I love these slim, insightful, profound, gam packed books where the author makes every word count, communicates every concept once, and allows the reader to interpret and understand the specifics in their own way. If you participate in a tradition that appreciate Daily Offices, or are interested in engaging one, this is a wonderful book for you. If I may, I am and Episcopalian Oblate. Our tradition loves the catholic (distinct from Roman Catholic) tradition. Women are equal to men at every level and gay people are unconditionally loved by God without having to change. Love, love, love this book. Planning on re-reading it is so good.

I started reading Brother David Steindl-Rast's work after watching his TED talk on Gratitude. This book is a peaceful read about a monk's journey through the hours of a day. This is a short read with plenty of takeaways on meditation, spirituality, and life.

David Steindl- Rast, OSB, addresses the need for silence and prayer for those immersed in the secular world and meditates on praying the hours of the day. “Saturated with information but often bereft of meaning, we feel caught in a never ending swirl of duties and demands, things to finish, things to put right. Yet as we dart anxiously from one activity to the next, we sense that there is more to life than our worldly agendas.”
“Today, even in our busy city schedules, we notice the predawn, early morning, mid-morning, and high noon each have qualities all their own. Mid-afternoon, the time the shadows lengthen, has a different character from the time when it gets dark and we turn on the lights. A canonical hour thus is more a presence than a measurement. The hours that call the monks together for prayer and chant are angels we encounter at different points in the day.”
“This book is a journey through the hours of the monastic day. To hear the music of silence and to hearken to its message, we must step out of the clock time into the monastic flow of time as expressed through the hours of the day. We must forsake our usual unconscious gesture of reaction, and make the aware inner gesture of response to what is before us in each moment. With this inner attitude, we will meet the angel of each hour and come to an understanding of the seeds the angel calls us to sow, the virtue the hours calls us to develop in our own lives.”
Steindl-Rast meditates on each of the eight canonical hours, the first being Vigils: “Vigils- also known as Matins- is the night watch hour, the time for learning to trust the darkness. Looking up to the night sky, we are reminded of the immense mystery in which we are immersed…. Vigils is an invitation to ‘trust in the night’, to trust the darkness despite the immense fear it triggers. We have to learn to meet mystery with the courage that opens itself to life. Then we discover, as the Gospel of John put it right in the prologue, ‘The light shines in the darkness.’ This doesn’t mean that light shines into the darkness, like a flashlight shining into a dark tent. No, the good news that the Gospel of John proclaims is that the light shines right in the midst of darkness. A great revelation: the very darkness shines.”
And on Lauds: “The monastic hour of Lauds takes us out of the darkness, into the light…we now celebrate light…. Lauds, then starts us off with the attitude that the day is a gift, that everything in our life is a gift- allowing us to see that the appropriate response to this given world is gratefulness.”
“If we cultivate this grateful joy, which find its voice in chant, we can be happy no matter what happens. We sometimes get this wrong. We think that people are grateful because they are happy. But is this true? Look closely, and you will find that people are happy because they are grateful.”

This is a small book in size, but a grand book in content. I want to buy this book, to dive back in and reflect on ways that I can use my day spent in reflection. This is not a tutorial, however, I could see a person using it as a guidebook.

I actually own the 1st ed; didn't realize there was a 2nd. Which means I'll probably have to acquire the latter to see what the differences are!
A beautiful, accessible little book for laymen/women about the monastic hours, what each means, and suggestions for incorporating at least the awareness of them into our lives and the rhythm of our days. Steindl-Rast urges the importance of living in the present moment instead of staying stuck in constantly reliving the past or anticipating the future, so that our lives are actually lived.

I have been re-reading this book for decades and it still inspires, quietens and deepens; new and remembered gems of wisdom with each reading. Beautiful.

Read this little book in preparation for and on a Quiet Retreat. It was a helpful overview of the monastic hours of the day and the gifts each hour brings. A great book to read to help re-cover a sense of the rhythms of our days and years.

I particularly like the chapter on the hour of Prime in that it is a deliberate "assigning of the work" for each day that begs one to pause and consider what is to be done. The reminder to not begin in the middle, but to pause and start each day anew, is sage advice. Also helpful is taking the view that all of our work is common work (for the common good, that is) regardless of us being alone when we accomplish it.

The other gem in this book is the discovery of a "monastic coffee break"- Terce. The third hour, in which the focus is on being filled with and alive in the Holy Spirit comes from the apostles being accused of drunkeness at Pentecost: "We are not drunk, after all it is but the third hour!" Terce, then, allows one to pause in their work after several hours and re-focus by inviting the Holy Spirit to bring His life and strength to our hearts and work.

A lot of great insight in a small book. Certainly worth a read for those who feel like the hours of the day are their enemy.

This is an interesting little book about the symbolism of different angels associated with hours of the day, and it's written by a monk. But, I was hoping to learn more factual / historical information; it's a little self-helpy.

His work feels like poetry rather than prose.

"The economics of affluence demand that things that were special for us last year must now be taken for granted; so the containers gets bigger, and the joy of overflowing--gratefulness--is taken away from us. But if we make the vessel smaller and smaller by reducing our needs, then the overflowing comes sooner and with it the joy of gratefulness. It's the overflow that sparkles in the sun.
tThe less you have, the more you appreciate what you've got. With the extraneous stripped away, you begin to relaize how you are being graced by life's gifts...
... Therefore, nothing is needed more than frugality. When your needs are limited, your vessel is easily filled, and you can delight in the overflow." David Steindl-Rast Music of Silence: A sacred journey through the Hours of the Day (page26)

about incorporating a monastic life in your daily life... the rhythms of the day and the angels that beckon us then..

I love it. It allows you to be mindful of the present. Perfect reading when you feel busy.

Excellent Book. I had always thought that all of the monastic services were essentially just so many prayer services during the day. Even though much of my own practice comes out of the monastic tradition I just figured that there was no way for me to do that many prayer times each day so I did not pay attention to what they were about. Steindl-Rast took me on "a sacred journey through the hours of the day" and in the process I learned that each of those "hours" had a special focus, and they worked together to help us incarnate the spiritual principles into our active lives. I still will not be able to practice each of those "hours", but I will refer to this book often to discover new ways to live those principles.