high form; or they may be
thoughts which arise from previous laziness, thoughtlessness,
pre-occupation or some engrossing worldly affair. Involuntary
distractions are those which come unbidden and unsought to the mind, are
neither placed directly, nor by their causes, by the person at prayer.

Does a person reciting the Hours sin if he have distractions?

If the distractions be involuntary there is no sin. But if the
distractions be voluntary there is sin, But, unless the mind be
altogether filled with distractions, not thinking of God, of prayer, of
the words or of the meaning, and unless the distractions are _fully
voluntary_ and _reflective_ during a notable part of the office, there
is no mortal sin. Hence, St. Alphonsus, the great Doctor of Prayer,
wrote, "_ut dicatur aliquis officio non satisfacere, non solum
requiritur ut voluntarie se distrahat, sed etiam ut plene advertat se
distrahi, nam alias iste, licet sponte se divertat non tamen sponte se
divertit a recitatione_" (St. Alphonsus, n. 177). Therefore, before a
person accuse himself of not satisfying the precept of recitation, on
account of inattention or distractions, he must be able to affirm
positively (1)that he was wilfully distracted, (2)he must have noticed
not only his distraction and mental occupation by vain thoughts, but he
must have noticed _also_ that he was distracted in his recitation; (3)he
must be able to state positively that the intention, resolution or
desire to recite piously, which he made at the beginning of his prayer,
was revoked with full advertence and that it did not exist either
actually or virtually during the time of distraction in his recitation.
Seldom, indeed, are these conditions fulfilled, and seldom are there
gravely sinful distractions.

This subject of attention in prayer, in the official prayer of the
Church, is important. Long and learned disputes about its nature and
requirements occupied great thinkers in times long gone by. To-day
theologians argue on different sides; and anxiety, serious, painful and
life-long, reigns in the souls of many who struggle to recite the
office, _digne, attente ac devote_.

ARTICLE VII.-CAUSES WHICH EXCUSE FROM READING THE OFFICE.

Authors generally give six causes which excuse a person from saying the
Hours: lawful dispensation, important work, grave illness, grave fear,
blindness, want of a Breviary. They are recorded in the
well-known lines:--

"Quem Papa dispenset multus