Praying the Hours - Resources
Praying the Hours tells the journey of the Traveling Man from this life into the next as he visits friends with whom he has surprising, unresolved business. As he crosses over, he realizes that eternity is not something that happens after you die but flows like a river under the surface of ordinary life.
The Praying the Hours movie is an epic narrative feature that portrays the hours of prayer as if they were characters in the story of a man's life. It is a unique way to reflect on the ancient practice observed by all the Abrahamic traditions—Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Watch the film, hear the soundtrack, learn more about praying the hours, or contact us about screening opportunities.
THE SCORE
Listen to a clip of each album of the soundtrack below. Access the full album, over two hours of music, however you prefer, either by purchase or by streaming subscription on Lolo Meares' Songwhip page.
About the Recording
When Director Lauralee Farrer invited Composer Lolo Meares to join the “Praying the Hours” team they met near the shore of the beautiful, calm Pacific ocean. Over the years as they collaborated on the 2-hour score, there were stormy days and becalmed days and days of great beauty—as is always true of the ocean and of the artistic process. What emerged is a hauntingly beautiful score, entirely written, performed, and sung by Meares, that will be released over the next two months. Each album of the Hours is graced by Lori Fox's series of watercolor reflections on the Hours.
LORI FOX'S WATERCOLOR ALBUM ART
PRAYING THE HOURS IN ORDINARY LIFE
Praying the Hours in Ordinary Life takes the reader on an excursion into an ancient practice. While providing a sense of the monastic life from which it is drawn, the book also provides the opportunity for individuals or groups of people to enter into the Opus Dei, the work of God: a life of prayer to which monastics have been devoted since the third century. With illustrations by artist Denise Louise Klitsie and poetry by Rainer Maria Rilke (translated by Martina Nagel), Lauralee Farrer and Clayton Schmit have provided a resource that allows believers to engage in a twenty-four hour pilgrimage of prayer, joining those from the Abrahamic traditions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) who observe the Hours in different forms.
Contact us for more information about Praying the Hours in Ordinary Life.
There are many books of Hours, breviaries, prayer books, and guides for how to keep the divine office. This ancient practice is observed by all of the Abrahamic traditions—Islam, Christianity, and Judaism—though with different prayers and rituals. The wealth of material on the subject can obscure the fact that it's really very simple at the core: praying the Hours is a way to use prayer to structure our days. It allows us to join others around the world as we stop several times a day to remember God's presence and recalibrate all the things we tend to obsess over instead. Here are a few volumes with which to begin.
- Music of Silence: A Sacred Journey Through the Hours of the Day by Brother David Steindl-Rast and Sharon Lebell
- Crossing the Unknown Sea: Work as a Pilgrimage of Identity by David Whyte
- The Divine Hours (3 volumes) by Phyllis Tickle
- A Book of Hours by Thomas Merton
- Book of Hours: Love Poems to God by Rainer Maria Rilke
- Architecture of Truth by Lucien Herve
Excerpts from the Book and Original Illustrations by Denise Louise Klitsie
