In St Lukes Gospel, the Apostles ask Jesus to teach them how to pray.
“And it came to pass, that as he was in a certain place praying, when he ceased, one of his disciples said to him: Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. And he said to them: When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.” (Luke 11:1-4)
Dom Prosper Gueranger tells us that, “The prayer of the Church is, therefore, the most pleasing to the ear and heart of God, and therefore the most efficacious of all prayers. Happy, then, is he who prays with the Church, and unites his own petitions with those of this bride, who is so dear to her Lord that He gives her all she asks. It is for this reason that our blessed Saviour taught us to say our Father, and not my Father; give us, forgive us, deliver us, and not give me, forgive me, deliver me.”
But, what is this ‘prayer of the Church’ that is ‘most pleasing to the ear and heart of God’? The answer is, the Liturgy of the Catholic Church which consists of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Divine Office. Catholics generally, have lost their sense of the liturgical seasons, especially since the introduction of the Novus Ordo of the Mass, but many of those Catholics who attend the Traditional Latin Mass, are not as aware of the Liturgical seasons as they could and should be.
In an effort to increase the numbers of those praying the prayers which are ‘most pleasing to the ear and heart of God’ during this season of Advent, I am hoping to begin uploading content from Dom Prosper Gueranger’s great work, ‘The Liturgical Year’. I will begin with the introductory chapters and then I hope to follow each day of the season of Advent as we prepare to welcome the Christ child once again this Christmas.
Each article will contain a link where you can download it as a pdf
I have to do a little work on updating this website and when done, I will also try to create a subscription page where you can have the articles sent to you via e-mail each day during Advent.
May God bless you
John Lacken