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….
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