There, I’ve said it.

I know many means of prayer. Still, more often than not, my mind keeps nattering on, and I can’t tell the voice of God from all the other voices in there. I know I’m not alone in this; the apostles themselves begged Jesus to teach them how to pray, and the fixed result was such a relief that Christians everywhere still use it daily!

Their relief must have been akin to how I feel when I’m able to pray the Liturgy of the Hours with a prayer community. It falls on me like an unexpected gift: my role in it is small, brittle. Whether I expend great effort or flow effortlessly, I produce minimal results. I make little pieces of prayer, nourishing like a small piece of bread, like a host. I am immersed into the prayer, which would go on without me, if I were to disappear. I am brought into a world that has no need of me, and I feel it as a great relief.

Sometimes, in the peace that follows I recognize the voice of the Holy Spirit, mercifully speaking to me from outside, with someone else’s voice.

I will pray for you. Just be. Do what everyone else is doing, and I will pray.

During high school I gave up television for Lent (except for Bishop Sheen). That began a lifetime of low television viewing. In comparison to the average American male, if I had completely given up television between college and retirement I would have gained 4.5 years of waking time to do things other than watch television. That is the equivalent of more than six weeks of vacation per year.

Time Diaries

Research on how people spend time is interesting, complex and controversial. Our beliefs about how we spend time are not very accurate. Time diaries (recording what one does for a 24 hour day) give very different results from survey questions asking how many hours per week people work, watch television, etc. Similar to higher estimates for church attendance in surveys, people tend to say what they usually do (e.g. weekly) rather than what they actually do (e.g. two or three times a month).

Summary of time trends from 35 diary studies in 20 developed countries from 1961-1990 (based on 120,000 persons aged 20-59 from Gershuny book, below)

With rare exceptions, this data shows highly consistent results true of all the surveyed nations across time and within nations across successive surveys.

Since sleep is a near constant across time and nations, the waking day can be divided into paid work, unpaid work (e.g. housework, child care, shopping) and leisure (e.g. religion, meetings, events, visiting, sports, hobbies, communication, television, reading, listening).

Both paid and unpaid work declined over time; therefore leisure time increased.

For the whole period, men did more paid work than women and women did more unpaid work than men. However men and women converged over the period in all countries! Women increased their paid work while men decreased their paid work. Women decreased their unpaid work, especially house work. Men increased their unpaid work, mostly by doing some housework.

Why then do we hear so much about a time crunch? Both paid work and housework declined, while leisure time increased.

In 1960, well educated people (both men and women) had more leisure than less educated people. This reversed by 1990. Less educated people now have more leisure than well educated persons. (No, it is not simply because the less educated are more likely to be unemployed.) Well educated people experience the time crunch, especially those in dual income families with children. Status and prestige have become correlated with being busy rather than having leisure.

Summary of US diary studies: Total leisure hours from 1965 to 1995, persons aged 18-64 (based upon Robinson and Godbey, below)

For women, leisure time rose by 4.7 hours from 34.0 hours per week in 1965 to 38.7 hours per week in 1995. For men, leisure time rose by 7.9 hours from 35.7 to 43.6 hours per week during the same time period. Much leisure time was channeled into television viewing. TV time rose by 5.7 hours from 9.3 hours per week to 15.0 hours per week for women; it rose by 5.4 hours from 11.9 to 17.3 hours for men.

Increased television time not only absorbed time freed up from paid and unpaid work it reduced the number of hours spent socializing, reading and listening to stereo. Hobbies, fitness and sport time did increase, but not nearly as much as television. Religion time stayed constant. Less people attending church may have been offset by some people going to church more often.

Why has television time taken over such a large portion of leisure time?

TV is inexpensive and easily available in comparison to alternatives. Increased free time has become available in small amounts spread over the week rather than increased weeks of vacation, or less work days per week. When people go on vacation they don’t watch much television. People report television is less satisfying than alternatives such as socializing, hobbies, sports, etc. However these more satisfying alternatives generally need larger chunks of time and more advanced planning. When asked what they would do if they needed more time, people say they would give up television.

If utilization of smaller episodes of time encourages television use, we should not despair at finding better uses for those small chunks. There is a great amount of evidence that distributed time is more effective than massed time, e.g. a half hour of study four times a week is better than a two hour study period. Evidence from at least one area, academic faculty, shows skill in use of small episodes resulted in better teaching, more publications, etc. See the book by Boice below.

