Christians praying in Goma, DR of Congo. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I’d like to be more prayerful. I’d like to have set times of prayer throughout the day. Muslims come to mind, praying 5 times a day – dawn, noon, afternoon, sunset, and evening. I want to be reminded of God’s presence, to be in contact with Him, and to remember to be striving to do His will.
In Christianity, there is praying the hours.
Lauds (When you wake up)
Prime (When you get out of bed)
Terce (Mid-morning)
Sext (Noon)
Nones (Mid-afternoon)
Vespers (Early evening)
Mattins (When sleep is difficult)
Praying the hours goes back to the Jews. In the Psalms we find expressions like: “I will meditate on thee in the morning;” “I rose at midnight to give praise to thee;” “Evening and morning, and at noon I will speak and declare: and he shall hear my voice;” “Seven times a day I have given praise to thee.”
It appears many religions have this custom. Now it’s my turn to pick it up.
Related articles
- Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep: a Child’s Primer for Prayer (gingerjar2.wordpress.com)
- Psalms 5. A prayer for protection. A prayer for guidance (bummyla.wordpress.com)
- praying the rosary one checkmark at a time (begojohnson.com)
- How you can go from “saying” your prayers to “praying” your prayers… (rcspiritualdirection.com)
- What is Prayer? (healinginspiration.org)
- Prayer That Never Ends (frted.wordpress.com)
- My Prayer at Adoration (patheos.com)
- Psalms 6. A prayer for help in time of trouble. A prayer of faith in time of distress (bummyla.wordpress.com)
- Morning Prayer ~ September 16, 2012 (ronpogue.typepad.com)
- Prayer. (wakeywakeysunshine.wordpress.com)
I like your description on Christan Prayer. It is also known as the Divine Office. Thank you.
I didn’t think of it in my previous comment. Christian Prayer is also called the Liturgy of the Hours, as you describe in your article.
Thank you!
I truly wish I could purposefully pray several times a day as well. It is only by doing so that we can truly say we have a relationship with the Lord
Thanks for the share.
You are welcome and so right. You have to talk to God, and more importantly listen, in order to have a close relationship!