LITURGY OF THE HOURS II

Liturgy of the Hours

Correction: The Anglican-Use Roman Catholic Churches use: “THE BOOK OF DIVINE WORSHIP” not “The Book of Catholic Prayer”. Sorry.

LITURGY OF THE HOURS

From another blog...

Renewal Through the Liturgy of the Hours

When I bought a copy of the Book of Common Prayer in 1999, I discovered the Liturgy of the Hours, the Church’s ancient form of worship. Even as an evangelical Christian at the time, praying the Liturgy of the Hours just made sense, especially since it struck me as highly Scriptural. I continued praying the Office in the Episcopal form until I became Catholic in 2004, although occasionally I still use the Episcopal form (I still use my old, well-worn, copy of the Book of Common Prayer as an option for my classroom prayers too).

The Liturgy of the Hours always provides a good rhythm to my day. Jennifer and I tend to pray modified forms of both Morning and Evening Prayer. The Liturgy of the Hours provides plenty of prayers, Scripture readings, psalms, and reflections, and is a perfect way to orient my life around sacred time (the Church Year) as opposed to secular time. Like all good things, I have sometimes taken the Liturgy of the Hours for granted, but lately I have almost craved my morning and evening formal prayer. I don’t have a lot of deep thoughts tonight, or anything particularly controversial to post about, just to give a shout out to one of the Church’s great treasures (available online at universalis.org)

My response...

Although some, The Prayer Book Society and others, would argue that the prayer book you bought is not a real Book of Common Prayer. An authorized BCP would by the 1928 Book of Common Prayer or the Canadian 1962 BCP. ECUSA broke with tradition when it created the 1979 prayer book and thus it cannot be called a genuine BCP. Anyhow, the same offices can be found in the Roman Catholic text, “The Book of Catholic Prayer”. This is the prayer book of the Anglican-Use Roman Catholic churches.

I’m glad to hear you journeyed home. I too “swam the Tiber”.

I too still fine myself attracted to historic Anglican liturgies and prayer sources. I recently found a new prayer book in the tradition language, although I tend to be drawn to contemporary prayer forms: “The St. Ambrose Prayer Book” 456 pages, Lancelot Andrewes Press. It contains a Morning and Evening office and many other treasures. Another book I recently came across is: “An Anglican Prayer Book” 220 pages, Preservation Press of the Prayer Book Society of the U.S.A. This manual contains Morning and Evening Prayer in contemporary form, plus a lot more from the BCP. I believe this was “transformed” by the recently late Dr. Peter Toon.

Keep praying those Hours. Pax tecum.

PERPETUAL ADORATION

I recently read a disturbing blog condemning Perpetual Adoration and the real presence of our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. I had to reply, and have include by response here.

Roman Catholics do believe in transubstantiation. The bread and wine are transformed into the body and blood of Christ. This is a mystery performed by God the Holy Spirit. It is a mystery, it cannot be explained. If the Lord told his disciples to “do this in remembrance of me”, we do it. He said, this is my body and this is my blood. If the Blessed Sacrament wasn’t real, what has Christendom (the one Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church) been doing for two thousand years? With countless Eucharistic miracles, with the millions of faithful communicants and adorers, there is no doubt that the Blessed Sacrament is the body and blood of Christ.

There is nothing absurd about adoring the Lord truly present in the Blessed Sacrament upon the altar. What a wonderful experience it is to spend time in the presence of the Lord. I cannot even express the feelings, awe, peace and closeness one experiences in the exposed presence of the Blessed Sacrament. God truly present, right there in front of you. What a gift of love.

There is nothing difficult about the organization of Perpetual Adoration. Once the schedule is in place, the hours flow by with the faithful lovingly making their Holy Hours. Finding replacements is easy with dozens of substitutes to choose from. I’ve never had a problem. At my parish, two or more are scheduled for every hour, and I’m sure the elderly are only on the schedule during the daylight hours.

Adoration of Jesus in the Monstrance upon the altar is a privilege and blessing upon blessing.