Lent: fasting from television, discerning and converting time use

Fasting from television, i.e. reducing our consumption of television, presents itself as a Lenten possibility. Gershuny estimates that in 1780 about 37% of a waking day in England was food related, e.g. production, processing, and consumption. Data from 1980 indicated that total food related time was down to 15%. Reduced food consumption produced important social and economic benefits in societies when food related activities consumed so much time. Reduced television consumption could give analogous benefits in contemporary society.

Since we have inaccurate perceptions of our time usage, Lent would be a good time to keep a time diary. Besides discerning and converting uses of time, one might develop skills in the use of small time episodes for a particular purpose. Boice gives a general model and three applications in academia (writing, class preparation, and faculty socializing); its general principles can be adapted to other settings.

Almsgiving and prayer have traditionally accompanied fasting. Both can be alternative uses of television time. Spending time with other people is probably the best form of almsgiving, especially since time with people outside the home has suffered from television. Prayer that can be done flexibility in small amounts of time without advanced planning may be particularly useful as a substitute for television.

DivineOffice.org might be a good place to start a Lenten television fast. With auditory and visual stimulation that make few demands and can be experienced as background, it is available on demand, and therefore can fill up 15 to 30 minute intervals of free time. Since one can hit the pause button, that 20 minutes could be distributed into smaller intervals of time if desirable. The early monks in Egypt would basket weave while someone read the psalms. There are many creative ways that this easily accessible form of the Divine Office could be integrated into one’s life.

Praying one of the Hours takes about two hours per week; praying Readings, Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer takes about a hour a day, or seven hours a week. All these figures are well under the weekly use of television by most people. A weekly parish support group meeting could provide the opportunity for people to pray the Office together, share experiences, and provide a foundation for parish celebration. The support group might also share their experiences with time diaries and the conversion of time to better uses. Daily personal praying, weekly group praying, and occasional large group celebrations of the Divine Office would be similar to the very successful model employed by Little Rock Scripture Study.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Changing Times: Work and Leisure in Postindustrial Society (2003) by Jonathan Gershuny covers an immense amount of data on a very complex topic in a very creative and interesting manner combining economics and sociology. Gershuny makes the point that one person’s leisure and consumption provide another person’s work. Our choices about leisure and consumption on the personal and social policy levels shape our societies. Gershuny contrasts his approach to “liberal market” and “social democratic state” models of social and economic development.

For those who might want more information on American time diary research a good starting point is Time for Life: The Surprising Ways Americans Use Their Time (Second Edition, 2000) by John P. Robinson and Geoffrey Godbey (with a Foreword by Robert Putnam). Chapter 22 of the updated Second Edition provides some good charts and graphs, and a quick overview for those who might want more detailed information.

Advice for New Faculty Members: Nihil Nimus (2000) by Robert Boice, provides simple rule based advice to young faculty members based on years of research and consulting that found that faculty who used small amounts of time were more successful teachers and writers. Sample rules include: wait mindfully (e.g. at set times); begin early before feeling ready, stop in timely fashion (e.g. early and often); and let others do some of the work.

Jack Rakosky has an interdisciplinary doctorate in psychology and sociology and spent twenty years in applied research and program evaluation in the public mental health system. His current interests are spirituality and voluntarism, especially among highly educated people at retirement age.

There are three reasons why I think it is important for liturgists to view this film. First, there is no debate about liturgical practices or texts shown anywhere in the film. Now I suspect that there might have been such debates in real life, but they clearly do not hold center stage in the lives of these Trappists. We see them praying and singing various sections of the Divine Office and of the Eucharist in their small chapel, mostly in French, though ending Compline one evening with a Marian antiphon in Latin. What I loved was how ordinary the liturgy was for these folks, how the personal quirks of individual monks blended into a common action of prayer, how the choreography of the rite had become second nature so that the community could engage full, conscious and active participation without self-consciousness.

