Things You Never Think About

The antiphon for today’s Invitatory prayer is

Come, Let us worship God who brings the world and its wonders from darkness into light.

It turns out that this has a much greater impact if you actually pray the Hours at their proper times. This morning, I prayed Vigils as the sun was rising.

You can see what I mean.

Might seem a little obvious, but I normally pray Vigils on the train, and it’s fairly well lit.

Then there’s this, from Psalm 107 a little later on:

Some lay in darkness and in gloom,
prisoners in misery and chains,
having defied the words of God
and spurned the counsels of the Most High.
He crushed their spirit with toil;
they stumbled; there was no one to help.

Then they cried to the Lord in their need
and he rescued them from their distress.
He led them forth from darkness and gloom
and broke their chains to pieces.

Quite a bit more impact in the dull light of dawn.