The Divine Office has been prayed for the Church’s entire existence, and its tradition and its content–inspired by God himself–has been handed down throughout the centuries. Contained within the office are many Psalms that were recited regularly by our Lord in addition to other very powerful and beautiful prayers of the Church. Together with the Mass, the Office constitutes the public prayer life of the Church, and of all the prayers of the Church, next to the holy sacrifice of the Mass, the Divine Office gives the greatest glory to God. If the Church’s liturgy is the sun, the Divine Office are the rays that surround it.
While Church buildings sanctify space, the Divine Office sanctifies time. Through praying the Office, the Church answers Christ’s request to pray always (Luke 18:1) in the most clearest of ways by offering the same prayers united in Christ at all times throughout the entire world.
Christ’s command to pray always applies not only just to priests and religious but to all peoples, and the Divine Office is an excellent way to participate in these timeless prayers.
The following are the names of all the various hours and the times they are traditionally prayed:
Prayer | Latin Name | Time (approx) |
Dawn | Lauds | 3:00 am |
Morning | Prime | 6:00 am |
Before Noon | Terce | 9:00 am |
Midday | Sext | 12:00 pm |
Afternoon | None | 3:00 pm |
Evening | Vespers | 6:00 pm |
Night | Compline | Before Sleep |
Midnight | Matins | 12:00 am |
To start praying the Office, you can download this Beginners Guide here. It is recommended to use a print copy for the Office, and ideally for a first use, a more condensed copy such as this Divine Office, or The Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or just even just a book for the hour of Compline. As an excellent reference point, there is Divinum Officium for an online resource. Eventually if one has the time and desire to pray the full office and the money (around $300), he or she may then invest in a full Roman Breviary. A viable and economic alternative to the full Breviary is the Monastic Diurnal, which contains all the hours (Matins excepted) of the ancient traditional Benedictine Office.