The Liturgy of the Hours is the prayer of the whole people of God

The Office has been drawn up and arranged in such a way that not only clergy but also religious and indeed laity may participate in it, since it is the prayer of the whole people of God. People of different callings and circumstances, with their individual needs, were kept in mind and a variety of ways of celebrating the office has been provided, by means of which the prayer can be adapted to suit the way of life and vocation of different groups dedicated to the Liturgy of the Hours.

The very celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours, especially when a community is gathered for this purpose, expresses the genuine nature of the praying Church, and stands as a wonderful sign of that Church.

Christian prayer above all is the prayer of the entire community of mankind, which Christ joins to himself.[4] Each individual has his part in this prayer, which is common to the one Body as it offers prayers that give expression to the voice of Christ’s beloved Bride, to the hopes and desires of the whole Christian people, to supplications and petitions for the necessities common to all mankind.

The life of Christ in His Mystical Body also perfects and elevates the personal life of each member of the faithful. Therefore there can be no opposition between the prayer of the Church and the personal prayer of the individual; rather the relationship between them must be strengthened and enlarged by the Divine Office. Mental prayer should draw unfailing nourishment from readings, Psalms, and the other parts of the Liturgy of the Hours; and if the method and form of the celebration is chosen which most helps the persons taking part, one’s personal, living prayer must of necessity be helped. If the prayer of the Divine Office becomes genuine personal prayer, the relation between the liturgy and the whole Christian life also becomes clearer. The whole life of the faithful, hour by hour during day and night, is a kind of leitourgia or public service, in which the faithful give themselves over to the ministry of love toward God and neighbor, identifying themselves with the action of Christ, who by His life and self-offering sanctified the life of all mankind. The Liturgy of the Hours clearly expresses and effectively strengthens this sublime truth, embodied in the Christian life. For this reason the Liturgy of the Hours is recommended to all the faithful, including those who are not bound by law to their recitation.

Those who have received from the Church the mandate to celebrate the Liturgy of the Hours are to complete its entire course faithfully each day, respecting as far as possible the actual time of day; giving pride of place to Lauds and Vespers. Those who are in Holy Orders and are marked in a special way with the sign of Christ the Priest, as well as those consecrated in a particular way to the service of God and of the Church by the vows of religious profession, should be moved to recite the Office not only in obedience to law, but should also feel themselves drawn to them because of the intrinsic excellence of the Hours and their pastoral and ascetical value. It is extremely desirable that the public prayer of the Church be offered by all from hearts renewed, in acknowledgment of the inherent need within the whole Body of the Church: as the image of its Head, the Church must be described as the praying Church.

Parts taken out of Laudis Canticum, Apostolic Constitution promulgating the revised book of the Liturgy of the Hours, Pope Paul VI, November 1, 1970