Are there people who have written or spoken about this? Why isn't the Liturgy of the Hours more common among lay people?

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angel12 said:
Yes, I know. I’ve prayed it regularly for decades.
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I’ve been praying it for about 17 years, since when I entered oblate formation in February 2002. I started a few months before entering formation, in 2001. Now that I am retired, especially in winter I can pray the Monastic Office of my abbey, all 7 canonical hours, all the psalms every week, all sung, no omission of imprecatory psalms or verses.

That’s probably wayyy over the top for most folks, but I have received quite a number of graces through the Office, especially in tough times.

I do cut back a bit in summer, to one mid-day hour, Matins over two weeks instead one, and shorter readings at Matins (as prescribed in the Rule of St. Benedict for the summer), and often use the Roman Office as well. I think the Roman Office (i.e. the Liturgy of the Hours) is great for the vast majority of Catholics and I wish it were prayed by more Catholics, and prayed in community in parishes more often. It’s something the laity can do, it is not necessary for a cleric to preside, it would be great if lay groups could gather in church or another suitable location to pray the LOTH.
 
I’ve prayed LOTH off and on (mostly off) since I first learned about it in college more years ago than I want to admit.

There is a group in our parish that prays it before the early morning Mass and I’ve joined them for the past couple years. I was inspired to join them by something Don Ruggero posted here. The good Don said that praying the Rosary was fine, but praying the LOTH was joining in the universal prayer of the church. So instead of praying the Rosary before Mass, I joined the LOTH group. The interesting thing is that I’ve found time during the rest of the day to pray that Rosary - time that I didn’t seem to have before. God is so good!

It’s been a blessing for me, particularly the aspect of joining with other Catholics throughout the world praying the same prayer that day. It’s much like the Mass in that regard.

I will admit that I have time to do this because of the phase of my life (empty nester)…time that I would not have had when the kids were young.

If you feel called to the LOTH, give it a try! If you’d like to try but your life situation doesn’t allow it, please don’t feel guilty. A time will come (at least it did for me) when life will provide the time.
 
Some ideas I have for encouraging more lay people to pray the Liturgy of the Hours are:
  • Publish the liturgical books with standard music for singing the psalms. With the Grail psalms I think a good standard would be the tunes labelled “Mode Me”. These are tones I14, II10, III12, IV14, V9 and VI11 in the book The Psalms: A New Translation, Singing Version, ISBN 0809116693. This book has a lot more tones, but by using and learning only a few I think there would be greater participation.
  • Encourage all those with an obligation to pray the hours to do so publicly, in churches, at scheduled times.
  • Sing more psalms during the Mass, instead of hymns. (As in The Simple Gradual which has psalms for the entrance, offertory and Communion processions).
  • Encourage more singing of psalms in seminary formation and catechetics.
  • Combine Masses with the Liturgy of the Hours.
  • Broadcast more of the Liturgy of the Hours in places like YouTube and EWTN.
  • Begin with more simplified versions of the Hours. For example, with Night Prayer use one of the Sunday versions every night, as permitted by the General Instruction of the Liturgy of the Hours.
  • Have more emphasis on these liturgical ceremonies at events like retreats and World Youth Day gatherings.
Some books that have written about the Liturgy of the Hours in parishes are:
“More Disputed Questions in the Liturgy” by John Huels, 1996, page 85, the chapter “The Liturgy of the Hours in Parishes” ISBN 1568541716 .
“Morning and Evening: A Parish Celebration” by Joyce Ann Zimmerman, 1996, ISBN 1568541171 .
 
I think it really is lack of knowledge.

I really discovered the LoH while taking courses on liturgy in the early 2000s. We had Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer, Monday to Friday. I fell in love with the practice. To meet the requirements for my courses I had to implement something in my parish and I opted to implement the LoH.

For a year I included articles on the LoH in the bulletin, explained the two hinges of the day. The day we celebrated the first Morning Prayer people left saying, “What prayer? All we did was sing.”

We continued doing weekly Evening Prayer but after about 6 months the only people who would show up were the leader, the reader, and the cantor.
 
