The Divine Office - Rev. E. J. Quigley
This want of internal attention is called mental distraction.
Theologians distinguish two kinds of distractions, voluntary and
involuntary. Voluntary distractions are thoughts which the mind freely
and directly embraces to the exclusion of pious thoughts which should
occupy it in prayer, of which the office is a high form; or they may be
thoughts which arise from previous laziness, thoughtlessness,
pre-occupation or some engrossing worldly affair. Involuntary
distractions are those which come unbidden and unsought to the mind, are
neither placed directly, nor by their causes, by the person at prayer.
Does a person reciting the Hours sin if he have distractions?
If the distractions be involuntary there is no sin. But if the
distractions be voluntary there is sin, But, unless the mind be
altogether filled with distractions, not thinking of God, of prayer, of
the words or of the meaning, and unless the distractions are _fully
voluntary_ and _reflective_ during a notable part of the office, there
is no mortal sin. Hence, St. Alphonsus, the great Doctor of Prayer,
wrote, "_ut dicatur aliquis officio non satisfacere, non solum
requiritur ut voluntarie se distrahat, sed etiam ut plene advertat se
distrahi, nam alias iste, licet sponte se divertat non tamen sponte se
divertit a recitatione_" (St. Alphonsus, n. 177). Therefore, before a
person accuse himself of not satisfying the precept of recitation, on
account of inattention or distractions, he must be able to affirm
positively (1)that he was wilfully distracted, (2)he must have noticed
not only his distraction and mental occupation by vain thoughts, but he
must have noticed _also_ that he was distracted in his recitation; (3)he
must be able to state positively that the intention, resolution or
desire to recite piously, which he made at the beginning of his prayer,
was revoked with full advertence and that it did not exist either
actually or virtually during the time of distraction in his recitation.
Seldom, indeed, are these conditions fulfilled, and seldom are there
gravely sinful distractions.
This subject of attention in prayer, in the official prayer of the
Church, is important. Long and learned disputes about its nature and
requirements occupied great thinkers in times long gone by. To-day
theologians argue on different sides; and anxiety, serious, painful and
life-long, reigns in the souls of many who struggle to recite the
office, _digne, attente ac devote_.
ARTICLE VII.-CAUSES WHICH EXCUSE FROM READING THE OFFICE.
Authors generally give six causes which excuse a person from saying the
Hours: lawful dispensation, important work, grave illness, grave fear,
blindness, want of a Breviary. They are recorded in the
well-known lines:--
"Quem Papa dispenset multus labor opprimit aeger Qui timet aut occulus,
officioque caret."
1. The obligation of reading the Office is imposed by the Church and the
Pope can dispense in it even without cause. Bishops can give temporary
dispensations.
2. A grave occupation excuses from the whole or from a part of the
Office. Thus, missioners giving missions or parish retreats are excused
from the whole Office; so, too, are priest combatants in the battle
line; but when in rest camps they are bound to say the Hours. A priest
engaged in saying his Office, if he receive an urgent call to a dying
person may not have time to finish his Office before midnight. He is
exempt from the part of the Office omitted and does not sin by the
omission. The proposition claiming exemption from the Office for those
engaged in great studies was condemned by Pope Alexander VII. The
biographers of Lamennais trace the beginning of his downfall to his
exemption from his daily Office.
A difficulty arises sometimes as regards the full or partial or
non-exemption of those who foresee that serious occupation which cannot
be neglected must arise to prevent the recitation of the Hours. In such
cases priests are bound to recite the Office, or as much of it as
possible, within the limits of the current day. In doing this they may
anticipate the times fixed for the recitation of the small Hours, and
they may anticipate Vespers and Compline by reciting them in the
forenoon. If a priest foresees that he may not be able to recite Matins
for next day he is not bound to anticipate, as there is no obligation to
anticipation; the obligation is "recital between midnight and midnight."
It is becoming to anticipate, if possible, so that the Office may be
full and entire. If before midnight there be a cessation from necessary
professional work (e.g., hearing confessions), a priest is bound to
finish his Office for the day or to say as much of it as time allows.
If, however, there be time merely to take a necessary meal before
midnight (e.g., to prepare for a late Mass on next day, Sunday), and
not time to eat and to recite, the obligation of saying the
Hours ceases.
