“Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour” (Matt 25:13). Jesus ends the parable of the ten bridesmaids with these words: ten young women waiting for the bridegroom, lamps in hand, some well prepared, others running out of oil. Monks took the advice seriously. In many abbeys, Vigils is sung in the middle of the night or before dawn, while the village sleeps and only the bakers are up. A Vigils emoji would begin with a single light burning in the dark.
The psalmist set the example by rising at midnight to give thanks (Ps 119:62). The office of Vigils is long, rich in psalms and in substantial readings from Scripture and the Church Fathers. Outside monasteries it has become the Office of Readings, which can be prayed at any hour. And then there are the great vigils, Christmas night and the Easter Vigil, which Saint Augustine called the mother of all holy vigils.
The keyboard offers 🕯️, 🌙 and ✨, which is a start. The scene itself is missing: an oil lamp still glowing at 4 a.m., a hooded monk standing in his choir stall, a lit window in a sky full of stars. Night owls finally have a theme of their own: draw the night at prayer.
Amen !by AI Generator
Amen !by AI Generator
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