For centuries, lay people have prayed popularized forms of the Liturgy of the Hours. The most popular of these is the well-known “Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary.” But there are others. Some years ago, a small booklet of these was published for the use of the Dominican Laity. Br. Thomas More Garrett, O. P. has reproduced the Little Office of St. Dominic. This Little Office is a set of psalms, readings, and classic prayers to St. Dominic, formatted according to the plan of the traditional Divine Office, which is great for growing in devotion to him.Neat. For those who are interested, you can download the text for the Little Office.
Lay Dominicans make a commitment to pray the Divine Office daily, at least morning and evening prayer. Although my soul yearns for a new English translation, which I most likely will not see before my death to this world, praying the Office is a truly beautiful way in which we are able to frame our day by grounding ourselves in the prayer and liturgical life of the Church. Ideally, this should be combined with daily mass and reception of Holy Communion, as we are able. It helps prayer throughout the day to be dynamic, merged with one's very breath. Speaking for myself, I find that when I do this, including offering the day and my daily work to God, even the most obscure tasks of the day (e.g. developing a compiler toolchain) become intense moments of contemplation.
3 comments:
Do you by any chance have the Latin text for the Little Office of St Thomas Aquinas? I saw it referred to in a Raccolta, but the text was not given.
Unfortunately I don't, sorry!
You can find Little Office of St. Thomas Aquinas here:
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BxidxB-3GVcXcGdzQlNHVVJneG8
Or here, if you want to print it on one sheet of paper (for even Catholics should be green :-) ): https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BxidxB-3GVcXeDd6T3AyRWtzcFU
Pax et bonum,
JJL
Post a Comment