{"id":3464,"date":"2008-12-16T07:49:24","date_gmt":"2008-12-16T07:49:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/2008\/12\/the-invitatory-venite-adoremus\/"},"modified":"2008-12-16T07:49:24","modified_gmt":"2008-12-16T07:49:24","slug":"the-invitatory-venite-adoremus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/2008\/12\/the-invitatory-venite-adoremus\/","title":{"rendered":"The Invitatory: Venite adoremus"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"-Peter_von_Cornelius,<\/a><\/span>
\nPrepare Thy Soul<\/strong>
\nOne might say that, in the structure of monastic Vigils, Psalm 3 (see my previous entry<\/a>) corresponds to the porch of the vast temple of the Night Office; it is an act of preparation. Does not the wise Sirach say, “Before prayer prepare thy soul: and be not as a man that tempteth God? (Sir 18:23)?
\nCall to Adoration<\/strong>
\nImmediately after Psalm 3 comes the Invitatory Antiphon; it is, as its designation suggests, a pressing invitation to adoration. Venite, adoremus<\/em>. It constitutes the narthex or vestibule of the Night Office; from the narthex the soul peers into the temple and sees, in the distance, the altar and the tabernacle of the Divine Presence, the object of all her desires.
\nThe Invitatory Antiphon is sung twice before Psalm 94, and then repeated in whole or in part between the strophes of the psalm and after the doxology (Glory be to the Father<\/em>).
\nThe King Who Is to Come<\/strong>
\nDuring the first part of Advent, that is, until December 17th, the Invitatory Antiphon is: Regem venturum Dominum, venite, adoremus<\/em>. “The Lord, the King who is to come: O come, let us adore.” The first part of the Invitatory points 1) to Christ whose advent in the flesh will be re-presented (made present again!) in mystery by the sacred liturgy at Christmas; 2) to Christ whose secret advent in the souls of the faithful occurs so often as they are visited by his grace; 3) and to Christ, the Bridegroom-King, whose advent in glory we await. We acclaim Him as our Lord and King; one must listen for the resonances with the entire Advent liturgy and, in particular, with Matthew 25:1-46.
\nA Masterpiece of Three Notes<\/strong>
\nThe Liber Hymnarius<\/a><\/em> gives two melodies for the Invitatory Antiphon (see p. 4): one for weekdays and one for Sundays. The one for weekdays, in the Sixth Mode, is a masterpiece of musical composition. It makes use of only three notes! Yes, three notes: fa, sol, and la! And yet, musically, it is anything but poor. One never tires of repeating it. Its chaste simplicity is a suitable overture to the Night Office during the week.
\nWake, Awake, for Night is Flying<\/strong>
\nThe melody given for Sundays is a trumpet blast in the Fifth Mode. In fact, if you sing the first part attentively, you can hear the beginning of the hymn tune<\/a> of J. S. Bach’s “Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme.”
\nWake, awake, for night is flying;
\nThe watchmen on the heights are crying:
\nAwake, Jerusalem, at last!
\nMidnight hears the welcome voices
\nAnd at the thrilling cry rejoices;
\nCome forth, ye virgins, night is past;
\nThe Bridegroom comes, awake;
\nYour lamps with gladness take;
\nAlleluia! \/ And for His marriage feast prepare
\nFor ye must go and meet Him there.<\/em>
\nSung Contemplation<\/strong>
\nThe melody of the Invitatory Antiphon given for Sundays emphasizes three key words with a rich melismatic development: Dominum<\/em> (Lord), venite<\/em> (O come), and adoremus<\/em> (let us adore). This is sung contemplation<\/em> in its purest form.
\nRepetition: Sing It Again<\/strong>
\nNote that the text of the Invitatory Antiphon does not change; it is the same on Sundays as on weekdays, and this until December 17th. This is one of the key principles operative in the liturgy of the Church: repetition. The repetition of the same liturgical texts is indispensable; one takes to heart what one learns by heart. The modern craze for variety and options is fundamentally inimical to “the spirit of the liturgy.”
\nThe Ve-níghty<\/em><\/strong>
\nNow, for the Venite<\/em>, Psalm 94 (95) itself: for over 1500 years this psalm has opened the Church’s daily round of praise. I will never forget hearing an English lady — very C. of E.– share her pious enthusiasm for what she called “The Ve-nighty<\/em><\/u>” at a meeting some years ago of the Barbara Pym Society of North America. Ve-nighty<\/em> or Vay-née-tay<\/em>, it is, day after day, the Church’s glorious entrance into the the great work of adoration in spirit and in truth.
