Anybody have trouble concentrating during Liturgy Of The Hours?

  • Thread starter Thread starter gez722
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
G

gez722

Guest
For the past several months I’ve been praying the Liturgy Of The Hours. While I do feel that it is helping me to grow spiritually, there are many times that I have a hard time concentrating on what I am praying. This especially happens with the Psalms, some of which I find hard to understand. Just last night, I finished my Evening Prayer and I couldn’t even recall what the Psalms were about. I had to go back and reread them and my mind started wandering again.

Has anyone else experienced this and, if so, can you offer some suggestions for overcoming it?

God Bless,
Gary
 
I’m going to try praying the “Magnificat” magazine verison of LOTH starting in July…I’d start sooner, but my first copy of Magnificat I’ve ever gotten is for July. 🙂

Anyway, I know exactly what you’re saying, I generally have a hard time focusing when I read the Psalms. I try to read the mass readings every day, and I always end up speeding through the Psalms. I think they’re much better when you experience them as they’re meant to be experienced-- set to music.

Pete
 
What I do when reading the Psalms is try to find a line in each of them that speaks personally to my heart. I then give myself about a minute of silence after reciting each Psalm in order to contemplate this one line or lines that have spoken to me.

Now I know it won’t happen with all the Psalms but at least 80% odf the time you will find a line that really strikes you. This is God speaking to you through them.

See them as a conversation with God.

I am amazed at the solace and comfort offered by the Psalms during moments of difficulty. I am amazed at how many quotations I can now reproduce by rote when the need arises. I am amazed at how they have penetrated by personal prayer and how they are now moulding it.

You could also buy Pope John Pauls meditations on the Pslams or look them up on the Vatican website. Most of his Angelus messages were meditations of the Psalms.

Don’t get too het up about remembering the Psalms after you have read them. How many times have we had conversations with friends and relations and other loved ones and have failed to recall the conversation soon afterwards?

I am reading the LOTH for some years now and it is only now that the Psalms are beginning to stick!!

Patience my friend. Perseverence will indeed produce much fruit.
 
40.png
Fergal:
What I do when reading the Psalms is try to find a line in each of them that speaks personally to my heart. I then give myself about a minute of silence after reciting each Psalm in order to contemplate this one line or lines that have spoken to me.
Click to expand...
That’s a great idea, thanks. I just re-read Psalm 34:2-9 from today’s mass, and it works. With that mindset, I actually was reading more carefully because I was scrutinizing for “the line that stands out”. I think today, for me, that line is:

“When the poor one called out, the LORD heard,
and from all his distress he saved him.”

By the way, for you LOTH people: do the readings from LOTH on any given day include any of that same day’s mass readings?

Pete
 
Another little piece of advice you may like to use at a later stage. When you come across lines that really speak to you, jot them down into a little Spiritual Diary or create a blog online for yourself and then just type them in on the days when you need to.

It really helps.

In relation to the question on coincidence of readings. This may happen sometimes and it is not suprising because the LOTH is a Liturgy in itself and serves to extend the Holy Mass into the day and night. See the following taken from liturgyny.catholic.org/lithours1.htm

Liturgical Prayer … the public, daily prayer of the Church, that is, of Christ and his people, one element of the prayer which the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy describes as the sacred action surpassing all others … the primary and indispensable source of the true Christian spirit. CL n. 7, 14
Code: 
               Prayer       which is intimately related to the Eucharist and which the Church understands as a       preparation for and a continuation of the action of the Eucharist throughout the day.

     Prayer       which is about the sanctification of time, that is, of each day, and is linked with       the Feasts and Seasons of the Liturgical Year as well as with the natural rhythms of the       day, especially the alternation of light and darkness. 

     Prayer       which relies heavily on Scripture ... the psalms and the canticles as well as readings       from the old and new testaments for the bulk of its content. 

     Prayer       which has a long history in the Church, going back to first centuries; prayer which       originated in gatherings of the people with their bishop and later spread to monastic and       other religious groups. 

     Prayer which has a basic formal structure, both       within the day and within each individual hour. 

     Prayer       which is prayed communally in formal Church gatherings, in informal groups of the faithful       and even in families, but which may also be prayed by individuals who are not able to pray       it in common. Whether prayed communally or by individuals, the Liturgy of the Hours is       always the liturgical prayer of the Church: the prayer of Christ the priest and of the       Body of Christ, the Church throughout the world and the Communion of Saints in heaven.
You may find that on feasts and solemnities like today some of the antiphons reflect themes from the readings. This serves to reinforce their central message.

