The Divine Office Is Prayer
by Rev. Thomas Verner Moore, O.S.B.
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The statement that the divine office is an act of mental prayer that may at times lift the soul to the heights of contemplative union with God may arouse questionings in the minds of some. The proposition however is true and calls attention to the attitude that one should maintain in the recitation of the divine office whether in public or in private. In reciting the office we are praying and indeed entering upon a mode of prayer which may, with God's grace, rise to the level of true contemplation.
Practically, and perhaps theoretically, a different concept and practice often obtain. The office is often regarded as a burdensome duty to be hurried through with as soon as possible. And I remember one good priest who said to me many years ago: "My boy, the office is not prayer, but a penitential exercise that the Church imposes upon us." The office may at times be reduced to a mere penitential exercise even in the life of one who realizes its true import as pure and holy prayer, but it can scarcely be the mind of the Church that the duty of reciting the office should be essentially nothing more than the fulfillment of a precept requiring more or less effort and self-denial.
Although the development of the office in the personal life as an act of pure and holy prayer seems in danger of becoming a lost art, we cannot look upon this degeneration of liturgical prayer to a mere penitential exercise in the life of our busy clergy as a hopeless condition that it is impossible to remedy in the busy world in which we now live.
Once the recitation of the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin was a common Catholic devotion, as is witnessed by the many editions of the Little Office for use of the laity. It is now seldom recited in our country except by nuns. In the middle ages the devout among the laity even rose at midnight to be present in the church during the chanting of matins. When the monasteries were closed in Reformation times and assistance at the divine office was no longer possible, instances are not lacking of the office becoming the common prayer of a Catholic family. Thus we read of the family of Luke Wadding, " that they each day, in the midst of their entire household, surrounded by their servants and various domestics, met together in prayer; that on these occasions they recited the 'small office', as it is usually termed, of the Blessed Virgin Mary, alternately, besides the Seven Penitential Psalms, twice each week, together with the Litany of the Saints, and its annexed prayers. They recited, moreover, the whole Office for the Dead twice every month and the Rosary of the Blessed Lady invariably every night."1
That the recitation of psalms was once a pure and holy mode of prayer cannot be doubted by one who studies the writings of the early Fathers. Nor can we doubt that it was prayer to the monks who recited it in the middle ages and to the laity who made the sacrifice of rising at night to be silently present during the chanting of matins.
To get some idea of the office as a mode of prayer in the early ages of the Church let us turn to Cassian. In his Institutes we have the following interesting and illuminating passage:
Wherefore they think it of more value that prayers should be short, but most frequent, that on the one hand by lifting our minds to the Lord more frequently we may be continually united with Him, and on the other hand that we may avoid by a concise brevity the darts of the crafty Satan which he commences in earnest to inflict upon us particularly when we pray. And, therefore, not even those psalms which they chant in choir do they attempt to complete by an unbroken recitation; but according to the number of verses, having divided them into two or three sections with prayers interspersed between the parts they go through with each division in its turn. . . . Finally, should any one of the juniors, either from fervor of spirit, or because he is not yet trained, begin to hurry up the chanting, the progress of the senior who is chanting is interrupted, by a rap which he gives with his hand on the bench on which he sits, making all rise for prayer.2
These pauses spoken of by Cassian show us that the ideal of the early monks in the recitation of the Divine Office was to devote themselves to a period of intimate prayer and union with God. What they practiced might be adopted with profit in the private recitation of the office. But whether or not there is an actual pause in the recitation, the mind should elevate itself to God from phrase to phrase as the realization of one meaning after another flashes in the mind. Such elevations are within the power of ordinary effort, assisted as it always is by divine grace. Therefore, by our own effort the recitation of the divine office can take on the form of the prayer of aspiration. True contemplative prayer is only possible by a special grace from God. But it is compatible with vocal prayer if we can trust the judgment of Saint Theresa.3
It is all important, when commencing the private recitation of the divine office, or its public chant, to have the proper attitude. If we conceive of it merely as an outward form, or a kind of penitential exercise, it is not likely that our recitation will rise to the heights of interior prayer.
