Congratulations! Good for you.
As I understand it, you are in the process of becoming a Benedictine oblate. The oblate director at the monastery where you are going to be an oblate will have information for you about what the monastery recommends. You should also talk with the other oblates at your monastery. From the other oblates you will find that there are wide variations in divine office practices because each person’s situation in life is so different.
In answer to your question, perhaps the document that relates only to oblates that most specifically addresses the question “how many offices must a Benedictine oblate pray/sing each day,” is the
Guidelines for Oblates adopted at a meeting of oblate directors. Those Guidelines state:
**"[Oblates] strive each day to pray some part of the Divine Office or Liturgy of the Hours, as the circumstances of their lives permit." **
INFORMATION ON BOOKS FOR THE DIVINE OFFICE
I like the Benedictine monastic feel of the divine office in the following two books:
Benedictine Daily Prayer (BDP)
The Monastic Diurnal (MD)
For a much shorter Benedictine divine office, you might like
The Benedictine Handbook
The BDP and the MD are compared
here and a review of The Benedictine Handbook
is here.
Although this blog is about how I use divider tabs, you can see several pages in the BDP
**here. **
I use BDP for vigils and the MD for all other offices during the day. For spiritual beauty many people say there is nothing better than the MD and I agree.
It is wonderful to meet a future oblate. I would be happy to help you in any way possible and answer any of your questions about the oblate life. God bless you.
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