Any other questions you may have are possibly covered in the following link: saint-mike.org/apologetics/qa/Answers/Divine_Office/divine_office_view.html
 
Thanks Fergal, those are some good sources. I would like to do the spiritual diary. I actually already bought the blank book to write it in a few months ago, but it’s still blank! I do collect quotes in general, and have added many verses from scripture. The issue is that I don’t like to interrupt my reading and focus with quote copying. It’s a habit that I should get myself into. I know that the result will be worth it, but if it prevents me from enjoying the reading then perhaps it isn’t worth it… Hmmm…

Pete
 
40.png
Fergal:
What I do when reading the Psalms is try to find a line in each of them that speaks personally to my heart. I then give myself about a minute of silence after reciting each Psalm in order to contemplate this one line or lines that have spoken to me.

Now I know it won’t happen with all the Psalms but at least 80% odf the time you will find a line that really strikes you. This is God speaking to you through them.

See them as a conversation with God.
Click to expand...
Fergal,
Thanks so much for your advice. I’m going to try your approach for Evening Prayer tonight.

God Bless,
Gary
 
40.png
Fergal:
Another little piece of advice you may like to use at a later stage. When you come across lines that really speak to you, jot them down into a little Spiritual Diary or create a blog online for yourself and then just type them in on the days when you need to.
/QUOTE]

Another great idea! I’ve run across so many great Scripture verses while praying the LOTH, but I’ve always neglected to write them down. I’m also going to start doing this.

God Bless,
Gary
Click to expand...
 
Fergal’s advice is great.
I had a great deal of trouble until, on my brother’s advice, I started praying out loud, since psalms are songs and poetry, meant to be read out loud like all poetry. This has really helped my concentration. I also stand at the proper time, and bow for the Glory Be. the changes in posture also help. also I used to blow over the hymn because I felt funny singing, but now I sing it also.
 
40.png
gez722:
For the past several months I’ve been praying the Liturgy Of The Hours. While I do feel that it is helping me to grow spiritually, there are many times that I have a hard time concentrating on what I am praying. This especially happens with the Psalms, some of which I find hard to understand. Just last night, I finished my Evening Prayer and I couldn’t even recall what the Psalms were about. I had to go back and reread them and my mind started wandering again.

Has anyone else experienced this and, if so, can you offer some suggestions for overcoming it?

God Bless,
Gary
Click to expand...
It’s partly a matter of learning as well. I found I was always drifting off during the psalms. I’ve bought a couple of books. One is from Australia and it follows the 4 weeks of the psalms. It explains not only the 2 psalms and canticle, but it links them together as well to provide an overall theme. It even comments on the fact that a particular psalm is used say, every Sunday evening … or that the psalms on a Monday morning are a little shorter because we are usually not as sharp then. Once I read the commentaries, I make notes write in my prayer bood. I underline and circle and explain things so that when I read the psalm next time, it will be right there. It has really worked. Sorry I don’t have the name of the book as I don’t have it with me. PM me and I’ll give you the name.

Patrick
 
Slightly off topic… but I got away from reading the night prayer because I actually found myself not wanting to because the gospel portion was the same every night, and the choices for the antiphons were the same and it was unfortunately beginning to feel “stale” to me. Which told me I needed to expand what I was doing, so I started reading the morning prayers too, which I liked a lot …then started doing the office of readings for the day and week we are in. I like the Psalms a lot actually 🙂 More than the other parts I was doing. Then I stopped the night prayer, and now I don’t know how to get back into it.

I’m good with the parts that follow the church season/weeks but I’m confused with the other parts that go by Week I, II, III, and IV… how do we know which week we are in there?

I’m breaking into doing this slowly, hoping to add more and more gradually until I do the entire Liturgy but I’m stuck now …

Can anyone tell me what page we’re on 🙂 ha. I have the long version Divine Office/ Liturgy of the Hours by the Catholic Book Publishing Co 1975, if that helps. Links?
 
40.png
Pete2:
Thanks Fergal, those are some good sources. I would like to do the spiritual diary. I actually already bought the blank book to write it in a few months ago, but it’s still blank! I do collect quotes in general, and have added many verses from scripture. The issue is that I don’t like to interrupt my reading and focus with quote copying. It’s a habit that I should get myself into. I know that the result will be worth it, but if it prevents me from enjoying the reading then perhaps it isn’t worth it… Hmmm…

Pete
Click to expand...
The late Holy Father John Paul II always had a jotter and a pen when he was in front of the Blessed Sacrament as did Archbishop Fulton Sheen during his daily holy hour.

You are right don’t interupt your reading. I would advise that you by all means read through first then revisit those parts that spoke to you when you have finished reading and jot them down. A simple page number reference or scriptural reference is enough such as Mat 6:23 etc.

In fact I love to write only the Scriptural references as then when I go back over my diary I have to look them up and they never cease to amaze me again!!

