![]() No other form of prayer is so rooted in the mysteries of salvation history as they are unfolded day by day in the Church’s annual cycle. a novitiate in which she teaches her age-old ways of how to glorify God in Christ as Church, together as one body, in union with and after the example of her head. Our sanctification takes place as the Holy Spirit molds us into the image of Christ when we contemplate Him in the prayers of the Divine Office. ![]() Its primary purpose is to praise our Creator who is worthy of all our love, and who finds His “heaven on earth” in the love we bear for Him in our souls. The primary purpose of the Divine Office isn’t our personal sanctification, although that is certainly something to be desired. Francis of Assisi adoring the Crucifix by Bernardo Strozzi Catechism of the Ukrainian Catholic Church The Purpose of the Divine Office He places them within salvation history, the heart of which is the mystery of Christ’s. …the prayer of the Church, closely bound to the rhythms of nature, fills the daily, weekly, and yearly cycles with celebration of the feasts of the Lord and the Mother of God, as well as memorials of the saints.Īs they pray, God enters into the time of people’s lives. In the Divine Office the Church Militant (which exists in time) unites with the Church Triumphant (which exists in eternity) in unending praise and worship of our Creator. Caritate Christi Compulsi, Encyclical of Pope Pius XI Thus prayer of itself assures the presence of God among men, according to the promise of the divine Redeemer: “Where there are two or three gathered together in my Name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matt.18:20). What a spectacle for heaven and earth is not the Church in prayer! For centuries without interruption, from midnight to midnight, is repeated on earth the divine psalmody of the inspired canticles there is no hour of the day that is not hallowed by its special liturgy there is no stage of life that has not its part in the thanksgiving, praise, supplication and reparation in common use by the mystical body of Christ, which is the Church. At every hour of every day these communal prayers of the Church render glory to God and unite us with the saving work of Jesus Christ for the salvation of the world. Just as the Mass is continuously offered to God all over the world each day, so also is the Divine Office. The Divine Office is intimately connected with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Photo: Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology
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