Customer Reviews

In Constant Prayer (The Ancient Practices)

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This is an introduction to the whole concept of what we Catholics call the Liturgy of the Hours. Benson was brought up in the Nazarene tradition (he's now Episcopalian) and writes for a non-Catholic readership, but I suspect that many Catholics could profit from this beautifully written presentation. (It helps that Benson is a poet.)

Benson noted in an early chapter that on his morning drive to the store to pick up the papers he reads daily (hey, writers have to read!), he would pass several houses of worship. At that early hour, between 6:30 and 7:00 each morning, he noticed that the parking lots were busy as worshipers streamed back to their cars and went off to work. They were beginning the day with prayer as a community. He also noted that the houses of worship were: a mosque, a synagogue, and a Catholic Church. The churches of his own tradition were not the sites of such daily activity. But many Protestants are beginning to adopt the ancient prayer that Catholics and Orthodox Christians inherited from Judaism. And many Catholics are learning how to pray the Liturgy of the Hours, or are joining in morning prayer in their parish before daily Mass.

It never was supposed to be just for monks, deacons and priests: we are all supposed to be participating in the prayer that the Body of Christ (that would be us) offers to the Father. Believe it or not, for about a thousand years, everyone was expected to come to Church daily for morning prayer: it was part of being a believer! That started getting lost at the time of the Renaissance; the Reformation finished the job in many places. (I recall from reading that at least in Italy in the late 1800's, parishioners were expected on Sundays to attend not just the Mass, but also Evening Prayer in their local Church.)

Benson's book comes some years after he published a kind of introductory version of "fixed-hour" prayerbook. It offered first steps in what the ancient monks (and also Vatican II) spoke of as sanctifying the whole day. His book, and a similar one by Phyllis Tickle, enjoyed a really good distribution. What I think we are beginning to see in these years is a rediscovery of the value of what is called by many names: the Divine Office, the Breviary, Lauds and Vespers, fixed-time prayer. It would be an important renewal in Christian living: we seem to be one of the first generations of Christians who do not typically recollect ourselves two, three or the biblical seven times a day in prayer--not the "gimme" kind of prayer, but the prayer of simple praise. And in the Liturgy of the Hours, that praise does not have to depend on one's feelings of exaltation or gladness: the words of praise and thanks have been given to us right in the book of Psalms, which the Hours use as the primary prayer book.

I "inhaled" IN CONSTANT PRAYER my first time through, and now I'm rereading it, savoring every page. Already, it has completely changed my approach to and understanding of the sacredness of praying the daily office. I've just ordered three more copies to give away as gifts. Thank you, Robert, for the gift you have given us in this book. It is a treasure.

Okay, the author states that this is not a book for everyone - I certainly agree. The target audience appears to be Christians outside the liturgical system, minimally familar with prayer other than petitionary and intercessory, unused to a corporate rather than individual orientation and who want to explore their "spiritual development" in a more organized way.

To this particular audience, Benson's neighborly and verbose style is, perhaps, both appropriate and effective. Without any "preachiness" he disarms most objections to the practice of praying the liturgical hours. As one from a tradition where Morning and Evening prayer has long been part of the parish life, I found his constant reference to prayerbooks being daunting (very true) rather than offering practical advice on how to learn to navigate them a bit annoying.

However, I loved Benson's discription of getting his morning paper - passing Muslim, Jewish and Catholic congregations just leaving morning prayer. Perhaps, it is because I could easily be in those congregations, that I found Benson's book to be a nice essay expanded into a book length tome.

Author Robert Benson did a terrific job writing on the topic of constant prayer. Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 to pray without ceasing...or never stop praying. According to the author, our forefathers had a formal time of prayer every 3-4 hours, while maintaining a constant attitude of prayer. He suggest we follow their lead and structure our lives so that we can be in continuous contact with God on a daily basis. While it doesn't come natural to us, developing this discipline goes a long way to further our spiritual growth and relationship with God.

This is an excellent book. I highly recommend it.

Do you pray the hours? I can't say that I do. But that doesn't mean that I'm not fascinated by the practice itself, believing that the discipline of praying at appointed times and the benefit of reciting well composed, theologically sound, and carefully crafted prayers can immensely further spiritual growth. I never have given much thought to taking up the practice of praying the hours until I read Robert Benson's In Constant Prayer, another volume in The Ancient Practices Series. But now I've been challenged to consider it very seriously.

With delightful prose, Benson describes the daily office. He plainly tells us about the church's tradition of faithfully praying together, whether gathered or apart, at appointed times and hours. He tells us how we are able to grow by disciplining ourselves to pray at designated moments, noting the subtle intersection between the daily and the divine. And all along he adds color to his discussion of how and why we pray the words given to us at a common hour by telling delightful stories from his experiences as a writer, a speaker, and a friend.