All the very best to you in your search for companionship with God and His Most Holy Mother.
 
Psalm 37:4-5:
I got away from reading the night prayer because I actually found myself not wanting to because the gospel portion was the same every night, and the choices for the antiphons were the same and it was unfortunately beginning to feel “stale” to me. I stopped the night prayer, and now I don’t know how to get back into it.
Click to expand...
Try and remember that one of the most important pieces in the Night Prayer is the Examination of Conscience. The entire thrust of Night Prayer is handing yourself over to the Almighty as you set your body to rest. Once you realise this you will understand that you are actually preparing yourself for death if it should come during the night. I know it a morbid thought :obut an examination of conscience has always been endorsed by the early Church Fathers and is a very necessary part of ones Spiritual development and of one’s day.

If you are a daily communicant then the Canticle of Simeon has extra ordinary importance for you! You are getting the opportunity to give God thanks once again for having set eyes on him veiled in the Host. Just as Simeon laid eyes on the Christ child and gave God thanks for the fulfilment of a promise so we should give him thanks for the fulfilment of the New Covenant.
Psalm 37:4-5:
Can anyone tell me what page we’re on 🙂 ha. I have the long version Divine Office/ Liturgy of the Hours by the Catholic Book Publishing Co 1975, if that helps. Links?
Click to expand...
The Office of today can be viewed here: prayday.com/A55691/web2/groupprayer.nsf
 
40.png
Fergal:
The late Holy Father John Paul II always had a jotter and a pen when he was in front of the Blessed Sacrament as did Archbishop Fulton Sheen during his daily holy hour.

You are right don’t interupt your reading. I would advise that you by all means read through first then revisit those parts that spoke to you when you have finished reading and jot them down. A simple page number reference or scriptural reference is enough such as Mat 6:23 etc.

In fact I love to write only the Scriptural references as then when I go back over my diary I have to look them up and they never cease to amaze me again!!

All the very best to you in your search for companionship with God and His Most Holy Mother.
Click to expand...
Thanks ever so much for your suggestions! I try very hard not to let my mind wander (funny how it manages that all on its own). I think a “spiritual diary” is a wonderful idea. Right now I have a bulletin board where I have all kinds of quotes. It’s pretty full and I soon need to get another, or start my spiritual diary.
Thanks!
~ Kathy ~
 
Psalm 37:4-5:
I’m good with the parts that follow the church season/weeks but I’m confused with the other parts that go by Week I, II, III, and IV… how do we know which week we are in there?
Click to expand...
What I do when I get confused like this is go out to the Liturgy of the Hours web site which was posted a few entries up, find what Psalms and Canitcle they are using for Morning Prayer, then go to my book and find the week that matches. So if it is Tuesday, I will check Tuesday for all 4 weeks until I find where they match, then I know I’m on track.

There is also an ordo you can buy from the Daughter’s of St. Paul.
 
Psalm 37:4-5:
I’m good with the parts that follow the church season/weeks but I’m confused with the other parts that go by Week I, II, III, and IV… how do we know which week we are in there?
Click to expand...
A Priest friend told me once that there is a simple way to remember what week we are on in the LOTH.

Take the week in the Church calendar and divide it by four. The remainder is the week we are on!!

For example take this week. This is the 13th week in Ordinary Time on the Church calendar. If you divide it by 4 you get a remainder of 1. So we are on Psalter Week 1.

Simple eh?? 👍
 
40.png
Fergal:
If you are a daily communicant then the Canticle of Simeon has extra ordinary importance for you! You are getting the opportunity to give God thanks once again for having set eyes on him veiled in the Host. Just as Simeon laid eyes on the Christ child and gave God thanks for the fulfilment of a promise so we should give him thanks for the fulfilment of the New Covenant.
Click to expand...
Fergal,

That is a beautiful thought. Thanks so much for sharing it. It gives new meaning to the Night Prayer.

God Bless,
Gary
 
40.png
puzzleannie:
Fergal’s advice is great.
I had a great deal of trouble until, on my brother’s advice, I started praying out loud, since psalms are songs and poetry, meant to be read out loud like all poetry. This has really helped my concentration. I also stand at the proper time, and bow for the Glory Be. the changes in posture also help. also I used to blow over the hymn because I felt funny singing, but now I sing it also.
Click to expand...
Puzzleannie,

Where can I go to learn about the proper posture for the LOTH? I have heard this mentioned before, but I’ve never seen the actual instructions for sitting, standing, etc.

God Bless,
Gary
 
Thanks so much for all the suggestions and advice. The link is helpful, and the math problem is too - ha. Also, thanks for the reminder about the Examination of Conscience and the Canticle of Simeon… this will help me a lot 🙂
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top