Exercise your priesthood: Pray the Liturgy of the Hours.

Folks, my better-known colleague, Shawn Tribe, blogger at The New Liturgical Movement wrote a very fine personal meditation on The Delights of the Divine Office and Lay Life which I think y'all ought to read. I also love the picture of the monks praying with those giant chant books opened before them. I reproduce both the picture and the starting paragraph below:

My mind has turned yet again to the topic of the Divine Office -- though it never strays far from it admittedly. In part this is for reason that some have written me about this topic in recent days, and in part because, through the action of daily praying it, I am continually struck by the edification, consolation and formation one receives by taking up the praying of the Hours; of being daily immersed in the riches of the psalms, the canticles and the liturgical year. I further find myself constantly delighted at its ability to connect one to the Missal and to the seasons, both the liturgical seasons and even the natural seasons; and further still, to the very cycle of the day itself, where it not infrequently -- and at the appropriate times -- touches on themes of the darkness of night, the light of day, and the fading of the light in the evening, wrapped around theological imagery and themes

Like Shawn states later in his meditation, I too started praying the Liturgy of the Hours in the early 1990's. I was very inconsistent at first, and I didn't always understand what I was doing or the way I was doing. Slowly, steadily, I took repeated plunges into this treasure of prayer, the official prayer of the Church.

After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, I felt renewed motivation to "stick" to the prayer. I reasoned at the time that, since there were thousands of Muslim extremists in the world bent on our destruction that at least I could pray twice a day for their conversion and for peace. With that imperfect motivation, I restarted the practice.

Praying the Liturgy of the Hours (also known as "The Divine Office" and "The Breviary") has blessed my life. I have committed myself to praying Morning and Evening Prayers. As my duties allow or as the Spirit leads, I pray other hours as appropriate. They now form the backbone of my journey, the "bookends" of my day. I can't live without them. The day seems incongruous and incomplete if I skip one or the other prayer.

Praying the Psalms have changed me. First, I started noticing the subtleties in the text, in the prayers and then, the wide range of emotions captured by the different psalmists. As a military person, I immediately connected with the "military psalms," those that talk about anguish, persecution, fear, hope, and victory over one's enemies. I could also see how they can be "spiritualized" into modes of spiritual combat without losing sight of their original, literal meanings and settings.

Worship, adoration, surrender, and bliss are other emotions and attitudes I encountered in the Psalms and then, they started to "grow" in me. It's difficult to be a violent, angry person if one prays the Psalms.

Besides the Psalter, the Divine Office includes Canticles from the Old and New Testaments, as well as readings and of course, the Gospel Canticles of the Benedictus, the Magnificat and for Night Prayer, the Nunc Dimittis. Since I use the "post-Vatican II" Breviary, I'm also able to read great swaths of Holy Scripture, as well as readings from the Fathers (and Mothers), Doctors, and Saints of the Church in the Office of Readings. Since the Liturgy of the Hours follows the Liturgical Cycle, one is always close to the heart of the Church, her feasts days and holy days, and their intrinsic teachings. Praying the Office amounts to grow in peace, wisdom, and grace in the mind of the Holy Spirit, which is the mind of the Church.

In this context of holy, corporate prayer, I want to bring your attention to this very important text from the Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium promulgated by the Second Vatican Council:

10. Christ the Lord, High Priest taken from among men, made the new people "a kingdom and priests to God the Father". The baptized, by regeneration and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, are consecrated as a spiritual house and a holy priesthood, in order that through all those works which are those of the Christian man they may offer spiritual sacrifices and proclaim the power of Him who has called them out of darkness into His marvelous light. Therefore all the disciples of Christ, persevering in prayer and praising God, should present themselves as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. Everywhere on earth they must bear witness to Christ and give an answer to those who seek an account of that hope of eternal life which is in them.

Though they differ from one another in essence and not only in degree, the common priesthood of the faithful and the ministerial or hierarchical priesthood are nonetheless interrelated: each of them in its own special way is a participation in the one priesthood of Christ.(2*) The ministerial priest, by the sacred power he enjoys, teaches and rules the priestly people; acting in the person of Christ, he makes present the Eucharistic sacrifice, and offers it to God in the name of all the people. But the faithful, in virtue of their royal priesthood, join in the offering of the Eucharist.(3*) They likewise exercise that priesthood in receiving the sacraments, in prayer and thanksgiving, in the witness of a holy life, and by self-denial and active charity. (Source)

I am of the opinion that we, the laity, exercise our priestly prerogatives the best when we pray the Liturgy of the Hours, which is second only to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in its importance to the life of grace in the Church. In fact, our Pastors encourage us to pray "parts" of the Liturgy of the Hours:

27. Lay groups gathering for prayer, apostolic work, or any other reason are encouraged to fulfill the Church's duty, by celebrating part of the liturgy of the hours. The laity must learn above all how in the liturgy they are adoring God the Father in spirit and in truth; they should bear in mind that through public worship and prayer they reach all humanity and can contribute significantly to the salvation of the whole world.

Finally, it is of great advantage for the family, the domestic sanctuary of the Church, not only to pray together to God but also to celebrate some parts of the liturgy of the hours as occasion offers, in order to enter more deeply into the life of the Church. (Source)

In a parish celebration, within one's family, and individually, we should pray the Divine Office as a routine practice, ahead of various novenas and other favorite periodic prayers (from which I wish to exempt the Holy Rosary, which not only derives from the Divine Office, but also leads to contemplation. I would say that the Rosary takes an honored third place behind Holy Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours in everyone's prayer rule.). Like I've said, I've been graced with the constant desire to pray "parts" of the Liturgy of the Hours - Morning and Evening Prayers and occasionally other parts - to my great spiritual joy, consolation, and spiritual growth. Since I'm no one special, if I can do this and stick with it for such a long time, so can you, so can anyone else.

I'm going to finish with an invitation to read The Divine Office for Dodos: A Step-By-Step Guide to Praying the Liturgy of the Hours, the best beginner's guide to praying the Liturgy of the Hours and remember: exercise your priesthood. Pray the Liturgy of the Hours.