Advice on Liturgy of the Hours

[maskaggs]

Just wanted to jump in and thank posters for links to divineoffice.org. I checked out Christian Prayer from the university library today but have been pretty confused about where to start. That website helped immensely - I think I have a good idea of what I’m doing now. Thanks!

 

[Balian]

While I am continuing to use the excellent online resource DivineOffice.org I have now obtained a copy of Christian Prayer. I also purchased a book called The Divine Office for Dodos by Madeline Pecora Nugent. I highly recommend the book as a guide to anyone wishing to learn how to pray the LOTH with either the one-volume of four-volume breviary. The book takes you step-by-step through the offices in easily understandable terms. Also very helpful is the book explains how to use bookmarks and ribbons.

 

[OraLabora]

Those who recite the LOTH may not know that there is a 2-year lectionary in addition to the 1-year lectionary that is included in the 4-volume set. If you look in the indices of the LOTH you’ll see the scripture references for the 2-year lectionary.

For those who have the 1-volume Christian Prayer, it is thus possible to stick with it and use the 2-year lectionary.

I found this source for it, on-line, in MS Word format:

2-year lectionary

You could theoretically download it and use it along with your 1-volume Christian Prayer, to fully pray the Office of Readings. As a bonus you’ll be getting a much richer cycle of readings than is present in the 4-volume LOTH

And it is fully licit, and a heck of a lot cheaper than the 4-volume set.

Missing will be the responsories. But that’s not so bad. The rubrics of the LOTH allow one to replace the responsories with a period of silence in private recitation; in fact responsories don’t make a heck of a lot of sense in private recitation, you’re responding to yourself!

I use the 2-year lectionary, but a Latin/French version (I do the LOTH in Latin for Lauds and Vespers, and French for the rest).

 

[acadian]

That sounds similar to Shorter Christian Prayer in the U.S. It is a 4x7 book of 670 pages. I found it a good starting point and used it for several years. Eventually I wanted more for the seasons and feasts so went to the larger 1-volume Christian Prayer.

I would definitely agree with starting with Shorter Christian Prayer. I, too, used it for several years, before jumping to the larger volume for more variety during Lent, Advent, and Easter. It (Shorter Christian Prayer) is such a nice slim volume - you can put it in your purse or backpack, the Canticles were conveniently located inside the covers, and there was some guidance at the beginning for beginners.

2 thumbs up

Now “there’s an app for that” but sometimes I miss using the actual book.

 

[JeffersonD]

I haven’t read if you decided yet on what you want to buy for me personally I find it more difficult to pray the Christian Prayer version than the 4 Volume set. Also, if you want to pray the office as well then you would need to get the 4 Volume set. It is simply laid out and once you get the flipping down it becomes like a reflex. Also, you will eventually memorize the Gospel Canticles and that will become one less flip. Christian Prayer is nice but after praying the 4 Volume I really don’t know where to flip things anymore.

God bless

 

[agnes_therese]

It’s nice to know I’m not the only one who found Christian Prayer harder to navigate than the 4-volume.
Of course, Christian Prayer is MUCH less expensive. I was very fortunate one year to be able to use some tax-refund money to buy the 4-volume.

But whichever version you pray, it will surely enrich your spiritual life!

I haven’t read if you decided yet on what you want to buy for me personally I find it more difficult to pray the Christian Prayer version than the 4 Volume set. Also, if you want to pray the office as well then you would need to get the 4 Volume set. It is simply laid out and once you get the flipping down it becomes like a reflex. Also, you will eventually memorize the Gospel Canticles and that will become one less flip. Christian Prayer is nice but after praying the 4 Volume I really don’t know where to flip things anymore.

God bless

 

[CaptCrunch73]

Those who recite the LOTH may not know that there is a 2-year lectionary in addition to the 1-year lectionary that is included in the 4-volume set. If you look in the indices of the LOTH you’ll see the scripture references for the 2-year lectionary.

For those who have the 1-volume Christian Prayer, it is thus possible to stick with it and use the 2-year lectionary.

I found this source for it, on-line, in MS Word format:

2-year lectionary

You could theoretically download it and use it along with your 1-volume Christian Prayer, to fully pray the Office of Readings. As a bonus you’ll be getting a much richer cycle of readings than is present in the 4-volume LOTH

And it is fully licit, and a heck of a lot cheaper than the 4-volume set.

Missing will be the responsories. But that’s not so bad. The rubrics of the LOTH allow one to replace the responsories with a period of silence in private recitation; in fact responsories don’t make a heck of a lot of sense in private recitation, you’re responding to yourself!

I use the 2-year lectionary, but a Latin/French version (I do the LOTH in Latin for Lauds and Vespers, and French for the rest).

For those that have Christian Prayer there is the 2 Year cycle of readings beginning on page 2064.

 

[superamazingman]

If you can, ask any priest, deacon, seminarian, or religious (ie, sister, nun, or monk) friend of yours. Ask them to just show you the basics of morning and evening prayer, using **only ** the psalter, not the proper of seasons, or anything for saint’s feast days. You’ll learn the basics of the hours.

Then in a couple of weeks, after you’ve gotten very comfortable with it, ask them to show you the proper of seasons.

Then after a couple of weeks again, the proper of saints and the commons, and maybe the other hours.

This method has worked very well. I’ve taught about 5-10 people to pray the office, and this method is great in that you don’t overwhelm them with everything all at once. All of them are still praying at least some of it every day.