Did you do Office of Readings today?
Those first two paragraphs from St. Anselm just blew me away. In case you missed it--or the caffeine hadn't kicked in yet while you were reading them, here they are:
Insignificant man, escape from your everyday business for a short while, hide for a moment from your restless thoughts. Break off from your cares and troubles, and be less concerned about your tasks and labors. Make a little time for God and rest a while in Him. Enter into your mind's inner chamber. shut out everything but God and whatever helps you to seek Him; and when you have shut the door, look for Him.
Speak now to God and say with your whole heart, "I seek you Face; your Face, Lord I desire."
I know that there are traditional prayers to say before beginning the Divine Office. Although when I think to say this one--which is not often--I usually find the card I had it on is missing. But these lines from St. Anselm today seemed so utterly perfect as a help to getting me into the proper mindset for prayer, that I copied them onto an index card as neatly as I could so that I'd have it at hand inside the cover of my breviary each day. Anselm's message was especially appropriate for me at this time of year. Between planning for Christmas and Healthcare enrollment Purgatory, my mind is everywhere except that peaceful inner chamber. Hopefully this little meditation will get me there, with the door shut, more often.
Q&A Time: any questions or confusion about praying the Liturgy of the Hours can be resolved here. Just ask a question below.
Also--there are still four of you who won an O Emmanuel CD but did not write to me with your address. Please look back at the comments on this post and see whether the entry comment you made is followed by my comment to the effect that you have won. Otherwise I will have to choose some runners up to get your CD.
If anyone is interested, the most popular O Antiphon in our poll by far was O Oriens (aka O Rising Sun, O Dayspring), followed not too distantly by O Sapientia (O Widsom).
