This page is a work in progress. Resources are being added regularly.
A Child's Book of Hours
Includes an illustrated booklet containing a shortened version of the Daily Cycle and printing instructions.
Editable formats of A Child's Book of Hours are available in both
Pages and Word documents.
Understanding the Hours
Includes a brief explanation of the Daily Cycle, as well as a series of pictures to be rotated throughout the day, visually commemorating each of the eight Hours.
The Prayers of the Hours
A series of printable wall cards to be rotated throughout the day which include a prayer from each of the Hours to be committed to memory.
The Hours for Little Ones
A set of printable Montessori three-part cards for use in reinforcing the commemorations for each of the liturgical Hours within the Daily Cycle of services.
Redeeming the Week
Includes a brief explanation of the secular and Christian reckoning of the days of the week, as well as a series of pictures to be rotated throughout the week, visually commemorating the seven days of the week.
The Week of Grace for Little Ones
A set of printable Montessori three-part cards for use in reinforcing the liturgical commemorations for each day of the week.
Praying the Hours with Children
Talanton, Holy Archangels Greek Orthodox Monastery, Kendalia, Texas
A few years ago I began the practice of praying the Hours. With a small, homemade coil bound copy of an unpublished computer file given to me by my spiritual father, I began to enter into the daily cycle of prayer. It wasn't long before the children noticed that I had developed a habit of retreating into my bedroom every three hours. Although my goal was to escape their attention and retreat in quiet, curiosity took hold of them. Seeing me standing before my bedroom icon corner, they would enter the room quietly so as not to interrupt.
As time went on, one by one the children began asking for a copy of the Book of Hours. Paul and I put the file on a thumb drive and had a few copies printed out at Kinkos, giving each of our children a copy of their own. What began as a quiet retreat, slowly but surely, became a gathering.
I have never instructed any of my children, telling them that we would pray at set hours throughout the day. Instead what happened was quite natural and evolved in an organic and very real (and slow) way. No longer retreating alone into the quiet of my room, we now regularly gather together, every three hours, before the family icon corner.
This is not to say that my example has always been worthy of imitation. It has also involved my getting noticeably sidetracked and missing those three hour intervals, sometimes for days or weeks at a time. But by God's grace (and through the prayers of my spiritual father) I didn't loose courage and approached our often abandoned icon corner, each time a little less sure of my strength, each time asking God to help me to come back at the next Hour. Perhaps, in the long run, the example of my persistence in spite of obvious weakness proved stronger than the appearance of strength. If she can do it, anyone can.
Over time the praying of the Hours has become the pulse of our day. Laboring as a family, the temptation to abandon prayer has been lessened. When taken as a whole, as a family, there is always someone who is eager to begin once again, unknowingly encouraging the rest of us to gather just one more time.
From the oldest to the youngest, I have found ways to involve the children. By shortening the prayers of the Hours from the full service with which I began to a brief mini version, we are now able to keep even the little ones engaged. I've also found age-appropriate ways for each child to participate. George and Zoe are my candle bearers, Michael censes the icons throughout the home at Vespers each evening, Eleni tends to the vigil lamp and Macrina, Eleni and I have a set rotation as readers. I've created a set of rotating pictures, reminding the little ones of the persons and events commemorated on each day of the week and liturgical hour of the day. The changing of the picture draws in even the youngest child.
Our family is blessed to have two of Elder Ephraim's monasteries, both women's and men's, within a few short hours from our home. Our children's experiences there have increased their desire to persevere in prayer. The first time our children heard the tonk, tonk, tonk of the talanton at the women's monastery was an experience that they will never forget. For weeks they took turns walking around the house with my wooden cutting board and a large wooden kitchen spoon, pounding out the call to prayer.
As they have grown older they haven't lost their fascination with such things. Instead they have used their ingenuity to adapt their lives to the example they love. Michael recently came up with the idea of using the alarm on our iPod as a talanton of his own, programming the rhythm of the wooden board to play at each of the liturgical Hours.
Click here to listen to Michael's alarm.
As the sound of the talanton echoes throughout the house, the children gather on their own before our icons. That sound transports their minds and hearts to the memory of the gerontissa they love, something my voice could never do. As the 2-year old dances his way to the icon wall, the 5 year old begins changing the picture for the Hour and searching for her beeswax taper, waiting for me to light it. Then the calming quiet of intoned prayers begins. There is something indescribably peaceful about frequently stopping our work during the day and turning our hearts to God. The lighting of candles reminds the little ones that we are entering into God's presence. The scent of incense soothes our minds and hearts, as does the sound of the soft chanting of familiar prayers. It's not much; perhaps only five minutes at a time. But God blesses those small efforts and believe me, they are small.
It's not always pretty. We are often interrupted by screams such as, "He blew out my candle!" Sometimes it's the goofy giggling of adolescent girls who were struck funny by a mispronounced word. But as ugly as it sometimes is, we just keep going. If we waited to pray until our external circumstances were perfect, we'd never pray at all.
Throughout these past few years I have gathered a few books, resources and homemade ideas that I thought I would share here. I actually had hopes of putting together an entire lesson block on learning about the daily and weekly cycles. I even had visions of copywork using the prayers from the Hours. But with a new baby and the beginning of another school year, free time is hard to come by these days. I will have to settle for a series of posts (slowly collecting them into a new page on the sidebar) in which I can share with you a few of the resources that continue to enrich our family.
In the next few weeks I hope to post PDFs of the wall pictures I've created for my young children along with the mini Book of Hours that I've put together for our family. I also have two sets of three-part cards on the liturgical hours and the commemorations for each day of the week. With God as my helper, I'll get those posted on the top, right sidebar under Learning through the Year of Grace.
