The Divine Office by Edward J. Quigley (cool books to read .txt) 📕

the many. Another hint to help pious recitation is to earnestly wish to say the Office worthily, attentively and devoutly. This wish must bring up before the mind the thought of how displeasing to God and how great is the daily loss—not to speak of a lifetime's loss-to the soul of a priest who prays carelessly, tepidly and mechanically. But in spite of all precautions, it may be noticed during the recitation of the Hours that, without our own fault, the words are said too quickly. It is advised, then, to pause and to say mentally what the Venerable Boudon was wont to say to his soul in similar circumstances: "To punish and mortify thee, I will go more slowly; I will devote to my office to-day a longer time" (Bacquez).

IV. To prevent distractions and to banish them are no easy matters. It is impossible to avoid all distractions. Involuntary distractions do not hinder merit; still it is important that an effort be made to diminish and repress the quality of such disturbing elements in prayer.

First of all, we can never totally avoid all distractions, nor can we entirely and completely remove them when they enter our souls. The human soul cannot pray for any notable time without distraction. The greatest saints knew this well. St. Augustine wrote, "Vult se tenere ut stet, et quodammodo fugit a se nec invenit cancellos quibus se includat" (in Psalm 95). St. Thomas wrote "Vix unum Pater noster potest homo dicere quin mens ad alia fertur." The author of the Imitation of Christ wrote, "For I confess truly that I am accustomed to be very much distracted. For oftentimes I am not there where I am bodily standing or sitting, but am rather there where my thoughts carry me" (Bk. iii. c. 48). The same writer wrote, "And I, a wretch and the vilest of men…. I can hardly spend one half hour as I ought." St. Teresa wrote, "I am not less distracted than you are during Office, and try to think that it arises from weakness of head. Do not fear to think so, too. Does not our Lord know, that when we perform this duty we would wish to do it with the greatest possible attention?"

After reading these words we can understand how prayer offered up with involuntary distractions is true, holy prayer. St. Thomas tells us "Dicendum quod in spiritu et veritate orat, qui ex instinctu spiritus ad orandum accedit, etiamsi ex aliqua infirmitate mens postmodum evagetur…. Evagatio vero mentis quae fit praeter propositum orationis fructum non tollat" (2.2. q. 83, a. 13).

Nevertheless, every effort should be made to avoid and to banish distractions. The ways of doing this are given in all treatises on prayer. Every priest knows them well. There are negative means and positive means. The negative means consist in withdrawing the senses and the powers of the soul from everything disturbing the soul's converse with God; in guarding against any too absorbing interest in worldly affairs, so that the mind is unmanageable and cannot be fixed on sacred things. St. Francis of Assisi, working at a piece of furniture before saying Terce, was, during the saying of that hour disturbed by the thought of his manual work. When he re-entered his cell he took the bit of work and threw it in the fire saying, "I wish to sacrifice to the Lord the thing which hindered my prayer to Him."

The positive means of avoiding and of banishing distractions are given above; they are to read slowly, to read every word, to read in a becoming position, to observe choir directions, to give ample time to each Hour. Another rule given by writers on the pious recitation of the Office, is to pause at certain places in the psalms to renew attention and elicit affections. Some authors recommend such pauses at the end of the invitatory, at the end of each hymn, or after each Gloria. "Study well the Gloria Patri," said St. Francis of Assisi, "for in it you find the substance of the scriptures."

V. To apply the mind to what is read is another help to pious recitation. It seems to be a useless repetition of an obvious fact that to apply the mind to the prayers read, helps to ward off and to drive away distractions. Such a practice is natural for a person of intelligence, and the Church wishes and expects such intelligent and heartfelt prayer. God said to the Jewish priests what applies to the Christian priesthood, too: "And now, O ye priests, this commandment is to you, if you will not hear, if you will not lay it to heart to give glory to My name, saith the Lord of Hosts, I will curse your blessings, because you have not laid it to heart" (Mal. ii. 1-2). Christ complained about the Jewish people who honoured Him with their lips, but had their hearts far from Him. And God's great servants realized this fully. St. Paul said, "And he that speaketh by a tongue (the gift of speaking strange tongues) let him pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in a tongue my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is without fruit. What is it then? I will pray with the spirit. I will pray also with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, I will sing also with the understanding" (I. Cor. xiv. 13-15). St. Gregory the Great said that true prayer consists not only in the articulation of the words, but also in the attention of the heart; for to obtain the divine graces our good desires have greater efficacy than mere words (Moral, lib. 22. cap. 13). Peter de Blois wrote of the priests of his time, "Labia sunt in canticis et animus in patinis! Their lips are in the psalms, but their heart is in the dishes!" (Selva). "Age quod agis," says the Imitation of Christ.

