Home Prayer and Meditation Prayer The Divine Hours The Divine Hours The Divine Hours A complete guide to the ancient practice of fixed-hour prayer People have prayed at fixed hours during the day for centuries. Quietly easing away from the obligations of home or work, they take a few moments to spend time with God. These moments connect them to the Divine, and to the countless others who are also pausing to pray the prayers designated for that hour, on that day. Prayers whispered and chanted, spoken loud and clear or murmured silently within, all join together in a continuous flow, a river of words from our soul to God’s. The Divine Hours by Phyllis Tickle is a manual for fixed-hour prayer. It presents the prayers to be prayed at the divine hours of every day: Morning prayers, for prayer between 6 and 9; midday prayers for praying between 11 and 2; and evening prayers to pray between 5 and 8, and help us gently close the day. Praying the hours enjoins us to stop, let go of all that occupies us, and focus on the sacred at regular intervals throughout the day. Suddenly, every day becomes holy, for every day is laced together by our appointments with God. PRAY THE HOURS

Select a time zone to join others in praying the hours AN INTRODUCTION BY PHYLLIS TICKLE

Like a double helix rendered elegant by complexity and splendid by authority, the amalgam of gospel and shared meal and the discipline of fixed-hour prayer were and have remained the chain of golden connection tying Christian to Christ and Christian to Christian across history, across geography, and across idiosyncrasies of faith. A BRIEF HISTORY OF FIXED-HOUR PRAYER

Fixed-hour prayer, while it is with the Eucharist the oldest surviving form of Christian spirituality, actually had its origins in the Judaism out of which Christianity came. NOTES ON HOW TO USE THE PRAYERS

Following current Church practice, the offices appointed for each day are four in number: morning, noon, vespers, and compline. SYMBOLS AND CONVENTIONS USED

In this excerpt from The Divine Hours, Phyllis Tickle explains how to use the manual for fixed-hour prayer.