Midweek meditation Dec 2, 2009

Praying the Hours

Terce

When the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My name, has come, He shall teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I have said unto you.
--John 14


This week we look at the third hour of prayer known as terce.

Vigils – beginning some time during the early hours while it is still dark;
Lauds – Morning Prayer, at daybreak;
Terce – mid-morning prayer, around 9 am;
Sext - midday prayer, around noon; we know this as noonday prayer.
None – mid-afternoon prayer, around 3 p.m;
Vespers – evening prayer, ideally at sunset; also known as evensong.
Compline - night prayer, which completes the day.

The third hour, around 9 am, is the hour for welcoming the Holy Spirit. It is the hour of fire; the sun is risen and is warming the earth. Traditionally, it is the hour of Christ’s condemnation as well as the hour of the Holy Spirit’s descent upon the gathered community at Pentecost.
How do the condemnation of Christ and the coming of the Holy Spirit in fire relate to one another? The echo of condemnation sounds with each footfall toward the cross. The Way of the Cross begins with the image of the silent Jesus before Pilate. Shouts from the crowd, “Crucify Him!” only add to the emptiness of words in this scene. Jesus’ condemnation provokes silence, but the death of Jesus is met with lightening and rending of the Temple curtain. This lightening shatters the sky and becomes the spark for the tongues of flame at Pentecost.

“Make ready for the Face that speaks like lightening,
Uttering the new name of your exultation
Deep in the vitals of your soul.
Make ready for the Christ,
Whose smile, like lightening,
Sets free the song of everlasting glory.”
-Thomas Merton

In monasteries the third hour of prayer is often the hour of the Eucharistic celebration.
Fr. Huntington, founder of Holy Cross Monastery, reminds us that, "The whole love of the passion burns in every Eucharist, and we...are to be kindled with that love.”

Terce then is the hour of prayer in which we are invited to see the Face of Christ illuminated in the Eucharistic vessels, even as we feel the fire of His great love for us as we come to the table.
Whether or not we are able to join each other at the Eucharistic table for the third hour of prayer, we can celebrate the gift of the Spirit and remember the flames of Pentecost and the fire of the Passion of Christ.

Blessings,
Debra