eDaily Office reflection

I feel I would be remiss if I didn't put down some notes regarding the Daily Office I blogged a few days ago. It was my eDaily Office experinece where I literally typed it as I was going through the morning liturgy. I was in my little office in all of its messy glory (see right). I thought it was kind of corny, but why not try it? I wondered if typing it would stain the experience. But I found that it didn't, it just changed it. Each word became much more focused than if I was just reading it. I even sang as I typed, which was a little odd, but still fulfilling. And I found that just as I made mistakes when reading and going back to correct the thought, I did the same process with typos. It took at least an hour to do it this way and because of the extended length the temptation of distraction was greater. I found myself having to concentrate more.

One of the purposes of the Daily Office is not necessarily disconnecting from reality into a spiritual time, but to offer God the moment as part of a continuum. Something along the lines of praying without ceasing. I've found this to be one of the strenghts of the Daily Office. On the other hand, one of the elements that is missing is supplication for yourself. This seems to be a huge part of my normal daily devotions (now that I've substituted the Daily Office, this has become very apparent). As I would become frustrated with a car alarm going off for 10 minutes outside my window or the intrusion of traffic noise into my experience, I realized these were part of the experience.

I felt compelled to keep with the standing and sitting rituals. This proved to be quite interesting with the keyboard and all the junk on my desk, but I found it rewarding. Even the weird ache in my back somehow seemed right. I also found that I had a way of encapsulating the various moments in the Daily Office, by the use of the Return key. I could keep my focus on little longer on a section and then there was the tangible moment of striking the Return key to the next stanza.