The Office aka Liturgy of the Hours

“No man is an island.”  We need community.  Even God, when we first encounter Him in the Bible says, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” (Gen 1: 26) Of Course our God is Three Persons and since we, his creatures, are made in His image, we also need others.  Hence Eve, but that’s a different story.

There are plenty of times that we pray privately--all day in fact. “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us sinners.”  (Jesus prayer) But there are prayers that we pray in community.  The Mass is the best example.  The Liturgy of the Hours and the Rosary can be prayed both privately and in Community.  But the Liturgy of the Hours is special because it is prayed all day long, especially by religious communities.  So God is consistently being prayed to all day long by someone, somewhere, in the world.

Another great feature of Liturgy of the Hours, is that no matter how one is feeling, because I am praying the Office (Liturgy of the Hours), and the psalms, hymns, prayers, readings, and canticles, of the day and the time, may have the opposite sentiments of my current mood, I can feel comfort in the knowledge that my prayers are helping someone, and others are helping me. 

For example, today is a wonderful day.  A few days previous were beastly humid.  I was not getting a good, solid night’s sleep.  That heat wave broke yesterday.  Last night I slept wonderfully.  I woke up to the birds singing.  I also woke up early enough to go to the 7:00 Mass at the Abbey.  That’s a blessing.  My coffee brewed perfectly.  The scale said I lost a couple of pounds.  When I opened my Office, I saw Psalm 51.  Although I was in a joyous mood and was praising God, I pictured my “cloistered brothers” praying: 

Have mercy on me…in Your compassion blot out my offense.  O wash me more and more from my guilt and cleanse me from my sin.  My offenses truly I know them; my sin is always before me…O purify me, then I shall be clean;…A pure heart create for me, O God,…Do not cast me away from your presence, nor deprive me of you Holy Spirit. 

See what I mean?

I can join their pleas to God.  My joining their lament strengthens the communal bond between myself and them.  I help them and they will help me.  That’s the beauty of community.  That’s the flower of the Liturgy of the Hours.  

Judging

Sometimes, I wonder why God bothers with us.  People can be unfaithful, unthinking, dirty, miserable lowlife.  Really--why does God put up with us!  Why?

Reading a treatise Against Heresies by Saint Irenaeus, in this morning's office, I found one answer.  The saint says,

Just as a doctor is judged in his care for the sick, so God is revealed in his conduct with men.

Imagine that!  Following that line of thinking, St. Paul says,

God has made the whole world prisoner of unbelief that he may have mercy on all.

I'm gobsmacked!!  This is way beyond me.  Also, I kind of think it's passing judgement on God, which of course would be wrong--way out of line.  Who are we to even think of judging Him.  But wait a minute.  Don't people do this all the time?  When someone blames God for the bad that happens, aren't they judging God for what they perceive as His doing?

I think it's best just to trust God.  As mere humans, we can't see the whole picture, only the part that we play.  And I also think it's best not to judge anybody, let alone God.  Judge not, lest ye be judged.

LOL Over My LOH Story

No, LOH is not an internet acronym. It's not Net Lingo.  It used as the abbreviation for Liturgy of the Hours.  What's that?  It's a book of prayers to be prayed at certain hours of the day.  Before the ecumenical council of Vatican II, it was only read by priests.  Nowadays, anybody can pray it.  Next to the Mass, it is the most effective prayer the church has.  So much so, it is also called the Divine Office.

Just think, if you pray the readings at the prescribed times, you are praying with the world, because they are praying too.  Since the time zones change around the world, then all day and all night, people are praying to God.  Awesome!

I also figure, if you pray it whenever you can, you still are praying with others all around the world.  For example, today I was too busy.  (I'm having medical issues.)  So tonight, now that everything has calmed down, I'm going to take my LOH, and end the day praying all the readings and prayers that I should have prayed, during the day.

This picture is my LOH.  It's my personal prayer book, so I write in it and highlight what I want.  The yellow highlights are references to what will happen.  The pink highlights are imperative statements.  The blue are narrative.

There are also two different kinds of LOH.  There's a one volume that is perfectly fine.  Then there's a four volume LOH that includes extra readings.  I have a funny story about that.

I bought my first LOH in a second-hand store.  On the inside cover was the name of a priest.  I thought that the priest must have died and somehow his prayer book ended up in this thrift store.  I would pray for that priest, from time to time, whenever I used his prayer book.

One day, I went to a Thanksgiving Mass and it was announced that the Mass would be celebrated by Father ________--the priest whose book I was using!  I went up to him, after Mass, and told him.  I thought he was dead, and I was praying for his soul for a couple of years.  He said thank you, but he obviously was alive and well.  He had donated his LOH to the store because he had bought the four-volume LOH.
LOL!