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Introduction to the Liturgy of the Hours
Christ told us about our need “to pray always and not to lose heart” (Luke 18:1). In his goodness, our Savior modeled how we might do this. Following Jewish custom, Jesus offered prayer at various times of the day and night, would retire to the desert or to the hills to pray, or rise up very early or spend the night in prayer to God. The Gospels frequently show Jesus at prayer, especially when his saving mission is being revealed, as for example at his baptism, before he called the apostles, at his transfiguration, when he healed the sick and raised the dead, and above all at the events leading up to and during his Passion. Jesus’s earthly work was closely bound up with his prayer, and indeed flowed out from it (cf. General Instruction on the Liturgy of the Hours, no. 4).
The Church satisfies Christ’s precept “to pray always” in accordance with apostolic tradition by celebrating the Eucharist and the Liturgy of the Hours, or Divine Office. “The Liturgy of the Hours extends to the different hours of the day the praise and thanksgiving, the memorial of the mysteries of salvation, the petitions, and the foretaste of heavenly glory, that are present in the eucharistic mystery, ‘the center and high point of the whole life of the Christian community’” (GILH no. 12). Along with Mass, the Liturgy of the Hours constitutes the public prayer of the Church. It is the image of Christ’s own prayer to the Father, “for where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them” (Matthew 18:20).
Clergy and religious are obliged to pray the Liturgy of the Hours, and the laity too are encouraged to participate as often as possible. Since the Second Vatican Council, the modern Liturgy of the Hours consists of seven canonical hours, divided into three major hours and four minor hours, as follows:- Office of Readings – major hour (traditionally prayed during the night and called Matins or Vigils; now prayed at any convenient time)
- Lauds or Morning Prayer – major hour (at rising)
- Terce or Midmorning Prayer – minor hour (before noon)
- Sext or Midday Prayer – minor hour (at about noon)
- None or Midafternoon Prayer – minor hour (at about 3pm)
- Vespers or Evening Prayer – major hour (at about sunset)
- Compline or Night Prayer – minor hour (just before retiring)