There is no indication in the Rule as to why Benedict chose to order the daily services as he did. But chapters 9-19 provide a detailed ordering of the community’s corporate worship. While most of us will not arrange our daily devotions in such an elaborate way, today is a good time to think about the value of liturgy and order in our worship of God.
On the value side, we see how an established pattern enriches our prayer. A liturgical pattern does not leave us to come up with things on our own, or worse, to overlook aspects of the spiritual life that our preferences and inclinations might cause us to omit. By following a pattern (with appropriate places for personal and spontaneous prayer), we are led on a journey that is wider and deeper than would otherwise be the case.
On the order side, a pattern actually “calls us to pray.” As I’ve worked with people in relation to prayer, one of the things I hear most is, “I want to pray, but I get so caught up in my activities of the day that it’s hard to find time for prayer.” Liturgy eliminates that problem by establishing the times to pray. Liturgy trains us to rise above the urgent and devote fixed times for prayer, in much the same way we would make and keep other appointments.
Some of the times each day are brief; in fact, we can do them without anyone else knowing we are praying. This hidden and humble prayer has its own value. Other times can have more specificity and substance. But marked times eventually become a “rhythm” of work/worship—of action/reflection. Liturgy is a way to create and sustain “sabbath time” in our lives.
This kind of daily worship is a holy ordering, so that our formation can occur with intentionality, and with a sense of being guided in the ways of God, rather than making it up as we go along.
Oboedire 