Sample Benedictine Horarium (Daily Schedule)

3:15am Rise
3:30am Vigils (Night Office)
4:30am - 6:30am Private Prayer and Lectio Divina
6:30am Lauds (Morning Office)
7:00am Eucharist
Breakfast, followed by
8:00am Private Prayer and Lectio Divina
9:15am Tierce (Third Office)
9:30am Lectio Divinaand Study
11:45am Sext (Sixth Office)
12:00pm Dinner
12:30pm Rest
1:45pm None (Ninth Office)
2:00pm Work
5:30pm Vespers (Evening Prayer)
6:00pm Supper
6:30pm Prayer, Lectio Divina, Study
7:30pm Compline (Night Prayer)
8:00pm Retire
Psalm Schedule Odd Weeks

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

94 133 133 133 133 133 133
17 13 43 77A 57 3 1
Vigils 24 34 43 77B 58 7 71
(3:30 26 53 61 11 59 15 79
am) 27  14 76 41 + 42 136 88A 84
105A 138A 83  143 88B 86
105B  138B  144  102 
Lauds 50 49 72 101 100 6 37
(6:30 117 5 42 63 87 75 142
am) 66  110  111  114  113A  113B  112 
Terce
(9:15 118, I-IV  119, 120, 121 
am)
Sext 122 128 122 128 122 128
118, V-
(11:45 123 129 123 129 123 129
VII 
am) 124  130  124  130  124  130 
None 125 131 125 131 125 131
118, VII-
(1:45 126 132  126 132  126 132 
XI 
pm) 127  127  127 
Vespers 109 18 67 45 9 21 44
(5:30 2 47 96  135 98  92  137
pm) 46  95  97  23 

Complin
e (7:30 4 and 90 
pm)

Psalm Schedule Even Weeks

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

94 133 133 133 133 133 133
28 36A 55 106A 25 12 8
29 36B 69 106B 48 16 18
Vigils 30 51 70 60 78 54 44
(3:30
am) 33 10 74 73 82 108 45
65 104A 81 80  141 139  47
104B  93  143  71 

Lauds 50 102 38 85 31 62 39
(6:30 117 35 56 64 89 91 142
am) 150  115-116  145  146  147  148  149 
Terce
118, XII-
(9:15 119, 120, 121 
XV 
am)
Sext 122 128 122 128 122 128
118, XVI-
(11:45 123 129 123 129 123 129
XVIII 
am) 124  130  124  130  124  130 
None 125 131 125 131 125 131
118, XIX-
(1:45 126 132  126 132  126 132 
XXII 
pm) 127  127  127 
Vespers 109 19 103 134 32 68A 23
(5:30 2 20 96  140 40 68B 84
pm) 46  95  97  98  99  22 

Complin
e (7:30 4 and 90
pm)

Numbering used is in Greek Septuagint, Latin Vulgate, and English Grail Psalter. 
 Stability
The monk professes three vows: stability, fidelity to monastic life, and obedience.
By stability, the monk commits himself to love and serve the brothers of this particular
monastery for the rest of his life, and also to love and serve the particular spot on the
planet the monastery rests on, the land, along with the monastery’s buildings and its
heritage. In other words, stability is about rootedness and the conviction that like a tree
you can grow and bear fruit only when you are grounded. The monk is seed scattered on
good soil.

Conversatio Morum
We also promise fidelity to monastic life. That is, we commit ourselves to
behaving at all times exactly like what we say we are, monks. Fidelity to
monastic life means learning a new way of thinking and of relating to people,
and also leaving behind old habitual ways of thinking and relating. It is a
response to Jesus’ call to metanoia, to conversion or repentance: “Repent, for
the Kingdom of God is at hand!” As a monk, you live evangelized. You express
your sexuality through celibate love. Graciously possessed by God you are
freely dispossessed of money and things.

Obedience
Finally, by obedience the monk dares to conform himself to Christ who was, as Saint Paul
said, obedient unto death. Obedient to what? “I have come not to do my own will, but the
will of the one who sent me,” that is, obedient to the Father. As a monk, you conform
your will to the truth, which is God’s will manifested most clearly in the will of the
community of monks you are a member of. Obedience frees the monk from his
compulsions so he can freely live for others, doing what is good not just for himself, but
also for the others.

The voluminous Cistercian cowl is in the shape of a cross, and that says one thing. It is
white, and that says something else. Death and resurrection, this is the story of every
Christian, and the monk is that story’s proclamation. “No speech, no word, no voice is
heard,” yet the message goes out through all the earth (see Psalm 19).