What are the Daily Prayers?

What are the Daily Prayers?
The Daily Prayers are a collection of prayers, with their roots in Jewish worship practices. These prayers are primarily taken from the Psalms. Additional prayers of the Church have been added. These prayers of the Church have been said by believers for centuries. The Daily Prayers are known by several names: Daily Hours, Divine Hours, Daily Office, Fixed Hour Prayers, Liturgy of the Hours or Praying the Hours. No matter what you choose to call them, they, along with the Lord’s Supper, are the oldest form of Christian spirituality.

What is the Biblical basis for praying at set times?
Psalms 119:164 says, “Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous laws.” Psalms 55:17 speaks of praying three times a day, "Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice”. We see the disciples continue the practice of the Hours of Prayer as seen in Acts. 3:1 “One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon.”

If we look in the Scriptures we see references to the “Hour of Prayer” with no real explanation being given as to what these are. There seems to be no need to as it was common practice. Something that was a part of the daily rhythm of life.

When do you Pray the Daily Prayers?
The number of times you pray the "Hours" varies. At least seven specific times have been identified. By the time of Christ, the Roman’s had a practice of ringing a bell in the forum at 6 am, the first hour of the day, 9 am for the 3rd hour of the day, noon for the 6th hour and so on. Those in monasteries or cloistered settings have practiced praying all seven times a day for centuries and continue to do so. However, most of us are doing good if we pray three times a day. The main three are the Morning Prayer, the Midday Prayer, and Compline, the prayer before retiring.

Seven Times:
Office of Midnight between 10:30 pm - 1:30 am
Office of the Night Watch between 1:30 am - 4:30 am
Office of the Dawn between 4:30 am - 7:30 am
Morning Office between 6:00 am - 9:00 am
Midday Office between 11:00 am - 2:00 pm
Vespers between 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Compline before retiring

Note:  these are the traditional time "windows" within which the prayers might be said.  That does not mean you would be praying during that entire period.  In fact, some of the prayers may only take you a few minutes to pray.

Why Daily Prayers? Are these a substitute for spontaneous prayer?
These Daily Prayers are offerings to God rather then petitions. They are

praises and thanksgivings. Like the sacrifices found in the Old testament, they are prayers of praise offered as a sacrifice of thanksgiving, a sweet smelling
incense before the throne of God. Since they are usually from the Psalms
they can give us a greater awareness of God’s faithfulness during times of
struggle or times that He is silent. They can remind us of the mighty deeds
He has done in the lives of His people and spur us on to remember and thank
Him for what He has done in our lives. When we pray these prayers we are not
telling God what needs to be done and how to do it; rather we are presenting our lives to His will. These prayers can be the groans of the Holy Spirit praying His will into our lives when we have no words.

This is not to say that intercessory or petition prayers can not be included in
your time with God. They can and should be. For He longs to hear from His children. "You do not have because you do not ask God" (James 4:2b). Several versions of Daily Prayer have a time set aside for intercession and petition.

Prayer is the basis of an intimate relationship with God. Praying the Daily
Prayers is not meant to be a substitute for our personal conversation with
God. He desires to hear our praise and our petitions, our joys and our
struggles, our thanksgivings and our needs. As with any spiritual activity or
practice, our heart will determine if Daily Prayers become dead liturgy for us
or life.

Daily Prayers help to give rhythm to our lives. A special time we can
draw aside from the busyness of the day to communion with God. As with
any spiritual practice, Praying the Hours, is another tool to build
relationship with the Triune God. They are praises and thanksgivings to God
that acknowledge that He, God, is the Creator and we are the created.

How do you practice the Daily Prayers?
Some churches have daily services where the Daily Prayers are said, such as
the Roman Catholic, Anglican/Episcopal and the Orthodox Church. However
the practice can be done alone or with family as part of daily spiritual practices.

There are several good resources for helping to guide you to a collection of these Daily Prayers. Under the March 2011 Archives you will find two posts. One post is entitled "Book Resources for the Daily Hours" and the other, "Internet Resources for the Daily Hours."  The "Book Resources" is a list of several books that have collections of these prayers. Some of the books are small pocket volumes.  You will also find on the list a three volume set of prayers that cover the entire year. The "Internet Resources" is a list of websites that have the Daily Prayers in either written or audio form. Some of the listed websites also allow you to access the Daily Prayers with an internet capable phone, iPad, Kindle or similar device. There are also handy "apps" that you can install on your phone, or ebooks that give you the complete content of the prayer books.