Vatican II at 50 - The Liturgy of the Hours

Carpe diem is a Latin phrase and a favored quote on everything from bumper stickers to ball caps.  It’s often translated as “sieze the day.”  This phrase is believed to have come from an ancient poem which encourages one of the characters in the poem to forego his mourning and to embrace life. 

One of the ways the Church “seizes the day” is to pray the Liturgy of the Hours.  The Liturgy of the Hours, also called the Divine Office, is a set of daily prayers composed from psalms and other scripture, hymns,  and readings from the Fathers of the Church.  Together with the Eucharist, the Liturgy of the Hours comprises the official communal prayer of the Church.  The purpose of the Liturgy of the Hours is to praise God and to sanctify the day along with the range of human activity which occurs throughout the day.

The Liturgy of the Hours can be traced back to our Jewish ancestors who were bound to pray at fixed times during the day.  The earliest Christian communities adopted this model of prayer, praying primarily in the morning and in the evening, but also at the third (9am), sixth(12noon) and ninth hours (3pm), according to the Greco-Roman division of the day which began at 6am.  Throughout history, the office has undergone a great deal of revision and reform.  The continuous cycle of prayer became a mainstay of life in a monastery.  Praying the hours became more elaborate and more complicated. Several books were required:  a Bible, a hymnal, a psalter, etc.  So a breviary was developed which provided a reference guide of which texts to pray when.  Soon all of the texts were included in one book, also called a breviary, which made praying the hours much easier especially for monks while traveling. 

But, praying the hours isn’t for monks only.   The revisions made by the Second Vatican Council attempted to simplify the office so that the prayer could easily be done in common.  The Liturgy of the Hours is available in book format, but daily prayer has also gone digital with several websites and even an app.   In this way  we too are encouraged to forego our mourning and to embrace life, every moment of every day.  Amen!