…lifting of my hands like an evening offering
Much could be said about evening prayer — Vespers — which has a lengthy history going back to the vesper hour celebrated solemnly in the Old Testament. We shall briefly look at three aspects meaningful in contemporary evening prayer.
The first is expressed very simply by St. Basil: “We give thanks for what has been given during the day, or for the things we have done well during it.” We also look forward to the evening and night ahead and ask the Lord to bless it.
The second aspect has its origin in the Jewish celebration of vespers. It was the custom under the Old Law to offer sacrifice and incense at this hour.
Now the evening sacrifice of vespers has come to mean, as stated by St. John Cassian, “That true evening sacrifice which was given by Our Lord and Savior when he instituted the most holy mysteries of the Church at supper with his apostles; or which, on the following day (Good Friday) he offered for all time to his Father by the raising up of his hands for the salvation of the whole world.”
At vespers, the Christian offers a sacrifice of praise in memory of, and in thanksgiving for, our Lord’s eternal sacrifice given for the world. We refer to this offering when we sing our hymn from psalm 140: “Let my prayer rise like incense before you, the lifting of my hands like an evening offering.”
The third aspect is expressed in the very word “vespers,” which takes its name from the Latin word for “evening star.” Thus, St. Cyprian writes concerning evening prayer: “At the sun’s setting and at the decline of day, of necessity we must pray again.
For since Christ is the Sun and true Day, as the worldly sun and worldly day depart, when we pray and ask that light may return to us again, we pray for the advent of Christ, which shall give us the grace of everlasting light.”
For this reason, in praise of Christ, the true Light and the true Day, we sing with the early Church the hymn: “Gladsome radiance and light of heaven, the holy glory of God the Father, immortal heavenly Lord Jesus Christ. And now in that we come to sunset, now that we have seen the evening light, we sing and praise the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Lord, God divine.”
Image: Hillside Vespers by ©Patrick Stewart, Madonna House.