Most lay Catholics and even some priests, don’t know what Contemplative Prayer is.

I believe the reasons have to do with a Church that is evolving spiritually all the time and we have access to these forms of prayer, that my grandparents and parents were clueless about.

Jim
 
SMHW said:
The only “problem” is that those who don’t know the routine and come just for Mass can be rather confused.
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That’s a problem at my parish too. One of our deacons has scheduled a discussion/class on the LotH but has been snowed out both times. I think the LotH can be intimidating for someone trying to learn on their own, and classes on morning, evening and night prayer should be held on a regular basis.
 
The Divine Mercy is a relatively new form of prayer in USA. My mother never even heard of it, much less my grands. Yet it’s very popular at a number of parishes I’ve visited. The reasons are it’s easy to learn, doesn’t require special equipment except a rosary which everybody has or can get, and it doesn’t take long to say.

Bible or scripture studies are also pretty popular. All they require is a Bible or even just a free prayer book with a few verses a day. Again, easy and doesn’t take long to say.
 
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Have you seen the Mundelein Psalter? I think that accomplishes what you’re talking about. I have a copy but I’m embarrassed to use it when anyone is around!
 
0Scarlett_nidiyilii said:
Maybe because the book(s) are expensive?
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I bought my 4-volume set on eBay for about $80. A person could also build the 4-volume set over time by buying the books separately. I don’t think there are any issues with versions looking different - the print in my 1970’s books are identical to my wife’s books that I bought her new last year.
 
MikeInVA said:
Mundelein Psalter
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Yes, I have looked at a copy in the library at the Australian Catholic University in Melbourne.

I think it has a reciting note, then special notes at the end of each line.

I think the Gelineau tones for the Grail psalms would be better for group singing because there is a regular beat. (These are in the book I referred to above – The Psalms: A New Translation, Singing Version, ISBN 0809116693 ). A large group can stay together at 60 beats per minute.

The United States of America edition of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal, n. 48 has as an option for the entrance in n. 48: “(3) a chant from another collection of Psalms and antiphons, approved by the Conference of Bishops or the Diocesan Bishop, including Psalms arranged in responsorial or metrical forms;”.

A metrical version of the psalter would be another way to make the psalms easier to sing.

[Excerpt from an English translation of the Roman Missal. © 2010 International Commission on English in the Liturgy Corporation. All rights reserved.]
 
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I think there are a few problems that can be identified: a lack of awareness and knowledge of the Divine Office, the misconception that it is reserved for clerics and religious, and varying excuses not to pray it.

Regarding the first issue, most people are plainly not aware of the Divine Office, much less understand it. This is simply fixed by talking to people about and explaining the significance of the Office, praying it with them, and encouraging them to pray it by themselves. I have found that most people, then, are more inclined to participate in the Office in some way or another.

Secondly, there is this old fashioned idea still floating around that the Office is meant for clerics and religious. This is not true! They are legally bound to pray it as it is their job to offer to God the divine praises on behalf of their communities, parishes, dioceses, and so on and so forth. Nevertheless, one must remember that the Divine Office is the public prayer of the entire Church, and not the public prayer of priests, much less their private devotional book. The Divine Office has a long history, and it has always been recognized as the prayer that everyone should participate in according to their state of life, whether one looks at the days of the Temple, the primitive Church, or the Middle Ages (which had produced a prolific amount of vernacular “primers” for the laity, that is, books containing devotional offices, most notably the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary).

Lastly, some people do not pray it because they say they do not have the time. I find this hard to believe that anyone can not fit in one Hour, in some modified shape or form, into their lives. It is the sincere desire of the Second Vatican Council and the popes since for the laity to find some place in their spiritual lives for the Liturgy of the Hours, and they would not have made this request if it was well-nigh impossible for the average layman.
 
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Tis_Bearself said:
Laypeople saying the Divine Office is a relatively recent development in the Latin Church
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Well, yes and no. St Therese and her family always prayed the Divine Office.

Thoughout history, there are plenty of Saints who discuss praying the Office when they were lay (if where not lay their whole lives)

I think it really has more to do with literacy. Devotions are easier to memorize. But the Divine Office generally needs to be read (yes, some parts do often get memorized).

