Welcome to daily prayer for Thursday using The Divine Hours compiled by Phyllis Tickle, a mystic, who was also a dear friend of Blue Ocean. For Phyllis, this form of prayer became (over time) not just “saying our prayers”—which is what it feels like at first, but it became a portal into a deeper experience of the Divine. That doesn’t mean we should all try to have a deep spiritual experience while doing this form of prayer. Certain kinds of effort make certain things harder, not easier—like starting a conversation with “Let’s have a good conversation!” But still, it’s worth knowing that this form of prayer has continued through the ages because it has the potential, over time, to mediate a deeper connection with God that can be experienced. So for starters, don’t try too hard. Don’t focus on the words of the prayer as if you were studying for an exam. Relax into them, let them wash over you, more like a child listening to adult conversation, picking up the emotional undertone more than the specifics. There’s something reassuring about human voices reaching out to God with words they haven’t come up with on the spot, but which have been passed on to them, generation after generation.
The online version of The Divine Hours is available day-by-day at explorefaith.org: http://www.explorefaith.org/prayer/prayer/fixed/pray_the_hours.php