My spiritual director knows that I have difficulty being silent for long periods of time during Holy Hour. For awhile, I've been doing some spiritual reading in front of the Blessed Sacrament. However, this evening, I took a different approach.
This week, I was browsing on my Blackberry to see if there were any free applications that I could use. Lo and behold, when I clicked on the religious section, I found the IBreviary application available for free download.
The application turned out to be most handy. I admit that it felt a little strange pulling out my Blackberry during Holy Hour; however, once the device updated the prayers of the day, I felt a little more at ease. With the help of the IBreviary, I was able to pray the Vespers, as well as other prayers, such as those for the Holy Father, our bishop and our priests (including my prelate friend and my priest friend from Rome).
The Breviary function is quite simple to use. Once the program has updated the material for the proper day, all one has to do is click on to the actual time of day (Lauds, Daytime Prayers, Vespers, Compline or Office of Readings) and then take it from there.
It was refreshing to finally be able to pray the Office. It is one of the Church's other liturgies. Lamentably, the Liturgy of the Hours is something that the faithful down here in the South Texas hinterland are not used to praying, perhaps because they have never been exposed to it. But now, with the IBreviary application, available for IPhones, IPads, Android and Blackberry devices, the faithful can now be introduced to this beautiful form of prayer.
Now that I have the new application, I plan on using it often. I just need to pray for the discipline to begin this new prayer regimen.
It is a wonderful app, and gets much use by clergy. A couple weeks ago, I was with some of my classmates for a retreat. During the praying of the Office, many were using their iPhones and BlackBerries with iBreviary. Ironically, even though I was one of the class "geeks", I was one of the few with the book, using the same 4-volume that got me through 8 years of seminary.
ReplyDeleteI actually thought of buying the volumes, but, they are expensive. The Evening Prayer in the Magnificat is brief. It's great to finally have the real thing.
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