Some of you might be wondering, what is the daily office? In common usage, praying the daily office simply means to pray at appointed times of day. In many prayer books, these appointed times are Morning Prayer, Noontime Prayer, Evening Prayer, and Compline Prayer (Bed-time). These prayers normally take a certain shape, beginning with a call to prayer, followed by a psalm of invitation (such as Psalm 95 or Psalm 121). This is then followed by a collect, or gathering prayer. Then a canticle, or a hymn of praise is read, then an appointed psalm or psalms. Then there is the reading of Scripture, followed by a response, then the prayers of the people, confessions of sin, and finally a blessing to bring this time to a close.

Some of you may be thinking that this would take forever. Benson notes that it normally doesn't take that long at all. In fact, he's found it only takes about 12 minutes. That isn't that long to pause, read Scripture, and be in God's presence.

Benson's book provides many more details about the daily office that are illuminating. He also notes a number of resources that can help one establish this pattern of prayer in one's life.

How has this book impacted my own spiritual journey? First, I have a deeper understanding of the daily office, and how might one go about taking up that practice. Second, I have taken up a copy of The Book of Common Prayer and have used it from time to time to guide my prayer life. And thirdly, I've been challenged as a writer. Benson is delightful to read. Of the books I've read on spiritual practices as of late, this one has been the best.

In Constant Prayer (Ancient Practices Series) by Robert Benson is the first book that I received through BookSneeze.

I liked this book.

In Constant Prayer is one book in a series of books called The Ancient Practices that explores many of those ancient practices of the early Christians. This book in the series, written by Robert Benson, is meant to be a study of the practice of praying the "daily office."

If I understand it correctly, the Daily Office is the practice of praying a set number of times each day. This practice brings to mind certain monastic settings. Images of monks getting up to say their morning prayers, meeting together to say their afternoon prayers, and seeing each other again to say their evening prayers before they head off to their cells.

As far as the author is concerned, Robert Benson is really a very good writer. As I read through this book I found each page to be enticing and entertaining, but also very personal. He opened up his life, in small ways, to reveal his desire to pray, his encounters with the daily office, and his understanding of this ancient practice. I felt compelled, as I continued through the book, to consider taking up this particular practice.

I did find the book lacking in two specific ways. One was a lack of specific historical examples. He would make comments concerning the historicity of this practice, but the actual examples to validate the claim seemed to be strangely lacking. The second area where I found this book to be lacking was in its use of scripture. Other than at the beginning of chapters, I don't recall one Biblical quote with a reference. There were passages that were alluded to, but the only reason I knew that was because I recognized the scripture. Frankly, without proper historical footnotes and scriptural references, this book falls into the category of opinion. In no way is it improper to write (or read) a book of opinions, but to really sway this particular reader, I need some validation.

[...]

I chose to read and do a book review of Robert Benson's book "In Constant Prayer" because I wanted to learn how the practice of the Daily Office could impact my prayer life. I come from an evangelical background and I have very little experience with liturgical practices. I didn't even KNOW what "Daily Office" meant so I was coming to the ideas of this book with a completely blank slate. It was with much expectation that I came to read this book.

Benson writes with a very conversational style and the book is easy to read. It is a short book and he tells lots of stories in the book, making what could be a boring subject very easy to study. Those are the pros. But...

I was very let down by this book. I felt that I really didn't learn much about the Daily Office at all and I didn't learn much about how the practice of it would impact my life. The gist of the impact, as told by Benson, is that the discipline of practicing the Daily Office would pay off by causing your heart and thoughts to be drawn to God throughout your day. That is a very obvious statement...every spiritual discipline does that. Beyond that point, the stories in the book were general encouragements all pointing to the same idea: it is good to do the Daily Office. So I felt that there was a lot of repetition of that one general idea rather than a deeper look at the practice. Because of that, I finished the book without really feeling drawn to the practice. I might try it out but my desire to do so isn't because I felt so drawn to the practice because of the book. The book only helped me to understand a little bit more about the structure of the Office, but was not a compelling encouragement to practice it.

I give "In Constant Prayer" 3 out of 5 stars.

I recieved this book for free through the BookSneeze.com blogger program.

I liked this book. It was a good description of what Fixed Hour Prayers are and why you would want to do them and the background of how the author became involved with them. But as with all the rest of the Ancient Practice Series, it was almost entirely theoretical. If I am reading about Fixed Hour Prayer (and the audience is fairly Evangelical, non-liturgical in most cases) then I think there should have been more practical advice about how to do fixed hour prayers. I would still recommend the book, but just know that there isn't much practical in it.

Robert Benson is a tremendous writer. This is an excellent treatise on the value and practice of praying the daily office. He is a very warm, engaging writer that strikes a chord with the reader's thought and emotions. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in a deeper contemplative spiritual life and commitment to fixed-hour prayer.

I've struggled with finding a way to make daily prayer part of my life for a long time. Maybe it is just all in the timing; but Robert Benson's gently written exhortation to become part of the prayer of Christ's body in the world moved me to try one more time. He makes the case and still leaves room for our human foibles and failures: self-centeredness, lack of discipline, and myriad excuses. This book was a life-changer for me, and my bet is that it will be for many others.