The Liturgy of the Hours
Yesterday, the Archbishop of Singapore made a very difficult decision to cancel all Liturgical Celebrations in the parishes with effect from this weekend, in light of the spread of the Novel Coronavirus. Personally, I'm very saddened by this. The Mass is the highest form of prayer. For us as Catholics, the Eucharist is our spiritual food, and for the time being, we're just going to have to make do with watching the Mass via Livestream. That seems like the closest we will ever get to the Liturgy, at least for the time being.
However, many of us are not aware that even with the cancellation of Masses due to the Health Hazzard, there is a Liturgy that we can celebrate as Lay People. Even I was not made aware of this, until my former Parish Priest, who is a well-trained Liturgist, decided that as a parish, we should come together to pray this great prayer before the Daily Mass (and during the Morning Mass). He also took the liberty of organising formation sessions on this form of prayer, which most Catholics haven't even heard of. This great prayer is called the Liturgy of the Hours, the next highest form of prayer, outside of the Mass.
Also known as the Divine Office, this is the official common prayer of the Church. This is why it is called a Liturgy, it's for the Church as a whole. This form of prayer is an age-old tradition of the Church, and I wish that we can say that we as Catholics came up with it, but we didn't. This comes from our Jewish roots, and you could say, it's the prayer of Jesus Christ himself. All Clergy are required to pray this prayer on a daily basis. They take a promise on their Ordination Day to pray the office. Lay People are strongly encouraged to celebrate this prayer as well.
The Liturgy of the Hours is a brief liturgy consisting of hymns, the ancient psalms, canticles, scripture readings, and prayer of intercessions that Christians pray at regular intervals throughout the day. The concept of this is to keep time Holy, and to sanctify the day with prayer, reminding us to live each day for God. We begin each hour with the line "O God come to our assistance, O Lord make haste to help us", calling upon God to aid us in our daily tasks, and reminding us to walk our journey of life with him. We allow him to speak to us through the Psalms, and we respond in song.
Each hour has a different focus as well. In the Morning Prayer (Lauds), the focus is on giving Praise to God, and it calls to mind the resurrection. St. Basil the Great gives an excellent description of this character in these words: "It is said in the morning in order that the first stirrings of our mind and will may be consecrated to God and that we may take nothing in hand until we have been gladdened by the thought of God". We anticipate that we will experience the Lord in our day, especially as we pray the Benedictus, also known as Zachariah's canticle, which reminds us to clear the way for God to enter the lives of others (and ourselves of course).
During the Day-time hours, we focus on asking the Lord to help us to walk in his ways. The first psalm is usually on keeping his laws and walking in the way of perfection, calling upon God for assistance to follow the call to try to grow perfect.
Evening Prayer (Vespers) focuses on thanksgiving for the Day. We also recall the redemption through the prayer we send up 'like incense in the Lord's sight,' and in which 'the raising up of our hands' becomes 'an evening sacrifice' (for further reference, see Psalm 141). We also give thanks to God for the great things he has done for us in the Magnificat, also known as Mary's Song of thanksgiving to God.
The Office of Readings, which can be prayed at any time during the day, is the most reflective of the hours, and it gives us spiritual readings to nourish our walks with God, each day with a different theme. On days where the Church celebrates the lives of the Saints, the Office of Readings normally also consists of a Catechetical Reading to help us understand more about the Saint who we celebrate.
And finally, Night Prayer (Compline) brings completion to the day. It begins with an examination of Conscience, inviting us to examine where God has been in our day, where have we fallen short in living as Disciples, and where we hope to do better the next day. In the Nunc Dimittis, we give ourselves to him, giving thanks for the opportunity to see him in our day, praising his faithfulness to his promises. When all that is done, we end with a Song to our Blessed Mother, once again, following the call for all generations to call her blessed.
Honestly, this is a form of prayer that requires much patience. It took me years to get used to it. This form of prayer does not give us a spiritual high. There will be days where the psalms just don't relate to us. However, this is where we must remember, that this prayer for the Church is for the Church as a whole. That's what makes it a Liturgy. For instance, if the psalm may seem like an angry psalm, even if you're not feeling angry at that point in time, there's someone in the world who is praying the same prayer as you, who is feeling angry and relates to the psalm perfectly, and we join our prayer to that person. It reminds us, and God reminds me constantly, that not everything is about us, even when we pray. That's where it's similar to the Mass, it is not about us.
However, it forms us through our perseverance, and it gives great structure to our prayer life. You don't need to be creative or re-invent the wheel when it comes to praying this. Even if we choose not to do all 5 hours like how the Clergy are bound to do, even celebrating the Morning and Evening Prayer daily, the two hinges of the day, it gives us structure to our prayer life, which after all, is the basis that keeps our relationship with God alive.
