The Daily Office

One of the pastors I have respected over the years is Peter Scazzero, the author of “Emotionally Healthy Christianity” and “Emotionally Healthy Church”.  A few years ago, I came across his brief description of the Daily Office, and I thought I would share it here.  Since he writes from an Evangelical perspective, I thought his explanation might be helpful to those coming from similar traditions that don’t usually practice a daily office.  Here it is!

From “The Daily Office:  Remembering God’s Presence Throughout the Day” by Peter Scazzero

“The Daily Office differs from what we label today as “quiet time or devotions.” Quiet time and devotions normally take place once a day, in the mornings, and emphasize “getting filled up for the day” or “interceding for the needs around me.” The Daily Office normally takes place at least twice a day, and is not so much a turning to God to get something; it is about being with God––about communion with him.

The goal of the Daily Office, as with a “quiet time,” is to pay attention to God throughout the entire day while I am active. This is the great challenge for all of us. Both the enormous pressure of the world, with the demonic powers behind it, and our own stubborn self-wills make it easy to live most of our waking hours without any consistent awareness of God’s presence.

The word office comes from the Latin word opus, or “work.” For the early church, the Daily Office was always the “work of God.” Nothing was to interfere with that priority. King David, three thousand years ago, understood this. He practiced set times of prayer seven times a day (Psalm 119:164). Daniel prayed three times a day (Dan. 6:10). Devout Jews in Jesus’ time prayed at fixed hours—morning, afternoon, and evening. These set times of prayer were one of the Israelites’ great treasures, providing a way to keep their lives centered on the invitation to love God with all their hearts, minds, soul, and strength. Even after Jesus’ resurrection, his disciples continued to pray at certain hours of the day (Acts 3:1; 10:2–23).

About AD 525, a good man named Benedict structured these prayer times around eight Daily Offices, including one in the middle of the night for monks. He wrote the Rule of St. Benedict for laymen, and its purpose was to set rules for domestic life so that one could live (as fully as possible) the type of life presented in the gospel. It was a means to the goodness of life. At one point in his Rule, Benedict wrote: “On hearing the signal for an hour of the divine office, the monk will immediately set aside what he has in hand and go with utmost speed…Indeed, nothing is to be preferred to the Work of God [that is, the Daily Office].”2

All of these people realized that stopping to be with God, by means of the Daily Office, was the key to creating a continual and easy familiarity with God’s presence for the rest of the day. I know it does that for me. The great power in setting apart small units of time for morning, midday, and evening prayer infuses the rest of my day’s activities with a deep sense of the sacred––of God. I remember that all time is his. The Daily Office, when practiced consistently, works to eliminate the division of the sacred and the secular in our lives.”

For more from Peter Scazzero, go here:  http://www.emotionallyhealthy.org

To pray the Daily Office, click here.