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The Use of “Night Prayer” at the Vigil for the Deceased with Reception at the Church

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2024

Joseph Sullivan
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Around ten years ago the Order for Christian Funerals (henceforth OCF) was published. Given personal extended pastoral and liturgical use, I would like to make one suggestion which may prove equally useful to others involved in preparing the Funeral Liturgy. I have found the use of “Night Prayer” of The Divine Office a real boon in celebrating the Vigil for the Deceased with Reception at the Church.

Type
Research Article
Information
New Blackfriars , Volume 81 , Issue 953-954 , July 2000 , pp. 264 - 272
Copyright
Copyright © 2000 Provincial Council of the English Province of the Order of Preachers

References

1 Episcopal Conference of England and Wales and Episcopal Conference of Scotland, (Geoffrey Chapman, London, 1990). The OCF is based on the Roman Ritual, Ordo Exsequiarum, 1969.

2 The Divine Office, Liturgy of the Hours according to the Roman Rite (Collins, London & Glasgow, 1974). J. D. Crichton wonders whether public recitation of Night Prayer is an “anomaly.” However he also recalls that on particular occasions St Benedict would gather the community during which Compline would be recited, cf. Christian Celebration: The Prayer of the Church (Geoffrey Chapman, London, 1976) p. 75Google Scholar, footnote 27. 1 will argue here that a Vigil for the Deceased would be an appropriate setting for Night Prayer.

3 “General Instruction on the Liturgy of the Hours,” n. 88 in The Divine Office, op. cit. p. 1.

4 Cf. The Liturgy of the Hours. The General Instruction with Commentary (Geoffrey Chapman, London, 1971), p. 109.

5 For example cf. O'Higgins, B., “The New ‘Order of Christian Funerals’: One User's Response” in Liturgy vol. 15 ‐ No. 6, Aug. 1991, p. 233Google Scholar. He does not seem to have considered the appropriateness of Night Prayer.

6 Jesus in fact here prays for the dead Lazarus, giving foundation to the Catholic Tradition regarding supplication for sins of the Deceased; cf. my article, Praying for the Dead in John, H. in Irish Theological Quarterly, 1995, vol. 61, Nos 3/4, pp. 205–211Google Scholar.

7 Cf. any standard hymnal of any Christian denomination.

8 The first Eucharistic Prayer has: “…qui… dormiunt in somno pacis” and “…et omnibus in Christo quiescentibus.” The second Eucharistic Prayer has: “…qui in spe resurrectionis dormierunt.”

9 I am aware that J. Ratzinger has shown the limitations of such imagery. If unaccompanied by the full tapestry of Catholic Doctrine such imagery could lead to the denial of both the Immortality of the Soul and the Beatitude of the Saints immediately after death (mox post mortem). Ratzinger traces a too literalist interpretation of falling asleep to M. Luther. The euphemism remains merely a euphemism without its Christian foundation: those who have died are alive in Christ. Though acceptable as a first step, those fallen asleep is only one poetic image. The New Testament insists on the centrality of belonging to the Lord “whether alive or dead.” Cf. J. Ratzinger Eschatoiogy, Death and Eternal Life (The Catholic University of America Press, Washington D.C., 1985), pp. 125–6 and p. 131. Here I am presuming that the use of Night Prayer is situated within the context of both the Funeral Liturgy the following day and a comprehensive catechesis regarding Christian death.

10 Or this article could be even better entitled: “The Use of Night Prayer at the Vigil for Those Asleep in Christ with Reception at the Church Building.” Although not the subject of this article, one wonders when ‘Church’ is going to return to its primary meaning in common usage, that is, as People (hierarchically and charismatically endowed) rather than Church understood as Building.

11 For comment on this triad cf. P. Gallagher, “A Theology of the Rites of Death” in Priests and People, pp. 407–411, especially pp. 408–410.

