The Benefit of the Daily Office Prayers

     The Daily Office is not just another day at the office, but is another day to pray to the Lord with all your heart. The Daily Office is essentially a section you will find in the Book of Common Prayer where you have a routine for prayer in both Morning and Evening Hours. It is almost like part Sunday Service with part prayer time. This is something I discovered when becoming Episcopalian/Anglican and as a result, wanted to share with others the benefits that is found in using this particular practice while explaining the tradition and history behind it.

    When it comes to the early church practice, we receive this info from the definition of Daily Office from the Episcopal Church Dictionary: "Use of daily prayers to mark the times of the day and to express the traditions of the praying community is traditional in Judaism and in Christianity. The third, sixth, and ninth hours (9 a.m., 12 noon, and 3 p.m.) were times of private prayer in Judaism. The congregational or cathedral form of office developed in Christianity under Constantine (274 or 288-337) with the principal morning and evening services of lauds and vespers. The people participated in the cathedral form of office. The monastic form of office also developed at this time. In addition to lauds and vespers, the monastic form included matins (at midnight or cockcrow), prime (the first hour), terce (the third hour), sext (the sixth hour), none (the ninth hour), and compline (at bedtime). By the late middle ages, the Daily Office was seen as the responsibility of the monks and clergy rather than an occasion for participation by all in the prayers of the community throughout the day."

    Furthermore, we read of the following regarding the Anglican tradition during the Reformation: "After the Anglican Reformation, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556) reduced the eight monastic offices to the two services of Morning and Evening Prayer. These services were printed in vernacular English and intended for use by all members of the church. Participation in the Daily Office is at the heart of Anglican spirituality. It is the proper form of daily public worship in the church... These offices include prayers, a selection from the Psalter, readings from the Holy Scriptures, one or more canticles, and the Lord's Prayer. Forms for Morning and Evening Prayer include an optional confession of sin. The BCP provides a Daily Office Lectionary that identifies readings and psalm choices for Morning and Evening Prayer, and a Table of Canticles with suggested canticles for use at Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer. The officiant in the Daily Office may be a member of the clergy or a lay person."

    So now with this in mind, how should one go about using the Daily Office? Well it will always depend on your Book of Common Prayer (BCP). I own the 1662 International Edition BCP along with the 1979 BCP, which is the official version used by the Episcopal Church. There are others, but my experience will always sat that to a new person who isn't even Anglican yet can try the 1979 version as it is more simple and easy to use with even so much customization for the prayers for the perfect occasion. There is even a Noonday and Compline (bed time) prayer section for those wanting to add more to their prayer life. However, the question then becomes the structure of the BCP prayer for the Daily Office.

    The Daily Office usually begins with the use of reading a couple of scriptures in the recommended section. Such as Isaiah 40:3. Then we launch into the Confession of Sin (with Exhortation before that if you use the 1662) before praying the absolution of sin. The Invitatory is said next with the classic "O Lord, open thou our lips and our mouth shall show forth thy praise." & the Gloria Patri. Then for morning prayer, the Venite (Psalm 95) is chanted or read while the Phos Hilaron (O Gracious Light) is done for the evening prayer. Then the Psalms are read, which will vary. For the 1979, they have a Daily Office Lectionary that tells you which particular Psalms to read along with Bible readings, but if you want to do what I do and just use the original 1662 assigned readings which can still be seen in the 1979, you can just cite those whole entire Psalms. Doing this will have it so that you have read all 150 Psalms in one month.

    Then we go into the Reading/Lessons as well as the Canticles. Canticles are essentially passages of scripture which can be read or chanted in song. The Readings will always include an Old Testament for the Morning and New Testament for both. However, if you use the 1662 Daily Office, this will always have the Old Testament as the first lesson for the readings. We would proceed then to the Apostle's Creed for reciting or singing before we get to the prayers. The prayers then go in the order of the Lord's Prayer, a suffrage (responsive prayers of petition), a collect (prayer meant to gather the intentions of the people and the focus of worship into a succinct prayer), prayer, for mission, custom prayers for any occassion that can be put afterwards, the choice of either the General Thanksgiving or St Chrysostom's Prayer, and then finally another final passage of scripture which is usually 2 Corinthians 13:14.

    This the overall essence of prayer during morning and evening. Some may wonder about the idea of reading the prayers as opposed to closing your eyes and improvising from the heart. I respond with stating that nowhere does it forbid doing prayer like this and half the time, it's praying the prayers from Scripture itself to pray. Such as the Lord's Prayer, The Magnificat (Luke 1:46-54), The Prayer of Simeon (Luke 2:29) and various others. It also includes prayers from the early church that can be found. It is essentially prayers that connect you to a rich history of Christian prayer life throughout the centuries. It even will help you memorize certain longer prayers word for word and you'll be able to say these prayers even when you are improvising.

    One of the benefits of this is obviously a stronger prayer life as you will be finding yourself involved in the pattern. Even if you don't do the noonday or compline prayer, the morning and evening prayers are essentially the chunk of the prayer that you will likely spend 15 to 20 minutes doing the office. You will even be there for 30-35 minutes for the 1662 Daily Office. That is good time to spend towards God for the start of the day and for the close of the day.

    Another is the fact that you will get to read scripture quite often because of the emphasis on the scripture readings. Some might keep in mind that it's best to call them lessons or readings because sometimes, you will read from the Apocrypha which is good for edification and devotion. However, because they are not considered scripture or canon among Protestants, it is best to say "Here endeth the lesson/reading" as opposed to "the Word of the Lord" normally. Just be prepared if you read the 1662 Daily Office as that means you read a single chapter per lesson.

    The benefit of being able to read prayers is great for those who have a hard time coming up with words to pray to God. It makes it seem like riding a bike with training wheels only to be told you can still keep using them as you go. It also is beneficial to read the prayers that our church brethren of the past used, connecting us with them as well as being unified into the single body of Christ. So overall, it also helps us learn our church history.

    The final benefit is in the fact that it will bring about a sense of peace, unity and fellowship with God. You will certainly feel like you have gotten closer to God as you are praying. I know I have certainly felt this whenever I started doing these prayers during the season of Lent. If you want to read on these and try using the daily prayers, check out the following links.

BCP 1979 Online: https://www.bcponline.org/

Daily Office 1979: https://www.bookofcommonprayer.net/#

1662 Daily Office: https://ie.dailyoffice1662.com/