Laity is encouraged to recite the Liturgy of the Hours

 

Daily prayer can be assisted by using the Liturgy of the Hours—the divine office.

 

Liturgy of the Hours normally consists of Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer (vespers). The prayers change for each day of the month and there are special prayers for feast days and the seasons of Lent, Easter, and Christmas.

 

Morning and Evening Prayer each take about 15 minutes. They consist of psalms, psalm prayers, a hymn, a reading from the Bible, canticles, and intercessions. There are also non-Biblical readings from Fathers of the Church.

 

Reading Liturgy of the Hours is required by priests and deacons. Some religious communities additionally say Day Prayer and Night Prayer as an assembly.

 

From ancient times the Church has had the custom of celebrating each day the Liturgy of the Hours. In this way, the Church fulfills the Lord’s precept to pray without ceasing, at once offering its praise to God the Father and interceding for the salvation of the world. Think of people saying Morning Prayer as the sun rises each day in each time zone around the world—continuous prayer to God.

 

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1175, says that, “The laity, too, are encouraged to recite the divine office, either with the priests, or among themselves, or even individually.”

 

Cardinal Bernardin, in The Gift of Peace, said this about the Liturgy of the Hours: “For me that’s a very important prayer. It’s a prayer of the Church, and I feel connected with all people, especially clerics and religious, who are reciting or praying the Liturgy of the Hours throughout the world. And so it gives me not only the feeling but the conviction that I’m part of something that is much greater. And secondly, a major portion of the prayers of the various hours are from the Psalms. I have found the Psalms to be very special because they relate in a very direct, human way the joys and sorrows of life, the virtues, the sins. They convey the message that good ultimately wins out. And as you see the people who are mentioned in the Psalms struggling to be united with the Lord, it gives you a certain amount of encouragement, knowing that even thousands of years ago this same thing was happening.”

 

If you need to increase or to change your holiness, the Liturgy of the Hours is available at Catholic bookstores. Even with the instructions in the book, using Liturgy of the Hours takes some practice. If you need help, ask a priest or deacon. A class is offered in October—see schedule below,

 

Evening Prayer is prayed weekly at 6:00 p.m. on Monday in the chapel.

 

Deacon Lee Hunt