July 31, 2024

Wednesday Word:  Opus Dei

Opus Dei is Latin and means, “Work of God.”  This term was popularized by Saint Benedict in his monastic rule.  In speaking about it, he says that the practice of daily prayer belongs to the whole Church, and that the whole people of God are called to sanctify their own lives by the practice of constant prayer. 

In his Rule for Monastics, Benedict lays out a schema for praying seven times during the day, and was based on Ps. 119:164 –

            Seven times a day do I praise you,* because of your righteous judgments.

While setting aside seven times a day to pray is not possible for most of us today, I believe we should all make time to pray regularly.  The BCP has the Daily Offices (which are a variation of what Benedict laid out) of Morning and Evening Prayer, along with Noonday Prayer and Compline.  It also has shorter forms of Daily Devotionals for Morning, Noon, Early Evening, and At the Close of Day.  And if carrying around a BCP all day is too onerous, we have small paper trifolds of the Daily Devotions you can stick in your pocket, purse, or wallet.

This act of daily prayer is most effective when it becomes a habit.  Doing the work of God on a regular basis allows it to become a regular part of your day, eventually becoming a natural part of life as much as reading the daily paper over coffee.  Daily prayer shapes us to become “other directed” instead of always focused on ourselves.  It also becomes a time when we recognize that we are not praying alone, but we are praying with the whole Church – that great cloud of witnesses past, present, and yet to come.  In prayer we do the work of God.

In the upcoming Seekers Newsletter, I talk about offering Saint Luke’s as a place of contemplation and rest for the community of Buffalo.  One way to do this would be to have people committed to opening the church at noon during the week.  If this is something that interests you, please contact me or the office and we can work on having a church that is open for daily prayer.

And even if you can’t commit to opening the church at noon during the week, find time during your life to schedule a time of regular prayer.  Because in that small act, you will be doing the work of God.

Todd+