Liturgy of the Hours 
Articles specific to the Liturgy of the Hours
Psalm 110(109): The Lord bestows divine power and priesthood on the king
We Are Invited to Look to Christ in Order to Understand the Meaning of True Royalty Today I would like to end my catechesis on the prayer of the Book of Psalms by meditating on one of the most famous of the “royal Psalms”, a Psalm that Jesus himself cited and that the New Testament… Read More ›
Psalm 93(92): God is our strength in the storms of life
1. The essential content of Psalm 92 [93] on which we are reflecting today is evocatively expressed by some verses of the Hymn in the Liturgy of the Hours for Vespers of Monday: “O, immense Creator who, in the harmony of the cosmos laid out a path and a limit for the pounding waves of… Read More ›
Psalm 150: Music, hymnody should be worthy of the greatness of the Liturgy
1. Psalm 150, which we have just proclaimed, rings out for the second time in the Liturgy of Lauds: a festive hymn, an “alleluia” to the rhythm of music. It sets a spiritual seal on the whole Psalter, the book of praise, of song, of the liturgy of Israel. The text is marvelously simple and… Read More ›
Psalm 63(62): My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord
Commentary: 1. Psalm 63(62) on which we are reflecting today is the Psalm of mystical love, which celebrates total adherence to God based on an almost physical yearning and reaching its fullness in a close and everlasting embrace. Prayer becomes longing, thirst and hunger, because it involves the soul and the body. As St Teresa… Read More ›
Daniel 3:57-88, 56: Let every creature bless the Lord
1. “Bless the Lord, all works of the Lord” (Dn 3: 57). A cosmic dimension imbues this Canticle taken from the Book of Daniel, which the Liturgy of the Hours proposes for Sunday Lauds in the first and third weeks. This marvellous litany-like prayer is well-suited to the Dies Domini, the Day of the Lord, that… Read More ›
Psalm 118 [117]: In all our trials, God has the last word
1. The sequence of Psalms from 112[111] to 117[118] was sung during the most important and joyful feasts of ancient Judaism, especially during the celebration of the Passover. This series of hymns of praise and thanksgiving to God were called the “Egyptian Hallel” because, in one of them, Psalm 114 A [113], the exodus of Israel… Read More ›
Vespers, Prayer of Sunset
1. We know from numerous testimonies that from the fourth century onwards Lauds and Vespers had become an established institution in all the great Eastern and Western Churches. This is borne out by St Ambrose: “Just as every day, in going to church or devoting ourselves to prayer at home, we start from God and… Read More ›
Psalm 147:12-20 (147): Jerusalem, praise your saving God
The Lauda Jerusalem that we have just proclaimed is dear to Christian liturgy that often used Psalm 147 to refer to the Word of God which “runs swiftly” on the face of the earth, and also to the Eucharist, the true “bread of finest wheat” that God generously gives to “satisfy” human hunger (cf. vv…. Read More ›
The origins of the Liturgy of Vespers and the symbolism of light
1. Since “every day of our pilgrimage on earth is a gift ever new” of God’s love (Preface for Sundays in Ordinary Time, VI), the Church has always felt the need to devote the days and hours of human life to divine praise. Thus, for Christians, sunrise and sunset, characteristically religious moments for every people… Read More ›
The secret of the psalter
The secret of the psalter is that when we apply ourselves to it it transforms us into the poor, the anawim. It was the anawim who wrote it, adding one collection of psalms to another on their return from Exile. The communities of the poor have handed it down through the centuries. Only the truly… Read More ›