Growing up, prayer was not something that was embedded unto my brothers or me by my parents. Neither was Mass for that matter. Yet, even though prayer life was not encouraged, my soul still longed for a connection with something, someone, a supreme being or an entity. As I grew in Christ, my prayer life started to blossom. I have had my share of downfalls along the way but prayer has always been present even if it is only a shadow lurking in the background. Now that I am a seminarian my prayer life has changed a bit for the better. I am praying what I have never prayed before and doing it three times a day. It is the prayer of the Divine Office or Liturgy of the Hours.
The Liturgy of the hours is the prayer of the Church. It is composed of Psalms, Biblical and non-biblical readings, intercessions, and prayers. All these things unite God’s people and strengthen the Church. We can see in the Acts of the Apostles how our fathers in the faith would pray at different hours of the day. “The next day, while they were on their way and nearing the city, Peter went up to the roof terrace to pray, about the sixth hour” (Holy Bible Acts 10:9). “Now Peter and John were going up to the temple area at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour” (Holy Bible Acts 3:1). “About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God” (Holy Bible Acts 16:25). The meaning of these different hours of prayer makes reference to the Jewish calendar. Today we count days from midnight to midnight but the Jews do not. In Jewish tradition, the day was from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Hence, the third hour refers to 9 in the morning- three hours after 6 a.m., the sixth hour refers to noon- six hours after 6 a.m., and the ninth hour refers to 3 in the afternoon- nine hour...
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...te today in the liturgy along with the entire Church. This prayer paints the face of Christ, gathers all the Church’s prayers and presents them to the Father. The Liturgy also is in intertwined with the Holy Mass. The readings, psalms or teachings of each Mass are similar to that of the Divine Office for each day. The Liturgy of the Hours celebrates along with the Church and each Mass every feast, memorial, solemnity, and season of the Catholic Church.
The prayer of the Divine Office has helped me to grow spiritually and to love the Church even more. My hope is to not let a day pass without saying my Office, as a Seminarian and God willing, as a Priest. This prayer reunites all of God’s people in a single voice asking the Father to makes us one so that the world may believe again.
Works Cited
The New American Bible. Iowa Falls: World Bible Publishers, Inc. 1987.
highlights the importance of the sacraments and the clergy, can be seen as a response on
E.M. Bounds wrote a wonderful book devoted to prayer entitled Power Through Prayer. This book encourages the preacher to become a true prayer warrior. E.M. Bounds has written many books on prayer, encouraging Christians to devote their life to prayer. Since the writer is coming from a preacher background himself, one can clearly see the passion he has for prayer in his life. Fellow preachers will hopefully be encouraged by this and want to devote their life to prayer, so that they will better their preaching. Bounds exemplifies through his work that preaching has no power without prayer. He also sets forth the idea that prayer is the life-giving force behind our work for God. In reading this book, it inspires one to pray more and be able to be more effective in their ministry.
The term liturgy has its basis in Greek mythology. It can be defined as a form of worship that is that is done according to particular beliefs and practices that are held by a certain group of people. The beliefs and the rituals are usually practiced by the whole group. It may be understood as a ritual that is usually elaborate. Ritual on the other hand refers to a number of activities that are performed in a sequential manner and which more often are prescribed by specific communities. Liturgy plays different functions depending on their nature. To begin with, the catholic liturgy expresses certain religious beliefs towards a Supreme Being and therefore done in a manner that is an expression of worship to the Supreme Being. The term ritual
"The English Translation of The Order of the Catholic Mass." The Catholic pe.co.za. International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc., n.d. Web. 12 Jan. 2014. .
The liturgical movement was a huge reformation of many faiths. “The purpose of the movement was to connect tradition people and the church. During this movement the church tried to simplify its processes for everyday use. For instance, the Church translated some parts of the Mass from Latin to the language of the country of where the church resided. The priesthood also went through advanced training to ensure that they could properly execute every aspect of the Mass. This effort by the Christian churches established they wanted to people and the community to have motivation to preach and worship their particular faith .”
Furthermore, one of the main parts of the Mass is the liturgy of the Word, the Word of God that nourishes and help us to live a holy
Comparison of the Roman Catholic Church and the United Reformed Church All Christian denominations celebrate Holy Communion in some form, although how they do this varies. The two I have chosen to compare are the Roman Catholic Church and the United Reformed Church. In the Roman Catholic Church the act of worship is called Mass. Catholics are expected to attend Mass. Only those who have been Christened and then later confirmed can receive Holy Communion. The Mass consists of six parts as follows : The Foremass consists of the entrance, procession, and chant, which are then followed by the confession, which includes a litany ( Kyrie eleison) and ends with the Gloria.
In the book A Short and Easy Method of Prayer, Madame Guyon touches on how one can accept all things God through prayer. Through the simple steps of meditation and reading accompanied by meditation, Madame Guyon teaches the reader how to use those steps to have a relationship with God. As a person of the Quietism faith in the seventeenth century, Madam Guyon was going against the norm of the church structure. Not only was she advocating people did not need to go to weekly services, but she was also going against the male’s leaders of the church. One of the questions this book can help historians to answer is how religion shaped everyday life. However, the readers need to keep in mind the biases surrounding this book. This is just one of the many religious books of the seventeenth century and viewing the book from a 21nd mindset. Madame Guyon was one of the few female religious leaders in the seventeenth century France.
From the Catholic observation point, the Church presents two parts: One representing its divine nature as the untarnished body of Christ, and one direc...
Hines, C. (2004). Time-of-Day Effects on Human Performance. Catholic Education: A Journal of Inquiry and Practice, Seven, 390-413. Retrieved March 3, 2014, from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1006503.p
The action of communal prayer had great significance in my youth. Meanwhile, my prayer experience at church was drastically different at church. The pastor would pray and that was it. Prayer was a solitary practice. A couple years back, I was in San Jose, Costa Rica attending a church service at a small church.
Through the various calls for response made by the priests, “let us be attentive”, “let us pray to the Lord”, “peace be with you” and “servant of God” tradition is linguistically demonstrated. Each of these and other prayers was concluded with a response or “Amen” typically by the priest or the choir. Also, we saw reminders of God’s beauty in the images of those who loved and served the Lord throughout the ages as painting on the ceilings and walls.
Mitchell, Curtis C. 1984. "The case for persistence in prayer." Journal Of The Evangelical Theological Society 27, no. 2: 161-168. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed March 16, 2014).
As I was attending mass, I noticed, it was very organized. There was a lot of sitting and standing, where I found myself struggling to understand. I noticed that they read some passages from the bible and sang a lot of psalms and hymns. The only thing that was familiar to me was the Eucharist.
I attended Mass at my local parish, the Parish of St. Francis de Sales, on Sunday, October 9th, in order to receive the Sacrament of the Eucharist. This also happens to be the 28th Sunday of Ordinary Time because the priest of the parish, Father Phan, wore green in order to symbolize life, anticipation for the coming of Christ, and hope. The liturgical season of Ordinary Time is also significant because it focuses on the fruits of Jesus’s three-year public ministry, his educational parables, and his extraordinary miracles. The season of Ordinary Time also serves as a reminder that the Church’s mission, our mission, is to not only share the life and hope of Jesus