Paper on Liturgy of Hours

Divine Office Today

Every community, however large or small, that prays the Divine Office should be aware of being a 'praying Church,' which represents the Universal Church. For those in more contemplative and monastic communities the Opus Dei is a special 'charism,' that is, gift of the Holy Spirit. It could be said that the Holy Spirit bestows the gift or 'charism of prayer,' or a ministry of prayer, to the individual members and to the contemplative community as a whole. The monastic community is one that has received the call to "pray without ceasing." This does not mean a perpetual presence in church, but rather a call to "pray always," in whatever occupation is being undertaken. The prayer is for the Church and the good of all, outwardly directed, for "the growth of the Body of Christ," as Saint Paul calls it in Ephesians 4:15. This does not discount the charism of perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, which some contemplative communities are devoted to. Many parishes today also maintain this venerable custom. By a 'ministry of prayer,' the praying Church, the monastic choir, continues the work of salvation, through Christ being present in Word and in Sacrament, when the Eucharist is celebrated. The two modes of public liturgical prayer--the Divine Office and the Mass--are great testimonies to Christ-in-our-midst. Christ is present in the assembly that gathers and proclaims God's Word and it also receives Christ truly present in the bread and wine, his Body and Blood, at the Eucharist. The monastic choir is also a dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, who bestows the particular charism or 'ministry of prayer.' The praying community should be attentive to the action of the Holy Spirit, who inspires a deeper longing for the living God. This is compared in the psalms to a "deer that yearns for living streams." We do this when we are attentive to God's living Word and his desire to bring us to good actions and words. This is the work of the Holy Spirit in the assembly of monks or whenever "two or three are gathered" in Christ's name. Christ is present in our liturgical prayer, uniting himself with the praying community in a relationship of Master and disciple, Head and member, Bridegroom and bride, Creator and creature. The members of the praying community--the monastic choir--are in communion with their Head, Christ, and participate in Christ's saving work. The ritual celebrations of the Divine Office are a strong means of entering into a dialogue of praise and contemplation of the God who saves us. The Opus Dei thus becomes a powerful part of every day and thus should not be neglected for other matters, however urgent. So many monastic communities today have dropped Vigils, for example, because of the demands of the apostolate or other works or even the priority of 'getting more rest,' are preferred to the 'Work of God.' Those who have the leisure, so to speak, to spend more time with God, should diligently carry out the full round of Offices in the monastic tradition. The Liturgy of the Hours is not the same as the Eucharistic sacrifice, but the two are intimately connected in the one saving work of Christ, who comes to us in many forms. When we partake of the Office or the Mass we are invited to "taste and see how good the Lord is," who loved us and gave himself up for us, which we recall at every Mass and Office when we participate through Word and Sacrament in a 'sacrifice of praise.' We bring the gifts of self and all we have, including bread and wine, to the Lord's altar, so that God may consecrate us and our gifts, and accomplish the two-fold purpose of all liturgical action: the sanctification of souls and the glorification of God. In 1970 Pope Paul VI wrote some challenging and encouraging words in his Apostolic Constitution Laudis canticum, 8:

· "May divine praise resound more and more splendid and beautiful in the Church of our time; may this praise unite itself to the praise which the saints and angels make sound in the celestial dwellings and, increasing its perfection in the days of this earthly exile, may it approximate more and more that full praise which is eternally rendered 'to him who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb'" (cf. Rev 5:13).

