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Joining the Discalced Carmelite Community for Prayer

All retreatants and visitors are welcome to join the community for all our prayer times.

• Each day we gather in the chapel four times to celebrate 5 'hours' of the Divine Office (the Liturgy of the Hours) and the Holy Mass. Each day begins with Morning Prayer and Mass, celebrated together, followed by an extended period for silent prayer. The community gathers again at midday for the Office of Readings together with Midday Prayer. Then after the work of the day, we celebrate Evening Prayer, again followed by an hour of silent prayer. After dinner and recreation, we gather for our final prayer time, Night Prayer. See page 5 for fuller information.
• Black books (Morning and Evening Prayer) are provided near the main entrance of the chapel for each of the prayer times (including Night Prayer).
• At Midday Prayer, A4 folders (appropriate to the liturgical season) contain the texts of the psalms and antiphons.
  - Black spine: ordinary time - Blue spine: Advent - Red Spine: Solemnities & Feasts - White Spine: Lent & Easter.
• Please sit anywhere in the main body of the Church, or in the two side chapels.
  You may also sit in the centre pews that face each other.
  The choir (behind the sanctuary) is reserved for the community.
• During Mass, the community remains standing during the Eucharistic Prayer: you may wish to remain standing or kneel during this time.
• If you are new to the Liturgy of the Hours, you will find more information later in this folder. There are also helpful hints at the front of the Midday Prayer folders.

Introduction to the Liturgy of the Hours
THE SANCTIFICATION
OF THE DAY

The structure of the Celebration

1. The essential structure of each Hour of this Liturgy, whether it is celebrated in common or in private, is a dialogue between God and humanity. The fundamental pattern of Christian Prayer-Reading from Sacred Scripture, Response, Prayer-is found in each of the Hours. The Word of God always has pride of place; it is the central and most important element of each Hour. We prepare ourselves to listen to the Word by singing or at least reciting a hymn and by chanting or reciting psalms. The Reading is followed by meditative responses. And we conclude by praying for our own needs as well as for the needs of the whole Church and the world. By means of this pattern of prayer, which has behind it centuries of Christian tradition, we can seek God and penetrate ever more deeply into the mystery of Christ.

Morning Prayer (Lauds) and Evening Prayer (Vespers)

2. Morning Prayer is designed and structured to sanctify the morning, as is clear from many of its parts. St Basil the Great excellently described its character in these words: 'Morning Prayer consecrates to God the first movements of our minds and hearts; no other care should engage us before we have been moved with the thought of God, as it is written, "I thought of God and sighed" (Ps 76:4), nor should the body undertake any work before we have done what is said, "I say this prayer to you, Lord, for at daybreak you listen for my voice; and at dawn I hold myself in readiness for you, I watch for you" (Ps 54-5).

· This Hour, recited as the light of a new day dawns, recalls the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, the true light, enlightening everyone (cf John 1:9), 'the Sun of Justice' (Malachi 4:2), 'arising on high' (Luke 1:78). Thus the remark of Saint Cyprian may be well understood: 'We should pray in the morning to celebrate the resurrection of the Lord with morning prayer.'

· At Mount Carmel, on weekdays we join together the celebration of Morning Prayer with Mass. The psalms replace the penitential rite, and the readings of the day's Eucharist replace that of the Office. The intercessions follow the homily, while the Benedictus is delayed until after communion.

· On Sundays, Morning Prayer is celebrated, complete with the Invitatory antiphon and psalm preceeding the hymn. The Community gathers for the Eucharist later in the day.

· As a community, we affirm the centrality of the prayer of the Church by uniting our twin hours of mental prayer as an extension of the two hinge offices-Lauds and Vespers.

3. Evening Prayer is celebrated when the day is drawing to a close, so that 'we may give thanks for what has been given us during the day, or for the things we have done well during it'. We also call to mind our redemption, through the prayer we offer 'like incense in the sight of the Lord', and in which 'the raising up of our hands' becomes 'an evening sacrifice'. This 'evening sacrifice' 'may be more fully understood as that true evening sacrifice which was given in the evening by our Lord and Saviour when he instituted the most holy mysteries of the Church at supper with his apostles; or which on the following day he offered for all time to his Father by the raising up of his hands for the salvation of the whole world. Placing our hope in that Sun which never sets, 'we pray and beg that his light may shine on us again; we pray that Christ may come bringing the grace of eternal light. Finally, in this Hour, we join with the Eastern Churches and invoke 'blessed Jesus Christ, the Light of our Heavenly Father's sacred and eternal glory; as the sun sets we behold the evening light and sing to God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit...'

Night Prayer (Compline)

4. It is the last prayer of the day, and sums up all that went before, as we examine our consciences and offer the actions of the day to God.

The Office of Readings

5. Can be said at any time of day at all; it contains more substantial material for meditation, in the form of a solid Scripture reading of a chapter or so. Then comes the glory of the whole Liturgy - a second reading taken from the earliest centuries of the Church fathers, or from old homilies whose very authors have sometimes been forgotten, or from the writings or biographies of the saints, or even from the texts of the Second Vatican Council.

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Page last modified: Friday, 21 February, 2003
Document path: http://carmelite.com/retreats/prayer.shtml

Page last modified: Friday, 21 February, 2003
Document path: http://carmelite.com/retreats/prayer.shtml