![]() ![]() So whenever someone I know (or knew) dies, I try to immediately say the Office for The Dead (or at least “the Office Of Readings” part of it which corresponds, roughly, with what was once Matins/Vigils). This is, of course, one of the things that makes our faith so unique: we pray for the dead, that they may be released from Purgatory and behold the Beatific Vision, and we believe that they, in turn, pray for us in this valley of tears. ![]() Yes, of course, the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary had been available to sodalities and confraternities of laypeople for centuries and, in truth, there was no prohibition against an everyday Catholic saying any of the eight Liturgical Hours (assuming, of course, that person had the Breviary and an exceptional knowledge not only of Latin, but of the inscrutable rubrics that govern the prayers) - yet with the post-1967 Liturgy of the Hours (not the most mellifluous renaming) the Office of the Dead suddenly became the province of every Christian who cares to pray for those who have gone before us. ![]() While the Second Vatican Council did some damage to the Divine Office - gutting it of the office of Prime completely and totally rearranging both the longest “hour” (Matins, or Vigils) and the shortest hour (Compline, or Night Prayer) - to its credit it did give this beautiful, enduring, and timeless liturgy to an entirely new group of pray-ers: the laity, that is, the greatest number of people who make up our Catholic Church. However, the world is, of course, far from perfect, and getting a quorum together at a given time to recite the Holy Offices is no small feat - though I did belong to one parish in the Diocese of Paterson where Vespers were said every Monday night, and about 10 souls, including priests and religious sisters, along with the laity, regularly showed up.īut the beauty of the Liturgy of the Hours in general and the Office for the Dead in particular is that it may be recited alone - and at the same time this “individual” prayer is united to the prayer of the Church: hence the term “liturgy.” In a perfect world the Divine Office is said in common, and even better, in choir. However, what sets the Office for the Dead apart from many other good and pious practices and devotions - the apogee being a Mass said in remembrance of the faithful departed - is that it is a liturgy that one can practice alone at any time (barring the day being a Sunday or a Solemnity). It has been remarked in these pages that we should not forget the dead, and that is very much true, especially as November is the month of All Saints and All Souls. However, what we refer to in the Office for (or, if you prefer, of) the Dead” is the Liturgy of the Hours that is set aside for that explicit purpose: to pray for the dead. At first glance, the above title (“the Office for the Dead”) sounds like some soul-crushing nine-to-five, suburban “office park” job where your very life is slowly sapped away from you. ![]()
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