The purpose of this project is prayer. Specifically, we here at Sing the Hours join with Christians worldwide and in all ages in the traditional daily prayer called the Liturgy of the Hours. Here we describe our specific thoughts and practices concerning the Liturgy of the Hours, and you can also learn much more by following the links to other resources at the bottom of this page.
Have you ever tried to “Sing the Hours”? Did you know you can easily pray the Catholic Liturgy of the Hours (aka. the Divine Office) with online music or the podcast app on your phone or computer? Visit SingTheHours.org to get started!
The Catholic Church practices two great liturgies, the Eucharist (the Mass) and the Liturgy of the Hours, which is also known as the Divine Office. The Church warmly recommends the Divine Office to all Catholics (not only clergy and religious). In the Office every part of our day is made more holy, by “prayer without ceasing”. The Office is organized around the Psalms, which train our voices speak and sing along with the voice of Christ. There is a new and easy way to learn the Liturgy of the Hours, by listening to the twice-daily podcast “Sing the Hours”. Sing along and deepen your familiarity with the prayer of the Church. Get started by browsing SingTheHours.org and follow the links to Apple podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube, or search for “Sing the Hours” in one of those online venues. After a few weeks of listening and praying and singing along, you will find the timeless prayers of Jesus and His Church becoming your own prayers as well.
What is the Liturgy of the Hours?
The Liturgy of the Hours differs from the Sunday liturgy of the Church in that it illuminates and celebrates all of our ordinary days in their ordinary hours of morning and evening. The Liturgy is also known as the Canonical Hours, the Breviary, the Divine Office, or simply the Office. As a preeminent form of prayer, the Office is the authentic voice of God’s Spirit, praying through His people in their daily lives.
The Office is composed of a regular cycle through the Old Testament Psalms, which have always been recognized by Christians as a uniquely profound way of praying God’s own words in His Own Spirit. It is also composed of well-chosen readings, phrases, and whole songs (“canticles”) from Scripture. It always contains the Lord’s Prayer (the “Our Father”). In addition to these truly Divine elements, the Office also contains well-crafted petitions, prayers, and exhortations.
The Office is a continuously tended tradition, both ancient and living. Having been practiced in all ages of the Church, it is truly a prayer that is unceasing. Being based on Sacred Scripture, the Office is also outside of time, an echo of the eternal worship in deepest heaven.
The Office may be spoken, but (like each Psalm by itself) it is designed to be sung. Singing is a special gift granted to us humans, which allows us to use our voices not only to convey meaning, but to convey it in an especially beautiful form. This singing is intended to be done by the whole people of God, not just a few professional singers. Even non-singers can chant, and in chanting know by experience that they are praying in a special way, in union with the Church’s use of the Psalms.
Why is there music?
The musical aspects of the Office provide emotional depth to the prayers, but they never draw attention to themselves, as an isolated artistry or professionalism. Instead, the music is always subservient to the meaning of the words. For this reason, certain traditional forms of music, different from popular or classical music, are more useful for the Office. The tradition of Gregorian chant has a primary place among these forms. This is not an arbitrary choice, it is rather the codification of the continuous tradition of singing the Psalms even from before Christian times.
The Liturgy of the Hours is offered as a precious gift, not only for monks and priests and saints, but also for every ordinary Christian. It is ecumenical, practiced throughout the Christian era in the East and the West, by Protestants and Catholics. It is a stream of prayer that has been flowing steadily for millennia, a stream in which any Christian, at any time, can join in the song of the Church to its Lord.
What does the Catholic Church say about this prayer?
Like the Mass, the Divine Office is at least as old as Christianity. And yet it is as new as the prayers of tomorrow morning. The Catechism of the Catholic says the Liturgy of the Hours is the “public prayer of the Church,” where “the faithful (clergy, religious, and lay people) exercise the royal priesthood of the baptized… It is the very prayer which Christ himself together with his Body addresses to the Father.” (CCC 1174) The Council of Vatican II formally declares (in Sacrosanctum Concilium 83-100) that Jesus Christ “continues His priestly work through the agency of His Church … not only by celebrating the Eucharist, but also in other ways, especially by praying the divine office.” The same Council recommends the Divine Office to all lay people, who “are encouraged to recite the divine office, either with the priests, or among themselves, or even individually.” This is why Sing The Hours exists!
Besides Roman Catholics, Orthodox Catholics, Anglicans, and some other Protestants also make their special uses of this same tradition. If you hear some Christians chanting or praying the Psalms, it is likely they are working from the tradition of the Divine Office.
How do we practice the Liturgy of the Hours?
In the Sing the Hours project, our aspiration is help people enter into the precious and timeless tradition of the Divine Office. We hope that people will learn by doing, by singing along or chanting along. We aim for beauty of expression, within the limits of the tradition. We do not aim, however, for professional perfection, because we believe it would be more difficult to sing along with a “professionally perfect” vocalist. We emphasize simple melodies (as codifed in the practices of Gregorian chant), and simple harmonies, where any voice can find a place to sing along.
More than everything else, we aim for prayerfulness. After all, what would it profit us to perform every note and every word exactly right, and yet lose the spirit and the attitude of prayer?
Why is there Latin in these songs?
We use Latin in two ways. Certain set prayers are often in Latin, such as the “Gloria Patri” and “Salve Regina”, which anyone can learn by repetition. Ancient hymns are sometimes sung in Latin, instead of in translation; we hope people will consult translations on the side, and enjoy the beauty of the language itself, allowing the Holy Spirit to pray within them. Using Latin connects us in a special way to the traditions of the Divine Office, since it has been prayed in that form since ancient times. (A similar point could be made for Greek, or Syriac, or Coptic, or Armenian, but Latin has a special relationship with English, as one of its parent tongues.) When we pray Latin, we are praying in unison with very many voices throughout the Christian ages.
The long life of the Divine Office
Since the Liturgy is based firmly on the Psalms of Sacred Scripture, and stems from Jewish practices of praying the Psalms (CCC 1096), it is ancient, even predating the Christian era. The New Testament gives clear witness to the use of Psalms in worship, and to the practice of daily worship at set hours. This is the Liturgy of the Hours, in an earlier form. Early Church fathers such as St. Athanasius of Alexandria and St. Benedict of Nursia and St. Augustine of Hippo wrote treatises on how to make effective use of the Psalms, and divide them up into manageable daily portions.
The Rule of Benedict has an explicit plan for cycling through the Psalms in one week. Today’s Liturgy uses a four-week cycle, which is easier to accomplish by ordinary secular people.
Resources
US Catholic Bishops:
https://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/liturgy-of-the-hours
General Instruction on the Liturgy of the Hours:
https://www.liturgyoffice.org.uk/Resources/Rites/GILH.pdf
https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/general-instruction-on-the-liturgy-of-the-hours-2175
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5doP7gchgo
Divine Office (entry in the Catholic Encyclopedia)
https://www.catholic.com/encyclopedia/divine-office
Other web sites and applications that can help you pray the Divine Office:
https://divineoffice.org
https://www.universalis.com
https://www.ibreviary.org
https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/religion-and-philosophy/prayer/want-to-pray-the-divine-office.html