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All Angels' Daily Office
written by parishioner, Carey Wallace
A regular cycle of daily prayers constitutes the essential rhythm of life around which other activities can take their proper place.The practice of daily prayers grew from the Jewish practice of reciting prayers at set times of the day: for example, in the Book of Acts, Peter and John visit the Temple for the afternoon prayers (Acts 3:1). Psalm 119:164 states: "Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous laws."This practice is believed to have been passed down through the centuries from the Apostles, with different practices developing in different places. As monasticism spread, the practice of specified hours and liturgical formats began to develop and become standardized. [Source]
The Cycle
These prayers loosely follow the order and elements of the Lord’s Prayer, as well as the traditional arc of historical monastic daily offices. The cycle opens with Vigil, a time to practice waiting on God and meeting with Him in solitude. The Daybreak prayer offers thanksgiving for another day, as well as for new light and the gift of resurrection. Prime, the first hour, is when monks would traditionally have been given their work assignments. We ask that God will assign us our daily portion of His work, and move into the day with intention. Terce, the third hour, is considered the most vital hour of the day. We ask God to pour out his spirit in our work. By the noon hour, the monastic tradition knew that we have often begun to despair. Sext, the noon prayer balances our commitment to God against despair and reaches out to community for strength. None, or three o’clock, is the hour at which Christ died. We thank God for this miracle and sacrifice, acknowledge the impermanence of all things, face the imminence of our own death, and begin to release the day and its events into God’s hands. At Vespers, the evening prayer, we look back over the day with humility and gratitude. Compline, the prayer at bed, includes a daily examen in which we search for wisdom in the day’s events. It also functions as a nightly rehearsal for our own death. The cycle ends with a request for God to protect us as we lay helpless in our sleep until He creates the next morning.
Schedule of Prayers
The Night Watch
Vigils
Our Father, you neither slumber nor sleep. Wake our hearts and minds to hear your Word. Give us ears to hear and eyes to see. Speak in our lives and guide our dreams. Even in the heart of the day, do not desert us. Give us the strength to wait for your voice, and the grace to hear it over any noise. Forgive our willful deafness and our love of distraction. In your power, may we always listen for you as we do now. In your grace, speak to us as you did on the first day, when you spoke light into the darkness and began to make your world. Call us out of every night, and let your word create us every day. For without you there is no light or life, no comfort or rest, no world but a void. But with you are all good things, and love unspeakable.
Amen.
Daybreak
Lauds
Our Father, you created day and light, and by the same power you raised your Son from death to life. Thank you for this day, for the breath to wake, and for your love that will not leave us even in our grave. We lay this day at your feet. Do with it as you please. We know you will give us even more than we need. Help us to recognize your hand and gifts when we see them, and forgive us for the sins your light reveals. Do not let us be deceived about the darkness of our own hearts, but meet us there with your power and drive evil out. Give us grace to forgive others as you have forgiven us. And at the last day wake us to life as you raised up your son, and as you raise us up by your light each morning.
Amen.
The Hour After Sunrise
Prime
Our Father, you are always about your work, and all your works are good. Grant us to work alongside you as you create your world. Let us do what you would have us do and speak as you would have us speak. Let our work, like your work, be marked by justice, beauty and mercy. Forgive our vain ambition, our faults and our failures, and make us forgiving of these things in others. Unless you build our house, we labor in vain, but in you we store up treasures that can never be destroyed.
Amen.
The Third Hour
Terce
Our Father, you made this world, and in your spirit all your creatures live and move and have their being. Make our hands your hands, our feet your feet, our mouth your mouth, and our heart your heart. Rescue us from the cares of this world, and forgive us when we chase the wind. Set our hearts on things above, and open our eyes to see your kingdom among us. For apart from you, we can do no good thing, but in you our joy is complete.
Amen.
The Sixth Hour
Sext
Our Father, your love never fails, but our hearts are weak. Feed us now with heaven’s bread, and give us strength to finish our race. Create our hearts again and make our spirits right. Thank you for our brothers and sisters, who hope when we are blind, who believe when we faint. Give us the courage to share our burdens, and to look with your love on others who struggle. For without you we are dust, but in your mercy you have called us your friends, and prepared a place for us in your kingdom.
Amen.
The Ninth Hour
None
Our Father, at this hour your Son Jesus Christ gave up his life for love of us. Our minds are too small to understand this miracle, but in your tender mercy teach its truth to our hearts. We have been forgiven much. Make us eager to forgive those who wrong us. Thank you for this day, and that it will not last forever. Thank you for our life, and that it will come to an end. Only you and your love stand without change from age to age.
Amen.
First Star
Vespers
Our Father, you command the sun and stars, and your love is the lamp that lights our hearts. Take the struggles and triumphs of this day, breathe on them, and burn the dross away. Lead us back to your love as a beast returns from the field, as a bird returns to the nest. Forgive our failings as we forgive those who fail us. Let your peace settle on us as twilight settles on the land. Let your love be our beacon in the dark.
Amen.
At Bed
Compline
Our Father, your spirit hovered over the dark water before you called forth this world. Be with us in this darkness. Thank you for the beauty of the earth, for the sorrow you bear for love of us, and for your daily mercies. Thank you for gifts that lighten our hearts and for troubles that teach us to hope. Teach us the wisdom to be found in this day’s events. Comfort our hearts as we fall to sleep, and grant us the same comfort at the hour of our death. As we are helpless, shield us from all evil. Watch over us and shape us as you shaped this world. For without you we have no protector, but against you no enemy can stand.
Amen. |
Carey W., 11/5/2009 |
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