"Let the oratory be what it is called, a place of prayer, and let nothing else be done there. Let reverence for God be preserved there." Rule of St Benedict

Contrary to popular opinion, Christian monks have not always been liturgical 'beings'. There is evidence in the lives and writings of the desert fathers that some monks gathered for liturgical worship only rarely, and there is a celebrated story of Abbot Pambo who lamented the introduction of the singing of psalms and hymns into the desert silence, where in his view compunction of heart would be thereby diminished.

Be that as it may, the monastics of the Benedictine tradition are immersed in the liturgical life of the Christian community of which their communities form, as it were, 'cells', or which they make present and visible in time and space when they gather for prayer. Christian and monastic tradition know this prayer as the Opus Dei (Work of God), the Officium divinum (Divine Office), or Liturgy of the Hours (a name which highlights the fact that this prayer is meant to sanctify all the waking hours of the person who prayers the hours). It takes pride of place in the horarium of the monastic communities, whether those  communities celebrate the Hours at the traditional times and in the traditional number, or gather less frequently for an Office that has been adapted to the requirements of pastoral work and needs of modern life. Instead of assembling seven or eight times each day, some communities pray an office that has been reduced to three, four or five sessions each day: Vigils (or Office of Readings) which is still celebrated during the night is some monasteries, Lauds (or Morning Prayer), one or more Day Hours (in tradition they were known as Terce, Sext and None, and are now given various names, such as Day Hour One and Two or Midday Prayer and Afternoon Prayer), Vespers (Evening Prayer) and, perhaps, Compline (Night Prayer).

With the development of Eucharistic practice in the Western church in the Middle Ages, and the gradual clericalisation (ie more and more monks were ordained to the presbyterate) of Western monasticism, daily Conventual (ie community) Mass has long been standard in Benedictine monasteries, and the Divine Office has come to be understood as in some way leading up to and continuing the perfect worship offered to the Father by the 'whole Christ', head and members, in the Eucharistic sacrifice.

Experience has shown that liturgical prayer that is not nourished and supported by personal prayer runs the risk of degenerating into formalism, in which liturgy becomes a lifeless and meaningless routine. If the words of the psalms and other Scripture readings are to be a means by which we listen to God and speak to him in our own name and that of our community, then the exercise of listening has to permeate the time spent in work, study and leisure apart from liturgical prayer.

Monastic Prayer timetable Monday to Saturday 5.15 Vigils 6.45 Lauds 7.30 Conventual Mass * 12.00 Midday Prayer 2.30 Afternoon Prayer 6.30 Vespers 8.15 Compline	Sunday 6.00 Lauds 9.00 Conventual Mass * 12.00 Midday Prayer 5.30 Vespers * 7.35 Compline
* In Abbey Church, all other times in monastery chapel.