The Importance of the Divine Office and the Insignificance of the Modern Office

One day, I visited a friend at her Anglican church. I am not Anglican; I am Catholic. However, I believe it is very important for us to visit one another in our places of worship, especially when we are invited.

Why? Because it gives us an opportunity to see and appreciate the differences in how we worship God. We need to do this if we hope to encourage greater Christian unity—something I pray will happen again one day.

One of the differences I immediately noticed was that her prayer group prayed multiple times throughout the day. They prayed early in the morning, at midday, and again in the evening before sunset. I remember thinking, That takes a lot of devotion and time.

I didn’t think much more about it until a few months later.

I had been participating in a really good Bible study called Exodus 90. Long story short, it focuses on extending the disciplines learned during Lent—such as giving up worldly pleasures—while developing healthy habits, like praying regularly.

After a few months of doing this, I began to realize what both practices were based on:

Monastic life.

In other words, I started asking myself: What might a monk or nun do?

Well, it turns out a monk or nun might pray… a lot.

And perhaps worry about the world around him or her… a lot less.

These prayers are called the Liturgy of the Hours. There is even an app called The Divine Office that allows you to participate in these prayers throughout the day, wherever you happen to be.

In other words, we can intentionally spend time at the Divine office.

The old office is different from the new office.

There is no inbox.
No meeting.
No deadline.
No one demanding your attention.

There is just you and God.

There is peace, not stress.

You aren’t chasing gold.

You are chasing God.

Instead of the work YOU are doing, maybe it is time to focus instead on the work God is doing through you.

So give the Divine office a try sometime, wherever God has you!