A month or so ago I decided to just pray Matins every day, no matter what time of day it happened. It was the one hour that was always skipped because I was hanging on to “if you can’t pray it at 3am, you don’t get to pray it.”

Having abandoned that rule, I now am indulging in “Matins any time!” And it’s such a treasure of prayer! The very opening is a petition and a prescription:

Oh Lord, open thou my lips.

And my mouth shall declare thy praise.

I am also learning to chant Matins, since my love of music is rooted in a desire to chant the Office. Matins is new, so still a bit bungled. Again, the rule that encourages: “Sing what you can, read what you can’t.” And slowly I discover the unfamiliar hymns, the haunting invitatory, and an array of unknown antiphons.

With that as a starting point, off we go, attempting to blog again, hoping not to throw it all away in horror in a few weeks, as has happened to so many previous attempts. Given the quarantines perhaps I’ll keep at it a bit longer.

For a really funny previous attempt, check out globalhorseculture.com, my first blog, which still happily serves dozens of horse lovers a day but hasn’t been updated in seven years.