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Brother Tomás
@brother_tomas
Prayer

The Salve Regina in the dark

At Compline we turn the lights down until there is only the one lamp by the icon of Our Lady. Then the Salve Regina, from memory, because nobody can see the book anyway.

Brother Anselm is eighty-three and sings a quarter-tone flat. For my first month I found it maddening. Now I listen for him. If he isn't there, something is wrong.

After the last note comes the Great Silence, until morning. No talking in the corridors, just shoes on stone and the bell. I'm learning that the silence is not an absence of prayer. It is where the prayer goes to finish itself.

Christian Mysticism#compline#chant#silence
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Replies

3 replies
  1. Grace Adeyemi

    'Where the prayer goes to finish itself.' I'm writing that inside the cover of my psalter. A nod to Brother Anselm from an alto who also goes flat.

  2. Yusuf Demir

    Every circle of dhikr has its Brother Anselm. The voice that is slightly off is often the one most fully there.

  3. Rowan Ashby

    Not my tradition, but I got goosebumps at 'nobody can see the book anyway.' Thank you for letting us stand at the back of the chapel for a minute.

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