aeternus

I recall hearing the following informational before concerning the “titles” for each of the “hours”. Perhaps this happened years ago when I began my practice of the Liturgy of the Hours prayer and integrated it into my life, but I had since forgotten it. I will say that the good thing about lacking a proper memory and forgetting what you have already been taught is that you can get very excited about learning something wonderful all over again! It never even occurs to you that you have forgotten something and so you don’t feel bad about yourself!

I’m sure many, many people already know that praying the Divine Office is a way of participating in the salvation won in the death and resurrection of Christ. This prayer is a public and common prayer by the people of God and it is rightly considered to be among the primary duties of the Church. Now, notice, we say primary duties of the Church - not just Priest, nuns and consecrated religious! This prayer is for everyone!

Through the formation of the church prayer in common gradually took the form of a set cycle of hours. Now, in praying these hours, we find them a way to recall Christ’s passion. Each of the “seven hours” is linked to an aspect of Christ’s Passion:

• Matins — Office of Readings - The Agony in the Garden
• Laudes — Morning Prayer - Jesus is Condemned to Death
• Terce — Mid-morning - Scourging & Crowning with Thorns
• Sext — Mid-day - The Way of the Cross
• Noon – Mid-afternoon - The Crucifixion
• Vespers — Evening Prayer - Jesus taken down from the Cross
• Compline — Night Prayer - Jesus placed in the Tomb

So maybe you do not have time to participate in the liturgy by taking time out to recite the psalms, but you can always take a moment for reflection and meditation with your breviary and just think about Christ’s passion during these times of the day…