A grave illness exempts from the saying of the canonical Hours. Hence,
those seriously ill, those who fear the saying of the Office may upset
them in their weak state, and convalescents from a serious illness, are
excused from saying the Hours. In this matter the advice of a spiritual
or a medical adviser should be faithfully carried out by patients. St.
Alphonsus teaches that invalids and convalescents may be allowed to say
Mass and yet not be bound to say the Office, as the saying of Mass does
not fatigue them so much as the saying of the Office (St. Alphonsus,
n. 155).
A grave fear exempts from the saying of the Office. A priest amongst
furious persecutors of the Church should be excused from any recitation
of his Hours which he fears may draw on him cruel or severe punishments.
Blindness makes the recitation of the Office a physical impossibility.
Even very defective sight, although not total blindness, exempts from
the obligation of saying the Office. In all such cases a formal
declaration of exemption should be sought. Some theologians hold that
such priests, if they have committed to memory a notable part of the
psalms, should repeat that part from memory. The new psaltery makes such
memorising an extremely difficult feat and no obligation for such a
repetition from memory can be imposed.
Want of a Breviary excuses from the recitation of the Office. For
example, if a priest setting out on a long journey forgets to take his
Breviary or leaves it in a railway carriage, and cannot procure another,
or cannot procure another without, great inconvenience, he is exempt
from the obligation of his Office; and the omission being involuntary is
sinless. The wilful casting away of a Breviary, as an excuse for not
being able to read the Office, is gravely sinful; and unless the sinful
desire be retracted there may be question of many mortal sins of wilful
omission to fulfil the obligation, as the omissions are then wilful in
cause. Priests travelling are unable sometimes to recite the proper
Office of the day, as their Breviaries lack something (e.g., the
proper prayer or the lessons of the second nocturn). The Sacred
Congregation of Rites (December, 1854) decided "_Sacerdos peregre
profectus cui molesti difficiliorque esset officii recitatio cui et
pauca desunt in libro officii praesentis, nempe oratio et legenda,
valet de communi absque obligatione propria deinde ad supplementum
recitandi... atque ita servari mandavit_." The psalms as arranged
in the new psalter must always be said for a valid recitation of the
Office (_v. Divino Afflatu_).
What is a priest bound to do, who from a grave cause cannot find time to
recite the whole Office but only a part of it?
St. Alphonsus gives the rule, "If you can recite a part equivalent to a
small Hour, you are bound to do so under pain of mortal sin. But if you
cannot read or repeat a part equivalent to a small Hour, you are bound
to nothing, as a part so small--less than a small Hour--taken
separately, is considered inappreciable for the end the Church's law of
recitation has in view."
ARTICLE VIII.--THE DIRECTION OF THE SCRUPULOUS.
Persons who are scrupulous about the recitation of the Hours should have
help from their confessors, who should deal specifically with any of the
scruples which arise in the daily task. Scruples generally concern the
necessary intention, the necessary attention, pronunciation, and the
time necessary for a good and faithful recitation of the canonical
Hours. How should a confessor deal with scruples about intention? A
confessor should tell a cleric, scrupulous in this point, that his fear
is groundless and that by the very act of taking up his Breviary he
expresses his intention of praying, of saying his Hours; that it is not
necessary that such intention be actual or reflexive, it is sufficient
if it be virtual, and that such an intention _does_ exist every time one
opens the Breviary to say his Hours. The saying slowly and deliberately
the prayer "_Aperi Domine_" is a great aid to the scrupulous in forming
a right intention and in dispelling their vain fears.
Clerics troubled about attention are helped and comforted by their
confessor repeating to them what they well know themselves, about
voluntary and involuntary distractions, and the telling of the anxious
ones that this very anxiety and anguish show that their fear of losing
attention in their prayer is a true and real sign of its existence. In
dealing with scruples about vocal and integral pronunciation a confessor
should advise that no stopping should be made in the saying of the
psalms, etc., but that the recitation should be continued quietly,
without restraining the voice, without impatience, and without scrutiny
of the pronunciation of the part said, "God is a father, full of
goodness, not an exacting taskmaster, and He is more honoured by
moderate care than by a disturbing solicitude." Above all things, a
confessor should remember that it is important to forbid scrupulous
persons to repeat the whole or even the part of an Hour. An effort
should be made by him to tranquilise the troubled soul with the
principle that the precepts of the Church do not bind him to repeat the
Hours with such inconvenience as leads to bodily and mental illness. The
Church is our mother and does not wish her children to be troubled and
solicitous, but to pray in peace.
