Appendix 1: St. Benedict's Hours of Prayer

Saint Benedict wrote in his rule that his monks should pray eight times a day, in order to fulfill Our Lord's command to pray without ceasing. Thus today, those monastics who follow his rule pray the Hours, often singing them in Gregorian chant.

1. Matins - middle of the night (2-3am)
2. Lauds - prayer at first light (5-6)
3. Prime - mid-morning (9am)
4. Terce, Nones - lunchtime 
5. Sext - mid-afternoon (3pm)
6. Vespers - evening meal (6-7)
7. Compline - at curfew, sundown 
8. Nocturne - bedtime (9-10pm)

"The supreme desire of the monk ought to be prayer, unceasing."

For the ordinary believer in these times, one could mark the Hours more simply by saying our Mother Mary's Holy Rosary seven times, including each of the seven days of gracious mysteries at each successive hour. This kind of devotion might be considered a strenuous discipline. 

Lauds - Joyful 
Prime - Luminous 
Terce - Believing 
Sext - Theological 
Vespers - Sorrowful 
Compline - Holiness 
Nocturne - Glorious 

If you wake in the middle of the night, you can meditate on the wounds of Jesus, or say a Litany for Jesus' Sacred Heart or his Most Precious Blood. Or, you can follow the example of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska and recite the Chaplet of Divine Mercy.

Matins - Wounds/Heart/Blood of Jesus, or
               Chaplet of Divine Mercy 

The Rosary was designed for the laity to be able to emulate the prayers of the hermits in the desert, who prayed through all of the Psalms each day. The early Desert Fathers kept track by using 150 stones in a bowl, but soon, they decided it would be easier to use knotted prayer ropes. For those lay persons who couldn't memorize all 150 Psalms, a few short prayers - the Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be - were easily substituted. Later, after St. Dominic had visions of our Holy Mother, it developed into its present form as a world-wide devotion. Thus we can see that Our Lady's Holy Rosary is still evolving as a popular devotion. 

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