A Liturgical Note For You: How’s Your Prayer Life These Days?
Since we acknowledged Benedict this past Saturday, I thought I’d talk a little about prayer. A lot of people only pray when they need something and many people think that they don’t know how to pray. One-fifth of Canadians engage in daily prayer while the majority leave prayer behind when the weekly worship service is over. The Angus Reid Institute names this as prayer being alive and well in Canada. I believe this is something we can strive to improve (https://angusreid.org/prayer-in-canada/). More on prayer in general another time. Today, let’s talk about the ancient “prayer hours”, particularly those instituted by Benedict.
In the “Rule” of Benedict of Nursia, we read of Matins or Vigils (not the same as what we now call Morning Prayer), Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers, and Compline. These are the “Divine Offices” and generally consist of psalms, scripture reading, prayers, and perhaps a hymn or two. Matins or Vigils is the “night office” so it may be best to refer to this office as Vigils since the word matins actually means morning and could cause confusion. This office is always sung (or said) before the sunrise – not at sunrise, before sunrise when it is very dark. There is no set time for Vigils but it is often prayed at about 3am. Lauds (meaning “praise”, associated with the resurrection of Christ) is the morning office, sung at daybreak. Next come Prime, Terce, Sext, and None – the “little hours”. The Office of Prime is prayed at about 7am and was actually added – according to John Cassian – in order to prevent the monks at Bethlehem from going back to bed in between Lauds and Terce. Some communities pray the Office of Prime and some do not. Terce, Sext, and None are Latin terms that mean “third”, “sixth”, and “ninth”, respectively. So, Terce is at the third hour (9am), Sext is at the sixth hour (noon), and None is at the ninth hour (3pm). Vespers means “shadows” and so it is the office sung at sunset. Clearly the time of this office will vary according to what season you are in. This office is strongly aligned with our Evening Prayer and predates monasticism since it has its roots in the sunset sacrifices of the Jerusalem Temple. Compline is the closing office of the day and is prayed when it is fully night, i.e. completely dark. There is no set time for this prayer office although it would typically come before midnight and is considered the church’s “bedtime prayer”.
(christdesert.org)https://christdesert.org/prayer/opus-dei/the-eight-daily-prayer-periods/
For Your Devotions:
Monday, July 13th is the commemoration of Henry, Missionary Bishop in Finland during the 12th century. Despite being venerated as a saint, the life and martyr’s death of Henry, an English bishop, is actually quite mysterious. Among other interesting ‘facts’, his murderer is said to have lost his scalp when he put on the dead bishop’s mitre. For more info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_(bishop_of_Finland)