In 1970 Pope Paul VI wrote some challenging and encouraging words in his Apostolic Constitution Laudis canticum, 8:
We bring the gifts of self and all we have, including bread and wine, to the Lord’s altar so that God may consecrate us and our gifts and accomplish the two-fold purpose of all liturgical action: the sanctification of souls and the glorification of God.
When we partake of the Office or the Mass, we are invited to “taste and see how good the Lord is” who loved us and gave himself up for us, as we recall at every Mass and Office when we participate through Word and Sacrament in a sacrifice of praise. The Liturgy of the Hours is not the same as the Eucharistic Sacrifice, but the two are intimately connected in the one saving work of Christ, who comes to us in many forms.
#Divine office night prayer for today full
Those who have the leisure to spend more time with God, so to speak, should diligently carry out the full round of Offices in the monastic tradition. So many monastic communities today have dropped Vigils, for example, because of the demands of the apostolate or other works, or even because the priority of getting more rest is preferred to the Work of God. The Opus Dei thus becomes a powerful part of every day and thus should not be neglected for other matters, however urgent they might be. The ritual celebrations of the Divine Office are a strong means of entering into a dialogue of praise and contemplation of the God who saves us. The members of the praying community–the monastic choir–are in communion with their Head, Christ, and participate in Christ’s saving work. This is the work of the Holy Spirit in the assembly of monks or whenever “two or three are gathered” in Christ’s name.Ĭhrist is present in our liturgical prayer uniting himself with the praying community in a relationship of Master and disciple, Head and member, Bridegroom and bride, Creator and creature. This is compared in the Psalms to a “deer that yearns for living streams.” We do this when we are attentive to God’s living Word and his desire to bring us to good actions and words. The praying community should be attentive to the action of the Holy Spirit, who inspires a deeper longing for the living God. The monastic choir is also a dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, who bestows the particular charism or ministry of prayer. Christ is present in the assembly that gathers and proclaims God’s Word, and the assembly receives Christ truly present in the bread and wine, his Body and Blood, at the Eucharist. The two modes of public liturgical prayer–the Divine Office and the Mass–are great testimonies to Christ-in-our-midst. Many parishes today also maintain this venerable custom.īy a “ministry of prayer,” the praying Church, the monastic choir, continues the work of salvation through Christ present in Word and in Sacrament when the Eucharist is celebrated. This does not discount the charism of perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament to which some contemplative communities are devoted. The prayer is for the Church and the good of all, outwardly directed, for “the growth of the Body of Christ” as Saint Paul calls it in Ephesians 4:15. The monastic community is one that has received the call to “pray without ceasing.” This does not mean a perpetual presence in church, but rather a call to “pray always,” in whatever occupation is being undertaken. It could be said that the Holy Spirit bestows the gift or charism of prayer, or a ministry of prayer, to the individual members and to the contemplative community as a whole.
For those in more contemplative and monastic communities the Opus Dei is a special charism, that is, gift of the Holy Spirit. Sayings and Stories from the Desert FathersĮvery community that prays the Divine Office, however large or small that community might be, should be aware of being a praying Church which represents the Universal Church.How We Pray and Chant – Monastic life has prayer at its very heart.Abbot’s Archives – Personal reflections from our abbots across the years.Subscriptions – We can add you to our postal or electronic mailing lists for monastery news and homilies.Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of the Lord, “Corpus Christi”.Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A.Fourteenth Sunday Ordinary Time, Year A.Take yourself on a virtual tour around our Monastery.
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