#Morning prayer divine office how to
#Morning prayer divine office series

This is the case whether you are talking about prayer or about even the most basic activities of day to day life. Our lives can get busy and with that it can be easy to neglect or forget things. The key to praying the Office is, like all forms of prayer, establishing the habit of it.

#Morning prayer divine office how to

So then, with that setting the framework of our discussion, let's move on to considering some practical tips on how to go about praying the Divine Office.Įstablishing the Habit and Routine of Prayer In fact, if there were only one or two hours of the day that you could pick, I would strongly recommend that it be one of these two - or both ideally. While some have chosen to take up praying minor hours such as Terce or Sext, possibly because of this aforementioned time concern, I would certainly encourage them to advance onwards to Lauds and Vespers. As well, these offices bring with them a greater variety of psalms, not to mention the great canticles of the Benedictus and Magnifcat, and are penetrated more deeply by the proper of the season. There are various reasons for this, but amongst them include the fact that this separation of hours help penetrate one's day at the beginning, end and in between with the liturgy and prayer of the Church.

These are key hours of the Divine Office and it is these three offices that I would likewise encourage people to make their goal to take up each and every day. You will note that the Pope also made specific reference to Lauds, Vespers and Compline - Morning, Evening and Night Prayer. Our relationship with God can only be enriched by our journeying towards Him day after day I would like to renew my call to everyone to pray the Psalms, to become accustomed to using the Liturgy of the Hours, Lauds, Vespers, and Compline. This is not the case - and in point of fact I wouldn't recommend it for laity (unless you are home-bound or retired).Īs for this other idea that the Office is too clerical, that certainly isn't what the Church says or thinks and in 2011 Pope Benedict XVI offered his own reflection on this at a Wednesday general audience: Of course the other mistake that often influences this idea that the Divine Office is 'too long' is the misunderstanding that if one is going to pray the Divine Office one needs to pray all of the hours. On average I would estimate that a prayerful reading of the Office, one that is said neither too rapidly nor slowly in other words, will probably you see invest 10-15 minutes for each of the major hours of Lauds and Vespers for example - and approximately 10 minutes for Compline (understanding, of course, that when one is first learning something, it always takes a bit longer than it normally will otherwise). With regard to this objection let me state categorically and unequivocally that it is misplaced and a myth.

By adopting this worthy practice you are allowing yourself not only to be imbued with the richness of the psalms and sacred scripture, you are also being formed liturgically, following the liturgical calendar and seasons of the Church more closely and allowing the liturgical prayer of the Church to penetrate and form your day, each and every day, and not solely on Sundays.Īt the same time, however, there can also be a reservation expressed by some who feel that the Divine Office is simply too much work, too time consuming, too 'clerical' or 'monastic' for the laity the pursue and so (the thinking goes) the laity should just stick with other devotions and not trouble themselves with the breviary.

This is very encouraging for in terms of the various forms of prayer that one might undertake, the Divine Office should rank very high as a primary consideration - it, after all, forms a part of the Church's liturgical prayer and is a source of very great comfort and liturgical formation.

#Morning prayer divine office series

Usually going hand in hand with this is a series of questions about how one can go about praying it. The subject of the Divine Office is one that I like to raise from time to time and it often brings with it a swell of interest and curiosity.