The Office of Readings, for real...

No honest, this one really is about the Office of Readings.
I was in …. well, the state in which I was.
And turned on the TV to ensure that the sound was up sufficiently to adequately tape Match Game on the Game Show Network (in all seriousness -- Himself will be “hosting” an episode for a fund raiser, and always the conscientious actor that I never am, doing his research,) and tuned past Journey Home, a program I never watch.
And there was a former protestant minister speaking of how it was his very education and study as a protestant that led him to embrace the fullness of faith that subsists in the Catholic Church.
(Okay, tiny digression; it thrills me to my very marrow, how often this is the case, the Newmans, the Kimels, the Hahns; the more learned, the more erudite, the more devout you are in the theory and practice of your denomination, the more likely it becomes that you will be led back to the Church. A goofy analogy, I was likewise thrilled in a STNG episode when a fictional villain, having been accidentally endowed with super-human intelligence, naturally turned from evil.)
The former minister mentioned how the Church Fathers had had such a strong influence on his metanoia, his conversion, (in the right sense of the word, that we are all called to continuing conversion,) and particularly commended the Office of Readings.
And, well…. I knew that. So why don’t I? Why do I allow myself to be hungry and weak when I know where nourishment is to be had?
When I pray the LotH, (which is not as often as I should,) I of course do the “hinge” hours, and more often what I admit is my favorite, Compline.
(I had been meaning to add the Universalis link to my site, and never got around to it, so there’s the banner.)
Naturally the Great Song of the book of Psalms is a magnet for me.
But the OoR is perfect for me, the readings, for my attention span, proclivities, personality, level of intelligence, sloppiness… the works. I need that non-scriptural “program” spelled out for me.
The first psalm today slapped me in the face.

With what purpose, Lord, do you stay away, hide yourself in time of need and trouble?
The wicked in their pride persecute the weak, trap them in the plots they have devised.
The sinner glories in his desires, the miser congratulates himself.
The sinner in his arrogance rejects the Lord: “there is no God, no retribution”.
This is what he thinks – and all goes well for him.
Your judgements are far beyond his comprehension: he despises all who stand against him.
The sinner says to himself: “I will stand firm; nothing can touch me, from generation to generation”.
His mouth is full of malice and deceit, under his tongue hide trouble and distress.
He lies in ambush by the villages, he kills the innocent in some secret place.
He watches the weak, he hides like a lion in its lair, and makes plans.
He plans to rob the weak, lure him to his trap and rob him.
He rushes in, makes a dive, and the poor victim is caught.
For he has said to himself, “God has forgotten. He is not watching, he will never see”.

And best of all, I was no more than a few phrases into singing it when I had a conversion, and stopped seeing myself as the weak trapped in the plots of the wicked, (and you-know-who as the “wicked,”) and recalled my own sinfulness.

And St Basil’s definition of sin…
let me say that we have already received from God the ability to fulfill all his commands. We have then no reason to resent them, as if something beyond our capacity were being asked of us. We have no reason either to be angry, as if we had to pay back more than we had received. When we use this ability in a right and fitting way, we lead a life of virtue and holiness. But if we misuse it, we fall into sin.This is the definition of sin: the misuse of powers given us by God for doing good, a use contrary to God’s commands. On the other hand, the virtue that God asks of us is the use of the same powers based on a good conscience in accordance with God’s command.
I need such counsel to rededicate myself, to remember what “job” God has given me.
Anyway, an embarrassment of riches, today’s Office of Readings.