What is the Divine Office? Show The Divine Office, also known as the Liturgy of the Hours (or “breviary” from the book containing the contents of the offices) forms, together with the Holy Eucharist, the full spectrum of the official liturgical prayer of the Church as Church—as the Body of Christ. The Office as the collective, public prayer of the people of God developed very early on and, as its focus on the Psalms shows, has roots in ancient Judaism before the advent of Christianity. It has taken countless forms over the many centuries, in both East and West. Nonetheless, these forms have always shared some key common features:
The Divine Office and Popular Participation: Unrealized Hopes The Second Vatican Ecumenical Council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, says Christ “continues His priestly work through the agency of His Church, which is ceaselessly engaged in praising the Lord and interceding for the salvation of the whole world. She does this, not only by celebrating the eucharist, but also in other ways, especially by praying the divine office.” (SC 83, emphasis mine) The Council Fathers further expressed a strong desire that “the divine office . . . be better and more perfectly prayed in existing circumstances, whether by priests or by other members of the Church” (SC 87, emphasis mine). Likewise, the 1983 Code of Canon Law’s Can. 1174 §2 states: “Other members of the Christian faithful [i.e. other than religious and those in holy orders who are under obligation], according to circumstances, are also earnestly invited to participate in the liturgy of the hours as an action of the Church.” Unfortunately, this renewal has not exactly happened on the grassroots level—to put it mildly. Most of us Western Christians have become profoundly unfamiliar with the Office even on the individual level, let alone parish or cathedral celebrations. By contrast, the Eastern Churches have generally maintained more of the tradition of public celebration of the Hours, and participation by the faithful in them. Especially for the last 500 years or so in the West, the Office has increasingly become part of the ordained priesthood’s private domain. It is time to follow the Church’s own wish and reclaim the Office for all of us as the public prayer of the Body of Christ. In my opinion, the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a millennium-old liturgical tradition that was once a staple of lay liturgical participation and parochial celebration, can once again be a bridge toward a future of this revitalization of popular liturgical piety. The Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary: A Very Brief Historical Sketch Sometime in the 8th century, the Benedictine monks of Monte Cassino started appending additional psalms and hymns to their regular monastic Office in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This ended up becoming what we know as the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Over the centuries, Our Lady’s Office gained immense popularity in the Western Church. Its hours were celebrated as public liturgy. Rich laypeople would commission scribes to create beautiful illuminated Books of Hours containing the Little Office and other prayers. Even the poor and illiterate who could not afford (or read) books could very easily familiarize themselves with the Little Office, because of its daily repetitive nature and few variable parts. And its focus on the perennially popular devotion to the Mother of God made it an instant winner for pious Catholics. The Structure of the Little Office Traditionally, the hours of the Little Office mirror those of the Divine Office in the Roman rite:
Which of these hours are best to add first when starting a personal or family prayer rule? According to the council fathers at Vatican II, “By the venerable tradition of the universal Church, Lauds as morning prayer and Vespers as evening prayer are the two hinges on which the daily office turns; hence they are to be considered as the chief hours and are to be celebrated as such.” (Sacrosanctum Concilium 89/a, emphasis mine) Alternatively, many may opt for Prime (“first hour,” a form of morning prayer significantly shorter than Lauds) and Compline (Night Prayer before bed), as the shortest and easiest to learn. In any event, an initial prayer rule may always be expanded later as the opportunity presents itself. A Lay and Parochial Office for Our Time? There are several reasons the Little Office suggests itself upon consideration as an ideal “on-ramp” for both individuals, groups of faithful, and even entire parishes and church communities toward a fuller liturgical spirituality. Unlike the full Divine Office, the Little Office does not involve complicated flipping between 3-5 different ribbons, or figuring out the current feast day and its rank, etc. The vast majority of the Little Office’s components are the same from day to day. Some of them vary slightly with important seasons (Advent, Christmas, Easter). Matins (the vigil hour, traditionally said in the middle of the night, before the break of dawn, or “anticipated” the night before) is the only hour that has a daily variable part. This repetitiveness can serve as a very powerful way to immerse people, including young children, into liturgical celebration, teaching them psalms, scripture, chant tones, etc. The experience of those churches that use the Byzantine rite can be very instructive here. Divine offices celebrated in a parish community are often much less variable than either pre- or post-Vatican II forms of the full liturgy of the hours in the Latin church. For instance, the several Vespers psalms in the Byzantine rite are fixed and repeated from day to day, and are separate from the component of variable psalmody that a parish would generally skip and leave to monastics with a lot more time on their hands. In my personal experience attending Byzantine-rite services, even 4- and 5-year-olds will sing entire psalms from memory simply because they are accustomed to it, and because they do not vary from service to service. There are several other reasons commending the Little Office to our individual, communal and parochial use:
I pray that there comes a time when a robust, vigorous liturgical spirituality is normal again for the entire people of God beyond clergy, religious and rare lay aficionados, and I suspect that the intercession of Our Lady, and the more widespread use of her Little Office, may end up playing an important role in such a future. How do you pray the Little Office of the Virgin Mary?Open my mouth, O Lord, to bless Your Holy Name: cleanse my heart from all vain, evil and distracting thoughts; enlighten my understanding, inflame my will, that I may worthily recite this Office with intention and devotion, and deserve to be heard in the presence of Your divine Majesty. Through Christ, our Lord. Amen.
How long does it take to pray the Office of readings?Pick ONE hour to start with.
Seven Hours a day are for religious communities whose vocation is to pray. And Hours is the name of the prayer. The actual prayers take about 10-20 minutes to pray.
How many hours is the Divine Office?By the time of Benedict of Nursia (480–548 AD), the monastic Divine Office was composed of seven daytime hours and one at night.
What times should the Divine Office be prayed?At most monasteries I know, these services would take place, at about 6:30 a.m., 5:30 p.m., and 7:30 p.m. respectively. Sext, or Mid-day Prayer, should be prayed at about noon. Matins, if you are really serious about the Divine Office really should be prayed in the dark before the sun rises.
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