priests@prayer

May 6, 2015

A few times each year priests of the regions of the Christchurch diocese meet to reflect, discuss and pray together. These regional meetings hear from and report to the Council of Priests of the diocese. The company is always good as it was this afternoon when the priests of the northern region (which includes the Hurunui where I serve) met.

With our commitment at ordination to pray the Prayer of the Church (the Divine Office), priests begin their meetings praying the appropriate Hour of the day. Today our meeting began at 1.30 so we prayed the afternoon hour.

But you would have laughed  as we all did the moment we reached for our breviaries to begin the prayer.

Normally when the prayer is announced we each reach for the appropriate volume of our well-worn breviaries. (Today in the heart of the Easter season we use the Lent  / Easter volume).

But the laughter came today when instead of reaching for our books, we all (from the most recently ordained Chris to one of the oldest active priests 85 year old Jack) reached for smartphones with their “breviary apps.”

I knew you wouldn’t believe me – so I took a photo:

IMG_4097

 

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Latest Posts

I AM

I AM

I try not to repeat these daily Lenten posts year to year but there are times when the same scriptures pop up annually and I realise that I can’t write it better than I did last year. Today is one such day, not only because of the thought I share but even more in the comments that are added by FFF readers. Today I have left some of last year’s comments helping us to appreciate the power of today’s readings.

my word your home

my word your home

The heart of the home in years past was the hearth.
It was at the hearth that the family gathered for the warmth and light of the flame and the food that was prepared there.
The fire was treated with respect since the same flame which provided energy for the home could just as easily destroy it.

stand up look up

stand up look up

The Israelites in their forty years in the desert were journeying from captivity to freedom, but the struggle of their desert years made them vulnerable to attack from every temptation as today’s first reading continues

confident in God

confident in God

I’m not sure if children today are told the great story of the Emperor’s New Clothes, but if not let’s make sure that the parable is taught at all schools of higher learning.

the teenagers

the teenagers

A few years ago I discovered the wonderful way that God uses my imagination in my prayer.
Such openness to imagination when seeking God does not take us away from reality into fantasy but instead brings me into what is most real and inescapably personal and intimate.