Theology of the Opus Dei

In the contemplative monastic tradition of the West, pride of place has always been given to the celebration of the Divine Office. Along with the daily Eucharist, the Opus Dei nourishes and forms the individuals and the community as a whole. "Let nothing be preferred to the work of God," Saint Benedict wrote in his Rule (RB 43.3, "Those Who Arrive Late at the Work of God"). This reflects the constant conviction of the Church that the Divine Office is to be among the primary responsibilities of the Church (see: General Instruction of the Liturgy of the Hours). All Christians are called to pray and common prayer is an important part of a 'life of prayer,' to which all believers are invited. Vatican II tried to re-introduce the laity to this important 'Prayer of the Church,' the Divine Office, and in some parishes it met with success. In many others, though, the Divine Office remains an unknown reality and rarely or never prayed. Praying communities such as our own can hopefully encourage others not committed to monastic or religious life to at least consider incorporating some of the Divine Office into their daily lives. We certainly meet in our monasteries today many who are zealous to be people of prayer and often they simply need to be directed to the riches contained in the Liturgy of the Hours. When a community gathers to pray the Divine Office, they represent the entire Church at prayer. It is not to be seen as a sort of 'pooling' of private prayers, but truly the Church praying as a body, in the name of all and for all, thus being again the 'Church at prayer.' The assembled community is a sign of communion among themselves in Christ the Lord who prays with them, and in the Holy Spirit who has called the community into being and bestowed upon it the charism (that is, gift of the Holy Spirit) of prayer and who "intercedes for us with sighs to deep for words" (Rom 8:26). The structure of the Opus Dei is intended to promote a conversation between God and his people (GILH), which includes both listening and responding, silence and words, Sacred Scripture and poetic texts reflecting Scripture themes, such as in the hymns. In more recent times silence has come to be valued as an important element in the Divine Office, most often after each psalm or reading. Such silence helps all to absorb the word that has been chanted or heard, so that it may take root and grow in attentive hearts. On the other hand, the silence must not be so long as to bore or cause distraction in the choir, such as one or all falling fast asleep! A balance is needed and will inevitably vary from community to community and between individuals within the community. The Work of God is one of several means of prayer in the monastic day. It holds pride of place, of course, along with the daily Eucharist. The daily horarium (schedule) revolves around the times we gather for the Office and Mass. As we are expected to pray in solitude as well as common, the Opus Dei should inspire our solitary prayer and vice versa. The prayer in solitude will probably have much less structure and ritual, but it is nonetheless a very important part of our 'life of prayer.' We may begin each day with the praise of God in common with others, but eventually we continue in secret, under the inspiration of divine grace, the dialogue with God begun earlier. The Opus Dei is spread over the day in order to consecrate the entire day to God. The old custom of waiting till the end of the day for the praying of all the Offices or praying them all at the beginning of the day, clearly defeats the notion of sanctifying the entire day by consciously stopping other activities to gather for prayer in the oratory or cell. We are to go back continually to the source of our energy and life--God himself--to draw further strength and inspiration to 'going about doing good,' as our Lord himself is described as having done. Three Liturgical Cycles: Daily, Weekly, Yearly The celebration of our salvation in Jesus Christ in the Catholic Church is carried out according to daily, weekly and yearly cycles. Both the Eucharist and the Divine Office reflect this structure and are celebrated accordingly. The mystery of Christ's Resurrection is the center of all three cycles, and so is ever-present to those who participate in the Liturgy of the Hours or the Holy Eucharist. Each day the Opus Dei begins with waiting for the Risen Christ (Vigils), welcoming him at dawn (Lauds), and throughout the day (Little Hours and Vespers), and finally placing ourselves under God's protection at day's end and the end of our life (Compline). In addition there are specific feast days of Christ, his Mother, the angels and saints, set before us in order to ponder God's mighty deeds through the ages. We recount throughout each day and the entire Liturgical Year the great things Christ has done and the heroic response of his followers as martyrs, confessors, doctors, holy men and women. The Mass of the day likewise reflects these realities in order to seek the intercession of the saints as well as the edification and sanctification of God's people. The weekly cycle of the liturgy begins by recounting Christ's resurrection, recalled on the first day of the week, Sunday. Of course in the Easter season this is the special focus, but really every Sunday is an opportunity to contemplate the Risen Lord. 'The Lord's Day' is to be unlike the other days of the week, with longer Offices, the singing of the Gloria at Mass (except in Advent and Lent) and the reciting or singing of the Nicene Creed every Sunday and Solemnity, and normally a different daily schedule with little or no work. The other days of the week are to be centered around Sunday. The Liturgical Year is our annual, year-long contemplation and celebration of the redemption of the human race in Jesus Christ. Rooted in the Paschal Season, we pass from Advent, to Christmas, to Ordinary Time and Lent, then Easter, the high point of the Liturgical Year, then Ordinary Time again until the cycle begins anew at Advent. Throughout the Liturgical Year various feasts and solemnities occur, drawing our attention to one aspect or another of the mystery of salvation in Jesus Christ, be it our Lord's Nativity, his Baptism or Ascension, or his Blessed Mother's Immaculate Conception, Birthday, Assumption, etc. Solemnities of the Apostles and particular patron saints are also included in the Liturgical Calendar each year. All of this is a way to recount with joy and deepen our awareness of God's unbounded goodness to the human race.

