(photo New day, new hope by Takky edine, 2014)

I want to talk about how some things we learn from the morning prayers (Lauds) in the Liturgy of the Hours today relate to forgiveness, and reinforce the importance of forgiveness. But before I do that, I think I need to do something I haven’t done yet in these posts: explain what the Liturgy of the Hours is and how it is a vehicle for instruction in the things that help us realize the importance and benefits of forgiveness and reconciliation. So let’s do that first…

In the Catholic Church we have a program of daily prayer called the Liturgy of the Hours or also the Divine Office, that you can try out and get into as a daily practice for yourself. I started using it a few years ago as a way to have some dedicated time each day for my spiritual self, knowing that most of the day was going to have me in work mode. It was a very central and vital (as in living) part of my formation to be a Secular Franciscan, including Article 8 of the Rule of the Secular Franciscan Order. Like most people, I have a day job and need to derive a livelihood that supports my family and household. I have to say that what I get most from the Liturgy of the Hours is a reliable way of getting positive spiritual messaging into my mind and thoughts. The rest of the day may bring an onslaught of competing messages and concerns, but I make sure that I am feeding my mind daily with “grist for the mill” that is spiritual and positive. I have thought about how my mind writes itself a script every day, and that if you don’t kind of pay attention to that, all kinds of junk can go into that script and you spend the day working fro a junk script. With the Liturgy of the Hours, I am intentionally putting positive and spiritual thoughts into my script…the script I work from for the rest of the day. I won’t try to tell you that it automatically makes all your troubles go away and it’s smooth sailing from there on out…but I will tell you that it does have a gentle and growing effect on how you approach the day, how you feel about things, and gives you a deeper perspective of life. It’s been good for me and it might be good for you. As I said, you can try it out, making sure to give it a real chance, and see how it works for you.

The Liturgy of the Hours was designed to not just be a bunch of prayers and scripture readings, but was originally designed to teach you important things. Back in 1970 when Pope Paul VI gave the papal go-ahead for the new version of the Liturgy of the Hours that we use today, it was in a document called Laudis canticum, and he pointed out some important things about the Liturgy of the Hours. The list includes that the Liturgy of the Hours is designed to:

• Nourish and support you in finding and growing your personal prayer life.
• Aid meditation — wait, do we have actual “meditation” in the Catholic Church? Yep!
• Enliven prayer, “giving it life“.
• Give direction, expression, and nourishment for having a spiritual life.
• Be prayer that you do with your community, a worldwide community, even if they’re not in the room with you, they’re with you! Side Note: There is an app for the Liturgy of the Hours that shows a global map with a point of light in each location where someone else is using the app for the Liturgy of the Hours. It is amazing to see all those points of light around the world all times of the day. You get a pretty wild feeling that you are participating in something very, very big. It gets awesome.
• Nourish mental prayer – have I mentioned “nourishment” enough times yet?
• Adaptable your needs for your life situation, spiritual needs, and personal prayer.
• Clarify the relation between the liturgy (scripture, prayer, etc.) and the whole Christian life — as in a life that is whole!
• Be a way that you are actually doing sort of a public service by praying, meaning that by praying you are actually doing “ministry of love” toward God and your neighbor.

In no uncertain terms, the Liturgy of the Hours is designed to teach you the truth about things. As Pope Paul VI put it: “The liturgy of the hours clearly expresses and effectively strengthens this sublime truth, embodied in the Christian life” — truth and your life, truth in your life. I am going to call expressing the truth a kind of teaching, and with that in mind we can take a look at what the Liturgy of the Hours teaches today, and how that related to forgiveness. Here we go!

In the Liturgy of the Hours for today, and specifically in our prayers for God’s help (intercessions), we learn a few important things that can be related to forgiveness:

• As a “sign of love,” God renews each day for the sake of our well-being and happiness — read that again! A loving God, concerned about you, looking out for you, and at work for you so that you can be well and happy. That’s God…tell your friends.
• God’s presence can be seen in all people. Yes, it can be a challenge sometimes, but in all cases God is in there even if there is a lot of junk blocking the view, including sometimes our own self-centered attitudes and reactions toward people we don’t like. Side Note: If I am having a hard time God is present in someone, I remind myself that there is likely a baby picture of that person somewhere, and that they are cute and cuddly and lovable in that photo taken before things got complicated for them, and then I just keep that idea in my head and try to communicate a little more to the baby photo and less with my attitude and reactions. I also have to say that imagining toothy and toothless grade school photos of people works too.
• We can ask God to help us live in peace with other people, and help us not add to the problems and hurts in relationships. Like St. Francis of Assisi said in his Praises, “not rendering evil for evil.

Remembering that the purpose of the Liturgy of the Hours is to instruct us in things that are true, this is a very good list of truths that we can use as really good advice related to forgiveness. The list teaches us:

• Every day is a new opportunity to use forgiveness in ways that help not only our own well-being and happiness, but the well-being and happiness of others as well.
• It can be hard to want to forgive some people when they seem unjust, malicious, evil — just plain very bad people, but remembering that no matter how wrong and twisted and repulsive they have become to us, God is still in them, can help us get a foot in the door of forgiveness and at least start thinking about it. Try using those imaginary baby photos and grade school photos!
• We never have to go it alone, God is always with us to help find peace for ourselves and in our lives, relationships, and even our world, through forgiveness. God is the consummate constant friend and companion at your side. Always remember that…it’s really important.

The REACH Forgiveness Process that can be taught in a Live and Forgive presentation, guided retreat, small group series or wilderness walk uses those three points of advice to help people start using a research-validated forgiveness process that also reinforces their personal faith, life of prayer, and love of God and neighbor. It’s a joy to teach and people feel good when they learn about forgiveness and using it in ways that make life better. When it is a gift so freely given, why wouldn’t we accept that gift for ourselves?

This text is an original work of its author Tom Delaney and was entirely composed without the use of artificial intelligence (AI).

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If your parish or faith community is seeking a deeper experience of healing, mercy, and spiritual renewal, Live and Forgive is here to help. To begin the conversation, email Live and Forgive presenter and facilitator Tom Delaney at tom@liveandforgive.com—Tom will be glad to connect with you in a spirit of welcome, respect, and shared faith.