A Day in the Life of a Carmelite Nun; Part 1-- The Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office)

 "What do those cloistered nuns do all day?" 

Have you ever found yourself asking this question? Well, these next few posts will be just for you. Over the course of the next few months, we would like to lead you on a journey, using the Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office) as our guide, to discover what it is the Carmelites do, and why they are an invaluable asset to the church, as well as to each individual diocese. 

Before we begin, let's get a little acquainted with the roadmap. For anyone who is unfamiliar with the Liturgy of the Hours, here is a brief overview; but we will take a deeper look at each individual 'hour' as we traverse the Carmelite day, since the Liturgy of the Hours is the basic structure of the Carmelite life:

THE LITURGY OF THE HOURS (DIVINE OFFICE)

This book is called the Breviary, and contains the prayers of the Church, called the Liturgy of the Hours.

What is the Liturgy of the Hours (or what the church also calls, The Divine Office)? Jesus told us to "pray always." In response to this command, the Church (the body of Christ) devised these prayers to be said continuously. At every hour of every day or night, somewhere in the world, someone is praying The Divine Office--be it priests, religious, or even the laity. 

The Divine Office is broken up into seven hours, which are as follows:

Lauds (morning prayer)

Terce (Mid-morning Prayer)-- "little hour"

Sext (Midday Prayer)-- "little hour"

None (Afternoon Prayer)-- "little hour"

Vespers (Evening Prayer)

Compline (Night Prayer)

Matins (Office of Readings, it's accompanied by the Invitatory)

As Carmelites, we pray all these hours, even what is considered the "Little Hours" (Terce, Sext, and None), which not all religious are asked to pray. They are "little hours" because they're shorter in length than the others. We pray all the Hours because our main apostolate is prayer. But as we journey through a Carmelite's daily events you'll find that, even though prayer is our "apostolate," we work a lot while trying to maintain silence and recollection. We do everything with God, in God, and for God. 

Carmel is a desert, where we meet God face to face. Yet, even though it's a 'desert,' and even though this 'desert' contains very limited things with which to distract oneself, you'll see that there is never a dull day in Carmel--God knows how to keep us on our toes. 

We hope you'll join us as we venture through a day in the life of a Carmelite Nun

May our good God bless you all!!!

In the peace and love of Christ, 

Your Sisters in the Eugene Carmel