Compline
Pray, Father, a blessing
I came to pray the Divine Office 21 years ago. Then, it was the “Liturgy of the Hours,” because I started off with the post-conciliar Office. I’ve since moved to an older version; the monastic 1962 Office. But I digress. It’s still “The Office.” The prayer of the Church, our way of sacralizing the day. Next to the Mass, it has been for me the best part of calling to mind what life is about - or should be about - constantly throughout the day: my relationship with God.
I love Compline. It has always had a special place in my heart. At the end of the day, ..”Creator of the world, we pray…that with Thy wonted favor, Thou wouldst be our Guard and Keeper now.” Indeed.
The Divine Office saved my life. That’s not hyperbole. Maybe I’ll write about how and why in the future. Suffice to say, it carries me. And I’m so grateful to God, for “He hath given His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways; They shall bear thee up in their hands * lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.”
May His holy angels dwell herein to keep us in peace, and His blessing be always upon us.
The Breviary is so clearly the breath of the Church, and I hope more people begin with it. I promised the bishop at my ordination to pray the cardinal hours, but I quickly started praying all the hours. A few years after my ordination I realized how much of the Psalter was cut from the Breviary by Bugnini and his Consilium, and I started using the older form. It is deeply enriching to read the whole Psalter in a week; the Psalms become old friends. And we are not denied the troubling verses or the three entire Psalms that were omitted from the new liturgy of the hours. (They're good enough for God but not for us?) Over the years, the amount of the Breviary I pray in Latin has increased, and that, too, has enriched the experience. I would encourage everyone to start with the LOTH and perhaps consider moving at some point to the older form and do what they can in their state of life. Individual recitation will not look exactly like what you see the monks do in choir, so don't compare yourself to them. The invitation from God is always participation rather than performance, and the depth and breadth of participation is always open to increase.