They are big enough for all the human emotion in our inner worlds and outer world-all the various voices within us and in our world. There is ample room in these scriptures for the whole messy range of human experience. The frank words offering God joyful gratitude or deep despair and quiet hope or vengeful rage seem like a treasure in our Judeo-Christian tradition. I’ve prayed the divine office with large groups in beautiful chapels with incense and music, with another sister over the phone, and alone on airplanes or in bus depots.Īnd those extremes of emotion expressed in the psalms and canticles that were so off-putting to my 18-year-old self? They seem now to be a refreshingly candid reflection of the human experience. All of this fits into the larger sacred choreography of the liturgical year with its movements from Advent to Christmas to Lent to Easter, a wheel of sacred mysteries that turns each year.Īlthough the divine office is often thought of as a prayer for those in monasteries, lay Catholics have been encouraged to pray it since the Second Vatican Council. This pattern fits into the weekly rhythm, moving from Sunday to Sunday. Lauds (morning prayer), vespers (evening prayer), and compline (night prayer) feel like hinges as the day begins and ends. Clergy and apostolic men and women religious also pray the divine office, grounding their lives of active ministry in this common prayer. The divine office is central for cloistered monks and nuns, who pray not only in the morning, evening, and night but also at several other periods, including vigils in the middle of the night. The prayers of the divine office can be spoken or chanted and can be prayed individually or in a community of any size. Next are intercessory prayers, which are gathered together into the Lord’s Prayer. This is followed by a canticle-either the Benedictus, the Magnificat, or the Nunc Dimittis-and bookended by another antiphon. Today each period of the divine office is comprised of several psalms, each bookended with an antiphon (like a refrain) and a doxology (a proclamation of praise to God). Benedict, readings from the New Testament were woven in. As this ancient prayer form evolved through the time of the desert fathers and St. The divine office, or the “public prayer of the church,” began when early Christians maintained the Jewish practice of praying the psalms at particular points of the day. Wherever I am at internally, to recite or chant the divine office is to step into an ancient river of common prayer that began long before me and will continue long after. In moments when the wind is knocked out of me and I don’t know how to even begin to make sense of what is in my mind or heart, the office carries me. The architecture of the divine office, which once felt confusing and complex, now offers a reassuring frame. Nearly 20 years after that winter morning in the dormitory lounge, the divine office has become both familiar and beloved. Although I was a bit anxious about a chemistry exam and excited about my weekend plans with friends, my emotional state surely wasn’t reflected in the words we spoke together. The psalmist’s words of searing anger, euphoric joy, and bitter complaint didn’t reflect my own heart. In central Wisconsin during the winter, it’s still dark at 7 a.m., so the prayers about “greeting the dawn” seemed out of place. Moreover, the words we spoke didn’t feel like my own. Although she had arranged various colored ribbons to mark the correct pages in the thick breviary, I kept losing my place as I clumsily flipped from antiphons to psalms to the intercessions. Not fully awake, I made my way down to the residence hall lobby and tried to follow Samantha as we moved through Lauds. I was an 18-year-old college freshman, and my friend Samantha invited me to pray morning prayer with her. My first experience of praying the Liturgy of the Hours-also called the divine office-was hardly love at first sight.
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