CHAPTER IV.
SOME RULES OF ASCETIC THEOLOGY FOR THE PIOUS RECITATION OF THE BREVIARY.
There are many reasons why we should recite the Divine Office devoutly,
for (1) the words which we read are holy; (2) He to Whom we speak is
God; (3) we speak in the name of Holy Church; (4) we are the associates
of thousands on earth and in heaven who sing God's praises; (5) the
purpose of our prayer is sublime; (6) it gives glory to God and draws
down His grace and mercy on His Church; (7) and, finally, the recitation
of the Office brings help and strength to those who repeat it fervently.
And, firstly, let us see what are the words of the Office. They are the
words of God or of His Church. In the psalms, scripture lessons, gospel
extracts, responses and antiphons, we have God's inspired word. In the
prayers, sermons, homilies, hymns, and often in the responses and
antiphons, as the Church is guided and assisted by the Holy Ghost, it
may be, in a sense, true to say that these her words are divine. For
what is more worthy of respect than the word of God? St. Augustine says
that it is no less worthy of respect than the body of Jesus Christ. _Non
minus est verbum Dei quam corpus Christi_ (Sermon 300). How very careful
should we be to treat the word of God with respect, worthily,
attentively, and devoutly (_digne, attente ac devote_).
(2) To whom do we speak in our daily service of prayer? We speak to our
Master, Whose very special work we are doing in offering up the great
prayer. His adorable eyes are fixed upon us at this sacred duty. He
listens to us, He reads our thoughts. He judges our intentions, our
efforts and their fulfilment. He is the King of kings, the Almighty God.
Mindful of His presence and majesty should we not try earnestly to bless
His Holy name and to free our hearts from vain, evil and wandering
thoughts? We pray _ad benedicendum nomen sanctum tuum; munda quoque cor
meum ab omnibus vanis perversis et alienis cogitationibus_.
(3) In whose name do we speak? It is a great honour to be an ambassador
for a great king and a mighty kingdom, guarding the interests of the
fatherland in a foreign land. The priest is always such an ambassador.
"For Christ, we are ambassadors," says St. Paul. In this work of daily
recitation of the Office, we are ambassadors, not of some petty king or
tiny state, but we represent the entire Church, the well-beloved spouse
of Christ, to whose prayer He ever hearkens. _Sonet vox tua in auribus
meis; vox enim tua dulcis est_ (Canticle of Canticles, ii. 14). And St.
Bernard says "_Sacerdos publica persona et totius Ecclesie os_." Hence,
every priest is the ambassador of Christ and of His Church, the guardian
of His interests. And as it is the duty of ambassadors to study
carefully, to watch and further the interests of the kings whom they
represent, it is a priest's duty to study carefully and further the
interests of Christ's Church by the devout fulfilment of the great daily
duty, the recitation of the Divine Office. History brands as traitors
those ambassadors who through ignorance of the language of the foreign
court, or through want of vigilant attention, allow the interests of
their royal masters to suffer. What a punishment awaits the days and
years of ignorant, careless or inattentive fulfilment of the great
official work of a priest--the Divine Office.
Who are a priest's associates in this work? They are the thousands of
priests and religious throughout the world who say the Hours, and who
send up daily and nightly the great prayer of praise and thanksgiving to
God. _Secundum nomen tuum, sic et laus tua in fines terrae_ (ps. 47, v.
ii). _Dies diei eructat verbum et nox nocti indicat scientiam_ (ps. 18,
v. 3). In this holy work of reciting the Hours, we are united with the
angels and saints in heaven in honouring our common Creator; for, the
Church herself reminds us of this ineffable honour in the hymn for the
dedication of the Church:--
"Sed ilia sedes Coelitum
Semper resultat laudibus
Dumque trinum el unicum
Jugi canore jungimur
Almae Sionis aemuli."
"That house on high--it ever rings
With praises of the King of kings;
For ever there, on harps divine,
They hymn th' eternal One and Trine
We, here below, the strain prolong;,
And faintly echo Sion's song."
What are the ends for which the Office is said? (a) To glorify God, (b)
to help holy Church, and (c) to sanctify ourselves.