NEW DOGS

Our female Rolex had five CKC Chihuahua pups. They are now all gone except for a beautiful true blue male. Check him out on the Puppy Find site. We're temporarily calling him Blue or Blue Boy. Recently bought a faun colored 5-month-old female (Chihuahua) for breeding purposes.

One of my male fliers died-Boy. He is survived by his roommate Tarzan and two female neighbors, Castella (Cassie) and Holofernia (Holly).

Additionally, we have two rescue 2-week-old Chihuahua females that the wife is bottle/nipple feeding. They are both blue.

All for now. Be holy! Be happy!

Well, I survived the holidays. Joyce’s parents moved in with us at the end of October. They are both in their upper 70s and Papa has Alzheimer’s. Nana has some kind of early dementia and takes a tumble every so often. Additionally, with mom and dad came their two dogs and that gives us a total of four. Both their dogs are females; one is an ancient Yorky-Poo and the other a Chihuahua.

Our dogs are: Chevy (he is second-hand and I didn’t name him), a dachshund and a female Chihuahua, Rolex (expensive watchdog). I’ve previously talked about the fliers and I also have a female Rattus norvegicus or Norwegian rat. She is a beautiful blue, but looks black to me, with a white spot on her tummy. Her name is Blue Maxine, but I call her Max. Additionally, Joyce has five Norwegian rats and a Rattus rattus, also known as the citrus rat, roof rat or black rat.

Our daughter is coming home from Oregon (the beaver state). She is bringing our grandson and our first biological unborn grandchild. She is due in March and her midwife said it would be okay to fly. Joyce picks them up tomorrow from JIA. Cari lives in Portland with her partner and her son Kelton. Kelton was six in December and attends kindergarten.

MONDAY MORNING

Recovering from the weekend as I worked “twelves” both days. I work at St. Vincent's Med Ctr in Jacksonville, Florida (in case you haven't read my profile). I've been with St. Vincent's for going on 23 years in the same area: the Pulmonary Care Department/Respiratory Care Division. I started out as a staff therapist, then supervisor and eventually manager. Middle management blows, if you know what I mean. I went back to working as a staff therapist and I believe that is where I'm supposed to be. Patient contact is where its happening. I do many things as a Respiratory Care Practitioner (RRT), including: ventilators (life support), adult and neonatal critical care, critical care transports, various treatment and oxygen modalities, arterial sampling and analyses, CPR, etc.

I assisted at (attended) Holy Eucharist this morning at St. Catherine’s Church. We are actually parishioners of Sacred Heart Church on Fleming Island, Joyce’s home church. We have been married 34 years this month, and had our marriage blessed last year. I worship at St. Catherine’s during the week, as it is so close. I also go there for perpetual adoration on Wednesdays. My Holy Hour is from 1000 to 1100. It is such a blessing to spend an hour in the presence of our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. Of course your time is unlimited, and you can visit anytime 24/7. We are truly blest in this community to have this opportunity to worship the Lord in His Eucharistic presence any time we so desire. “Blest, praised and adored be Jesus Christ, on his throne in heaven and in the most blessed sacrament of the altar.” Amen.

FIRST THINGS FIRST

An explanation of the title of my blog is needed. First of all, I consider myself a religious person. I practice the Catholic Faith and try to live by God's commandments. I'm a sinner like everyone else, but I do try and strive to be more like my savior. I attend Holy Eucharist when I can on Sundays and make it to services two or three times a week. I worship at Sacred Heart Church on Fleming Island in the Diocese of St. Augustine. My wife and I had our marriage blessed last year. We both have attended the Christ Renews His parish (CRHS) retreat.


Secondly, I have some pets that have been rescued from other animals or from violent storms. I have four flying squirrels. They were all received as babies and were feed with feeding syringes. Their names are (females) Cassie, Holly, (males) Tarzan and Boy. I lost my first male Abbott in a back door accident. He was my closest buddy and would go around with me in my pocket. He was cool. I belong to the National Flying Squirrel Association based in Clay County, Florida where I also live.