For the Day is Past

 Praying outside is so incredibly different to praying indoors.

I've only done it a couple of times so far, but there is something so special about praying the words "from the rising of the Sun to her setting" when facing the dawn horizon or the mountains all outlined in sunset.

At this time in the turning year, the canonical hour of Hesperis at 6 pm is actually when the sun is setting, which is what concerns the first prayer:

O gracious light,
pure brightness of the everliving Queen of Heaven,
O Daughter of Eternity, holy and blessed!
Now as we come to the setting of the sun,
and our eyes behold the vesper light,
we sing Your praises, O God:
     Blessed Mother, Divine Daughter, and Thea beyond Form.
You are worthy at all times to be praised by happy voices,
O Daughter of Light, O Giver of Life,
and to be glorified through all the worlds.

Throughout the summer, the sun doesn't set for a good long while past six -- and it won't be long now before it starts to slip earlier! Of course, Hesperis is prayed when the sun is setting rather than being focused solely on the time on a clock, but it is fun to see it align, however briefly.

The lines for today's picture come from the second Hesperis prayer: 

Dwell with us, O most merciful Lady,
for evening is at hand and the day is past;
be our companion in the way, kindle our hearts,
and awaken hope that we may know Thee as Thou art
revealed through Thy divine Image.
Grant this for the sake of Thy love. Amen.

I keep putting off my job search. It is so mentally exhausting to look through endless job board listings, filtering through all the ones that you know you don't have a chance at and looking at the meager pickings that remain and the hours of filling out applications that lie before you.... As much as my recent job pained me, I really wasn't hoping to go back to looking again this soon. I keep praying for heaven's guidance -- and perseverance! -- to find something that suits. I'm so much a homebody that it is difficult to push myself out into the world and keep up with it; until I do find something again, I'll keep myself plenty busy with all those little projects that kept getting put off after long days at work!

Canonical Hours Prayers