Praying without Guilt

One of the dangers of praying the Office two times a day is praying the Office two times a day in a rote kind of way. The opposite of "rote" is NOT stirring up some internal passion or by grasping a pressured focus that can produce spiritual hemorrhoids, but a pausing and waiting, refusing to do something just to do it. 

I had this experience this a.m. I didn't want to do the Office and felt guilty about it. That's where I stopped. 

The great revealer of a weak soul is the appearance of negatives like guilt or anger. So I just sat and thought about the fact that I am alive and that meant God is holding me in life. I thought about the fact I was connected to everything in the universe because I am held in being by the Great I Am. I waited till gratitude came--the work of any priest is giving thanks (Eucharist). 

Guilt left.

I was not anxious about anything.

Then I chose to present myself to the one I Am by praying the Office.

It turned out to be unusually sweet with no hint of rote.

Beginning to Pray

One of the potential dangers of the Daily Office is the will's role in it. We "will" to pray--which can be too strong and actually dampen the effects of the prayer leading to pride over the fact that we DID pray.

This is why it is a great idea to open the Office with a moment of silence in a sense of contemplation and humility. In contemplation we lift our hearts in humble love to God without any deliberate flow of thoughts or words--it's good to take a couple breaths and pause just a few moments. Here we surrender control; here we blunt the ego; here we enter the dance of prayer without trying to be the "lead" dancer--we come to him who is Almighty and All in All. And he's smiling that we've come... 

Now begin with that opening verse.