Second, if I may be VERY personal, the serenity and balance of the monks’ lives embodies precisely why I was and am attracted to the practice and study of the liturgy. The monks make and market honey, visit the local village for an Islamic ceremony in which they participate as appropriate, plow and plant fields, interact with village and government officials, run a clinic, and dispense advice when asked. They prepare and eat meals together, hold chapter meetings around a table on which a single candle burns, write letters, engage in spiritual reading, pursue their own devotional prayer and receive visitors. The Liturgy of the Hours and the celebration of the Eucharist are of a piece with the rest of their lives: the words of the liturgical texts illuminate not only the round of feasts but the meaning of their activities, challenging, comforting and transforming them over the long haul. They are not prissy aesthetes or superficial purveyors of cheap bonhomie. They are people who take seriously the consequences of what baptism means (as one powerful scene between two of the monks makes clear.) It was this integration of personal growth in holiness, a passion for charity and justice, and a love for the sacramental worship of the Church that caught my heart and imagination 50 some years ago and still keeps me going today. Given the acrimony over the state of liturgical renewal in the English speaking world, it is very heartening to me to see depicted on the screen what this integral life might look like.

Finally, as a church musician I was especially touched by the chants sung by the actors portraying the monks in the film. They include pieces by Joseph Gelineau and Lucien Deiss as well as standard liturgical dialogues. Breathtaking, however, are some of the hymns by Didier Rimaud. I have had the privilege of singing some of his biblically evocative texts at meetings of Universa Laus and have marveled at the poetic insight and spiritual depth of his imagery. The following phrases stick in my memory, although I know the French originals are much more powerful and I have probably altered the translation since reading the subtitles: “…separating sand from water, / you created the earth like a cradle / to receive this Child of infinite love…” (a hymn for Christmas Eve) “…and yet you have a heart / for you love the prodigal son / and hold this sinner to your breast, / this ruined world…” Like many of the texts of Huub Oosterhuis, I am seared by the power and the beauty of these texts and would so love to sing them in liturgical contexts.

Finally, I think what makes the film so powerful for me is the palpable sense of communion and love that binds together the diverse personalities of the monks and radiates in their interchanges with the villagers, the terrorists, and the army officials. They witness to a love that passes understanding. The liturgy that holds my heart passes understanding as well; it is the offer and celebration of God’s fragile, defenseless, broken, tortured, murdered, risen, radiant, powerful, silent, mysterious, triumphant Love for us and our awe-filled and humble gratitude that such a Love could be real.

Excerpted from Andrew Casad’s regular column of notes for liturgists that appear in the January-February issue of LTP‘s Pastoral Liturgy.

O Radix Jesse,
qui stas in signum populorum,
super quem continebunt reges os suum,
quem gentes deprecabuntur:
veni ad liberandum nos,
jam noli tardare.

A somewhat literal translation into English might say,

O Root of Jesse,
you stand as a sign among the peoples;
before you kings will hold their tongues,
and you the Gentiles will seek:
come to deliver us,
and do not delay.

Applying a bit of dynamic equivalence, we might pray it this way:

O root from Jesse’s stump,
an emblem for all peoples,
in whose presence kings shut their mouths
and nations bow low in disgrace,
come and set us free.
Do not delay.

(As to the word, “stump”: at least one scholar says that after the Babylonian Exile only a stump of the Davidic dynasty would remain, but from it a new root would arise, leading to the Messiah. And “. . . bow down in disgrace” comes from the implication contained in the word depricor. It is root of the English words deprecate and depreciate.)

This translation attempts to bring out a contrast between the first four lines, which address the one to come, and the last two lines, which are the request. The former are titles of great praise. They call out to the great messianic example that will be present for all people, and whose lineage goes all the way back to King David’s father, Jesse; and nations become aware of their own shame, perhaps as Nineveh was. Even kings are brought to silence.

In contrast to this great dignity, the last two lines say, veni ad liberandum nos, jam noli tardare. Come liberate us and do not be tardy, literally. To a non-Latin scholar such as myself, these words seem very direct, almost impudent, telling the messiah what to do. But of course I bow to those who know Latin more intimately. Nevertheless, this translation brings out the urgency of our longing for God, which I will speak of below.

The scriptural references for this antiphon are from Isaiah 11: 10-11 (“On that day, the Gentiles shall seek out the root of Jesse, set up as a signal for the nations; his dwelling shall be glorious. On that day, the Lord shall again take it in hand to reclaim the remnant of his people.”), as well as Is. 52:15 (“So shall he startle many nations; because of him kings shall stand speechless”), and perhaps from Paul’s quotation of Isaiah in Romans 12:15 (“And again Isaiah says: “The root of Jesse shall come, raised up to rule the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles hope”). Of course it might be that gentes should be translated above as “Gentiles” instead of “nations”, because of this passage, in which case the last lines might be better rendered, “let nothing keep you from coming to our aid” or something along that line.

