Lauds/Morning Prayer

 



General Instruction Liturgy of the Hours

38. Morning Prayer, as is clear from many of the elements that make it up, is intended and arranged for the sanctification of the morning. Saint Basil the Great gives an excellent description of its character in these words:

It is said in the morning in order that the first stirrings of our mind and will may be

consecrated to God, and that we may take nothing in hand until we have been

gladdened by the thought of God, as it is written: “I was mindful of God and was

glad” (Psalm 77:4), or set our bodies to any task before we do what has been

said: “I will pray to you, Lord, you will hear my voice in the morning; I will stand

before you in the morning and gaze on you” (Psalm 5:4-5).[3]

This Hour, celebrated as it is as the light of a new day is dawning, also recalls the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, the true light enlightening all mankind (see John 1:9) and “the Sun of justice” (Malachi 4:2), “rising from on high” (Luke 1:78). Hence, we can well understand the advice of Saint Cyprian: “there should be prayer in the morning, so that the resurrection of the Lord may be celebrated by morning prayer.”[4]