When, therefore, we commence the divine office we should set before ourselves the ideal of entering upon a period of contemplative prayer. It is quite true that most religious are unable to enter at will into contemplative prayer either in their private devotion or at the public recitation of the divine office. Nevertheless, contemplative prayer in the presence of the Blessed Trinity should be the ideal toward which we constantly strive. To commence this office in the attitude of a school boy, who is saying the Litany of the Saints as a penance and feels that the quicker he gets through with it the better, is not to comport oneself as one should in the sight of God and His holy angels. If we are told to place ourselves in the presence of God when we commence our mental prayer, this certainly is our duty when we begin the divine office. We must not only place ourselves in the presence of God for a few moments before we commence the office, but all throughout the recitation we must endeavor to realize that we are reciting the psalms to God ever present and that our chant is accompanied by the Song of the Angels. As soon as we have a living abiding realization of what we are actually doing, singing God's praises face to face with God Himself, we have entered upon a truly contemplative prayer.
If this is not immediately possible, we should try to pay strict attention to the meaning of what we are saying, treating the psalms and antiphons as a series of aspirations such as we make in practicing affective mental prayer. There is this difference: in the divine office, the aspirations are constantly flowing on and ever changing, whereas in private affective prayer one or two aspirations may be repeated again and again throughout the entire period. If one pays strict attention to the words of the divine office, elevating his mind here and there as he gets a special insight into the meaning of a phrase in one of the psalms, bowing in profound adoration at every " Gloria ", it will not be long before a peculiar spirit of recollection will steal over his soul, he will feel God's presence as well as know it in a dark manner by faith. The psalms will seem to sing to him with revelations of spiritual truth scarcely to be obtained by ordinary private reading. He will rejoice in the privilege of being associated with the angels in praising Him from whom all blessings flow. And when one comes to such psalms as are sung at lauds–how the mind will glow with ardent love as it praises God with holy joy! And after the close of the hours one is chanting, or privately reciting, the spirit of recollection abides and bears one company for some little while as one goes about the work of the day.
St. Benedict continues the tradition of Cassian. His spirit was that of later patristic times and through his rule it was continued down throughout the middle ages.
When he finished laying down the details for the recitation of the divine office he wrote the beautiful little chapter "De discipline psallendi" which gives us the fundamental principles that should determine our attitude of mind when it is occupied with the " work of God ". " We believe", he says, " that the divine presence is everywhere and that the eyes of the Lord behold the good and the wicked in every place" (Prov. 15:3).
"But in a most especial manner do we believe this without any shadow of doubt when we assist at the work of God. Therefore let us ever be mindful of what the prophet said: Serve ye the Lord in fear (Ps. 2:11). And again Sing psalms wisely (Ps. 46:8). And again: In the sight of the angels I sing my psalm to Thee (Ps. 37:1). Therefore let us consider how it behooves us to comport ourselves in the sight of Divinity and His angels; and let us so stand at our psalmistry that our mind will harmonize with our voice" (Rule, Ch. XIX).
From this it is clear that the fundamental principle governing the recitation of the divine office is that God is everywhere and wholly and completely present to all minds at every instant. He created us and this creative action continues, or all that is would sink into its original nothingness. He, therefore, sustains us in being. He is where He acts and so though I should take wings with the morning and fly to the uttermost parts of the earth, still He would be present and His right hand sustain my existence lest I should fall back into the nothingness from which His Almighty power called me into being. The Divine Presence is everywhere and His eyes behold both the good and the wicked; but in a special manner does His countenance shine upon us when we come together to chant His praises and try to give Him in some measure the honor which is His due, when in union with the whole Church we recite the divine office which she established in His honor and with which she has glorified Him day after day without interruption down throughout the centuries.
Not only do we recite the divine office in the sight of God but also in the sight of His angels. If God is present to us and to His angels we are both present to God and in a certain way are present to one another by virtue of the Omnipresent Divinity.
God Himself is the bond of union between all those who love and serve Him. It was for this that our Lord prayed, "that they may all be one, as Thou, Father, in Me and I in Thee and that they also may be one in Us" (St. John 17: 21). And so when we chant the divine office " in conspectu Divinitatis et angelorum ejus," we chant the psalms in the bosom of the Blessed Trinity to whom the Angels ever sing: Holy! Holy! Holy! bowing down in adoration. And our little choir is made one with the countless numbers in earth and in heaven who are actually fulfilling the primary end of their creation, giving glory to God who made us.