As we know, the English words for the ever popular Advent song, “O Come, O Come Emmanuel”, are based on the O Antiphons, but with the last antiphon made first. Here is today’s verse, the one based on O Radix:

“O come, O Rod of Jesse’s stem,
from ev’ry foe deliver them
That trust your mighty pow’r to save,
And give them victr’y o’er the grave.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to you, O Israel!”

It is, of course, only a meditation on the Radix antiphon, not a translation. As to the last two lines (which are actually the refrain) I heartily agree with those who object to “Emmanuel” being in the first phrase. There is a pause in the music after it and before “… Shall come …”. This creates the musical impression that the Rejoice words are addressed to Emmanuel, which of course does not make sense. “Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel // Shall come to you, O Israel!” Far better, to me, is the alternative translation, “Rejoice! Rejoice! O Israel! // To thee shall come Emmanuel.”

The first letters of the titles, if spelled backwards, form the Latin words, “ero crass”, or, I come tomorrow”

What impresses me about the O Antiphons, so distant from popular liturgical consciousness by now, is the growing sense of desire for the Lord that is expressed in them. Even the reverse ordering of “ero crass” indicates acrostically the waiting Christians must always be doing. Not even this sentence makes sense until the last Antiphon has arrived. The Lord has come but the Lord is coming, both into our lives and into the world.

In this I think the ancients were quite accurate. Waiting is nearly the essence of human lives. Patience is one of our greatest needs. The only one that trumps it is the need, or rather, desire, for God-with-us. Love is on the way. Advent is worth its weight in waiting.

TAJ

What is DivineOffice.org?

As I began the interview, the group quickly decided that their common connection was Greg. They didn’t set out with the mission to record the Office for people to pray. They didn’t know each other, but Greg drew them in to help record material for a website designed to help catechumens and candidates to further explore topics discussed in the local parish’s RCIA gatherings. Eventually the group wanted something a little more consistent, which was designed to help those in the RCIA or the newly baptized learn how to pray the Liturgy of the Hours. Greg said, “We set off to teach people how to pray the Liturgy of the Hours [through podcasts] . . . we were going to just put out a few examples of how to pray the Liturgy of the Hours.”

The group started with podcasts for Morning Prayer on Fridays during the season of Lent about four years ago. “Again, our intention was to teach people how to maneuver the book,” Greg said. Greg also stated some concerns that this somehow wasn’t liturgy and that the project could proceed because it was just a tool for catechizing people about the Liturgy of the Hours. His mindset changed as the project evolved and realized that there was a type of community forming between those who downloaded the material. Because of its popularity, Christine stated, “the group decided to look at Easter.” During the season of Easter that first year, they focused on Sundays as a way to help the neophytes during the period of mystagogy.

Community began to be developed as more and more people began to download the material and use the website. The sense of community came from the comments, suggestions, and request of the listeners.

Where is this recorded?

Dane’s company, Surgeworks provides the space and equipment to produce these podcasts. At first, they struggled to stay ahead, but now they record, in some cases, a week or two in advance. They started out reciting the text and eventually began to incorporate sung hymns and psalms. Some of the music used comes from our own Madeleine Choir School.

The iPod shapes the vision

At first, they were only online, but as the iPod and other technologies developed, they envisioned more possibilities for this project. Ultimately, they wanted to get people praying the Liturgy of the Hours. “Wouldn’t it be cool if people were to put this on their iPod as they go to work,” Dane said. “People are praying always . . . taken’ it with them,” Denise said. They saw this as the Church’s prayer and wanted everyone to have access to it and learn about it. Christine acknowledged that all of this was possible because of Dane’s company and the resources he could provide.

The group soon realized that the social media market and the networks were different and that the audience is the one who promotes the product. At one point, they were the number one download on the iTunes. When the iPhone was released it opened up some new possibilities and they introduced an app.

What types of resources are on the website?

The website is very user friendly. You can download the audio for the Invitatory, Office of Readings, and Morning Prayer, part of Daytime Prayer, Evening Prayer, and Night Prayer. It also includes some resources for the Office of the Dead and the General Instruction of the Liturgy of the Hours. You can also see the printed text of the prayer. As you listen to the podcast you will hear a variety of styles for praying the psalms – sung, spoken, and responsorial. Dane commented that over the years some people have commented on how to pray the psalms based on their experience in a community or parish; some people like the variety and others claimed they weren’t following the Church’s prayer. A benefit of the variety of styles, which is allowed by the GILOH, is that people can engage the prayer differently and hopefully model it in their own parish.

