Breviary Cover

       I made a cover for my breviary! I suppose it's a case, more than a cover, just for protecting the delicate pages when I take it out of the house. Once again, it's something whipped up from  raw measurements and scraps I had on hand - and one of my great-aunt's buttons. I feel so resourceful.

       A Breviary is the book used in praying the Divine Office (Liturgy of the Hours). These prayers, composed largely of the Psalms, have been prayed for centuries. All religious are required to pray all or part of it, according to the work of their order. There are seven offices prayed throughout the day, each different from the others. Some parts change according to the cycle of the Church calendar and Feast Days, while other parts are on a steady four-week cycle. Night Prayer (Compline) follows a one-week cycle, and is the simplest of them all.

       I first prayed Divine Office when I visited an order of Benedictine sisters last May, and I became a little more familiar with it on each of my retreats. I liked the psalms, readings, and prayers themselves, and also the chanting. Even more, I loved the rhythm of the day when I woke up before dawn to go straight to the chapel, returned there frequently throughout the day, and ended there before going to bed. It's not a work day broken up by constant prayer. It becomes a day, a life, of prayer, stopping for the other necessities of life. And yet, it doesn't stop, because everything done in a day can become a prayer when done for God!

      
       If anyone is interested in seeing what any of the offices are like, or if you would like to start praying them yourself, go to www.divineoffice.org They have each office completely written out, every day, and it is a very simple way to become familiar with the patterns. It helped me tremendously as I learned how to use the books!

May it please the supreme and divine Goodness to give us all abundant grace

ever to know His most holy will and perfectly to fulfill it.

- St. Ignatius of Loyola