Tagged: divine office

Prayer is like a child crying

Prayer / Spirituality

Like a Child Crying Tearfully for Its Mother: St. John Chrysostom on Prayer

This morning’s second reading from the Office of Readings is a beautiful meditation on prayer by St. John Chrysostom. It’s easy to forget that prayer is an orientation of the heart more than a specific act in time, but St. John reminds us that authentic prayer colors every moment of every day: Prayer and converse with God is a supreme good: it is a partnership and union with God. As the eyes of the body are enlightened when they see light, so our spirit, when it is intent...

The Holy Family

Spirituality

Three Valuable Lessons from the Holy Family

Today’s Office of Readings provides a beautiful meditation from Pope Paul VI on this feast of the Holy Family. As Paul VI reflects, he recalls three things we can learn from Jesus’ upbringing: Silence First, we learn from its silence. If only we could once again appreciate its great value. We need this wonderful state of mind, beset as we are by the cacophony of strident protests and conflicting claims so characteristic of these turbulent times. The silence of Nazareth should teach us how to meditate in peace...

Thomas Merton

Prayer / Spirituality

Thomas Merton on the Divine Office

I came across this moving testimony to the of the Liturgy of the Hours in Thomas Merton’s autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain: Presently [my brother] said: “What’s that package you’ve got under your arm? Buy some books?” “Yes.” When he had unlocked the car, I ripped the paper off the package, and took out the cardboard box containing the set of four books, bound in black leather, marked in gold. I handed him one of the volumes. It was sleek and smelled new. The pages were edged in...

iBrevary iPhone App

Books and Reading / Spirituality / Technology

iBreviary – Using Your iPod to Consecrate the Day

  iBreviary is the perfect app for anyone who desires the pray the Liturgy of the Hours but has a difficult time finding the correct readings in the four thousand pages that make up the printed prayer books.  The four volume set of books that makes up the full text of the Divine Office is beautiful to behold, but is also heavy, cumbersome and costs well over one hundred dollars.  iBreviary, on the other hand, is as light as your iPod Touch or iPhone, fits easily in your...

St. Benedict

Spirituality

Benedictine Books

Today is the feast of St. Benedict, so I thought I’d mention a few of my favorite Benedictine books. First, a few books about the Rule of St. Benedict: The Rule of St. Benedict – Though it was written to guide behavior at monasteries, anyone who is in a leadership position can also benefit from the wisdom it contains. Try reading it as if it were addressed to parents, or supervisors. Reading St. Benedict: Reflections on the Rule by Adalbert de Vogue – This is probably the definitive...