The Divine Hours {Book Review}

I came to discover The Divine Hours, Volume II: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime (Divine Hours) (v. 2)
through another book, actually: The Book of Not So Common Prayer: A New Way to Pray, A New Way to Live. The book was only so-so, but it did recommend a lot of great resources including The Divine Hours. So I ordered a copy from Amazon and have been using it for about a month now.

What I love about this book is that it provides four prayers for each day: Morning, noon, evening, and just before bed. The official “offices” are called morning, noon, vespers, and complin. I must confess that I don’t always do the middle ones, but I do the morning and bedtime readings and prayers regularly.

One review put it this way: “A welcome remedy for the increasing number of lay Christians who have rediscovered the daily offices…Tickle puts each day’s prayers, psalms, readings, and refrains-everything you need-in one place…The rhythm that Tickle’s book establishes gives one a stronger sense of participating in an ancient, worldwide but very personal liturgy.”
-Nora Gallagher, beliefnet.com, and author of Things Seen and Unseen: A Year Lived in Faith

They correspond to the church calendar, so right now the readings focus on Advent. It reminds me of when I was a little girl, the readings and prayers and refrains are ones that I remember memorizing and singing in my traditional church. There’s something comforting about that. So many contemporary devotionals seem flat to me; this one seems rich in meaning.

There are three volumes, to cover the entire year. I’ve invested in the whole set, because this is the longest I’ve been able to keep up a devotion reading habit. Plus the Bible verses and prayers are all laid out in one book. Super handy!

So if you are looking for a way to add more prayer and Bible reading into your day, I highly recommend it.