St. Paul was inspired to use is of frequent occurrence in the writings of the Fathers, particularly in those of St. Augustine. They felt, as we ourselves must feel, that in this image the relations of the Church to her Divine Founder are perfectly mirrored forth.

Thus illuminated by the teaching of the Holy Spirit, we are enabled to perceive the special excellence of the prayer of the Church. The mystical body prays in union with Christ her head. Christ prays with her. He prays by her voice. By her voice He continues the sublime prayers of His thirty-three years, a truth expressed by St. Augustine when he says: 'Orat pro nobis ut sacerdos, orat in nobis ut caput nostrum, oratur a nobis ut Deus noster. Agnoscamus ergo in illo voces nostras et voces ejus in nobisHe prays for us as a priest, He prays in us as our head, He is prayed to by us as our God. Let us recognize therefore our own voice in Him, and His voice in ourselves.' When a priest baptizes, absolves, or consecrates, Christ uses his voice, Christ speaks in that voice, and hence the priest says, 'This is My Body.' This is My Body.' In a somewhat similar way Christ prays in the words of the Divine Office. We can understand, therefore, why the Office is such a sublime vocal prayer.

The Office is the Prayer of the Bride of the Lamb.—-The love of Christ for the Church and her union with Him are expressed in the Holy Scripture by another comparisonthe Church is the Bride of the Lamb. The intimate union between bride and bridegroom and the affection that is consecrated in the sacrament of Matrimony are here put before us to teach us the true relation of Christ to His Church. The Holy Spirit selects the strong and tender love of the bridegroom, of which all His human children had seen examples, to reveal under a simple but marvellous comparison the love of Christ for the Church. Hear the words of St. Paul: 'Husbands, love your wives as Christ also loved the Church and delivered Himself up for it; that He might sanctify it, cleansing it by the laver of water in the word of life. That He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish' (Eph. v.). Note the words 'present it to Himself,' they indicate that St. Paul here speaks of the Church as the Bride of Christ.

With this beautiful figure of the Church before us it is

VOL. XIII-22

easy to appreciate the perfection of her prayer, the prayer of the Bride of Christ, the Divine Office, that sublime prayer which daily ascends to the throne, and is indeed unspeakably precious in the sight of the Most High. St. John, in the vision of the Apocalypse, speaks of the never-ending praise around the throne of God: 'They rested not day and night, saying Holy, Holy, Holy.' Like to that is the ceaseless praise of the Bride of Christ. Ceaseless, not merely because so many hours each day are marked out for portions of the Divine Office, but also strictly ceaseless, because as the noon and midnight travel round the world, with them travels the Divine Office as well.

The Office is said in union with the Blessed.-The doctrine of the Communion of Saints teaches us that the Church triumphant and the Church militant are one; one in many ways but one in special intimacy by reason of their united praise of God. To this the Church alludes in the Breviary hymn :

Sed illa sedes Caelitum
Semper resultat laudibus,
Deumque Trinum et Unicum
Jugi canore praedicat:
Illi canentes jungimur
Almae Sionis aemuli.

That house on high, it ever rings,

With praises of the King of kings;

Forever there on harps divine,

They hymn the eternal One and Trine;
We here below the strain prolong,

And faintly echo Sion's song.

This union of praise was frequently made manifest to the saints. Thus we read, in the Second Nocturn of the Office of St. Felix of Valois, that one midnight, when he was alone in the chapel, he was joined by a company of the Blessed from heaven, with whom he sang the praises of God, and so accomplished his choir duty. The Divine Office is, therefore, the prayer of the Bride of the Lamb. It is offered up as a sweet incense in union with the Blessed in heaven, and in it Christ Himself, our head, praises God by our voice. In this glorious work we are called to take our part. The saints spoke of it as the opus divinum'the divine work.' Seven times a day we join the heavenly choir which chants God's praises around His throne.

The Divine Office may be compared to a mighty chorus

and orchestra singing God's glory. In the orchestra the part of each player is made up of notes and rests, so that having played for a time the players must keep silence for several bars, and, after these bars of rest, again they join in the harmony. So also we lay aside the Office for a time and the divine work is carried on by the Church militant and the Church triumphant, and then in due course we once more unite our voices with the celestial music. Hence it is that, when saying the Office, we are never alone. Even when the priest recites the Breviary privately, he always says: 'Dominus vobiscum, The Lord be with you.' Thus, as St. Peter Damian reminds us, he shows that he is engaged not in solitary but in common worship; that he is speaking in the presence, as it were, of the whole Church, and therefore gives utterance to the prayer that the Lord may be with all those who are united at that moment in the praise of God:

