I wasn’t raised going to church, but looking back I find many ways God was planting seeds for my eventual conversion.
For example, one thing I remember well from childhood visits to my grandparents’ home in South Carolina is the copy of “Daily Guideposts” my grandfather kept on the back of his commode. (For readers too young to recall a time before smartphones, people once relied on books and magazines to keep bathroom boredom at bay.)
Beloved among Protestants, “Daily Guideposts” is a devotional book that has been published annually for more than four decades. It features a scripture verse paired with an inspiring story for each day of the year. Even though I wasn’t otherwise interested in Christianity, I usually managed to sneak a peek at least once during my visit to the page my grandfather had bookmarked (always the current date). It always gave me something to think about, and reflecting back on it now, I associate those memories with feelings of peace.
Years later, when my parents began attending a local Methodist church, daily devotional reading became a big part of my father’s prayer life. He’d sometimes have a whole stack of devotionals – including “Daily Guideposts” – that he would read concurrently. He’d often share with me an insight from what he had read that day, and I’d occasionally pick up one of his books and read a page or two on my own. The format was always similar: a passage of scripture followed by a reflection providing context to help understand and apply the passage.
Devotional reading is nothing new, nor is it particularly Protestant. When I became Catholic and was seeking to learn everything I could about the faith, I did quite a bit of reading, though at the time I considered it education rather than devotion. Looking back now, I don’t think we should draw a line too sharply between the two.
Prayer is about forming a relationship with God, and a good relationship is all about getting to know one another. There is a difference, though, between knowing about someone and really knowing them. To really know someone, you have to spend time with them, and that’s where prayer comes in.
St. Ambrose said prayer should accompany the reading of sacred scripture “so that there may be a conversation between God and His people: we talk with God when we pray, we listen to Him when we read God’s words.” St. Francis de Sales recommends in his “Introduction to the Devout Life” that those seeking to grow in devotion spend a little time each day reading from scripture as well as from the writings of the saints. Thus you come to know the mind of God and the mind of the Church.
A few years after I joined the Church, my wife and I signed up for a class offered at our parish on praying the Liturgy of the Hours. It took a while to establish Morning and Evening Prayer as part of our routine, but the format of the prayer immediately resonated with me.
The Liturgy of the Hours had everything I was looking for in prayer: I was praising God every day, reading from the scriptures, offering petitions and interceding for the world. Best of all, since it is liturgical prayer, that meant I was praying in union with the Church every day in a format that was already laid out and ready to go.
The Liturgy of the Hours is a way to sanctify time by praying at intervals throughout the day. “Hours” refers to a period of time, not literally 60 minutes. In the current arrangement, the hours include Morning Prayer, Daytime Prayer, Evening Prayer and Night Prayer, plus the Office of Readings which can be prayed at any time during the day. Each of these “hours” of the office may take only 15 minutes or so to pray. The two principal hours are Morning and Evening Prayer, which consist primarily of psalms, other short scripture readings, intercessions and petitions.
For many years my wife and I prayed from the single-volume version of the Liturgy of the Hours called Christian Prayer. This book has everything you need to pray Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer and Night Prayer, as well as selections from Daytime Prayer and the Office of Readings. Later on, when I was in formation for the diaconate, I decided to upgrade to the full four-volume version of the Liturgy of the Hours in order to pray the Office of Readings. I was immediately enriched by it.
The Office of Readings begins with psalms, like the other hours, but then provides a longer passage of scripture followed by a related non-scriptural reading from one of the Fathers of the Church, another saint or an excerpt from an ecclesial document. It could be anything from one of the letters of St. Ignatius of Antioch (2nd century) to a selection from one of the constitutions of the Second Vatican Council (20th century). The readings in the Liturgy of the Hours are “coordinated with the Mass in such a way that the scriptural readings in the office complement the readings at Mass and so provide a complete view of the history of salvation” (“General Instruction of the Liturgy of the Hours,” 143), while “the purpose of the second reading is principally to provide for meditation on the word of God as received by the Church in its tradition” (GILH, 163).
In faithfully praying the Office of Readings, I have learned much about how God worked through history to prepare Israel for the coming of His Son, and of the salvific mystery of Christ currently at work in the Church. I have read the wisdom of the Church Fathers and received much-needed advice about how to be a Christian in the world. I have come to better know the saints and appreciate how each of them reflected the holiness of God in the circumstances of their lives.
The Church calls these writings “an outstanding witness to the contemplation of the word of God over the centuries by the Bride of the incarnate Word: the Church” (GILH, 164). They give us access to “the priceless spiritual treasures that form the unique patrimony of the Church and provide a firm foundation for the spiritual life” (GILH, 165).
As a deacon, I am bound by ecclesial law to pray Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer each day for the good of the Church. But for my own sake as a Christian, I couldn’t imagine a day without the Office of Readings, which I have come to regard as the daily devotional of the Church.
If anyone is seeking a sure way to boost their prayer life, to grow in devotion and the knowledge of God, to learn more about the saints, and to enter more deeply into the liturgical cycle of the Church, I can think of no easier or better way than to make the Office of Readings your daily guidepost.
Deacon Matthew Newsome is the Catholic campus minister at Western Carolina University and the regional faith formation coordinator for the Smoky Mountain Vicariate.