VI. It is advisable not to dwell on the literary excellence of the Breviary during the recitation of the Office. It is a useful thing that priests should recognise the authorship of the psalms recited, their probable dates, the circumstances of their composition, the sublimity of their thought, the peculiarity of their Hebrew style, the rhythm and poetry of the Hebrews. But the dwelling on these thoughts leads to distractions. Again, some priests, like the clerics of the Renaissance and post-Renaissance times, despise and dislike the Breviary for its alleged barbarous style. These unworthy and foolish sentiments are met with, very rarely. They are opposed to the priestly spirit, which should love and respect the Scripture extracts, God's inspired words. The homilies from the Fathers are well chosen, and suitable for the greatest prayer and for the greatest prayerbook the world has ever known. The hymns are the wonder and study of scholars of every religion. St. Augustine, after his conversion even, felt a repugnance for the holy Scriptures as unequal to Cicero in form. But in his mature age and considered judgment, the saint reversed his judgment; "non habent," he wrote of the Pagan classics, "illae paginae vultum pietatis, lacrymas confessionis spiritum contribulatum cor contritum et humiliatum" (Confess. Bk. 7, c. 21).

VII. To think of Christ's Passion is another aid to good Breviary recitation. We have seen in the theological part of this book (page 4) the seven principal stages of the Passion which correspond with the seven principal parts of the Office. And this devout thought on some scene of the Passion is recommended by all writers on the Divine Office, as an easy and very profitable means and aid to attentive and devout saying of the Hours. It is a means practised by thousands of priests.

St. Bonaventure recommended that at each Hour some thought of the mysteries of the life and death of Christ should be held in mind. Thus, Matins, the night Office, might be offered up in honour of the birth and infancy of Christ; Lauds, in honour of His resurrection; Terce, in honour of the coming of the Holy Ghost; None, in memory of Christ's death; Vespers, in thanksgiving for the Eucharist.

VIII. To remember the presence of God, of our angel guardian, and of the demons, is a practice recommended by writers on recitation of the Office in or out of choir. This thought of the presence of God was one of the aids recommended by St. Benedict to his religious, to aid their devout fulfilment of the great work of reciting their Hours worthily, attentively, and devoutly. Centuries after St. Benedict's death we find St. Bonaventure repeating this advice to his novices. Blessed Peter Faber, S.J., to make his Breviary prayer more fervent, used to picture to himself the presence of his guardian angel at his side recording his pious and holy thoughts, and the demon recording his distractions. "Dearly beloved priest," wrote St. Alphonsus, "when you take the Breviary in your hand, imagine that an angel stands on one side to register your merits in the Book of Life if you say the Office with devotion, and on the other a devil who, if you recite it with distraction, writes your faults in the book of death. With this thought excite yourself to say the Office with the greatest possible devotion. Endeavour, then, not only at the beginning of the Office, but also at the beginning of each psalm, to renew your attention, that you may be able to excite in your heart all the sentiments that you shall read" (Selva).

ARTICLE IV.—AFTER SAYING THE DIVINE OFFICE.

1. Give God thanks for His goodness in permitting us to join in the great work, for hearing our prayer, and for His helps and graces during its duration.

2. Ask God's pardon for faults committed in the course of this prayer of His Church.

3. Devoutly recite the "Sacro-sanctae et Individuae Trinitati … Amen. V. Beata viscera….R. Et beata ubera…." This prayer, which is generally printed in Breviaries immediately before the Psalter, is to be said kneeling, where this is physically possible. This is necessary in order to gain the indulgence granted by Pope Pius X. to all persons obliged to recite the Divine Office. It is not of obligation and its omission is not sinful. It forms no part of the obligatory Office. "It must be said kneeling, but at the request of Cardinal Asquini, Prefect of the Congregation of Indulgences, Pope Pius IX. was pleased to make one exception (July 12, 1865) in favour of persons who were not able to say it kneeling—infirmitatis tantum causa. Hence, travellers or persons on a journey are not exempted, for they can say it kneeling at the end of the journey. It is sufficient to say the 'Sacro-sanctae' once only, that is, at the end of Compline, with the intention of obtaining pardon of all the defects a person may have been guilty of in saying the entire Office. Yet it may be repeated after each Hour, e.g., after Matins, and Lauds, after the small Hours and after Compline; in each case one would thereby get forgiveness for the faults committed during the part of the Office recited. This explanation has been given by the Holy Father (Pius IX.) himself. The usage amongst the chapters at Rome, as at St. Peter's, St. Mary's, etc., is to recite it every time they leave the choir" (Maurel, S.J., Le chretien e claire sur la nature et l'usage des Indulgences). The beauty and sublimity of this prayer is not always appreciated. Its translation here may inspire fresh thoughts of fervour. "To the most holy and undivided Trinity, to the humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ crucified, to the fruitful virginity of the most glorious Mary ever a Virgin, and to the company of all the saints, be given by every creature eternal praise, honour, power and glory, and to us the remission of all our sins. Amen. Blessed be the womb of the Virgin Mary, which bore the Son of the Eternal Father. And blessed be the breasts which gave suck to Christ, our Lord."

In connection with this prayer an interesting question is discussed in the Irish Ecclesiastical Record (No. 540. December, 1912). Is this prayer merely a sacramental? Has it an indulgence attached to it at all? The querist quotes The new Raccolta, in answering the second part of his query but wishes to know if it be an indulgence how it produces its effects. "For either the defects committed in reading the Divine Office are voluntary or involuntary. If voluntary they are sins and consequently cannot be touched by an indulgence; if involuntary they are not sinful and therefore stand in no need of an indulgence." In a very long reply Dr. John M. Harty sums up, "For our part we adhere to the view which says that the efficacy of the privilege annexed by Leo X. and Pius X. to the Sacro-sanctae is