And while it's sad that we probably won't have access to Mass in Singapore for the time being, we can celebrate this Liturgy, the next highest form of prayer, on our own as Laity, especially on Sundays, to call upon our God throughout the day, to make him a part of our day, to keep time Holy, and to live each moment for him. And that's what we'll be doing when we get to heaven, spending eternity with God.
O God come to our assistance. O Lord, make haste to help us.
However, many of us are not aware that even with the cancellation of Masses due to the Health Hazzard, there is a Liturgy that we can celebrate as Lay People. Even I was not made aware of this, until my former Parish Priest, who is a well-trained Liturgist, decided that as a parish, we should come together to pray this great prayer before the Daily Mass (and during the Morning Mass). He also took the liberty of organising formation sessions on this form of prayer, which most Catholics haven't even heard of. This great prayer is called the Liturgy of the Hours, the next highest form of prayer, outside of the Mass.
Also known as the Divine Office, this is the official common prayer of the Church. This is why it is called a Liturgy, it's for the Church as a whole. This form of prayer is an age-old tradition of the Church, and I wish that we can say that we as Catholics came up with it, but we didn't. This comes from our Jewish roots, and you could say, it's the prayer of Jesus Christ himself. All Clergy are required to pray this prayer on a daily basis. They take a promise on their Ordination Day to pray the office. Lay People are strongly encouraged to celebrate this prayer as well.
The Liturgy of the Hours is a brief liturgy consisting of hymns, the ancient psalms, canticles, scripture readings, and prayer of intercessions that Christians pray at regular intervals throughout the day. The concept of this is to keep time Holy, and to sanctify the day with prayer, reminding us to live each day for God. We begin each hour with the line "O God come to our assistance, O Lord make haste to help us", calling upon God to aid us in our daily tasks, and reminding us to walk our journey of life with him. We allow him to speak to us through the Psalms, and we respond in song.
Each hour has a different focus as well. In the Morning Prayer (Lauds), the focus is on giving Praise to God, and it calls to mind the resurrection. St. Basil the Great gives an excellent description of this character in these words: "It is said in the morning in order that the first stirrings of our mind and will may be consecrated to God and that we may take nothing in hand until we have been gladdened by the thought of God". We anticipate that we will experience the Lord in our day, especially as we pray the Benedictus, also known as Zachariah's canticle, which reminds us to clear the way for God to enter the lives of others (and ourselves of course).
During the Day-time hours, we focus on asking the Lord to help us to walk in his ways. The first psalm is usually on keeping his laws and walking in the way of perfection, calling upon God for assistance to follow the call to try to grow perfect.
Evening Prayer (Vespers) focuses on thanksgiving for the Day. We also recall the redemption through the prayer we send up 'like incense in the Lord's sight,' and in which 'the raising up of our hands' becomes 'an evening sacrifice' (for further reference, see Psalm 141). We also give thanks to God for the great things he has done for us in the Magnificat, also known as Mary's Song of thanksgiving to God.
The Office of Readings, which can be prayed at any time during the day, is the most reflective of the hours, and it gives us spiritual readings to nourish our walks with God, each day with a different theme. On days where the Church celebrates the lives of the Saints, the Office of Readings normally also consists of a Catechetical Reading to help us understand more about the Saint who we celebrate.
And finally, Night Prayer (Compline) brings completion to the day. It begins with an examination of Conscience, inviting us to examine where God has been in our day, where have we fallen short in living as Disciples, and where we hope to do better the next day. In the Nunc Dimittis, we give ourselves to him, giving thanks for the opportunity to see him in our day, praising his faithfulness to his promises. When all that is done, we end with a Song to our Blessed Mother, once again, following the call for all generations to call her blessed.
Honestly, this is a form of prayer that requires much patience. It took me years to get used to it. This form of prayer does not give us a spiritual high. There will be days where the psalms just don't relate to us. However, this is where we must remember, that this prayer for the Church is for the Church as a whole. That's what makes it a Liturgy. For instance, if the psalm may seem like an angry psalm, even if you're not feeling angry at that point in time, there's someone in the world who is praying the same prayer as you, who is feeling angry and relates to the psalm perfectly, and we join our prayer to that person. It reminds us, and God reminds me constantly, that not everything is about us, even when we pray. That's where it's similar to the Mass, it is not about us.
However, it forms us through our perseverance, and it gives great structure to our prayer life. You don't need to be creative or re-invent the wheel when it comes to praying this. Even if we choose not to do all 5 hours like how the Clergy are bound to do, even celebrating the Morning and Evening Prayer daily, the two hinges of the day, it gives us structure to our prayer life, which after all, is the basis that keeps our relationship with God alive.
And while it's sad that we probably won't have access to Mass in Singapore for the time being, we can celebrate this Liturgy, the next highest form of prayer, on our own as Laity, especially on Sundays, to call upon our God throughout the day, to make him a part of our day, to keep time Holy, and to live each moment for him. And that's what we'll be doing when we get to heaven, spending eternity with God.
O God come to our assistance. O Lord, make haste to help us.
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