Dec

21

The Christian and the Divine Office (LoTH)

December 21, 2007 |

The Second Vatican Council tried to make the Divine Office or the Liturgy of the Hours into a prayer for all Christians, clergy and laity alike. Yet, how much did we learn about this teaching growing up? I know I didn’t even hear about it at Mass or in Catechism growing up. Thank heaven, once more then, for the gift of the Internet. In England, most churches make known that Sunday Vespers are available to the public. In Oxford, the Dominican church I attend makes Vespers and Afternoon available almost every day. Was the Divine Office assumed to be too much for the ordinary Christian? How indeed is it decided what is too much for whom? And how do we get laity interested in these things? The Liturgy of the Hours was essential in the growth of the early Church. Early Christians used to meet at the Cathedral for the Morning and Evening Prayer, regarded as the heart of the Divine Office.

Let’s see, what did Vatican II say, exactly? There’s a useful article here from one Rev. Sam Anthony Morello OCD STL. The article mentions Sacrosanctum Concilium 83-101. Let’s try to summarise those:

- all who pray the Office fulfill a duty of the Church and represent Mother Church before the throne of God (85).

- Lauds and Vespers (Morning and Evening prayer) are the hinges on which the Office turns, they are to be treated as central (89).

- The laity are encouraged to recite with the clergy, among themselves, or even individually, as the circumstances allow (100).

There are two volumes available that seem to be specially designed for the laity, to facilitate the recitation of Morning and Evening prayer. They are well laid out and reasonably easy to follow. The first is the Morning and Evening Prayer, and the Shorter Morning Evening Prayer. The first is rather large and contains a daily set of psalms and readings. The second, which I use frequently, is a four-week set with the important feast days and saint days set apart; it has proved especially useful since it is a small book and I travel frequently.

Thesaurus precum latinarum has a small history of the LoTH here.


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