The Divine Office is the central act of prayer for the oblate. Other aspects of the oblate's prayer life are fed by the Office. The Psalms, which are the heart of the Office, shape one's prayer at all levels.
Critics of liturgical prayer often complain that it is too objective and that one is not praying from the heart while doing it. Actually, this objectivity of the office is its greatest strength. Praying from the heart is important, but the truth is that we just don't always have the inner resources to pray with great inward feeling and fervor. It is structured prayer that strengthens inner fervor when we have it and keeps us going when we don't have it. Far from keeping us away from deep levels of prayer, the Divine Office leads us down to these levels.
The Divine Office is also important because of its balance. It guarantees that we will not become too one-sided in the praying that we do. In the monastic tradition, the Psalms have proven to be especially valuable in preserving this balance in prayer. True, there is much that is simply human in the Psalms, and, at times, this humanity is not altogether honorable. But this is precisely why the Psalter is such a powerful vehicle for worship. Every kind of prayer and every kind of experience of God gains expression in one or more of the Psalms. Some time or other, we are likely to find ourselves identifying closely with each experience. In this way, the Psalms function as a mirror, helping us to see more deeply the truth about ourselves and about our relationship to God. Moreover, we are never locked into our momentary subjectivity, whether good, bad, or indifferent. We find ourselves sharing in the prayer of all Christians; we make their prayers our own.