Revisiting Prayer Tracks

Because I don't live in a monastery, I hear no bells calling me to drop everything and take time for prayer in the middle of the day.  I live out here where families need feeding, babies need diapering, and bosses want reports in by twelve o'clock sharp.

Those in monasteries can usually pray at the same times.  But 'out here,' everyone is going in a hundred different directions at once.

So what about me?  If I want a foundation of prayer to be the basis of my life, how do I stay on track?

In his book TheFulfillment of All Desire, Ralph Martin defines prayer as 'at root, simply paying attention to God.'  (p. 121).

Oh, I do love this.  

So:  I begin my day by paying attention to God.  Usually it's uttering a brief spontaneous sentence or two.

Ideally I can then take time, later, to sit down with Scripture and give Our Lord my undivided attention.  I am finding the Liturgy of the Hours to be a great help with this.  I also find that all too often I come to this practice tired, distracted, and having fought (or going in while still fighting) the temptation to 'put it off.'  I wish I didn't have to admit that!  But it's simply the truth, and you know what?  I've also learned that when I forge on past the distractions, when I carry on no matter how tired I may be, I wind up with a sense that God is pleased.  I also have some pleasant surprises at times - inspirations I could never have had otherwise.

Do I pray the entire Liturgy of the Hours every day?  No.  But if I try to pray at least one psalm from it, sometime during the day and with my full attention, usually I wind up praying longer ... and then the next time, longer still.

I also continue to cultivate the habit of making aspirations - the short prayers we can offer to God in our hearts, no matter where we are or what we're doing.  'Jesus, I trust in You.'  'Father, I adore You.'  'Lord, I give You my heart.'

Because I don't live in a physical monastery, I cannot expect to adhere to the regular by-the-bell prayer times of those who do.  God does not expect this.  He expects me to live the vocation He has given me.  In that vocation, however, He does ask that I 'pay attention to Him.'

With His help, I can get past the hurdles and do so.

With His help, I am able to stay on track.

This is a repost from our archives. It is linked to Reconciled to You  and Theology is a Verb for 'It's Worth Revisiting Wednesday.'
   

© N Shuman
thecloisteredheart.org    

Revisiting the Liturgy of the Hours

I used to have little appreciation for the Liturgy of the Hours. I considered it ‘too structured,’ ‘too formal,’ and a mere recitation of words other people had written. It could be spoken while the speaker’s mind wandered anywhere and everywhere (I decided)… so wouldn’t such a practice just lead to dry, lifeless prayer?

I could not have been more wrong. 

The Liturgy of the Hours, also known as the ‘Divine Office,’ is an official group of prayers used by priests and Religious. It is a primary part of the daily schedules of monks and nuns. 

The Divine Office is the same for people throughout the Church, throughout the world. On the very same day, Father O’Neill in Dublin and a group of monks in Sydney and a monastery of nuns in Toledo are praying.

And I can pray with them, if I wish.

As I wrote here in the past, the Liturgy of the Hours helps my prayer stay on track. In it, scripture is right before me; thus I have 'grillwork' for my day.  I am praying with the whole Church, right along with Father O'Neill and the monks in Sydney and the Toledo nuns. And, if I'm tempted to bypass prayer, I get help to carry me past my (laziness, in my case).

Do I, personally, pray the entirety of the Liturgy of the Hours?  No.  But My goal is to work toward that. I'm making a commitment to at least pray part of it every day.  I hope to pray more and more of it, to 'baby step' my way into staying solidly on its tracks throughout the day.

In my haphazard life, I definitely need some of that structure I once dreaded.  Otherwise, I wind up wasting entire days.

I find that those 'words others have written' often turn out to be cries and groanings from my very own heart.

Does my mind wander while I pray in this way?  My mind wanders no matter how I pray.  The Divine Office helps call the drifting mind back.

Does the Liturgy of the Hours lead me to the dry, lifeless prayer I feared?  No.  Sometimes I feel dry and lifeless, yes, but again:  that would happen no matter how I pray.  The printed words help me stay focused.

In some key ways, the Liturgy of the hours is a lens that helps me zoom right in on the presence and reality of God.

This is a respost from our archives. It is linked to Reconciled to You and Theology is a Verb for 'It's Worth Revisiting Wednesday.'   

So Shall This My Matins Be

 

'A song of praise I offer,
from morn till sunset time,
and so shall this my Matins be
Vespers, Terce, and Prime...

The clatter of startled blackbird,
Trill of birds in trees,
Because I loved them dearly,
My Lord, I offer these...

The rhythm of sharpening sickle
Hum of the mowing machine,
The whirring of the thresher
when the harvest cart comes in...

