Praying in the name of the church

The Liturgy of the Hours

The night of my ordination as deacon, I experienced Evening Prayer of the Liturgy of Hours in a completely new way.

I have been praying parts of the Liturgy of the Hours for decades. I began as a kid, praying parts of Liturgical Press’ A Short Breviary. For years I have tried to pray Morning Prayer (Lauds) and Evening Prayer (Vespers). When I lived in Ames I would often get up early and pray in a special prayer corner or in a rocking chair on a semi-enclosed porch when the weather was right.  Since November 2005, when I found the updated Short Breviary I have been nurtured most mornings with the Office of Readings from Benedictine Daily Prayer.

But the evening of July 14, 2016, I went up to pray in my prayer room and realized I was praying with the whole Church.

During the ordination of a deacon, the bishop asks the elect if he is willing to maintain the spirit of prayer. In English it reads:

Are you resolved to maintain and deepen a spirit of prayer appropriate to your way of life and, in keeping with what is required of you, to celebrate faithfully the liturgy of the hours for the Church and for the whole world?

But the question I heard that day in Spanish was a little different.

¿Quieres mantener y fomentar el espíritu de oración que corresponde a su manera de vida y, en este espíritu, según su estado, cumplir fielmente con la celebración de la liturgia  de las horas, en nombre de la Iglesia, más aún, en nombre de toda la comunidad?

I was being asked to pray the Liturgy of the Hours not merely for the Church and the whole world, but in the name of the church and all the community.

When I pray the Liturgy of the Hours, I am not praying alone. I am praying “in the name” of the church.

That even I realized that the prayers may not respond to where I am personally.

I seldom feel like cursing the children of Babylon, as in Psalm 137: 9. But there may be persons in the church and the wider world who are suffering so much that they wish the worst for their enemies.

I may not be feel all elated and justified, as in Psalm 118. But there are people who have lived faithfully and can pray this psalm without hypocrisy.

I may not be downcast, as in Psalm143. In fact, I may be feeling joyful, at peace. But there are people who are downcast, depressed, even to the point of considering suicide.

But I can pray in their name, to the God we share, in the community we share.

Just a few months ago, I finished Fr. Ronald Rolheiser’s One Great Act of Fidelity.  As I read his chapter, “The Eucharist as the Priestly Prayer of Christ,” I was led back to the night of my ordination.

In priestly prayer, we pray not just for ourselves, nor ideally by ourselves, but we pray as a microcosm of the whole world, even as we pray for the whole world. In this kind of prayer. we lift up our voices to God, not as a private offering, but in such a way as to give a voice to the Earth itself. (p. 91)

Rolheiser sees Lauds and Vespers as the ordinary priestly prayer of the laity.

…what is important in praying them is to remember that these are not prayers that we say for ourselves, nor indeed prayers whose formulae we need to find meaningful or relevant. Unlike private prayer and contemplation, where we should change methods whenever praying becomes too dry or sterile, Lauds and Vespers are prayers of the universal church that are in essence intended to be communal and priestly. They don’t have to be relevant for our private lives. We pray them as elders, as baptized adults, as priests, to invoke God’s blessing upon the world. And whenever we do pray them, we are, in microcosm, the voice, body, and soul of the Earth itself, continuing the high priesthood of Christ, as we offer prayers and entreaties, aloud and in silent tears, to a God who can save us. (pp. 92-94)

So, this Lent I have tried to be a little more open to praying even more in the name of the Church and the whole world – with the people I serve, with friends [and enemies] scattered far and wide, and with creation itself.

Rolheiser’s words put it simply, in words that touch this deacon’s heart:

…the church’s liturgical prayer is for the world, not for itself. The church, in this world, does not exist for its own sake, but as an instrument of salvation for the world. Its function is to save the world, not itself. In liturgical prayer we pray with Christ, through the church, but for the world. (pp.88-89)

Even better, we pray in the name of all God’s people scattered throughout the world, and in the name of all creation.

My practice of praying the Liturgy of the Hours is a bit idiosyncratic. I usually pray the Office of Readings from Benedictine Daily Prayer, unless it is a Franciscan feast and then I often use the propers of the feast from the Franciscan Supplement to the Liturgy of the Hours.

I usually pray the psalms of Lauds and Vespers in Spanish, but I usually use the hymn from Benedictine Daily Prayer. For the other prayers of Lauds and Vespers, I use those of Benedictine Daily Prayer or, occasionally, Franciscan Morning and Evening Praise.

 I do pray two hours in English, from A Shorter Morning and Evening Prayer: Monday Vespers and Friday Lauds because I like the translation of the Monday canticle and Psalm 51.

For Night Prayer, I use the little booklet from the US Catholic Bishops Conference. Recently, I have often been substituting the general closing prayer for the special ones. Here is a version of that prayer:

Visit, we beseech you, O Lord, this dwelling and drive from it all the snares of the enemy. Let your holy angels dwell here to preserve us in peace….