(a) "To glorify God," that is, to adore His infinite majesty, to thank
Him for his innumerable and constant blessings, to satisfy His justice
in expiating the sins of the world and to beg His grace and mercy. The
ends for which the Office are said are the same as those for which Mass
is offered, for the Office is the supplement of the Mass (Tronson).
(b) "To help holy Church." The Church militant has many and great needs.
It is her mission to extend the Kingdom of Christ, and to do this great
work she needs freedom from hostile laws, strength and courage to
withstand tyrants and persecution, unity and peace amongst her children
and pastors, zeal in her ministers and recruits for her militant forces.
To obtain these results the Church relies very much on the devout
recitation of the Office. Doubtless, it is for these purposes that the
Church has confided to the care of her chosen ministers this public
official prayer and has laid no such obligation on the laity. St.
Alphonsus did not hesitate to say that if priests and religious said the
Office as they should say it, the Church should not be in the deplorable
state that it then was in. This Doctor of the Church adds "that by
devout saying of the Office many sinners could be drawn from the slavery
of the devil and many souls would love God with more fervour." The wants
of the Church are greater now than they were ever before. Each
devoutly-said Hour draws down God's blessing on His Church. What a vast
number of blessings come from a life of daily recitation offered
worthily, attentively and devoutly (_digne, attente, ac devote_).
(c) "The benefit of the person who recites the Hours." The third end for
which the canonical Hours are offered is for the benefit of the person
who recites them. St. Alphonsus wrote, "If they said the Office as they
ought, priests themselves should not be always the same, always
imperfect, prone to anger, greedy, attached to self-interest and to
vanities.... But if they recited the Office, not as they say it with
distractions and irreverences, but with devotion and recollection,
uniting the affections of the heart with so many petitions which they
present to God, they should certainly not be so weak as they are, but
would acquire fervour and strength to resist all temptations and to lead
a life worthy of priests."
Another blessing springs from the attentive recitation of the
Breviary--viz., the daily withdrawal from the world and its cares which
must be banished from the soul which speaks with God. For, as St.
Alphonsus writes, the saying of the Hours devoutly, gives occasion to
pious souls to elicit many acts of virtue, acts of faith, of hope, of
charity, of humility, etc. For one psalm, says the saint, moves all the
powers of the soul and causes us to elicit a hundred acts. And in the
Breviary are found the most beautiful formulae of adoration and praise,
the psalms above all other parts of the Office being wonderfully rich in
magnificent praise of God's attributes. Where can such sublime forms of
prayer and praise be found as in Psalms, 8, 9, 17, 18, 21, 23, 28, 29,
33, 45, 46, 49, 54--to name but a few?
Finally, the attentive recitation of the Breviary is a source of light
and of grace and of merit. How many lights in prayer spring from these
divine words; how many maxims enter the soul, how many beautiful prayers
are said, and if they be well said, they would obtain for priests
treasures of grace, according to Christ's infallible promise, "Ask and
you shall receive"? A person can merit several degrees of glory by one
devout recitation of the Office, what an abundance of merit may be
gained by the devout recitations in a life of twenty, thirty or forty
years! And it was this thought of lost opportunities and of the great
treasures within the reach of priests, which caused St. Alphonsus when
an old man, to study the Breviary psalms and to write his
well-known work.
Nor was St. Alphonsus alone in his opinion of the great means of
sanctification which the Breviary affords to priests. St. Joseph of
Cupertino (1603-1663) was asked by Monsignor Claver, Bishop of Potenza,
to point out a means for the greater sanctification of the priests of
his diocese. The saint replied, "Monsignor, if you wish to sanctify your
priests strive to procure two things for them, that they say the Office
piously and that they say Mass with fervour. Nothing more is necessary
to ensure their salvation" (_Life of St. Joseph Cupertino_ by Bernini).
The words of the wonderful Franciscan, whose life was a marvel of piety,
were repeated a century later by St. Leonard of Port Maurice (1671-1751)
and are often quoted as his own.
In every age of the Church earnest souls drew great sweetness and
consolation from reading the psalms or from reading the canonical Hours.
Writers dealing with this part of priestly work quote the words of
eminent servants of God, They quote St. Augustine, St. Gregory
Nazianzan, St. Bernard, St. Catherine of Bologna, St. Philip Neri, St.
Francis De Sales and St. Alphonsus. It would make this section of this
book too long to quote the words of these saints. But the words of St.
