Over the past century, the Catholic Church has repeatedly encouraged all of the faithful to pray The Liturgy of the Hours, the collection of Psalms and prayers that are prayed every single day by priests, deacons, and religious. Pope St. Paul VI called this prayer “the high point which family prayer can reach,” higher even than the family recitation of the Rosary (See Marialis Cultus 53-54).

The truth is, however, that few lay Catholics even know about The Liturgy of the Hours. Although it's well beyond the scope of this article to give an in-depth explanation, I'd like to offer a brief introduction and encourage everyone to discover this ancient prayer of the Church.

To appreciate The Liturgy of the Hours, it's first important to appreciate the Psalms, which is among the most important books of the Bible. All of Scripture is the Word of God, through which the Lord speaks to us, but the Psalms are unique: They are prayers in the Word of God, through which God himself teaches us to pray to Him. The 150 Psalms of Scripture encompass the whole range of human emotions: sadness, delight, desire, fear, love, hate, and anger. By praying the Psalms, the same biblical prayers that Jesus himself prayed day after day during his earthly life, we learn to reshape our hearts after the pattern of God's Word.

The ancient Jewish people sanctified their lives by setting aside daily times for the recitation of Psalms, and early Christians continued this same practice. As monasteries began to form across Europe, they spread the discipline of praying all 150 Psalms every single week. Some Christians - especially monks - would strive to commit Psalms to memory, so that they could pray them by heart. Over the centuries, these daily arrangements of Psalms and prayers of the Church have been gathered into volumes called breviaries, The Divine Office, The Office, or, most recently, The Liturgy of the Hours.

For about 15 years, I've been praying Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer, which the Church calls “the two hinges of the liturgy of the hours” (General Instruction on the Liturgy of the Hours 29) every day. Both Morning Prayer (Lauds) and Evening Prayer (Vespers) contain several Psalms for each day along with other prayers drawn from Scripture and Tradition. Morning and Evening Prayer take about 15 minutes each. Time and time again, I've found the Psalms rising up in my heart throughout the day, because they've become so familiar over the years:

In God alone is my soul at rest;
my help comes from him (from Psalm 62).

Preserve me, God, I take refuge in you.
I say to the Lord: “You are my God.
My happiness lies in you alone (from Psalm 16).

O give thanks to the Lord for he is good,
for his love endures for ever.
Give thanks for the God of gods,
for his love endures for ever (from Psalm 136).

If you are interested in learning to pray the Liturgy of the Hours, I'd recommend a few resources:

1. First, a copy of Christian Prayer, the single-volume version of The Liturgy of the Hours, contains all of the prayers that you'll need to pray Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, and - if you'd like - Daytime Prayer and Night Prayer. Note that the USCCB is in the process of revising the texts of the Liturgy of the Hours, so a new edition is expected to be published within the next couple of years.
2. For an introduction to how to pray the Liturgy of the Hours, I'd recommend A Layman's Guide to the Liturgy of the Hours: How the Prayers of the Church Can Change Your Life by Fr. Timothy Gallagher. All of Fr. Gallagher's books, by the way, are worth reading.
3. Fr. Gallagher also has an 8-episode podcast series on how to pray the Liturgy of the Hours that is available on Discerning Hearts.
4. For a free digital resource to pray the Liturgy of the Hours, I highly recommend DivineOffice.org, which offers both texts and audio recordings of The Liturgy of the Hours. They offer apps for Androids, iPhones, and iPads. Although I prefer to use a printed edition of the text, I use their app whenever I do not have my breviary handy.

If you'd like a hands-on introduction to the Liturgy of the Hours, we currently pray Morning Prayer at 7:30 AM on Tuesday, Wednesdays, and Thursdays in the Sacred Heart Chapel. You're welcome to join us!