\nWhen the psalm is sung to any one of the melodies given in the Liber Hymnarius<\/a>, the text is that of Saint Jerome’s old Roman Psalter, translated from the Septuagint. Even after Saint Jerome revised his translation, giving us the Vulgate, the Church retained the older version of Psalm 94.
\nThe Lord, the King Who is to come; O come, let us adore!
\nThe Lord, the King Who is to come; O come, let us adore!<\/strong>
\nPsalmody<\/strong>
\nIn choir, it is customary to have two cantors sing the Invitatory Antiphon once; then the whole choir takes it up. The cantors sing the psalm by strophes; the choir repeats the Invitatory Antiphon in whole or in part after each strophe. The Church’s tradition of psalmody admits strophic psalmody (i.e. four, five, six, or more lines) only for the Invitatory Psalm and now, more recently, for the Responsorial Psalm when it is sung at Mass. The usual psalmody at the Divine Office is sung by verses of two lines (mediant and ending) with an occasional verse of three lines requiring a flexus for the first line.
\nLectio and Meditatio<\/strong>
\nThis interplay of voices is significant; the sacred liturgy obliges us to listen (lectio<\/u>) and to give voice to what we have heard. The repetition of the Antiphon is a meditatio<\/u>, in the ancient sense of the word, that is, a repetition in view of the appropriation of the text by the heart.
\nA Choir of One<\/strong>
\nIn solitary recitation one has to make the necessary adaptations. I sing the Invitatory Antiphon, and recite the strophes of Psalm 94 quietly, except for the doxology, which I sing to the chant indicated in the Liber Hymnarius<\/a>. It is one of the loveliest moments of my day.
\nCome, let us exult unto the Lord,
\nlet us raise a jubilant song to God our Saviour:
\nlet us come before His Face with thanksgiving,
\nand with joyful psalms sing out to Him.<\/em>
\nThe Lord, the King Who is to come; O come, let us adore!<\/strong>
\nA great God is the Lord, and a great King above all the gods;
\n[for the Lord will not cast off His people]:
\nFor in His hand are all the ends of the earth,
\nand the peaks of the mountains He beholds.<\/em>
\nO come, let us adore!<\/strong>
\nFor the sea is His and He made it,
\nand His hands founded the dry land?<\/em>
\n[Here it is customary to kneel. This engagement of the body is integral to Catholic worship. One should feel adoration in one’s muscles and joints!]
\nCome in, then, fall we down before God in adoration,
\nlet us weep<\/strong> before the God who made us.<\/em>
\nThe Old Roman version and the Vulgate have us weeping<\/em>, whereas the Hebrew text has us kneeling<\/em>. With few exceptions, the entire corpus of Catholic and Orthodox commentaries on this psalm address “let us weep before the God who made us.” For this reason, the Church holds to it in the sung Office. Saint Peter Chrysologus says that these are “tears of joy, for gladness brings weeping, as well as sorrow, and then grief for our past sins is blended with the hope of blessing and glory to come.”
\nFor He is the Lord our God,
\nand we are His people
\nand the sheep of His pasture.<\/em>
\nThe Lord, the King Who is to come; O come, let us adore!<\/strong>
\nWould you but listen to his voice today!
\nDo not harden your hearts,
\nas they were hardened once at Meriba, at Massa in the wilderness.
\nYour fathers put me to the test, challenged me,
\nand had proof of my power.<\/em>
\nO come, let us adore.<\/strong>
\nFor forty years was I nigh to that generation
\nand said, These are are ever wayward hearts,
\nand they know not my ways,
\n[so] to them I took an oath in my wrath:
\nThey shall never enter into my rest.<\/em>
\nThe Lord, the King Who is to come; O come, let us adore!<\/strong>
\nA profound bow — hands crossed on one’s knees — accompanies the first half of the doxology, and thIs throughout the entire Divine Office Again, there is a physicality to Catholic and Orthodox worship. Even when the Divine Office is prayed in solitude or outside of a choral context, one ought to make the effort to include the traditional gestures that are integral to its make-up.
\nGlory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit;
\nas it was in the begining, is now, and ever shall be,
\nworld without end. Amen.<\/em>
\nO come, let us adore.
\nThe Lord, the King Who is to come; O come, let us adore!<\/strong>
\nTo be continued.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Prepare Thy Soul One might say that, in the structure of monastic Vigils, Psalm 3 (see my previous entry) corresponds to the porch of the vast temple of the Night Office; it is an act of preparation. Does not the wise Sirach say, “Before prayer prepare thy soul: and be not as a man that <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,10,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-advent-liturgy","category-matters-liturgical","category-monastic"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paVypq-TS","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3464"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3464"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3464\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}