The Liturgy of the Hours or My Two Cents in the Fountain of Holy Water

In this "public prayer of the Church [the Liturgy of the Hours]," the faithful (clergy, religious, and lay people) exercise the royal priesthood of the baptized. Celebrated in "the form approved" by the Church, the Liturgy of the Hours "is truly the voice of the Bride herself addressed to her Bridegroom. It is the very prayer which Christ himself together with his Body addresses to the Father." Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) paragraph 1174

My mother wasn't feeling well the other day. I offered to get my spray bottle of Holy Water with Blessed Salt. She declined the offer at first saying she didn't know what it would do--I'm Roman Catholic and she's not, knows nothing about details of my belief system. I told her it was a sacramental and would direct the public prayers of the Church. I reassured her that Holy Water wasn't a magic charm or talisman. She finally agreed and later told me how much better she felt after I did my thing.

I read the "Office for the Dead" recently. The Office for the Dead is part of the Liturgy of the Hours, also known as the Divine Office.

I love the Divine Office. Of the devotions directed to be done by my beloved Order of Discalced Carmelites Secular, daily praying of the Divine Office was right up there with the prescribed mental prayer time.

The Divine Office is recommended for all the faithful. Participating in it strengthens Sacramentals. Assisting at Holy Mass strengthens Sacramentals too. Sacramentals direct both of these public prayers of the Church so the more souls who participate, the greater strengthening of faith and the faithful. Jesus had something to say about faith the size of a grain of mustard (Matthew 17:20 and Luke 17:6).

Sacramentals do not confer the grace of the Holy Spirit in the way that the sacraments do, but by the Church's prayer, they prepare us to receive grace and dispose us to cooperate with it. For well-disposed members of the faithful, the liturgy of the sacraments and sacramentals sanctifies almost every event of their lives with the divine grace which flows from the Paschal mystery of the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Christ. From this source all sacraments and sacramentals draw their power..." CCC paragraph 1670

Here's a great link from the EWTN website with more information about the Divine Office. Breviaries are available from Amazon (search Christian Prayer and the Liturgy of the Hours). Two books are available: the Liturgy of the Hours which is full length with the Psalter printed for each day and is frequently in four volumes; and Christian Prayer, which is a complete Liturgy book except that it contains the Psalter in a four-week repeating form and only an abbreviated Office of Readings. I use Christian Prayer as my breviary, plus the Carmelite Proper of the Liturgy of the Hours for our specific Feasts and Saints (the red book in the header of this page).

I'm off to read Vespers, or Evening Prayer. This is Tuesday of the Second Week of Ordinary Time. Time to contribute my prayers to the Church for Holy Water, and Blessed Salt, and Blessed Candles, and such.

Who knows if my two cents in the fountain of Holy Water will be enough to Jesus-ify anyone? There are many, many pennies in there already.

Suffering and Christian joy, thy name is Parin. Conversion, thy name is Christian.

And may Almighty God bless us, protect us from all evil, and bring us to everlasting life. Amen.

Thanks, Aikichik, for modeling