The Liturgy of the Hour also known as “Divine office” or as the “Breviary, is an official set of Prayers that makes the hours of each day. Thereby, sanctifying the day with prayers. This Prayer is constituted with Psalms, hymns, reading, and other prayers and antiphones, changing each day throughout the season. This prayer is more ancient than the Rosary, it is the richest single prayer resource of the Catholic Church. A liturgy celebrated every few hours ( seven times) every day. It is a Prayer of the Christians that has its roots in Jewish Prayer.
Together with the mass, this prayer constitutes the official public prayer life of the Church.
The Liturgy of the Hour has remained Largely unheard of among Catholics until recent times maybe because, with more than a thousand different Hours every year, the book is thick thereby, making the use of it too complex that it is even rare to find anyone reciting it asides the Clergy and other religious. This is not supposed to be. Due to its complexity, as a layperson, you are not obliged to pray them all. Each time of prayer is an “Hour” and each Hour lasts no more than 30 minutes but the shortest can be done within 10 minutes
The Holy Hours helps us keep to the instructions of the Lord when he said “pray without ceasing“(Lk 18:1) and the Psalmist, “Seven Times A Day I Praise You” (Ps 119:164).
Here is the general structure of each Hour (For Morning, Evening and Night Prayer only):
Invocation
Opening Hymn
Psalmody (a series of spiritual songs)
Short spiritual Reading (From the Scripture)
Responsory
Gospel Canticle
Intercessions composed by the Church
Our Lord’s Prayer
Concluding Prayers composed by the church
Final Blessing
The Major Hours consists of the Office of Readings, Morning (or Lauds) and Evening Prayers (Vespers)
