A few years back, I was introduced to one of the best kept secrets of the church. It is "the Prayer of the Church" and is officially called many things including the Divine Office and the Liturgy of the Hours.
Priests, Nuns and monks are required to say the hours as part of their commitment to prayer. Some are required to pray all "hours" and others only a portion of these. There are monks who get up in the middle of the night to "pray the hours". Now that is commitment!
The reason it is one of the best kept secrets is that everyone is encouraged to pray the hours but it seems that very few people in the church know this. Now don't worry...the Church isn't saying that you need to get up at 3:00am in the morning and pray Matins. But it is encouraging us to have daily prayer time. In prayer the Liturgy of the Hours, we are united with all those around the world praying it.
Right now, I only pray Night Prayer. I would like to pray more but I don't have the discipline to do that yet. Night prayer is quite beautiful. You start with a short prayer and then an examination of conscience. Next comes a song and then you read a psalm, a reading the old or new testament, some more prayers and then finally a prayer through Mary. If you raced, it could probably be finished in 5 minutes but if you take your time it should take around 10 minutes.
If you are interested in trying out this form of prayer, check out this website: http://www.universalis.com/liturgy-index.htm
2 comments:
Good to hear you pray the hours. I find them quite powerful too: you get much more from them than you put in!
:)
Well written article.
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