The Morning Office or Lauds

The Office prayed at sunrise, called 'Matutini,' (from the word for morning time) has always been a part of the monastic tradition. Today we call this office Lauds, meaning praise, to be associated especially with the repetition each day of Psalms 148, 149, 150 at the end of the psalmody, before the short lesson, response, hymn and canticle of the Gospel, the Benedictus are prayed. According to John Cassian, this Office of praising Christ as the new light appears on the horizon, was being prayed around the year 360 in Bethlehem, the place of our Lord's birth. Like private prayer and nighttime vigils, the idea of a morning office probably extends back much earlier in the Church, but a precise date cannot be assigned to its origin. Early Christian monks adopted the custom of meeting at daybreak, as well as in the predawn, and associated the office at dawn especially with our Lord's resurrection from the dead. The psalms most often associated with Lauds include Psalm 66 ("Let your face shed its light upon us"); Psalm 50 ("Have mercy on me, God, in your kindness") and the just mentioned Psalms 148-150. In the office according to the Rule of Saint Benedict, these five psalms are repeated each day at Lauds. Other psalms too are linked with Lauds, for example Psalms 5, 35, 42, 56, 62, 63, 64, 87, 89, 117, 142, (Greek Septuagint numbering), all of them with some reference to daybreak, a new day, a new beginning. Each day at Lauds an Old Testament Canticle, also in a poetic, psalm-like structure is used at before the laudate psalms (that is, Psalms 148, 149, 150). Like Vespers, the Office of Lauds has a Gospel canticle, the Benedictus, the 'Canticle of Zechariah,' from Saint Luke's Gospel, prayed while standing, as is customary for a text from the Gospels. Similarly, the Magnificat, the 'Canticle of the Blessed Virgin Mary,' is sung each day at Vespers. These two daily offices--Lauds and Vespers--are often called the 'pivotal' ones of the day, the hinges on which the day turns, and so they are not to be omitted, even if for some reason Vigils or some other Office cannot be prayed on a particular day because of extraordinary circumstances. Like the Sunday Mass obligation, illness is an extraordinary circumstance and obligation is lifted. Among the laity or active religious, the Offices of Lauds and Vespers are the most commonly celebrated offices, as a remembrance and celebration of God's creation at the beginning of a new day in 'the light of the Risen Christ,' as the sun rises in the east, and at the end of the day, as the sun is setting in the west. The two offices are complimentary. Most active congregations limit themselves to Lauds and Vespers offices, often with the addition of one of the little hours--usually at midday perhaps--and perhaps Compline as well. As at Vespers, the Pater Noster holds a special place toward the end of Lauds. In the Rule of Saint Benedict it is the abbot alone who chants the Our Father at Lauds and Vespers, with the brethren coming in at the end, "but deliver us from evil." We might ask why would the superior be expected to sing the Our Father alone. A sermon by Saint Augustine (serm. 49.8) may be the explanation. In that sermon Saint Augustine notes that some people omit the part for forgiveness in the "Our Father," thinking they are not obligated to it. If the superior recites it, as in the Benedictine custom, then all hear the admonition and are obliged to live in the spirit of interpersonal forgiveness. Perhaps this is where Saint Benedict got the idea, via the Rule of the Master, which pre-dates the Rule of Saint Benedict, but contains a lot of the same material in an expanded form. In another place (in Jo. 26.22) Saint Augustine says that the recitation of the words "forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us," even forgives lesser sins and prepares the heart to receive the Eucharist. By having the monks recite the last past of the Pater Noster, Saint Benedict seems to imply that the community is entering into a solemn pact or covenant to know and observe all the petitions of the Our Father, especially that of mutual forgiveness, since in community that can be one of the most difficult yet necessary of tasks. In any case, it is the superior who traditionally chants the Our Father at Lauds and Vespers in the Benedictine office, though many monasteries no longer follow the practice.

Vespers

Vespers, whose name literally means shadows, is the traditional evening prayer of the Catholic Church. Its celebration was and is to take place when evening comes and lamps are lit, though Saint Benedict implies it should be done before any lamps are needed. The origins of this Office pre-date monasticism itself and are linked to the evening sacrifice of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem at sunset. Like the prayer in common at sunrise, a protracted evening prayer was likely part of the liturgical life of the earliest monastic communities. The structure of the two main prayer times of Lauds and Vespers has always been similar: psalmody, a lesson, response, hymn, New Testament canticle of Zechariah (at Lauds) or of Mary (at Vespers), a litany of intercessions, the Our Father, the Kyrie eleison, and the concluding prayer. The placement of the hymn at the beginning of each and every office was an innovation of modern times that alters the tradition of a subtle variety within the ancient structure of the Divine Office. At the Little Hours the hymn begins the Office, but in the offices of Lauds, Vespers and Compline, Saint Benedict describes the hymn as coming in the middle of the office, after the chanting of the psalms, lesson and short response. At Vigils, the hymn is quite near the beginning, after Psalms 3 and 94. These minor variations gave each office a distinctive flavor, subtle though it be. Some monasteries have maintained the position of the hymn according to the Rule of Saint Benedict. Some, like my own, about twenty-five years ago, have restored the hymn to its placement in the office according to what is found in the Rule of Saint Benedict.

These are excerpts from a lengthier discussion of the Liturgy of Hours taken from:

http://christdesert.org/The_Porter/Opus_Dei/index.html

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