Lord, Teach Us How to Pray

For many centuries, the Church had, at least on the practical level, almost completely lost sight of the Liturgy of the Hours as a public act of worship of the whole Christian community. It became commonly known as the breviary, or priest's daily prayer book, in effect the exclusive and principally private prerogative of the clergy and religious. The liturgical reform of the Second Vatican Council directed that the Divine Office be once again restored to its original purpose, namely, as a prayer for the entire community of the faithful. While many really dedicated lay people have learned how to pray the Divine Office, many others, because of their busy lifestyles, have been unable to avail themselves of this wonderful treasure of prayer. This brings us to the purpose of this booklet, and that is to attempt to explain, illustrate, and simplify the use of the Divine Office to all those who may wish to pray it but find it too difficult to do so. Hopefully, with God's assistance, this booklet will help them to accomplish this task with as little difficulty as possible.