Francis De Sales seem to have a special force. "Sometimes I am so
low-spirited," wrote the Saint, "by business and events, that I do not
know where to turn nor at what end to begin: but during the Office
nothing annoys me, I have not even distractions, I imagine that I am in
heaven singing with the angels the praises of my Creator; and on leaving
the choir I find often that the mighty problems which had given me
trouble are cleared away and, solved in an Instant." Biographies of
God's servants record many great favours bestowed on priests who recite
the Breviary piously. Cardinal Bona, recording a vision vouchsafed to
St. Bernard, tells how the saint saw an angel beside each choir monk,
recording his disposition of soul. Some angels wrote in letters of gold,
others in letters of silver, others in ink, others in water, and others
held their pens but wrote nothing. Our Lord explained to the saint the
meaning of the vision; the writing in gold typified charity and the
fervour of the recitation; the writing in silver denoted devotion but
little charity or fervour; the words in ink-writing signified careful
attention to the full verbal recitation but to little else; the words
written in water meant distraction and little attention to the meaning
or to the words; and the angels who wrote nothing watched the insolence
of those who were voluntarily distracted. The vision has furnished the
theme of much pious writing and a theme for Christian painters. It shows
how God watches over the daily work of priests, while His angels record
in golden or silvern letters the work of pious recitation, or perhaps
hold their pens at rest.
What means should be used to promote pious recitation?
ARTICLE II.--THE MEANS TO ADOPT FOR THE PIOUS RECITATION OF THE BREVIARY.
A.--THE MEANS TO ADOPT BEFORE THE RECITATION.
Preparation is necessary before beginning every prayer, for the Holy
Ghost says, "Before prayer prepare thy soul, and be not as a man that
tempteth God" (Ecclesias. 18. 23). This preparation necessary before
other prayers is above all necessary before the recitation of the Divine
Office, which is the greatest of all prayers. Two kinds of preparation
are necessary, the remote and the proximate.
The remote preparation demands the removal of all obstacles which impede
prayer, and the greatest of all prayers, the Church's official prayer.
The chief or capital obstacles which impede or prevent a pious
recitation of the Breviary are: sin, the passions, the absorbing
thoughts of creatures and the ignorance of the Divine Office. And the
means to remove these obstacles are to purify the conscience, science,
to mortify the passions, to guard the sense and to have an intelligent
knowledge of the duty and requirements of a proper fulfilment of the
daily task of the saying of the Canonical Hours.
The first means is to purify the conscience from sin, for sin hinders
prayer. But what effect has sin on the recitation of the Office? The
Office is a prayer, an elevation of the soul to God, and as all writers
on ascetics teach, sin is a chain that binds us to earth; it is, says
St. Francis, as birdlime which impedes the soul in its flight upwards.
Prayer is a conversation with God, but a soul loving sin cannot converse
with God; "_Peccatores Deus non audit_" (St. John, ix. 31). Prayer is an
intimate union with God, but a soul resting in sin can have no intimate
union with God; there can be no intimate union between light and
darkness, between sanctity and sin, between good and evil; in a word,
between Christ and Belial. _Quae participatio, quae societas lucis ad
tenebras? Quae conventio Christi el Belial?_
The second means of procuring fervent prayer is the mortification of the
passions. It is not enough to secure fervour in prayer that our souls
should be free from sin; we must struggle to master our passions. This
point is important--for a soul upset by its passions, anger, pride,
etc., cannot with fervour recite the Hours, for it cannot converse with
God, it cannot elevate itself to God, it can have no true union with
God. It cannot converse with God, for God will not converse with an
unmortified soul for three reasons. First, He will not speak if there be
no one to listen, for the Holy Ghost tells us "Where there is no
hearing, pour not out words" (Eccli. xxxii. 6). God wishes a soul in
converse with Him to be calm and still, for God is not in the earthquake
(3 Kings, xix. ii.). Again, even if God speaks to an unmortified soul,
it cannot hear Him as the passions fix its attention on worldly matters.
And even when such a soul tries to listen and to understand, the
passions surging and warring drown all sound and sense of holy things.
For, "the animal man perceiveth not these things that are of the spirit
of God, for it is foolishness to him and he cannot understand, because
it is spiritually examined" (I. Cor. ii. 14). The human soul cannot truly
unite itself to God if the passions are not conquered, because by their
very nature they are opposed to God and hence inspire estrangement from,
and disgust for, holy things.