Another great thing about the website is that for each prayer it provides instructions for ribbon placement/page numbers for the four volume set and Christian Prayer. I know some people are overwhelmed by the book itself so this is extremely helpful.

Are you using the ICEL texts on your website?

I was surprised to hear yes. The group at DivineOffice.org has been working with ICEL for years and finally they are in the process of working out an agreement with them. Early on they didn’t have full text to avoid the copyright issues, but the listeners began to criticize them and that got the ball rolling to contact ICEL. What both groups discovered is that the current copyright policies didn’t cover or work for this new media. ICEL wanted proofs of the material and DivineOffice.org kept saying that it’s all on the website in bits and pieces. In the end, DivineOffice.org had to put the text on the website so ICEL could look at it and approve it in the format that DivineOffice.org would be offering it. ICEL too had to compromise and learn how to work in this new medium.

Who uses DivineOffice.org?

Here’s a sample of people who use this resource: Priests and deacons, an east coast seminary, shut-ins, ecumenical groups and clergy, internet radio stations, commuters, runners, people around the world, military personnel, visually impaired etc. At the time of the interview statistics/demographics weren’t available, but hopefully we can update that soon.

What does the future hold?

The group hopes that eventually it will be available on a universal platform and not just on the iPhone. Eventually there will be an app for the iPad that will look just like the book with some art added in. They also hope to develop a technology that will allow the user to pick and choose certain prayers and create a personalized format for special events. “Do you want to hear it sung or hear it said? Do you want the Psalter of the day or the special memorial of the day,” Christine added. Options possible for the future might be: 1). a variety of languages, 2). choosing between contemporary and traditional music for psalm settings, 3). submitting prayer intentions to share with the others praying.

They also see this as one way to invite younger people to join in the prayer of the Church. One last comment was on the praying Evening Prayer or Night Prayer. Potentially members of the parish could all pray in unison without ever meeting at church or they could meet at a church or a home and project the text for common prayer. The founders feel this is a way to help parishes praying together.

Why do you feel parishes/individuals should celebrate the Liturgy of the Hours?

The Liturgy of the Hours is a powerful experience that unites us in heart and mind on our way to God. Praying the psalms daily is transformative and challenging. It invites us to ponder the very mysteries of our faith and draws us into deeper communion with God. The hours help give shape to our day; they are a way to sanctify the day. Ultimately, this has the potential to transform our experience and celebration of the Eucharist.

What are some of the negative aspects of using this type of technology?

Christine commented, that it can “Isolate people and causes them to be able to cut themselves off from real service, real community, real engagement.” Though that potential is there, it seems that this type of technology is here to stay and can be used to draw more people into the prayer, especially for those who aren’t going to pick up the book.

Some data:

• 20, 000 downloads every day
• 5% growth a month
• 4,000 people download every single prayer every day
• 4,000 people subscribe to a weekly newsletter
• iPhone app is $14.99 (which allows you to see, in real time, who’s praying with you around the world
• Find them on Facebook

Though I am not very good with technology, I have been fascinated with this project and how it has encouraged people to pray the Liturgy of the Hours. I do wish them well as this ministry continues to evolve. I still have a hope that pastors would encourage people to pray the hours in common (see GILOH 23).

As of Easter this year Apple reported having sold 3 million iPads, 20 million iPod touches, and 50 million iPhones—and that’s not counting the several million more recently released G4 iPhones already sold. Even if we assume that many of these are not distinct users we have something on the order of 50 million iOS devices out there. If users of iPhones and iPods are a representative sample of the US population then 22%, or at least 11 million, of those users are Catholic. How different would our parish life be if all of these users had and used on their devices, for example, a copy of the Universalis app? Universalis is a no-frills website offering the official Liturgy of the Hours to everyone with a computer and not just those with handhelds. Historically praying the Liturgy of the Hours was the domain of monastics and clerics especially since the books needed to pray the Divine Office were (and remain) expensive and are not the easiest to use. A website like Universalis and its iOS application allows anyone to Pray without ceasing. So while FIFA remains trenchant in its opposition to the use of technology because of the difficulty in using it at the grassroots level of play, in the case of the Liturgy of the Hours technology is empowering precisely those at the grassroots level to pray in an official, liturgical way that was previously available only to those willing to pray for the pricey four volume set. How else might we use technology in order to prepare the faithful for that fully conscious, and active participation in liturgical celebrations?

