The Liturgy of the Hours (also known as the Divine Office or Breviary) is made up principally of the Psalms.
20th-century Czech liturgist and writer Father Pius Parsch wrote, “The two chief objectives which the breviary fulfills are: 1. It is the prayer of the Church as a body and, 2. It is a guide to genuine spiritual growth for the individual soul.”
The breviary, he said, is “above all the prayer of the Church, the prayer said in the name of the Church.”
In the breviary, he said the Church “is praying through my mouth, I offer her my tongue to pray with her for all the great objectives of redemption, and for God’s honour and glory. We weep, too, or rather the Church weeps through our tears, together with those who weep, rejoices through our joys together with those who rejoice, does penance with the repentant.”
By praying the breviary, “All the sentiments of Holy Mother Church find their echo in our heart. This gives a deeper content to our prayer; we spread out far beyond our own selves.”
The breviary “might be compared to the Angel Raphael who led the young Tobias successfully through all the dangers of his journey,” Father Parsch wrote. “The breviary, as the prayer of the canonical hours and as the prayer of the Church year, is in the highest sense the guide for souls; we need to get acquainted with this guide, and let ourselves be led.”
The two principal objects of the breviary are “worldwide pastoral prayer and personal interior growth” which “unite and intermingle” in the prayer. “The one makes pastors of us, the other makes us saints. Two great realities are at work in the prayers of the breviary, Church and soul.”
St. Augustine called the Psalter, or Book of Psalms, “the book in which the Word of God becomes man’s prayer.” (CCC 2587)
“That God may be praised well by man, God himself has praised himself; and since he has been pleased to praise himself man has found the way to praise him,” said St. Augustine. Every psalm “possesses such direct simplicity that it can be prayed in truth by men of all times and conditions.” (CCC 2588)
Pope St. Pius X wrote that in the Psalms is “a certain wonderful power for stimulating zeal in men’s minds for all the virtues.” The Book of Psalms is “like a paradise” that contains all the fruits of the other books, “gives forth songs, and with them also shows its own songs in psalmody.”
Quoting St. Athanasius, Pius X writes, “To me it seems that the Psalms for him who sings them are as a mirror in which he may contemplate himself and the movements of his soul and, under this influence, recite them.”
Pope Francis said, “In the Psalms suffering is transformed into a question. From suffering to questioning.”
The Holy Father added: “Everyone suffers in this world: whether they believe in God or reject him. But in the Psalter, pain becomes a relationship, rapport: a cry for help waiting to intercept a listening ear.”
The Lord listens, and “sometimes in prayer it is enough to know this. Problems are not always solved. Those who pray are not deluded: they know that many questions of life down here remain unresolved, with no way out; suffering will accompany us and, after one battle, others will await us. But if we are listened to, everything becomes more bearable.”
A large portion of the Psalter is written in couplets (two-line pairs of thought). The thought of the second line reinforces or echoes the thought of the first line. In other words, the second line says the same thing as the first line in different words. Paying attention to the thoughts expressed in couplets while praying the Psalms is very helpful to our spiritual growth.
Nowadays, with downloadable applications such as iBreviary and DivineOffice, praying the Liturgy of the Hours can be done easily at home. Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, and Night Prayer are liturgical prayers with Gospel canticles which beautifully sanctify the different times of the day.
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時辰頌禱是教會和信眾靈魂的共同作工
時辰頌禱禮（亦稱本份經或大日課經）主要是從聖詠編成。庇護.帕殊神父寫道：「日課經實踐的兩個主體是：1.教會作為一體的祈禱；2.是個人真誠神修的引導。日課經是以教會之名誦唸，屬教會各經文之首 …。教會藉我口祈禱，我奉獻我的唇舌給教會，祈求眾靈得救，恭敬及光榮天主。同樣，當我飲泣，或實在教會藉我淚水飲泣，與所有飲泣者一起飲泣；藉我們的喜樂，與那些喜樂的人一同喜樂；與悔罪的人一起作補贖。信眾和慈母教會的喜樂愁困與共；這樣，我們的祈禱便附上更深層的內容，超越唯我 …。日課經好比嘉俾厄爾天使，帶領年青的多比亞，成功走過重重艱險的旅程 …。日課經 - 作為法定時辰和教會年的誦禱 - 是最高層次的靈修引導；我們應該熟悉以此日課經，以此作嚮導，這正是日課經的兩個主要目標。普世牧靈祈禱和祈禱在靈修的神效，合一並互相緊扣著。一則作我們的牧者，另則聖化我們。所以說：教會和信眾靈魂，均是日課經內共同實踐及作工的兩個主體。」
「在聖詠集一書中，天主的聖言成為人的祈禱。（天主教教理 #2587）」聖奧斯定說：「天主備受世人讚美，而藉這讚美，天主也自我讚美，因為我們的讚美，鍾悅了天主。」每一首聖詠「是如此樸實，致使任何處境和時代中的人，都可以真誠地用來祈禱。（天主教教理 #2588）」
教宗庇護十世寫道：「聖詠有一股奇妙的力量，喚醒人的思想，趨向熱愛諸德。因為雖然我們所有的聖經，無論是新舊約，都是由聖神所默示的，並且用於教義，聖詠集儼如樂園裡盛載著新舊約其餘書卷的善果，以歌曲散發著美妙的旋律。正如聖達修同一個方面正確地添加說：『依我的見解，詠者從聖詠中受到影響，好像看到一面鏡子，見到自己靈性的觸動，從而令他誦詠。』」
教宗方濟各說道：「在聖詠中，痛苦化作一個問題。從受苦變成詢問。」他又補充說：「無論接納或拒絕天主，塵世間每個人，都會受苦。聖詠集卻把苦痛變做與天主關係的橋樑 ── 向聆聽者呼喊援助 …。有時，祈禱足夠使『天主聆聽』，可惜有時卻非全然，問題仍未能解決。但誦禱者不會感到迷茫：即使生活中的種種困難仍未解決，無路可走；苦痛困難仍會接踵而來，應接不斷；但當禱聲被接納後，一切會變得容易忍受。」
聖詠集大部分用對聯式編寫：次句雖然跟首句思向相若，不同的用字卻是用來強化或回應著首句。專注於這些對聯式編寫的聖詠，對我們的靈修有莫大的益處。
現在，我們可以輕易地從「電子日課經iBreviary」及「大日課經DivineOffice」下載時辰誦禱經文，讓我們很容易在家誦唸。晨禱、晚禱和夜禱是誦禱禮，經文連結著福音衍生的讚美詩句，能美化和聖化我們每天不同的時段。
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