“So if you take nothing else away from this article, and you already pray a daily Rosary, know that you are still participating in the Church’s liturgical prayer through St. So if you take nothing else away from this article, and you already pray a daily Rosary, know that you are still participating in the Church’s liturgical prayer through St. Just as there are 150 psalms, the Rosary was originally designed so that, all mysteries prayed, 150 Hail Marys are said. Just as the Divine Office has one praying all the psalms and meditating on God’s mysteries, praying all of the mysteries of the Rosary also draws one deeper into thought on God’s mysteries. Dominic, a monastic used to praying all 150 psalms every week, wanted a way for the laity to participate in the Church’s liturgy in some extended way. And this makes all the sense in the world! Families are busy.īefore getting into the depths of the Office itself, I would like to highlight that this is exactly how the Rosary came into existence. That means that in the traditional Catholic family, praying the Divine Office hasn’t been high on the priority list in times past. Notice, though, how I referred to the fact that this has been largely kept alive in the monastic tradition, even when the Church requires all of her clergy to pray the full Divine Office as well. The Liturgy of the Hours which came into being after Vatican II prays all 150 psalms over the course of four weeks. In anticipation of the grumblings he might hear because of the requirement to pray all 150 psalms in a week, he points to the eastern traditions and basically says ‘man up!’ and get over it. Benedict, prays all 150 psalms over the course of a week. Some traditions, like the western monastic that started by St. Benedict, he lauds this as the highest of standards. Some eastern traditions pray all 150 psalms every day. Through a period of time, all 150 psalms are recited at the various hours of the day. Inherited from Jewish practice, and kept richly alive in the tradition of the monastics, the Church considers the Divine Office an integral part of Her liturgy. Yes, the Divine Office, or the Liturgy of the Hours. The Mass is, as Vatican II says, “the source and summit of the Christian life,” but is there anything else involved under this larger umbrella of ‘Liturgy’? What can equal the literal presence of Jesus Christ in the sacrament of the Eucharist? The truth is that “The Liturgy refers to the public and common worship of the Church, which necessarily has a repetitive nature. I shudder when people refer to the Mass as ‘(The) Liturgy,’ as if there is no other liturgy or, if there is, the Mass is somehow equated to it. If you’re like me, though, you might ask “what is the best thing that a family can do outside of going to regular Mass?” The Other Liturgy of the Church One Rosary a week, I believe, still makes a drastic difference on your family’s prayer life. To be clear, whatever you are doing is great. Maybe they get through a decade every night, maybe they do a couple Rosaries a week, or maybe they only figure out how to do it together one evening a week. When actually attempting it, though, they fall way short of this ideal. Many mothers and fathers are incredibly impressed by great figures such as Scott Hahn talking about the spiritual benefit that a nightly Rosary had on their family. Take the idea of the daily family Rosary. In any case, they want to introduce as much extra-liturgical faith-based activity as they can into their home, the domestic church. Maybe they pray a nightly family Rosary, or they engage in Liturgical Living activities as advocated by Kendra Tierney in her book The Catholic All Year Compendium, or they prioritize going to daily Mass. Many Catholic families who are actively seeking to raise their children in the Catholic faith are always on the lookout for things that will draw themselves and their children deeper into the Faith. When, though, might we sing them? During the prayed hours of the Divine Office, of course! But do we hate hymns? No way! There are a great stock of traditional hymns we might use. As many churches begin phasing in the use of Propers during Mass, some may still use hymns, but if many of the young voices that I sing with have our way, hymns are likely on their way out in the parochial church.
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