During his pontificate, Pope Benedict XVI said that there was one prayer that he wished all Catholics would learn to use. Can you guess what it is?
Not the rosary. Not the Divine Mercy Chaplet, either.
Here are some hints: This prayer is nearly as old as the Church itself. Most laity have no idea what it is, but your pastor says it every day.
Give up?
It’s the Liturgy of the Hours, also known as the Divine Office.
The Liturgy of the Hours is a repeating four-week cycle of psalms, biblical canticles, prayers and Scripture readings that has been part of the Church’s public prayer almost from the beginning.
The prayers vary in accordance with the liturgical season and also, like the Mass, commemorate the feasts of the Church calendar.
The complete Liturgy of the Hours is contained in four books, commonly known as the breviary. It is prayed at morning, midday, evening, night, plus a “floating hour” that can be done at any time.
Normally, laypeople who pray the hours only use one or two of these. Praying the two principal hours of Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer, either individually or in common, is especially encouraged by the Church. The single volume “Christian Prayer: the Liturgy of the Hours” contains both Morning and Evening Prayer, as well as Night Prayer, and is well-suited for the busy layperson.
The Liturgy of the Hours is also available on a number of websites and mobile apps.
The term “hours,” by the way, does not refer to the length of the prayers, which take perhaps 10 minutes to say. These short sets of psalms, readings and petitions are spaced throughout the day in order to sanctify the various parts of our day, hence the name “hours.”
From the apostles to apps
The Acts of the Apostles refers several times to St. Peter or other apostles going to the temple to pray at morning, afternoon or evening. Early Christians adopted this Jewish custom, adding New Testament elements to the Old when they gathered for daily prayers. Desert hermits and monastics expanded the daily hours of prayer.
St. Benedict, with his vision of liturgical prayer as the “work of God,” laid the foundation for the hours as they exist today, although there have been many revisions since his time.
For many years, the Liturgy of the Hours was seen as the spiritual territory of clergy and religious. The breviary was completely in Latin. Each of the hours took longer to say, since the entire 150 psalms were recited or chanted over the course of each week.
Cloistered orders, such as the Carthusians, Carmelites and Benedictines, saw the Liturgy of the Hours as their primary spiritual work. They assembled in chapel every few hours around the clock to pray, even rising in the middle of the night to do so. Active religious and parish priests also had to devote considerable parts of their day to the liturgy, although they were dispensed from chanting it and from having to say the prayers at rigidly fixed times of day.
Vatican II called for the revision of the Liturgy of the Hours in the 1960s. It was simplified in several ways in order to make it easier both for busy priests and for the laity. The hours were shortened, so that the cycle of psalms is now recited over the course of a month rather than a week. The Scripture readings became more varied. Vernacular editions were developed.
St. Paul VI expressed the wish that the revised Liturgy of the Hours would become “the prayer of the whole people of God,” recommending that it be prayed in parishes and by individuals at home.
St. John Paul II also promoted the Liturgy of the Hours. Quoting “Sacrosanctum Concilium” from Vatican II, he reminded Catholics at an April 2001 general audience that when we pray the hours, Jesus “attaches to Himself the entire community of mankind and has them join Him in singing His divine song of praise.”
Digital revolution makes it easier
More than 40 years after its revision, the Liturgy of the Hours is starting to gain ground among the laity. Its growing popularity has happily intersected with the digital revolution. Although today’s version of the Liturgy of the Hours is simpler than its older form, it still takes patience to learn to navigate a printed breviary, with its many sections and ribbon markers.
The advent of online breviaries and mobile breviary applications now makes the Liturgy of the Hours accessible to everyone. Some of these even include audio versions of the hours so that beginners can hear the prayers and have a “virtual community” to pray with.
Try it. You might like it.
Daria Sockey is the author of “The Everyday Catholic’s Guide to the Liturgy of the Hours.” She is also director of faith formation at St. Joseph Church in Oil City, Pennsylvania.