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Liturgy of the Hours
THE OFFICIAL prayer of the Roman Catholic Church is known as Liturgy of the Hours, or Divine Office. The roots of this prayer go all the way back to the Jewish practices before the time of Christ. Jesus and his disciples prayed this form of prayer. As such it was carried over into the devotion of the early Christian Church and continues in an unbroken tradition down to our own day.
IN BOTH the Jewish and Christian traditions the Liturgy of the Hours was the prayer of all the people, clergy and laity. Due to various circumstances however, in the Christian Church it soon became the particular prayer of clergy, nuns and monks for many centuries. The resurgence of the Liturgy of the Hours among the laity is one of the blessings flowing from the liturgical reforms of Vatican II.
We, at St. Clare's, strive to celebrate each hour as close to its proper time as we are able. In this manner we consecrate to God the cycle of night and day, the liturgical seasons and the whole gamut of human activity. The Liturgy of the Hours is also the chief means for achieving unceasing prayer, mindfulness of God and transformation in Christ.
VIGILS, or watching in the night, is celebrated in the middle of the night during which we meditate on salvation history as it unfolded down through the ages. The office of Vigils consists of a hymn, psalms, readings, both scriptural and patristic, and canticles suitable to the spirit of the midnight hour when one awaits the arrival of the Bridegroom (Mt 25:6; Mk 13:35). In monastic communities the concentration on vigilance began with this office continues until lauds. Monastics spend this time enveloped in and supported by darkness and silence, in lectio divina, prayer and meditation.
LAUDS is celebrated at daybreak when the sun is dispelling the night and the new day is born. The Church has always considered the sun to be a symbol of Christ rising from the dead. This prayer is called Lauds because it is a laudatory liturgy of praise in the early morning light. We thank God for the first light at the beginning of creation and for the second light of our redemption in Christ's paschal victory. It is a joyful, optimistic hour reflected by the hymn, psalms and canticles.
MIDDAY prayer, takes place when the sun is at its apex and one has become a bit weary and mindfulness is all but impossible. It is a time for earnest prayer to resist temptation, to keep from being overcome by the demands and pressures of life. Reminded of Christ being crucified at the sixth hour, we unite ourselves with Him. We are aware of failures and mistakes and pray for deep and abiding conversion even to the point of sacrifice.
VESPERS, celebrated at day's end, takes on the character of evening. The day is almost over, our work is done. The golden evening light is like old, mature wine, and in some late summer and autumn days it is like gold, transfiguring our world and making it transparent for God. This is the hour of wise age, of resting in thanksgiving and humility after the struggles, successes and failures of the day of productive life.
COMPLINE comes from the Latin which means to complete. It is the last prayer before retiring for the night, we pray it privately. It marks the completion of our day and heralds life's end. It leads back into the darkness of the night. This is the darkness of God's mysterious presence, the abyss of mercy into which God lets us fall. Compline may be understood as a daily exercise in the art of dying. For what is sleep if not a little rehearsal for death? But dying a death which will open the fullness of life and light. The core of this hour is the song of old Simeon on the threshold of death: "Now Lord, you will let your servant go in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your saving deed which you have set before all: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for the glory to your people Israel" (Luke 2:29-32).
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