Lord, Open My Lips

"Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall proclaim your praise." Thus begins the day of each member of the Beatitudes, along with every Roman Catholic priest, most religious, and many laity. These first words of Laudes, the morning prayer of the liturgy of the hours, come from Psalm 51:15 - Open my lips, Lord, and my mouth will declare your praise. They are said while crossing one's lips with one's thumb, a way of consecrating them for God's glory.

While we're together, we'll have the opportunity to pray parts of the Liturgy of the Hours. Priests are required to pray all five (or seven, depending on how you do daytime prayer) hours: Lauds, or morning prayer, rejoices in the coming of the light and offers the day to the Lord

Daytime prayer, prayed mid-morning (Terce), mid-day (Sext), and/or mid-afternoon (None) reminds us of and unites us to the One for whom and with whom we do all our work

Vespers, or evening prayer offers up all we have done throughout the day

Compline, or night prayer, prayed just before going to sleep, commends our souls to the Lord

Office of the Readings, the longest of the prayers, can be prayed at whatever point in the day is best for a meditation on holy scripture

The Divine Office creates a rhythm of prayer that continually reminds us of our joy and our purpose. Even just Lauds and Compline can provide the bookends to a day that can be full of distracting activities. By opening and closing our days with the psalms, we make an offering of ourselves, awake with the resurrection, and rest in His peace.

Lord, open my lips...if this were the very first thing you said each morning, how might your day be different? We pray Laudes or order that we may not have a word or thought without first consecrating it to the Lord, that we open wide our minds and hearts to all that is of Him. And what better to bless than our lips, which wield such power to spread love? As we wake in the resurrection we offer ourselves to the spreading of its healing light.

Lord, let our every thought, word, and deed be consecrated to you. May our minds only dwell on your goodness and our mouths only praise you. Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will proclaim your praise. Seigneur, ouvre mes lèvres, et ma bouche publiera ta louange.