In other words, we are inspired by the Holy Spirit to pray the words of the Holy Spirit-alongside the Son, and following the example of the Son-in rendering worship and honor to the Father. Since we cannot pray even one bit without the help of the Holy Spirit-and since all of Scripture is inspired by the Holy Spirit-the Divine Office brings us directly into the Life of the Trinity, which is the exact calling of all Christians. That’s because the Psalms can be understood as both a Christian’s prayer to God AND the particular prayer between Christ and the Father. The Divine Office pulls us into the life of the Trinity in a unique way. Through this constant diet of Sacred Scripture not only does God speak in his Word to us, not only do we contemplate over and over again the central mysteries of salvation, but our own lives are gradually attuned to this rhythm, and we meditate again and again on the history of Israel, recapitulated in Jesus, that is also the saga of our own spiritual odyssey. No other form of prayer is so rooted in the mysteries of salvation history as they are unfolded day by day in the Church’s annual cycle. a novitiate in which she teaches her age-old ways of how to glorify God in Christ as Church, together as one body, in union with and after the example of her head. Our sanctification takes place as the Holy Spirit molds us into the image of Christ when we contemplate Him in the prayers of the Divine Office. Its primary purpose is to praise our Creator who is worthy of all our love, and who finds His “heaven on earth” in the love we bear for Him in our souls. The primary purpose of the Divine Office isn’t our personal sanctification, although that is certainly something to be desired. Francis of Assisi adoring the Crucifix by Bernardo Strozzi Catechism of the Ukrainian Catholic Church The Purpose of the Divine Office He places them within salvation history, the heart of which is the mystery of Christ’s. …the prayer of the Church, closely bound to the rhythms of nature, fills the daily, weekly, and yearly cycles with celebration of the feasts of the Lord and the Mother of God, as well as memorials of the saints.Īs they pray, God enters into the time of people’s lives. In the Divine Office the Church Militant (which exists in time) unites with the Church Triumphant (which exists in eternity) in unending praise and worship of our Creator. Caritate Christi Compulsi, Encyclical of Pope Pius XI Thus prayer of itself assures the presence of God among men, according to the promise of the divine Redeemer: “Where there are two or three gathered together in my Name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matt.18:20). What a spectacle for heaven and earth is not the Church in prayer! For centuries without interruption, from midnight to midnight, is repeated on earth the divine psalmody of the inspired canticles there is no hour of the day that is not hallowed by its special liturgy there is no stage of life that has not its part in the thanksgiving, praise, supplication and reparation in common use by the mystical body of Christ, which is the Church. At every hour of every day these communal prayers of the Church render glory to God and unite us with the saving work of Jesus Christ for the salvation of the world. Just as the Mass is continuously offered to God all over the world each day, so also is the Divine Office. The Divine Office is intimately connected with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Mediator Dei, Encyclical of Pope Pius XII on the Sacred Liturgy Praying Throughout the Day Since the divine Master commanded “that we ought always to pray and not to faint,” the Church faithfully fulfills this injunction and never ceases to pray: she urges us in the words of the Apostle of the Gentiles, “by him Jesus let us offer the sacrifice of praise always to God”. The word “office” means “service” the Divine Office is the service in which we render continual praise and thanksgiving to our Creator. The purpose of the Divine Office is to sanctify the entire day by offering it to the glory of God. After the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the Church’s primary liturgical prayer is the Divine Office, or the “Liturgy of the Hours.” This is the official public prayer of the Church which takes place at regular hours throughout the course of the day.
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