The Office of the Passion

The Office of the Passion   St Francis’ Office of the Passion begins with the Easter Triduum at Complain of holy Thursday. During this time, Francis spent his Vigil walking with his Lord from Gethsemane to Golgotha. He specifies his first VII Psalms for these hours with one Psalm for every major hour of the church.   On the Saturday night, vigil of Christmas Day he set out his Psalm VIII for this purpose. With Psalm VIII Complain of Easter Day begins the Easter Period.   A journey with Francis through his first VII psalms tells me that he has set the Lord’s thoughts words, pain and other experiences into the words of his psalms; so they are not Francis’ songs of Pain; rather, through the prompting of the holy Spirit, they are the very thoughts and feelings of the Lord Jesus Christ himself!

Here are the Psalms against the hours:   Complain Thursday Night; Psalm I Matins- Good Friday; Psalm II Prime- Good Friday; Psalm III Tierce- Good Friday; Psalm IV Sext -Good Friday ; Psalm V Nones -Good Friday; Psalm VI Vespers-  Good Friday; Psalm VII Complain -Good Friday; Psalm I Matins- Holy Saturday; Psalm II Prime… continues as above. Complain Holy Saturday Psalm VIII.   Beginning with Psalm I, I hope to take us for a walk with Jesus from the Garden to the Cross.   At the end of my musings on Psalm X, said during the Advent Season, I made the statement that every one of Francis’ Psalms detail; “… Glory promised by the prophets and echoed from the lips of his only begotten Son is the promise of salvation through a tiny child.”     So  let us see whether my concept holds water!