Trinity Episcopal Church - Saint James, Missouri

It is usually my custom to read the Daily Office every day. I always try to do Morning Prayer, and sometimes Evening Prayer as well. The Daily Office is the prayer of the church. The Daily Office came into being from the prayers of the monastics who set aside certain hours during the day for prayer. It is even known as Praying the Hours. In the Book of Common Prayer there are services for Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, as well as Noonday Prayer and Compline. Compline is the last prayer of the day before sleep.There are also shorter forms of the Office in the Prayer Book. There is a Daily Office Lectionary that goes along with the liturgical calendar that gives the OT, NT, and Gospel readings as well as Psalms for the Morning and Evening. The Daily Office was a part of my life even before ordination but is especially important to me now. It used to bother me that the Prayer Book Offices were in the plural form. It seemed odd that as I prayed them I was praying with the words "we" and "us" instead of "me" and "I" even though I was by myself. But if finally dawned on me that although I was alone I can never pray alone. No matter what time I am praying the Office there is someone somewhere praying it with me. Perhaps in another town, perhaps in another state or even another country there is someone doing the exact same thing at the same time. You can never pray alone. It is always a corporate practice.