ion. Sometimes priests excuse this hurried reading, as they wish
to save time! Why do priests wish to save time? "For study," some may
say; but the obligation of the Divine Office precedes all obligations of
study, and its devout recitation is of far greater importance to the
priest and to the Church than is any other or every other study. Some
priests gallop through the Hours, to gain time for other ministerial
work, they say. But they forget that the primary work--after the
celebration of Mass--and the _most important work_ of a priest, is the
great official prayer of the Church. Who amongst priests leads the life
of ceaseless toil which the Cure d'Ars led? And we have read how he said
his Hours. St. Francis Xavier found time to preach to his many
neophytes, to teach them, to baptize them, and yet he did not use the
permission given him to shorten his Breviary prayer. He read the whole
Office daily and added to it prayers to obtain the grace of better
attention and devotion.

Sometimes the reading of the Hours is hurried for a motive less
praiseworthy than the motives of study or of priestly work. _Producitur
somnus, producitur mensa, produncuntur confabulationes, lusus, nugae
nugarum; solius supremae Magestratis, cultus summa qua potest celeritate
deproperatur_ (Kugler, _De Spiritu Eccles_.), "On this, God complained
one day to St. Bridget, saying that some priests lose so much time every
day in conversing with friends on worldly affairs; and afterwards, in
conversing with Him, while they recite the Office, they are so hurried
that they dishonour Him more than they glorify Him" (St. Alphonsus,
_Selva_). In the hurried reading of the Office, time, a few minutes
perhaps, is gained, but what is lost? Does the loss of all the lights
and graces and blessings of the Office compensate for the time gained?
It is important that all who read the Breviary hurriedly, or who may be
tempted to acquire the habit, should weigh well the words read therein
(Friday's Vespers) "_Labor labiorum ipsorum operiet eos; cadent super
eos carbones_" (Ps. 139). "The labour of their lips shall overwhelm
them; burning coals shall fall upon them."

To acquire this important habit, the practice of reading at a slow pace
the words of the Breviary, authors suggest several little hints. One is,
never to start reading the Hours unless there be _ample_ time for
finishing the Hour or Hours intended to be then and there read. The
practice of squeezing the