A Sunday Thought About the Liturgy to Start the Week Off Right

The mess that created our current C-Virus World has, among other things, helped to broaden my understanding and appreciation of our Sacraments and our Liturgy. 

Regarding the Sacraments, absence has made the heart grow fonder. Confession and Holy Communion - the two Sacraments most of us received on a somewhat regular basis before lock downs of March 2020 - became scarce, really non-existent. While Confession has become a bit more accessible for some of us, along with Holy Communion, the current practices of our local parish have kept these two Sacraments out of reach, for reasons we've explored. 

What about the Liturgy? We do have regular access to Mass, albeit Mass accompanied by this C-Virus World configuration that requires masks and distancing. But the Liturgy includes more than the Mass. Here is one definition of the Liturgy:

"...the public, social, official worship given by the Church of God, or the whole complex of means which the Church uses especially in the Missal, Ritual, and Breviary, and by which she expresses her religion to the adorable Trinity, as well as instructs and sanctifies souls." (The Soul of the Apostolate, p. 212)

I already understood that the Liturgy encompasses other elements of our worship besides the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. But the recent dearth of Holy Mass motivated me to learn more. My efforts recalled a time when someone recommended praying Vespers (a part of the Divine Office) on Sunday afternoon/early evening. It was a specific recommendation to those who did not regularly engage with any of the expanded prayers and rituals of the Church's Liturgy.

Some of us may have had some experience already with the expanded Liturgy. The pastor of our parish, on selected days - at times during Lent, for example - has had the few daily Mass attendees gather in the church vestibule to recite the appropriate section of the Liturgy of the Hours. 

Another example: I once attended what was at the time a relatively strict Jesuit high school. Those of us being punished with what was called "jug" (for one of what seemed like an incredible myriad of infractions) had to walk up one side and and down down the other of the hallway outside the disciplinarian's office. As we did, the feared disciplinarian would walk in the middle reading his Breviary - presumably reciting quietly the Divine Office for that hour (3 PM, known as None).

Also, one of my brothers was a "frater" with the Franciscans (before ultimately returning to the "outside" world). I remember him telling me about their chanting of the Divine Office every day. Recently I spoke to him about this, as a memory refresher.

In any case, Sundays bereft of Mass found me seeking other ways to appropriately worship God. In the course of my study and cogitation, I eventually found my way to the Divine Office - specifically in the traditional form. I had once entertained praying this in its modern format, called now the "Liturgy of the Hours," but it never stuck after a few attempts. (I still have an app on phone for this purpose, called "iBreviary.") This time around, though, the traditional form caught my fancy, especially when I discovered a website sponsored by the Benedictine monks of the Abbey du Barroux in France. You can find their page dedicated to live-streaming the traditional chanting of the Divine Office. If you appreciate Gregorian chant, you would likely be attracted to at least listening from time to time to their chants. 

While the stream is live, you can access any of the "hours" of Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers and Compline at any time. I did and decided to dig deeper. As part of the page, you can click on the text for that Hour's chant. I started doing this. It took me to a site called "divinumofficium.com" If desired, you can then read along in both Latin and English (or another language) as the monks chant. After some number of times, I began to do this more regularly on Sunday - given the "extra" time available due to there being no mass available. This augmented my "attendance" at an online Mass on my TV.

This all resulted in my now - after for many years being convinced I didn't have the time - praying the Divine Office - or much of it - every day. I don't always catch every "Hour" based on previous business commitments or some other obligation. But more often than not I'm there if not exactly at the top of the hour, at least reasonably close to it.

The result has been a deepening of my prayer life as well as an expanded understanding of the Church's Liturgy. All of this came about due to the mess created by our C-Virus world. So, as previously noted in past Sunday posts, there's been some good come out of this mess.

Will it all stick after things return to normal? (Then again, will things ever return to normal?) As with any good in this world, by the grace of God it all will.

Happy Sunday!