I seemed drawn to a more orderly prayer routine, almost liturgical in nature. Perhaps it was the daily Mass on EWTN and later my own Mass attendance at a local parish. At any rate, I found that meditating on the daily Mass readings helped me and gave my prayer life a more fulfilling routine. It also helped me to slowly start to see the year more in light of the Church’s liturgical calendar. The two periods of Ordinary Time, and Advent/Christmas, and Lent/Easter and Pentecost became as real to me as Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. And more relevant, too. This aided me in my continuing reversion to the Church. Seeing the year according to the Liturgical calendar helped me view the Church as a living, breathing organism, with its own tides and times.

When reading the Mass readings, or the Wisdom books and Gospels, I tried to discern a connection between what they were trying to say and my own sober journey. Either the path I was on, or just stuff that I was coping with then. The just gettin’ through the day stuff. Many times I got a connection, or advice on dealing with whatever I was going through. This gave an additional vibrancy to the liturgical calendar. Not to mention developing an increasingly greater tendency to seeking (or seeing) God’s will in daily life.

I then discovered the Liturgy of the Hours. This is also known as the Divine Office, An old name was the Roman Breviary. It is the official daily prayer of the Church, second only to the Mass. Mandatory for the Pope on down to the newest seminarian. Ordinary people (laity) can say it, and I’ve learned that it is increasingly popular amongst us. It is organized around the Psalms and other Biblical readings. It quite often ties in nicely with the daily Mass readings. It is ancient. Praying it connects you to all others in the Church who pray it, plus also those who’ve gone before. This gave a greater structure and sense of rhythm to my day.

To aid in that, this blog also has at the top links to the Daily Mass readings and also to the Liturgy of the Hours. The LOTH links (provided by Universalis) gives greater information on the Divine Office, if you’re curious. there is also a link in the sidebar to Presentation Ministries. In addition to also having the Mass readings, they also provide daily meditations that are beyond compare if you wish to live a radical, authentic Catholic life. They point to the ideal.

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