Psalter: Week 4 Tuesday (Evening Prayer)

A reading from the letter of St.Paul to the Colossians:

Christ's message, in all its richness, must live in your hearts. Teach and instruct each other with all wisdom. Sing the psalms, hymns, and sacred songs; sing to God, with thanksgiving in your hearts. 

When I read this yesterday evening, I was inspired to share it with you today because of its message, or as St. Paul puts it, "...Christ's message...", which is so right for us at the beginning of the Year of Faith. It is telling us not only to pray, sing the psalms, hymns and sacred songs, but also to pass on our faith by teaching and instructing each other with all wisdom. The wisdom that comes to us from God by the gift of the Holy Spirit.

What better way than to say the Prayers of the Hours. Prayer is our lifeline with God, without Him we are nothing. The New Testament leaves us in no doubt that we should pray regularly. Our Lord taught us by word and example that we should pray continually and never lose heart (Luke 18:1).

For this reason the public and communal prayer of the People of God has always been considered as being the first duties of the Church. The writers of the Acts of the Apostles tells us that from the very beginning the baptised 'remain faithful to the teaching of the apostles, to the brotherhood, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers'. (Act 2:42)

Over time the continuing prayers of the faithful have been passed down to us and are known as the Liturgy of the Hours, which is a sanctification of the whole day. These are the prayers that every Catholic Priest says in the course of each day, and know as the 'Divine Office'.

Since the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II) the Devine Office has been revised in accordance with the wishes of the whole council. A little about the principles behind the new form are as follows:

As expressly requested by the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, account has been taken on the circumstances in which these days priests have to form the work of the apostolate.  The Office has therefore been composed so that it is the prayer not only of the clergy but of the whole of the People of God and religious and lay people can take part in it, and there are various forms of celebration so that it can be accommodated to the various groups, with their differing needs.

Since 2013 marks the anniversary of the end of Vatican II, it is only right and fitting that we take up this wonderful opportunity to begin to pray together by saying, individually or as a group, the Prayers of the Church, as expressed by Pope Benedict XVI, and again by Fr. Bryan at the meeting which took place on Monday of this week. More about this over the next few weeks when the Parish Councils of St.Mary's, together with St.Francis, Hambleton, have put together a programme of events for this Year of Faith. 

 PRAISE WE OUR GOD WITH JOY
(Hymn by Frederick Oakeley)

Praise we our God with joy
and gladness never ending;
angels and saints with us
their grateful voices blending.
He is our Father dear,
o’er filled with parent’s love;
mercies unsought, unknown,
he showers from above.

He is our shepherd true;
with watchful care unsleeping,
on us, his erring sheep
an eye of pity keeping;
he with a mighty arm
the bonds of sin doth break,
and to our burden’d hearts
in words of peace doth speak.

Graces in copious stream
from that pure fount are welling,
where, in our heart of hearts,
our God hath set his dwelling.
His word our lantern is;
his peace our comfort still;
his sweetness all our rest;
our law, our life, his will.