Christian Prayer - Liturgy of the Hours

The "Divine Office" is the former name for the official daily liturgical prayer by which the Church sanctifies the hours of the day. The “Office” is the full cycle of canonical “Hours”, the official daily public prayer of the Church. The term was borrowed from the custom of the Jews, and passed into the speech of the early Christians. In the Acts of the Apostles there is reference to prayer being designated by the hour at which it was said. In our Church today, when the Hours are prayed by clergy and lay persons alike, even in private, we are united in this beautiful prayer, and participating with fellow Catholics all around the world, praying the official prayers at the same time.

The Second Vatican Council, valuing highly this long-standing custom of the Church and wishing to renew it, provided a new form for the prayer, revised so that it could more fittingly be used by all members of the Church in the circumstances of modern life. With Vatican II came the renamed Office – The Liturgy of the Hours.

The Hours consist of:
- Morning Prayer (Lauds) and Evening Prayer (Vespers) – the “hinge Hours” upon which the whole cycle of daily prayer depends.
- The Hour of Prime (First Hour, around 6 a.m.) was dispensed with for the universal Church as being an unnecessary duplication of the more ancient Lauds, although it may continue to be chanted in contemplative monastic communities.
- Midday Prayer – More brief than Morning and Evening Prayer, texts are provided for Midmorning, (Terce), Midday (Sext) and Midafternoon (None) Prayer. Contemplative communities are to observe all three, and others are encouraged to do so. But it is sufficient to choose one Hour from the three to pray, using the texts appropriate to the particular time.
- Night Prayer (Compline): to be said before retiring.
- Office of Readings – Three psalms or sections of psalms followed by a scriptural reading and a patristic reading. In contemplative communities this is to retain its “nocturnal character,” evoking the ancient Christian discipline of “keeping vigil” for the Lord’s return. For parish priests (and for active religious and laity who choose to say this Office), it may be celebrated the evening before, early in the morning or any time in the course of the day conducive to prayer and spiritual reading.

Hardcover. 4" x 7". Published in 1992.

See also:

Evening Prayerbook - Sunday Vespers, Liturgy of the Hours
Night Prayerbook - Compline Throughout the Year