The cheerful talk of my loved ones,
the sound of men at prayer,
the noise of children calling
in the still summer air.

From sunrise until dusk, O Lord,
accept my praise of Thee.'

(from Fervorinos from the Lips of the Master, compiled by a Religious, Pelligrini, Australia, 1940, pp. 437-438)

 

Paintings by Winslow Homer (top), Bruck Vásárra (middle) and Walter Moras (bottom)   

The Divine Office: Together We Pray

I used to have little appreciation for the Liturgy of the Hours. I considered it ‘too structured,’ ‘too formal,’ and a mere recitation of words other people had written. It could be spoken while the speaker’s mind wandered anywhere and everywhere (I decided)… so wouldn’t such a practice just lead to dry, lifeless prayer?

I could not have been more wrong.  

The Liturgy of the Hours, also known as the ‘Divine Office,’ is an official group of prayers used by priests and Religious. It is a primary part of the daily schedules of monks and nuns.  

The Divine Office is the same for people throughout the Church, throughout the world. On the very same day, Father O’Neill in Dublin and a group of monks in Sydney and a monastery of nuns in Toledo are praying the exact same words.

And I can pray with them, if I wish.

As I wrote here a few weeks ago, the Liturgy of the Hours helps my prayer stay on track. In it, scripture is right before me; thus I have 'grillwork' for my day.  I am praying with the whole Church, right along with Father O'Neill and the monks in Sydney and the Toledo nuns. And, if I'm tempted to bypass prayer, I get help to carry me past my (laziness, in my case).

Do I, personally, pray the entirety of the Liturgy of the Hours?  No.  But My goal is to work toward that. I'm making a commitment to at least pray part of it every day.  I hope to pray more and more of it, to 'baby step' my way into staying solidly on its tracks throughout the day.

In my haphazard life (and my very nature is 'haphazard'), I definitely need some of that structure I once dreaded.  Otherwise, I wind up wasting entire days.

I find that those 'words others have written' often turn out to be cries and groanings from my very heart.

Does my mind wander while I pray in this way?  My mind wanders no matter how I pray.  The Divine Office helps call the drifting mind back.

Does the Liturgy of the Hours lead me to the dry, lifeless prayer I feared?  No.  Sometimes I feel dry and lifeless, yes, but again:  that would happen no matter how I pray.  The printed words help me stay focused.

In some key ways, the Liturgy of the hours is a lens that helps me zoom right in on the presence and reality of God.

Where can we find the Liturgy of the Hours? 

A WONDERFUL resource is Divine Office.org.  I cannot recommend this highly enough.  It is free, it has all of the hours available for reading or for listening to, and it's a marvelous tool for those of us who have trouble finding our way through the books themselves.  It's all right there for us.  The one and four volume breviaries are available for purchase at this site as well.

And for an excellent explanation of this kind of prayer, check out Daria Sockey's blog Coffee and Canticles for 'About the Liturgy of the Hours. '  

This post is linked to Catholic Bloggers Network Linkup Blitz


To return to the 'Monastic Adventure in Sequence' post, click here

Prayer Train

Monastic life is scheduled.  We all realize this, and (if we think about it) we know why.  Anything other than a tight routine would make no sense in a monastery.  Lack of order in such a setting would result in haphazard, chaotic, unproductive days.

Prayer - the most important item on the agenda and the reason for a monastic way of life - is the backbone of the schedule.  It, of all daily activities, is a non-negotiable.

It could even be said that prayer forms the 'tracks' on which the entire monastic train rides. 

Perhaps the nuns, or monks, can be thought of as passengers in the train.  Each monastic community is like a car, linked to all the others, on the same track and in fact praying the same Liturgy of the Hours.  Life goes on inside the cars as the train chugs on its journey Homeward.  There are times for dining, sleeping, working, relaxing - but the train would be useless if it went off track.  It would go nowhere.

This analogy (fresh out of the box this minute) can, I think, help me.  For oh, I do struggle with routine.  I need it, I hunger for it; in some ways I am desperate for it.  Yet I'm no good at finding it for myself.  When my children were young, I had something of a ready-made schedule in place.  But even then, making time for prayer was a struggle. 

For me, the Liturgy of the Hours is becoming a solid, sure track.  It is a prayer template, a guide, a way that leads me back and back and back to God throughout the day.

When it comes right down to it, you and I are on the same train as those in monastic communities.  We're being led by God in the same direction... homeward.  We are just in a different car. 


The following links give us glimpses into the daily schedules of several monasteries:  


Carmelite Nuns
Passionist Nuns   
Visitation Nuns
Divine Office of Carmelite Monks


© 2014 Nancy Shuman.  All Rights Reserved.
thecloisteredheart.org    


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