Prayers in action: Devotionals

  

Catholic devotionals, as I like to call it, are prayers in action. The reason I say that is because they always refer to something that you are doing while praying. Devotionals can be private or public, liturgical or non-liturgical. What do I mean about a devotional being liturgical? We liturgy is the word given for an organized method of doing some form of prayer. The Mass is the most common form and user of liturgical based organization. Above in the picture you see a Rosary, and a Monastic Diurnal. The Rosary is a means of praying the mysteries of the life of Jesus Christ, and events with His mother the Blessed Virgin Mary, more on this further down. The Monastic Diurnal is the form of the Liturgy of the Hours used primarily by the Benedictine religious orders. What isn't shown above is another devotional that takes the form of Divine Reading, also known as Lectio Divina. This is the process of reading Sacred Scripture and meditating on it. 

"Prayer - Liturgy of the Hours"

The Liturgy of the Hours is one of the oldest forms of Church prayer that predates the Mass itself. Christ Himself, and the Apostles, even did the Liturgy of the Hours, which is a reason why it is required for the ordained and consecrated religious (monks, and nuns) to pray the hours every day. The Liturgy of the Hours, in it most basic form, consists of the 150 psalms, a few hymns, lessons from Scripture (typically the epistles or other Pauline texts, but sometimes it may be something from the Old Testament), and prescribed/listed prayers; a cycle of the psalms takes a week, but the entirety takes a year to do. 

The person praying the Liturgy of the Hours in the morning with the Matins, then the Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers, and Compline. The Matins, Lauds, and Prime are said upon waking, but the Matins can be said the evening prior, this is called anticipated Matins. Terce, Sext, None, and Vespers are the only ones with a specific time to pray them, and they are 9 am, noon, 3 pm, and 6 pm, respectively. Compline is the final prayer before going to bed (unless Matins are anticipated). This may seem a little rigid for some people, they may not like the idea of scheduling prayer as it may seem more rote than inspired, but having scheduled prayer is a great thing. These scheduled prayers help a person to keep in mind God throughout the day, and to remind a person to always join in conversation of adoration, atonement, petition, or thanksgiving towards God. This helps us to as St. Paul says "Pray without ceasing" as we start to get into the rhythm of setting time aside to focus solely on God. 

The Monastic Diurnal is just one form of the Liturgy of the Hours, and the Roman Breviary  is the standard for the usage by the ordained. However, according to the dispensational capacity of the Bishop, he can allow a Priest or Deacon to read and pray from a shorter version, or one that is used by consecrated religious. Shorter versions such as The Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the Office of the Dead are approved as it fulfills the hourly components, and has the requisite office for praying for the souls of the deceased and those in Purgatory.

"Prayer - The Rosary"

The Rosary is perhaps the most widely know Catholic devotional. Known to all forms of Christianity, at least identifiable by a multitude of Christians. However, the history of the Rosary is an interesting one. The Rosary was given to St. Dominic Guzman of Spain, by the Blessed Virgin Mary, as a means of spreading the Gospel and to refute the Gnostics heresies of the Albigensians. Heresies that denied the human nature of Jesus Christ, and that denied His Incarnation, and sacrifice on the Cross.

Originally containing 15 separate mysteries on the life of Christ, His ministry, and a few moments on the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The mysteries of the Rosary are found in Sacred Scripture or through Sacred Tradition as held and carried on by the Apostles and their disciples. However, St. John Paul II added five more mysteries that contain moments from Christs' earthly ministry and institution of the Sacraments. It has been referred to as the Gospel on a Rope as when you pray the 15, or 20 mysteries, and meditate on what is being prayed on, you come to a deeper understanding of the Gospel. 

The form of the Rosary actually extends from the form of the Liturgy of the Hours. Blessed Alan de la Roche, almost 200 years after St. Dominic had passed, is really responsible for the spreading of the Rosary, or as it was called prior the Marian Psalter. Just as the Davidic Psalter has 150 Psalms, which was prayed in the Liturgy of the Hours, the Marian Psalter had 150 beads for the Hail Mary prayers and another 24 beads for the Pater Noster (the Our Father). A strand of beads was used to track progress in the Liturgy of the Hours by the peasants who went to Churches or Monasteries so they can follow along in the prayers. Peasants being illiterate couldn't read, but knew many prayers by heart, and followed along. Eventually the chain of 150 beads reduced down to 50 beads for ease of carrying. As for learning how to pray the Rosary I recommend this site here, or if you prefer a video, go here. If you are interested in learning more about the Rosary, which I highly recommend as it is a beautiful history and helps you to learn more about the mysteries themselves, get this book by Fr. Don Calloway.

"Prayer - Lectio Divina"

Lectio Divina, or Divine Reading, is the original bible study. Done by Catholic clergy since the canonization of Scripture in 383 AD with the Canon declared by Pope Damasus. After the Latin Vulgate was complete those who were literate and could afford a copy of the bible (would have costed a fortune as it was hand written and took a long time to produce) were able to study scripture along with the clergy. Nowadays, the bible is a readily accessible to anyone. It is free online, many churches are able to give them away for free, and there are groups like the American Bible Society that gives away and donates bibles all the time in a wide variety of languages. But there is more to the bible than people realize. The contents can be very confusing, and many people need help to understand what is written in the bible. For this, as we seen in the bible, the Church is the pillar of truth for guidance, and as such we are to seek help for interpreting Scripture, and that "no prophecy of scripture is for personal interpretation" (2 Peter 1:20). For this the Church has a vast resource of writings and explanations, going back centuries or even millennia for guidance on matters of Faith as found in Scripture. You can find many commentaries by Saints who dedicated their lives and work to spreading Christ, and to helping people better know Him, His Church, and Sacred Scripture. 

As such, studying and learning Scripture is a very good thing for everyone to do. To better know Scripture is to better know a large facet of the Faith. There are guides to Lectio Divina, you can find many online, and in various bible study books. But it can be explained in five guiding steps.

1. Read - simple as that. Pick a section of the Bible, and read it.
2. Meditate - what is standing out to me in this text? How am I to grow in the faith, with what I just read.
3. Pray - pray to God and ask for guidance on what you just read in the bible. Ask Him what it is that He wants you to know, via that passage.
4. Contemplate - Similar to meditation, but you should spend time thinking about what God is trying to tell you, in context with the truths of the Faith, to know that you are learning what is in line with the faith, and not taking His word out of context, and taking it out of the Faith.
5. Action - As our Lord Jesus Christ said "Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it" (Luke 11:28). We are to hear our Lord, and do what He commands of us, otherwise is to disobey Him.