The Office was dear to the Saints.-If we keep in mind what has been said above about the excellence of the Divine Office, we can easily understand the great love and esteem of the saints for it. St. Ignatius was so devoted to the Office that, while reciting it, he was frequently moved to tears. A dispensation was obtained for him, without his knowledge, by those who feared for his eyesight, but he refused to avail of it, and he received from God the grace to moderate his tears without losing any devotion. St. Francis Xavier, in spite of his many labours, never used the permission he had to say a shorter form of the Office. We find a like devotion in St. Philip Neri, St. Charles Borromeo, and St. Francis de Sales. The last named placed the Roman Breviary next to the Holy Scripture. Nor is this reverence for the Office confined to the saints. There are many priests and religious who have the greatest esteem for it, and who take all care in its recital, and to whom, in consequence, it is a source of untold blessings. A medical man of considerable experience has recorded his observation, that priests during convalescence are usually anxious to resume the reading of the Breviary long before it would be prudent to permit them to do so. This desire is, in many cases, a manifestation of their esteem for the divine work. It is a remarkable fact in the history of the fall of the unhappy Lamennais, that he asked for a dispensation from his Office, and gave as a reason his desire to work harder for the Church. He was wanting

in esteem and love for the sublime work of the Divine Office. His heart was not right with God, and this was the first indication of it.

Difficulty of the Office.-It is not easy to say the Office well. All operations in which we have to lift up our soul to the supernatural world are difficult. To say it properly requires care and effort. If these be wanting, it is easy, alas! to get the habit of fulfilling the external duty onlyThis people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.'

·

To encourage ourselves to take all care in the recital of the Office, let us remember :

(1) The Office is our duty. It is the duty of the Church as a visible society to praise God externally and visibly, and we are deputed by her for its fulfilment. Hence, the name officium,' which means duty. Even Holy Mass may be omitted by the priest, without sin, for a small reason, but it requires a grave reason to dispense him from the Office-it is his duty.

(2) Want of care in the recital of our Office may be the cause of many venial sins. On this danger we have the warning words: " Quid est voce psallere, mente autem domum aut forum circuire, nisi homines fallere et Deum irridere-What is it to recite psalms while our mind wanders about the house or about the street, but to deceive men, and to mock God.'

(3) If we do not take due care in the Office we suffer a great spiritual loss. We have to devote a certain amount of time to this duty each day. The number of hours it takes each week is considerable. What a pity it is, if all that time is spent, throughout long years of our life, with very little profit to our soul. We should also remember that repeated carelessness, like any other fault, produces a habit which it is very difficult to correct.

A General View of the Excellence of the Office is a great help to its Proper Recital.-Experience tells us that there is no better means, no greater help to the perfect recital of the Office than to keep before us some broad view of its excellence, some view which will always be felt and will make details easy. Perhaps none more inspiring can be found than to regard the Office as the prayer of the Church, the prayer of the Bride of Christ. This idea we have just considered. To help us to a vivid realization of it, we would do well to cultivate devotion to the Church,

and to meditate on the two ideas of the Church, as being the Body of Christ and the Bride of Christ.1

Another beautiful view of the Divine Office is got by considering its excellence as a great public act of reparation for the sins of the tongue. If we have even a little love of God we cannot but be touched when we consider the immense number of sins in word which are committed each day. The sound of the voices of men is every moment rising up to the throne of God, and alas! so many are using the divine gift of speech to offend Him. Reparation is one of the great functions of those consecrated to God, and hence the priest and the religious should stand between God and sinners (Heb. v. 1-3). Since the Divine Office is vocal it is a very suitable form of reparation for the sins of the tongue. This grand idea of the Office, if well pondered on, will be enough to make its recital a comfort and a consolation.

A third inspiring view of the Divine Office comes from realizing that it is a great prayer of petition, a prayer of unbounded power to bring down God's grace. It is an allpowerful prayer, because it is the prayer of a multitude, a great multitude on earth united to a greater multitude in heaven, and united to our Blessed Lord Himself. A drop of water driven by the wind may strike us; it has little power. But let many drops be united to form one of the mighty waves of the sea, and their power is irresistible. So it is with the power of the Divine Office. And we should remember that this mighty united prayer can be directed by our intention-just as the fruit of Holy Mass is directed by the intention of the priest-and may be offered for those objects which we have most at heart, for our own spiritual needs, or for the spiritual needs of those under our care.

The Office should be said with Reverence.-Besides keeping before our minds some general view of the excellence of the Divine Office, it is also very helpful to remember certain practical details. The Church, in her prayer before the Office, bids us ask God the grace to recite it with reverence, attention, and devotion-digne, attente, ac devote. Let us see what practice we can adopt to help us in fulfilling these three conditions.

Digne-worthily, with reverence.

This refers especially

1 Mgr. Benson's book, Christ in the Church, would be very helpful.