12 The translation used in the Divine Office is the Grail one. Hence, in this exposition, the notes on the Christian significance of the psalms given by A. Jones and L. Johnston will be followed, cf. The Psalms: Singing Version (Collins, London & Glasgow, 1966)Google Scholar. The notes of this book accompany a Grail translation. Additional comment has been gathered from Psalms J and Psalms 2 by C. Stuhlmueller (Michael Glazier Inc., Wilmington, Delaware, 1983). This latter is part of the Old Testament Message series, ed. by C. Stuhlmueller & M. McNamara.

13 Reg. Fus. Tract. XXXVII, III‐V, in Collectio selecta SS. Ecclesiae Patrum XLV (Parent‐Desbares, Paris, 1835) pp. 90–93Google Scholar.

14 Cf. Clifford, R., Deuteronomy (Michael Glazier Inc., Wilmington, Delaware, 1982) pp. 46–48Google Scholar. This and the following six exegetical footnotes are either from the Old Testament Message series, ed. by C. Stuhlmueller & M. McNamara or from the New Testament Message series, ed. by W. Harrington & D. Senior.

15 Cf. Collins, A. Y., The Apocalypse (Veritas Publications, Dublin, 1979), p. 150Google Scholar.

16 Cf. Reese, J., 1 & 2 Thessalonians (Veritas Publications, Dublin, 1979), pp. 60–61Google Scholar.

17 Cf. Senior, D., 1 & 2 Peter(Veritas Publications, Dublin, 1980), pp. 91–92Google Scholar.

18 Cf. Swain, L., Ephesians (Veritas Publications, Dublin, 1980), pp. 89–80Google Scholar.

19 Cf. Reese, J., 1 & 2 Thessalonians (Veritas Publications, Dublin, 1979), pp. 67–69Google Scholar.

20 Cf. Boadt, L., Jeremiah 1–25 (Michael Glazier Inc., Wilmington, Delaware, 1982), pp. 111–112Google Scholar.

21 For example cf. Duffy, E. An Apology for Grief, Fear and Anger” in Priests and People vol. 5, No. 11, November, 1991, pp. 397–401Google Scholar.

22 Cf. J. Jeremias; cf. “paradeisos” in Theological Dictionary of the New Testament V, ed. by Kittel, G. (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1968), pp. 770–771Google Scholar.

23 Cf. “The Background and Character of the Lukan Psalms,” in Journal of Theological Studies 19 (1968), p. 47Google Scholar; as referred to by R. E. Brown in The Birth of the Messiah (Image Book, Doubleday & Company, Inc., New York, 1979), p. 456Google Scholar.

24 C. Stuhlmueller links Ps 90 [91]: 14–16 to this Gospel Canticle, thereby con validating a more general application of the Canticle already inherent in Night Prayer, cf. Psalms 2, op. cit. p. 74.

25 The exegesis of R. F. Brown op. cit. (pp. 439–440 and pp. 456–460), is being followed and applied to the specific context of this article.

26 Cf. Bradshaw, P. F., Daily Prayer in the Early Church (Alcuin Club, S.P.C.K., London, 1981, rep. 1983), p. 151Google Scholar, one of the main conclusion to his historical inquiry.

27 For example, O'Higgins, B. The New ‘Order of Christian Funerals’: One User's Response” in Liturgy vol. 15— No.6, Aug 1991, p. 233Google Scholar. I have not found his suggestion to sing the Prayer (p. 234) so pastorally suitable.

28 However P. F. Bradshaw has challenged the ubiquitous assumption that the “hinges” (i.e. Lands and Vespers) were the most important in antiquity, cf. op. cit. pp. 150–151; and after scholarly criticism he maintains his position, cf. Worship 56 (1982) pp. 266–267 and Daily Prayer… op. cit p. ix. No one suggests any particular importance to Night Prayer, so far as I am aware.

29 I have presided at about 80 Vigils with Evening Prayer and perhaps 60 Vigils with Night Prayer.