Praise God seven
times a day: morning prayer (lauds), the little hours (9, noon, three – terce,
sext, none), evening prayer (vespers) as the sun sets, compline before bed, and
then vigil – when we awaken in the middle of the night. In a Benedictine Monastery, a bell would mark
these hours. What modern equivalent
marks our hours and rings us through our days?
When do we stop and pray? What is
our prayer habit?
Until recently, I
have worked in a school, a private Catholic school. We open each day with prayer about 8 am – this
is terce -- and the day closes with prayer around 3 – none, the ninth hour. These are the little hours, and these
community prayers kept me in the presence of God between morning prayer and my
evening reading of The Rule. As I have moved out of this routine, I have lost this
ritual, and I am seeking new rituals and routines which put this practice back
into the rule of my life.
As life changed,
I am still adapting to these shifts. I
moved from a school schedule, to a summer schedule, to a time of healing after
the aneurysm. Now I am moving into a new
time. I find myself surprised that I am
still struggling to discern the new rules.
In the midst of
all this change, I find Benedict’s discussion of times for prayers and
schedules of prayers, disconcerting. I
find that I am drifting a bit, and his clearly ordered discipline of prayer seems
distant from me right now.
How do you
discipline your prayer? What is your
rule for marking time for prayer as the day progresses? What rule orders your day?
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