Friday, October 1, 2010

The Daily Office


Here at the monastery, it seems that everything is set by the Daily Office worship times. We wake up in time for Matins at 7:00 AM, followed by breakfast. The Eucharist is celebrated at 9:00 AM and Diurnum at Noon. Dinner, the main meal of the day follows Diurnum. We then have a pretty long break until Vespers at 5:00 PM, followed by supper. Finally Compline gets us ready for bed at 8:30, and the Great Silence follows until 8:30 the following morning.

It may sound odd to willingly attend 5 worship services each day, but each has it's own flavor and they really do set the mood for the various parts of the day. They also change a bit according to the hour. For example, Matins is mostly spoken (I guess voices aren't quite ready that early in the morning), the Eucharist is the warmest service with an extended peace, Diurnum has an extended period of silence after the scripture reading, Vespers is quite beautiful with some of the words of the service, and Compline is quite calming. I especially like the water blessing at the end (after singing a wonderful tribute to St. Mary).

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