I'm happy to welcome new followers Lauren, Pascal, and Roy to Coffee&Canticle, and hope their visits here will enhance their devotion to the public prayer of the Church.
Unlike most of the women in my neighborhood, I'm a pretty lackadaisical gardener. My vegetable garden consists of two tomato plants and two pepper plants that are thriving, but also overrun with weeds. I never figured out how or when to spray the fruit trees, so the apples won't be good for much more than applesauce, after having been intricately carved to remove all the blight and bugs. But the burgeoning wild blackberry patch out behind the barn is another story. Right now this thorny jungle is heavy with a million deep purple jewels. There's plenty for both the birds, for me, and the neighbors--so long as one is willing to wear pants and long sleeves in 90 degree weather OR to lost a little blood while reaching through the thorns.
All of which has nothing to do with the Liturgy of the Hours, although the verse from Psalm 34, "taste and see that the Lord is good" often comes to me as I'm picking and eating.
This morning at Lauds, Psalm 86, the "prayer of a poor man in distress" was easy to pray in the name of the church: thinking of how Christ suffers in his people who are often poor, persecuted, hungry, etc. Also, thinking of how the Church is hated and insulted at every turn, how politicians try to repress it and journalists to humiliate it every chance they get. When I came to the line that says "save your handmaid's son", I thought, naturally, of the Handmaid of the Lord. So right here in the psalm we are, in a way, appealing to the intercession of Mary most holy, reminding God that the child of such a mother must surely be answered.
Anyway--it's weekly Q&A time. Should anything about the Liturgy of the Hours confuse you, or if non-confused people want to discuss the minutiae of rubrics and options, then this is the place to be. Likewise if you just want to make a remark or observation about anything even vaguely related to the Divine Office. Just remark away in the comment box below.
By the way, some blog followers are having trouble posting comments unless they do so as "Anonymous". I have no idea how to help them, being nearly as clueless about blogger as they are. If anyone has light to share on this topic, please do so.
