The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime--A Manual for Prayer

This book of prayers (one of three volumes covering daily prayer for a year) taken in large measure from the Bible is a wonderful prompt in one's life-long conversation with God. It helps one come to words one didn't realize one meant or hadn't the aptitude to say before one began using it in one's daily devotions. In addition to Scripture, it employs prayers from "The Book of Common Prayer" and other standard resources. But one particularly delights in the additional readings taken from a wide range of meditative and inspirational literature. Examples are "Pied Beauty," by Gerard Manley Hopkins and "The Sacrament of the Present Moment," by Jean Pierre de Caussade. What a remarkable contribution to one's spiritual life!

I have been thinking about some form of daily prayer to improve on the collection of snippets I've been using. I had given some thought to going back to the Roman Breviary (maybe in Latin, if I could find one) or the Book of Common Prayer. Then I saw Phyllis Tickle's book on your site. Some of the reviews made me hesitate. Then I remembered that there are religious people who will be dissatisfied even on The Day of General Judgement ("That's nice, but could you move it a little to the left?")I didn't want to review the book until I had used it (as opposed to merely having read over it). I've been using it about a week, and I have the same reaction as a former radio car salesman around here: "EXACTAMUNDO" This is excellent, top-notch work. Yes, there are minor problems(I'd like to see one more ribbon!). Yes, the author of the Psalms was possibly a male chauvanist (but read Kathleen Norris' preface to the Riverhead Sacred Texts series volume on the Psalms). Yes, some good prayers and readings have been left out. But it has made daily (and day-long) prayer a real pleasure for me again, something that's been missing since I was reciting the Hours in Latin years ago. And without being cumbersome!

The hours, or daily prayers said at set times during the day in order to praise God and sanctify the day, has been a part of Jewish and Christian practice for thousands of years. I have tried to take up this practice in the past but have given it up as it usually requires several books, a dozen or so ribbon markers, and an intimate knowledge of the complexities of the liturgical calendar in order to do it. What should be a prayerful experience seemed to me to be a physical and mental juggling act that was tedious and wearying. What Phyllis Tickle has done is to use the calendar we all use, put all (or most-the repetitive night prayers are in one monthly section) of the prayers on one or two pages and put one ribbon (really all you need) in the binding. The prayers are available for each day for morning, evening, and night. If you wish, there are prayers for noon also. Having followed this volume for a period, I can say that my own personal experience is that this is a wonderful devotion which I intend to keep up. There is enough variety to hold your interest and it is simple and easy to follow. Those short one and two week prayerbooks quickly become old. Here is a different arrangement and selection for every day. I thought this was an excellent publishing idea. I am an individual who is struggling with issues of faith, belief, meaning, church, etc. I wanted some type of organized prayer that I could do in private as I grow/read/learn slowly at my own pace and this volume has been just what I needed at this point in my life. I need only open this book and spend a bit of time in prayer and throught. I have even tried chanting when alone and that has been rewarding. This book has helped me come closer to a God I am trying to learn about more. If you are looking for an easy way to do the Hours but need more variety than simple prayerbooks give, give this one a try. One final note:I am amused at the number of reviews here that pillory this volume because it does not use inclusive language. If this volume DID, in fact, do so, I know that I would be turned off. Short of rewriting every bit of literature authored before 1990, non-inclusive language must be accepted as part of the time and cultural restraints that form the context that all literature, sacred and profane, is written in. There was a "politically correct" Bible published a few years ago, which attempted to offend no one,including left-handers. It was a financial and critical failure and you will be lucky to find one at a bargain table these days. I am deeply suspicious of any political group (feminist, gay (-my own group), black, etc.) imposing its ideology by censoring and altering the words of authors who can no longer defend the unasked for editing of their texts. As far as being offended by the abundance of male pronouns used for God, only a simpleton cannot see past the metaphors. We know that "God" is gender neutral but the substitution of "goddess" cannot be as that is clearly femin

Finally a prayer book that is functional for those of us who don't have half an hour two or three times a day for structured prayer. One ribbon! So easy to use. Everything is there on the page (except the Lord's Prayer and the Gloria, which you probably know by heart). The canticles aren't there--but, then, I can get along without them--or insert them if I wish. What I like is the ease of use. The basic structure for Morning, Midday, Vespers and Compline is: Call to Prayer; Request for Presence; The Greeting (each of these three is usually a sentence from the Psalms); The Refrain (from Psalms); A Reading (mostly from Scripture); The Refrain; The Psalm; The Refrain; The Gloria; The Lord's Prayer; The Prayer Appointed for the Week; The Concluding Prayer.I usually choose to make up a chant for the Refrain and the Psalm of the Day.I've been looking for a daily prayer book like this one: simplicity and brevity, yet with substance. I've been using Tickle's book for Morning, Midday and Vespers for more than a month now. I'm being fed. As a Presbyterian minister, I need to be fed so that I can feed others. I've already ordered the Winter edition.

I have long been interested in the offices of the hours--those times of daily prayer long traditional in the historical church. In our hectic, modern world, it is too easy to forget our connection to the eternal and infinite. This first volume of "The Divine Hours" is a wonderful tool to help restore our connection to God. As a non-Roman Catholic (I am a Methodist minister), I am nevertheless both comforted and connected by the beautiful use of scripture and traditional prayer. The introductory material on the history and use of the hours is wonderful... I have even found myself inspired to chant many of the psalms! One drawback--the summer volume (Ordinary Time, in liturgical language) was printed first, and is not officially appropriate until June! I was intrigued enough to throw the calendar to the winds just this once, and started in immediately (I guess I will repeat this volume in the Summer), but I am eagerly anticipating the next two installments. "The Divine Hours" is wonderful addition to any spiritual library, and an incredible way to deepen and intensify your own spiritual life.