Two religious sisters explain what it means to devote one's life to God and spend each day singing His praises. They offer insight into a life structured around the canonical hours, describing the Divine Office and its various parts — from 'Deus in adjutorium' to 'Benedicamus Domino' — and demonstrating how chant carries the words of Scripture, the Church Fathers and the saints throughout the day in the form of psalms, antiphons and hymns, offering continuous praise to God.

Content

• The religious life consecrates one’s life entirely to God, renouncing marriage and children so that the heart is not divided by human affections.​
• The Divine Office (Opus Dei) is one of the Church’s principal liturgical acts: her public daily prayer, praising the Saviour and rising to the Father.​
• Over the centuries the Church has ordered this prayer into eight canonical hours, filled with psalms, Scripture, patristic texts and writings of major saints.​
• Within the sung Office, the melodies and modes of psalmody, antiphons and hymns have distinct roles. Even the structure — free-rhythm psalms versus metrical hymns, for example — helps convey the Church’s interior dispositions in various forms.​
• The psalms and canticles are sung alternately by two choirs and framed by an antiphon at the beginning and the end.​
• The Office begins with petition and ends in thanksgiving; in between, the Church leads us through adoration and reparation as we sing, so that all four ends of prayer are fulfilled.

Guests

Sisters Aline-Marie & Inmaculada

Sponsors

• ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠National Lottery Heritage Fund⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: 
• ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Global Sound Movement⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠University of Lancashire⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

External Links

Available on ⁠⁠all podcasts platforms⁠⁠

Watch on YouTube ⁠⁠@Beyond_the_Spire⁠⁠

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More about St Walburge’s Shrine

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