Compline
I have tried in this reflection to put into words what I
see as a great need in the Church. I feel that the revised
Office is one of the greatest gifts of Vatican II to the
modern world. It gave permission and encouragement to the
members of the Church to incorporate this prayer into our
daily lives as never before. While hardly the only way to
pray, it has been for me one of the most fulfilling.
It is a love affair. Like any deep relationship, things can
at times seem sometimes all-too familiar. Memories are
formed. And sometimes the passion even seems to flicker
out. But the love is still there, albeit at times weak. We
go on, together, and we anticipate what we are to do. We
are there for each other in good times and in bad, in
sickness and in health.
I would be distressed if the obligation for clerics to pray
the Office was ever dropped. I do not think that a fear of
the fires of hell over a missed Office is helpful.
Thankfully this has all but disappeared (as far as I can
see) from priestly spirituality. I have also never been in
favor of legislating of spirituality. But I do not see how
a priest in today's Church can miss the opportunity for
prayer and the inherent discipline of prayer that the
Office offers. Diocesan priests and lay persons are not
monastics who generally have great periods of free time to
spend in deep prayer. The monastic vocation is a gift from
God which thankfully has not and I believe, will not
disappear from the life of the Church. But most priests and
lay persons do not have this gift. Prayer is the work of
the monk, but there must be a way to make the work of the
Priest and lay person their prayer. I see, and I believe
the Church sees, the Office as the way to do this.
The point of the reform of the Office after Vatican II was
to open the riches of the Office beyond the hushed
recitation of the monastic and the cleric. It is a gift to
the entire Church and no longer is or should be the sole
possession of those who by their own decision have promised
the members of the Church that they will pray for them. It
is now the entire Church which joins in this great chorus
of praise in whatever form, publically or privately, it is
celebrated. If liturgy is the "work of the people" then it
should be the work of all the people. I have been inspired
in my assignments to see people of all walks of life
praying the Office. When they first start out, I often am
called upon to explain the mechanics of the Office and do
so gladly. Perhaps in the future a more user-friendly
Office and one, perhaps, distinct from a more monastic
Office, will become the official text. What a joy it would
be to see hymnals in every Church with the Orders for Mass,
Morning and Evening Prayer, in way that all could easily
say it.
For now, we have the reformed Office of Vatican II which is
in its second edition. We have been invited to have a love
affair with the heart of prayer. My hope is that those who
say the Office, whether by love inspired or duty bound,
will see its riches and dig deeper as they enter the Holy
of Holies within.
