to remember what life was like B.T.D.P. - Before the Treasury of Daily Prayer! This wondrous resource has become a staple of my own prayer life. It's my daily life-line to the Scriptures and it guides me in the Church's daily prayer throughout the Church Year. We're fast coming to the end of May and CPH's 1/2 price off offer comes to a close. If you have NOT ordered your Treasury yet, by all means JUST DO IT! You will be so blessed. Promise! Check it out here:Treasury
5 comments:
What would you suggest to people who work nights and sleep during the day? Should they stick to Matins in the actual morning and Compline when it's actually late night, or Matins when they wake up and Compline before they actually go to bed. Same question re: Luther's morning and evening prayer.
That is a fascinating question, Tim. I've never considered it before. I honestly don't know what I'd recommend. My native inclination is to leave the hours where they are, but I can certainly see the point of switching them around - I mean, especially things like Luther's morning and evening prayers. Any others have any thoughts on how to address that?
The Divine Office is communal, not private, prayer; it is prayed when the community prays it as part of the public liturgy of the church, for which reason it is sometimes called the Liturgy of the Hours.
The morning and evening prayer are drawn from the Office and from their names reflect that most people work during the daylight hours, but are addressed to a household, specifically the head of it, therefore, the operaticve words are "when you get up" and "when you go to bed" whether that follows the more usual pattern of morning and evening or not.
I would suggest switching the matins and compline. I used to work midnight shift at a state prison, B.T.D.P unfortunately, but now that I have been blessed with it, I can see how I would have greatly benefitted from following along with the matins to start my day (usually at about 11 PM) and ending my day with compline (usually about noon or 1:00 PM the following day). Same with the morning and evening prayer, which would have been completely befitting to the environment and daily task at hand.
I struggled for years to get into the daily habit with CPH's "Daily Prayer" (Robert Sauer, ed.). There's something about the Daily Treasury that makes it just happen, by contrast. What is it? Well, it's wonderfully historical-liturgical, and yet at the same time 'evangelical.' Maybe it has to do with the wonderfully evangelical way we are being encouraged not to worry about skipping a day (which has the wonderful motivational effect of making one NOT want to skip a day!). Maybe it's the length of the selection which are just right.
The only thing I find lacking, is that I LONG for a daily epistle (which of course I can well do on my own!)
God bless Paul McCain!
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