Every Tuesday during Lent from 7:00-7:30 pm, we will be gathering in church for a different style of prayer before our Holy Hour of Eucharistic Adoration and Reconciliation from 7:30–8:30 pm.
Liturgy of the Hours also known as the Divine Office
Historically this prayer was developed by the laity and became the prayer of the whole Christian community, not just the clergy or the religious. By medieval times the Office had, outside of the monasteries, become the private prayer of the clergy. The Second Vatican Council revised the Office in such a way to restore it to its original function as the prayer of the whole people of God prayed by people all over the world. So it is considered a group prayer.
It is a pattern of prayer based on the psalms. The purpose of the hours is to sanctify the day and the whole range of human activity. It is to anchor us or remind us of God and that part of the day.
It is called the Liturgy of the Hours due to the early Jewish practice of praying at set hours in the temple and later outside the temple. The Apostles, as observant Jews, continued this practice of praying at the third, sixth, ninth and midnight hours. Now it is typically prayed by priests, bishops and deacons.
Please join us on Tuesday evening, March 9th from 7:00-7:30 pm to pray the Evening Prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours.
~Diana Caponigri
