Vespers

Vespers is the name we give to the Evening Prayer of the Divine Office or Liturgy of the Hours, which monks, nuns, clergy and many lay people around the world pray each day. Here at Creighton we pray solemn, chanted vespers every Sunday night, and as I enter into my final week here I realise with a tinge of sadness that tonight was the last night I'll do vespers here in St John's Chapel at Creighton University.

It's odd that I'll miss it, because I don't really enjoy it. At least, I don't like the way we do it here. It's a slightly unusual form of chanting, unlike you'd find in any monastery. We use the same psalms every week, rather than using the four week rotation which most places use. For some reason we throw the hymn Salve Regina in. And we use incense, which I'm never a fan of.

So why do I even go? You can pray the Divine Office alone or in public, but as its the prayer of the Church, for the Church and the world, and it makes sense to pray it together when possible. It's an expression of commitment to worship, and it seems right to go, to worship God, whether I like this style, or not. It's a commitment to say that God, you're worth worshipping, you're more important than my own stylistic preferences. And this is what I hope we'd all do in our parishes - be committed whether we like the music, the preaching, the Mass times or whatever. There is a time when someone's faith is still growing that they need to be somewhere that they can be nurtured, but, as faith matures, the stance can be to give both to God and the community, not just to receive.

And who knows, even if it's not what I'd choose, I may grow to feel like I belong, and to miss it when I can't be there....