A little bit about the book..."After his wife's death, Brian's days and hours became a meaningless blur. But, after travelling for two years and recovering from a tropical fever, he finally goes to the English village of Knightsbridge to confront the inheritance of his wife's aunt's Castle Keep. It was her dying wish for him to return to the place she grew up in and where she faced her fears, learned about God and knew that the Castle's secrets would help him heal. When he arrives, though, he hears the tragic news that the Castle is being auctioned off in 7 days due to overdue death taxes. At first he doesn't care, ready to move on, but after finding a personal, touching letter from the Castle's deceased master Heather, his wife's aunt, he is led on a search for more letters and secrets that lay in the Castle grounds. At the same time the Village is in the process of voting for or against the restoration of the 7 church's bells, which used to ring on the hour all day and night. Brian learns about the heritage of the church bells as a signal to pray every hour, and as he comes to love Castle Keep and the village, he turns to the power of prayer as he tries to solve Castle Keep's mystery and find healing."
The Book of Hours and the meaning of the ringing of Church Bells was something I didn't really know about or understand, so of course I did some research online.
The Book of Hours was written in the thirteenth century in some European countries so the lay people could follow the practice of the monks and nuns, who prayed the Psalms and a variety of prayers, canticles, hymns, readings from the Bible, and dialogues composed in a complex book known as the breviary. The Book of Hours is a simpler book with basic content: calendar, Gospel readings, Prayers, Hours of the Virgin, Hours of the Cross, Hours of the Holy Spirit, Psalms, Office for the dead and Suffrages to Saints, according to Medievalist.net
I am not Catholic and follow only the teachings of the Bible, so this book is not something I would use, but it is a great idea to follow these traditions of praying throughout the day, which I used to do before 3 kids and a busier schedule kept my mind occupied. So I set some reminders on my cell phone, for certain hours every day, to the tune of the door bell ring, which sounds a little like the church bells, to remind myself to say a short or long, as needed, prayer. Today I got to put it into practice for the first time. Since I was not able to help at preschool, due to a sick Isaac, I prayed for each kid specifically and the teachers, at each time I knew what was going on at the school. I hope to hear that the day, Tuesday being the hardest day, went smoothly, but mostly praying for it gave me peace about not being there to help. For it is not me that can change, help and teach these children, but The Holy Spirit working through me, and through everyone involved in the kids' daily life.
"Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is anyone sick?...And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well...The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective" James 5:13-16.
Romans 8:26. look it up.
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