Posted on by Fr. Brench

Forgot the Great Litany?

Don’t forget it’s Friday, one of the traditional days of the week for saying the Great Litany after the Collects in Morning Prayer!

Did you already say Morning Prayer without the Litany?  That’s alright, consider praying the Litany at the end of Midday Prayer instead!  There’s a handy spot near the end of that Office which says “other intercessions and thanksgivings may be offered.”  Why not pray the entire Litany and Supplication at that point?  It could be a great spiritual boost and refocus for the middle of your day.

Posted on by Fr. Brench

Grant thy faithful people pardon and peace

The Collect of the Day from Sunday September 30th, which is to be repeated in the Daily Office throughout the week, is as follows:

Merciful Lord, grant to your faithful people pardon and peace; that by your grace we may be cleansed from all our sins and serve you with a quiet mind; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever  Amen.

If you’re a regular pray-er of the Daily Office, you may already be intimately familiar with this prayer; it is the “Collect for Forgiveness” that is read by a lay person in the absence of a priest or bishop after the Confession.  (Even if you are a priest or bishop, if you’re paying the Office by yourself it might make more sense to read this prayer after the Confession, as you have nobody else to pronounce pardon and absolution to!)

Unless you’re using the Sunday Propers again for a mid-week service in the next couple days, it’s probably too late to point out this Collect’s double function to others in your congregation.  But you can, at least on your own, take some time this week to reflect on the Gospel of Christ’s forgiveness.  The blessed state of pardon and peace, of cleansed souls such that we can serve Christ with a “quiet” (or peaceful, unfettered, un-distracted) mind… this is the great work and gift of God.

May we all seek pardon and peace from God first, and await his consummate blessings that flow from that divine starting point.

Posted on by Fr. Brench · 1 Comment

Beginning of the month

It’s the 1st of October, the beginning of a new month!  The traditional pattern in the Prayer Books before the 20th century is to pray through the Psalms in 30 days, beginning on the 1st of each month.  In the 1928 and 1979 American Prayer Books, new cycles were introduced for those who wanted a shorter Daily Office by praying fewer Psalms at a time.  The 2019 Prayer Book is also drafted to present a 60-day Psalter option.

If you don’t normally, consider taking this month to rise to the challenge of the original plan of Psalm prayer.  This is really the bread & butter of the Daily Office, and was once the backbone of Western spirituality, especially before the proliferation of hymns and songs a couple centuries after the Reformation.

At Morning Prayer today pray Psalms 1-5, and at Evening Prayer pray Psalms 6-8.
Tomorrow it’ll be Psalms 9-11 in the morning and Psalms 12-14 in the evening.
Wednesday’s Psalms are 15-17 in the morning, and Psalm 18 in the evening.

The full 30-day table of Psalms is here.

Whatever you undertake, endeavor to stick to it until you’ve gotten through the whole cycle.  And be sure to pray them out loud, pausing at the line breaks, so you have time to take in what you’re saying!