The Daily Office

As a praxis of personal piety (modernly), I recently began to say daily prayers as close to the canonical hours as possible. I'm not using the the Latin or Sarum Rites, but a (currently online) modern breviary called Celebrating Common Prayer put out by the Society of Saint Francis. On one of the first days, I woke up at 4:30 AM without an alarm. At 5:35 AM, I notices the birds were beginning to sing. I heard this once before a couple of years ago, rising before dawn to experience the natural progression of the dawn and to compare it to the canonical hours/offices of Matins, Lauds, Prime, etc. I drew a comparison to the birds singing in the approaching dawn to the Office of Lauds welcoming the new day. Prime at 6:00am is not really a problem, but at Tierce (9:00 AM) and Sext (12:00 PM/Noon) I've occupied at work. As that is a public school, praying could be inappropriate, especially since at those specific times I have necessary duties. Not like I can take a break at either time. However, in modern prayer books, there is only Midday Prayer, not Tierce, Sext, and Nones, so Midday (at Nones) pretty much covers it for now. Nones (3:00 PM) is easier, and Vespers (6:00 PM) is similarly easy as is Prime. After Compline at 9:00 PM, I am more and more inclined to retire, since I know I'll be waking again in seven or eight hours. Technically, Compline doesn't have to be at 9:00 PM, just at the 'completion' of one's day.