Praying at regular times throughout the day has been a tradition for centuries in many Christian traditions. In fact, the custom goes back to the Jews in Bible times (see Psalm 119:164). The custom has grown over the years into a practice called “fixed-hour prayer,” “Praying the Hours” or praying “the Divine Office.”

Spend at least one day this week praying the hours. There are online sources that will help you know the official prayers for each hour of a specific day. Check out www.universalis.com. You may also want to use The Book of Common Prayer or one of the books in Phyllis Tickle’s series The Divine Hours. (She’s written a book for spring prayers, one for summer prayers, and another for fall and winter prayers.)

Or you can simply pray at these intervals during the day:
Lauds: when you wake up
Prime: when you get out of bed
Terce: mid-morning (9 a.m.)
Sext: noon
Nones: mid-afternoon (3 p.m.)
Vespers: early evening, (6 p.m.)
Compline: bedtime