Coming from the Midwest, I had heard stories of clergy shortages and a service called “Sunday Celebrations in the Absence of a Priest,” but I did not know much about either subject. The most I ever heard about this ritual was that we “shouldn’t do it” and well, I am not sure having over 400 priests in my home diocese can be considered a shortage in light of my current experience.

Sunday Celebrations in the Absence of a Priest (SCAP) is a reality for our diocese whether I like or not. I certainly have been told I shouldn’t like it. I was not prepared to understand the complexity of the situation or even the structure of the ritual text in graduate school or in my previous ministerial experiences.

When I started this position, the diocese was preparing to implement the 2007 text. As our liturgical commission discussed the issues and the pedagogy for training leaders, I sat in awe at the various issues I had never even considered.  These issues ranged from poor catechesis (or the lack of catechesis) to fear that people would leave for the LDS Church, to fears of young people losing the faith and tradition of the community. Many argued, “We can’t get rid of the entrance procession because our young people won’t know how to serve when Father comes” or “if it doesn’t look like Mass our kids will be confused with the responses when Father comes.” These are simple, but real concerns for our missions which have few resources and little expertise.

I quickly had to learn more about this service in order to help prepare over 50 lay leaders. I soon realized what a daunting task this was going to be and naïvely moved forward. Then, in the summer of 2009, before we implemented the 2007 text, I had the opportunity to lead four SCAP services in four of our missions. Each place I traveled had between 30 and 50 people who faithfully attended. As I led these assemblies in Sunday Prayer, I became aware that they didn’t even know the ritual. They were unfamiliar with the responses, the Act of Thanksgiving, and most importantly that this wasn’t Eucharist. They also didn’t realize there were options in the ritual for the celebration of Morning or Evening Prayer. I was stunned! How can these places who primarily celebrate SCAP not know the ritual? It seemed they were only concerned about receiving Holy Communion and that the younger generations knew the responses to Mass. Certainly these are good thoughts and I’d bet there’s something deeper happening there that they may not even be able to name. What I did learn from these communities is that they are faith-filled people who long for a deep communion with Christ. I learned that in these times of hardship they longed to gather, whether out of duty or love, to keep the “family” together. I learned that even though they didn’t have resources, like musicians, they still attempted to sing and sang with confidence.

I left these services disliking them even more, but realizing their importance to nurture the faith in these small and humble communities. As the liturgical commission finalized some plans for the training, we decided to focus on Morning/Evening Prayer as the primary liturgy for SCAP services in our diocese. This was a shock to many of the people and our deacons. Nothing has been forced on these communities, but all our training is helping prepare our lay leaders to go back to the missions and teach the community about the Liturgy of the Hours, Psalmody, the importance of the Word proclaimed, and singing. It’s not a well-tuned instrument yet, but we continue to learn on the job the best way to serve those who lead SCAP, and especially our communities who celebrate SCAP. We continue to catechize on the Eucharistic Liturgy and the Liturgy of the Hours so people understand their roles in the liturgical life of the Church. I continue to ponder how I can best serve these communities with the resources I have available. I also wonder how willing some of these communities are to participate in ongoing formation. I guess we will discover that as we continue the struggle of implementation.

One of my fears, which I haven’t thought through too much, is that SCAP services with distribution of Holy Communion can lead to the reification and privatization of Communion. There is a sense that one must “get” communion at these services and if they don’t, somehow their gathering was in vain. A goal we have as a commission is to help people reclaim the Church’s rich Eucharistic teaching. We need to help people understand that what happens at SCAP isn’t Eucharist and that Eucharist invites and challenges us to action.

Obviously, these few comments are just a terse look at a real pastoral dilemma. There are no easy solutions, but I do think teaching these communities to gather for the Liturgy of the Hours is a start to helping them understand liturgical prayer. I also think our beginning efforts to recatechize about the Eucharistic liturgy are crucial so that Holy Communion doesn’t become merely an object to be obtained, but an encounter with the Risen Christ who nourishes us and invites us to deep communion, and challenges us to proclaim the Good News of Salvation.

Two final thoughts:

1. How will the new Missal be received in parishes that rarely celebrate Eucharist?
2. Will there need to be a third edition of the SCAP ritual since the current Prayers for the Day come from the current Sacramentary?

I am convinced we need to help people learn the liturgy of the hours and pray them well.

I’d be curious to hear about some of your pastoral situations, methods of catechizing, fears, successes, questions, etc.

Timothy Johnston