#7 None

Between 3:00 and 5:00 on many afternoons I tend to experience a sense of slowness, and vague feeling of discouragement or regret. The day feels both too long and too short in those moments. The clock ticks slowly as I deal with my more tedious tasks, but the hands are sure to fly if I take a look at the remaining items on my Do List.

This is the Hour of None. The word None refers to the nineth hour, or 3:00 p.m. If I were in a monastic community, it would be time to "put my affairs in order", organize my remaining work and face the fact that not everything I planned to do that day will be done.

Ironically this Hour of afternoon daylight and busyness is the one in which we are encouraged to remember that nothing lasts forever, including our lives. The sun has passed its zenith and the shadows are lengthening as we move toward evening. So it is in life. There comes a time when greater number of our years are behind us and the twilight of our life lies ahead. That is the proper time to "put our affairs in order", to think about how to bring life here to a peaceful close and accept the legacy we leave behind us.

Why pause to remember all of this in the middle of each day, especially while I am still relatively young and healthy? Why allow None to remind me of the thing I dread to name....death?

My life takes on more vibrant meaning when I look at it in the light of my mortality. If I remember the brevity of my life here I am much more likely to live it well. I am more likely to choose to do the things that will bring me real joy and that will have lasting value. It is good to be reminded that each day might be my last day. It helps me keep short accounts with my work and in my relationships with others.

How do we pray at None? First we find a way to be alone, if possible. The monastics suggest that we seek to be "alone with the Alone" for this time of prayer. Until now the day has had an outward movement and our prayers have been directed toward things outside of ourselves as we were concerned with the business of life. Now it is time to turn inward, take stock of ourselves and prepare to finish the day well with God's help. We lay out unfinished tasks and unmet expectations and ask for guidance from Him who has led us through the day until now.

None is also the Hour of forgiveness. It is time to forgive ourselves and others for things that did not go so well this day. We confess our own failures and sins of the day, but we also ask God for grace to forgive those who have offended us. If our hearts feel hurt or diappointment caused by others, at None we can dissolve it away with compassion and forgiveness. "We love because He first loved us". In this Hour of prayer we can truly offer love and forgiveness to others, knowing that the Lord has loved and forgiven us.

The moments we spend in prayer at None prepare us to finish the day strongly. We make peace with what must be left undone until tomorrow and go on to finish what we can today. Then we close our work stations, put away our tools and head for home. The next lovely Hour of prayer is Vespers, the lighting of the lamps.

The grace and forgiveness of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.