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March 31, 2021LITURGY OF THE HOURS—You Are Invited!
During Holy Week, on Wednesday Evening an information/practice session will be held at St. John’s at 6:00 pm, then a Special Evening Prayer, Vespers Service will be held in its conclusion to ready ourselves for the Triduum, putting what we have learned into practice.
In addition, a special Liturgy of the Hours Morning Prayer will be held at 9:00 am during Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday in the Basilica. All are welcome to come and pray this beautiful liturgy. Liturgy prayer booklets will be provided.
The Liturgy of the Hours is a liturgy, a formal rite for public worship that is prayed at certain hours of a twenty-four hour day. The Liturgy of the Hours contains psalms and readings that were said by Jesus in the Temple and the saints throughout history. These prayers help us to connect to and be in communion with all who pray them throughout the world including our Holy Father, Pope Francis, and to Our Lord.
It is good to begin understanding the Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office) by looking at the Bible. Review Mark 15:25-34 and pay attention to the different hours that are described. You will notice that Jesus was crucified at the 3rd hour and darkness fell over the land from the 6th to the 9th hour. Today, these hours correspond to 9 am (third hour) and darkness covered the land from noon to 3 pm (sixth to the ninth hour). In biblical times, people told time using “hours” instead of “o’clock.” The Liturgy of the Hours is a liturgy, a formal rite for public worship that is prayed at certain hours of the day.
To pray the Liturgy of the Hours (LOH), certain prayers were composed to pray “around the clock.” These formal prayers are called Offices. The official offices written by the Church are called the Divine Office. The Divine Office contains seven daily sets of prayers that correspond to seven specific timeframes of prayer in the Liturgy of the Hours. Therefore, the Liturgy of the Hours and the Divine Office are used synonymously when referring to this prayer tradition. The names for these traditional sets of prayer are: Office of Readings, Morning Prayer, Midmorning Prayer, Midday Prayer, Midafternoon Prayer, Evening Prayer, and Night Prayer. In earlier times, religious men and women in monasteries and in religious communities prayed the Divine Office seven times a day. Clergy, consecrated religious and members of our parish pray several of these offices throughout the differing times of the day . However, many pray the LOH Hours two or three times a day (i.e., Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer).
Interested parishioners of our linked communities of faith who wish to participate in the LOH during this most sacred time of the year and to take an opportunity to pray Morning Prayer, Lauds for the Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday), come pray with us in the Basilica and St. John’s at 9:00 am on each of these days. Prayer materials will be provided. These prayers usually take between 10 to 15 minutes.
