DAILY OFFICE AND EUCHARIST

Relationship between daily office and Eucharist

[Institution's Name]

Relationship between daily office and Eucharist

Introduction

This essay explores the relationship between daily office and Eucharist, particularly in Episcopal Church. It also explains about Thomas Cranmer's effort in developing the Book of Common Prayer of 1549, and several revisions it went through until 1979. Finally, the current book of common prayer of 1979 is being used in various Churches. Further, the history of Church of England and its Reformation is discussed.

Discussion

Daily Office

People who pray every day, they do so in various ways. The aim is to maintain the 'Daily Office' practice of praying; a model of praising, scripture, praying and reflection to canonical hours; pre-determined periods to concentrate on our prayer. Thus, the Daily Office is all about the daily pattern of praying, instead of weekly focusing only on God's Day or that comes in once a year focusing on events like Pentecost, Easter and Christmas.

However, one can't just follow any pattern. Neither personal devotion nor corporate prayer meetings are counted in daily office. The daily office is about a historical prayer pattern of Church in terms of canonical hours; the pre-determined times that are a serves as a measuring instrument that measures our prayer life. This given outline is an office for the people. An office is said to be our responsibility. Daily Office is not something that we can adopt in our or give up from our life based on our mood or preferences. This is a 'stewardship' of prayer to which we are called, and it entails our taking responsibility for that a life of prayer in a particular way.

It is considered that Daily Office is Trinitarian, not because Trinitarian words are used to describe. The Daily office will not be what it should be if it did not have the following three dimensions.

The Daily Office is the essence of the Transcendent God. This dimension means that by praying the Daily Office, we get aware of the presence of the Holy one who is the greatest of all we know and experience. The Daily Office purifies our soul and removes the veil that even if do not feel the presence of God, he is still up there. He is not made by our emotions. It is our strong faith that we believe God is present, even if we feel his absence.

The second dimension is that Daily Office is based on the sufferings and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It can also be said as paschal mystery of Jesus in to glory. What we do in Daily Office encompasses the meaning of paschal mystery in to our prayers, which are the fundamental description of Daily Office and “the wellspring of all Christian prayer”.

Furthermore, the third dimension of Daily Office is that it encompasses the elements of the Holy Spirit. It is due to Holy Spirit that we can feel the presence of Christ among us. The Holy Spirit is empowered by the power that gathers all the people and relates ...