a man remarkable for shrewd common sense, was asked which was better, studying the Scriptures or praying, he replied: You might as well ask me which is better, eating or drinking. A meticulous critic might argue that liquid nourishment is even more indispensable than solid, that no man can be saved without prayer, that prayer can save those ignorant of the Scriptures. In the concrete, however, for ourselves, Scripture and prayer, like eating and drinking, are indispensable.

Must they however be wholly separated? Can they not be, to a considerable extent at least, combined? They can, because they are.

The liturgy—Mass and Divine Office—is largely (the Office mostly) prayer in the words of Scripture, and both Mass and Office provide lessons from Scripture. The liturgical Gospels cover the greater part of the Fourth Gospel, and for a rough guess two-thirds of St Matthew and a half of St Luke.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © 1954 Provincial Council of the English Province of the Order of Preachers

Footnotes

1

The substance of a paper read to the Conference on 17 September, 1953.

References

2 I might suggest for Eastertide the following selection of Psalms: prime 53, 117, 125; Terce 15, 20, 23; Sext 29, 65, 75; None 95, 97, 114.