Praying the Hours

Vigils: Observed by those who are awake at night. Use the darkness simply to be with God, aware of the Holy Presence in your quiet hours. Prayers can be simple.

Lauds: Wake to thank and praise (laudate) God. This is the hour to spend some time in prayer and contemplation. Spend twenty minutes if you can.

Prime: Take just a moment to look over your day's calendar, asking God to be in all you attempt to do.

Terce: Mid morning is break time. Deeply breathe in God's spirit before returning to your morning's tasks.

Sext: It is now noon and time to consider the whole world and its needs.

None: In the afternoon we close down our work and turn toward home. It is a time for forgiving, asking forgiveness from God, and letting go of the day's events.

Vespers/Compline: Close the day with peacefulness, prayer, and perhaps a bit of bedtime reading. Entrust your life to God until you greet the morning again with thanksgiving.

Taken from Saint Benedict on the Freeway by Corinne Ware, © 2001 by Abingdon Press