Furthermore, when we pray for others the voice of our prayer reverberates through the immensity of God to the minds and hearts of all mankind. In the morning at prime we sing: "Look upon Thy servants, O Lord, and upon Thy works and direct their offspring. And may the splendor of the Lord God be upon us, and do Thou direct above us the works of our hands, the work of our hands do Thou direct."And when we say these words we ask God's direction not only for ourselves and our community but for all those who tread the path that leads to their eternal home in heaven. And our voice is united to that of the Universal Church and in virtue of the Divine Immensity resounds with a sympathetic resonance in the hearts of all who daily receive their supernatural guidance from their Eternal Father.
And when for instance in the evening at compline we pray: "Convert us, O God, our Salvation! And turn away Thy wrath from us!" it is not merely for our own faults and sins of the day just elapsed that we ask forgiveness. True, we ever pray for our own conversion, for no matter how high we might ascend in the spiritual life, God ever points out to us still higher ideals to which He would convert us. And therefore we pray to Him: Converte nos Domine, Salutaris noster. But we think particularly of those who know Him not, who persecute Him perhaps, and we beg that they may be converted and turn to God their Salvation. And in virtue of the Divine Immensity, what we say in our own hearts reverberates in the minds of those in distant lands, and in strange and unexpected ways those who have never known Him commence to understand that He is God their Savior.
What we have hitherto said applies not only to the public recitation of the divine office, but also to the cleric or layman who says the office privately–but digne, attente ac devote. But there is another principle which was taught us by Christ Himself. Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them. He who in the Holy Eucharist multiplies His presence and dwells in every tabernacle in the world is present in a special manner whenever the office is chanted in choir. It is because He unites His voice with that of the choir that the chant of the public recitation of the divine office has a peculiar merit and gives glory to God in a way that is not otherwise attainable. And so when a choir sings the divine office they sing to Christ and with Christ in conspectu Divinitatis et angelorum ejus.
This concomitant presence of Christ in the choir, according to His promise in the Gospel, gives us the key to the understanding of the office as the setting for the Holy Mass. Christ who abides in the midst of those who have gathered together in His name to sing the praises of His Eternal Father ascends from their midst to the altar as if to Calvary to make the complete oblation of Himself.
The fullness of our Lord's promise: "where two or three are gathered together in My name there am I in the midst of them" is, therefore, realized in the canonical and liturgical functions of the divine office and the Holy Mass. The full manifestation of this holy liturgy is found when the bishop and his canonical chapter celebrate the sacred mysteries. Then in a most peculiar and appropriate sense does Christ dwell in the midst of His little flock and offer Himself to the Eternal Father for the salvation of His people. Those only can appreciate this who are imbued with a supernatural view of life and understanding that God's grace flowing from the prayer of Christ on the cross, and pulsating in human hearts, is the one and only source of the spiritual life of man.
We in America are too prone to lose sight of the supernatural in our vigorous external work. And, therefore, our cathedrals are silent and never yet has there been heard in any one of them the powerful supplication of the regularly established daily canonical celebration of the divine office and the Holy Mysteries. But if the liturgical revival is to attain the fullness of its development and be a permanent factor in Catholic life, it must have its center in the bishop and his clergy actually living a liturgical life which the people will learn ever more and more to love and share. But if this is ever to come to pass, the general attitude toward the divine office and the common mode of its private recitation must change. We who recite it must realize that when we approach this liturgical prelude and setting of the Holy Sacrifice that we are undertaking an act of prayer which may ascend to the heights of contemplative union with God and are about to take part in the prayer of Christ upon the Cross offering Himself up to His Eternal Father for the salvation of the world. Should priests in general approach the recitation of the office in this spirit, it would not be long before the laity too would realize how they also could prepare for and take part in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass; and with this general appreciation of liturgical and mystical ideals our cathedrals would be silent no longer, but bishop, priests and people would unite in the daily, solemn, liturgical celebration of the divine mysteries in the sight of God and His holy Angels.
Endnotes
1 Life of Father Luke Wadding, by Joseph A. O'Shea, Dublin, 1885.
2 Cassian, De Coenobitorum Institutis, II, x, xi; Migne, P. L., XLIX, 99-101.
3 The incident of the nun who attained to the prayer of union at times in the recitation of the Our Father. "I questioned her", says St. Theresa, "and found that she enjoyed pure contemplation while saying the Pater Noster, and that occasionally God raised her to perfect union with Himself." Way of Perfection, XXX, 7, Ed. Zimmerman, 1925, p. 176.
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