Liturgy of the Hours
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Liturgy of the Hours
The value of the Liturgy of the hours is enormous. Through it, all of the faithful, but especially the clergy and religious, fulfil a role of prime importance: Christ's prayer goes on in the world. The Holy Spirit intercedes for his people (cf. Rom. 8:27). The Christian community, with praise and thanksgiving, glorifies the wisdom, the power, the providence and the salvation of our God.
In this prayer of praise, we lift up our hearts to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, bringing with us the anguish and hopes, the joys and sorrows of all our brothers and sisters in the world.
Our prayer becomes also a school of sensitivity, making us aware of how much our destinies are linked together in the human family. Our prayer becomes a school of love - a special kind of Christian consecrated love, by which we love the world, but with the heart of Christ.
Through this prayer of Christ to which we give our voice:
Our day is sanctified
Our activities are transformed
All our actions are made holy
We pray the same psalms that Jesus prayed and come into personal contact with Him - the person to whom all Scripture points, the goal to which all history is directed.
In our celebration of the word of God, the mystery of Christ opens out before us and envelops us. Through union with our Head, Jesus Christ, we become ever more one with the members of His Body.
As never before, it becomes possible for us to reach out and embrace the world, but to embrace it with Christ: with authentic generosity, with pure and effective love, in service, in healing and in reconciliation.
The efficacy of our prayer renders special honour to the Father because it is made always through Christ and for the glory of His name: "We ask this through Our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever."
As a community of prayer and praise, with the Liturgy of the Hours among the highest priorities of our day - each day- we can be sure that nothing will separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus Our Lord.
Address given by Pope St. John Paul 11 in St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York
3rd Oct. 1979
“When we recite the Divine Office for the Church, in union with Jesus Christ, we labour for the salvation and sanctification of souls in a measure we cannot comprehend”