Literacy in the West didn’t become a common thing until around the time of Vatican I - and between Vatican I and Vatican II, there were two World Wars, Communism, etc. So the laity really never had the opportunity (in vast numbers) to take part until after Vatican II. But few priests promote it.

So for me, I really think the true reason the laity don’t pray it often is because priests don’t promote it.
 
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I think it’s safe to say the Martin family were not ordinary laypeople. If I remember right, both of St Therese’s parents had struggled with religious vocations that they ended up not being able to pursue, which is likely how they even knew how to say the Office, and they originally planned on a Josephite marriage till the priest talked them out of it. Then they both ended up becoming saints, as did one daughter, with another one on the path to sainthood and several more in religious life. They were very definitely atypical.

Plus in their time there were a significant people who were either illiterate, or had low-level literacy sufficient for basic stuff but not to the level of reading long scriptural prayers.
 
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There have been various points in history, even pre-Vatican II, where parishes in some countries did have Matins or Vespers offered publicly, usually on Sundays and major feasts. I refer here mainly to the modern period; in earlier times public access to the office would have been more widespread due to monastic and collegiate churches dotting the landscape. But in any case, the public praying of the office as part of the fabric of liturgical life in a parish was not unknown at least in some places in the last 200-300 years. Look to the back of an old hand missal and you will find the order of praying Vespers for Sundays and some feasts.
 
True, good points.

But my real point is I think it’s not wide spread because it’s not promoted by priests. Most lay people who attend Church weekly or daily will do it or at least try it if Father says so. But they might be hesitant to try it if Joe Layman says to do it.
 
Venite said:
Lastly, some people do not pray it because they say they do not have the time. I find this hard to believe that anyone can not fit in one Hour, in some modified shape or form, into their lives.
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Indeed, if simply reading the LOTH, without singing, even the major hours shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes if you’re rushed. If you’re not rushed, you can take more time, silences between psalms/after readings, etc. The minor hours even less. The Office of Readings is perhaps the longest. The beauty of the Office is that you can make it take as little time as you need, or as much time as you want. Even when I was commuting 100 km to work each day, I somehow managed to chant Lauds, Vespers and Compline, and read the OOR and mid-day prayer. With the LOTH, chanted Lauds or Vespers would take 20 minutes tops, 25 if I dragged it out. I use Les Heures Grégoriennes when doing the (non-monastic) LOTH, to chant it.
edward_george1 said:
There have been various points in history, even pre-Vatican II, where parishes in some countries did have Matins or Vespers offered publicly, usually on Sundays and major feasts.
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And there is the paradox. When the Office was long, sung, and in Latin, the laity could be exposed to it quite frequently in many places. Now that it is recommended for the laity and has been made shorter and more manageable, good luck finding a parish where it is prayed in public. There are a few places here and there, and if you live in a large enough city there are religious communities that pray it and allow the public to attend. And this, even though the Church especially recommends the public celebration of Vespers on just the occasions you note. I actually think Vespers in the LOTH is too short for public celebration. It hardly seems worth one’s while to trudge to the local church for a 20-minute Office. Perhaps the Church should encourage borrowing from tradition by using Monastic sung Vespers on Sundays. It would be the same psalms every Sunday (109, 110, 111, 112 in the Vulgate numbering) so eventually folks would become familiar with the tones and there would still be some variety (seasonal Magnificat antiphons and different ones for feasts as well). Such an Office is usually about 35 minutes in a monastery, maybe 40 if incense is used and the solemn Magnificat tones used.

I doubt if there hadn’t been a monastery nearby, that I would have discovered it, since it flies so low under the radar in most places. Pity.
 
I gave it a shot doing the complete Office for three straight months.

My other daily prayer consists of two rosaries, Legion of Mary Tessera, a Divine Mercy chaplet, my own morning, day, evening prayer regime, in addition to the LotH. I get to mass about five days a week, as well.

Frankly, I was getting burnt out, and constantly playing “catch up” with the office, because I was somewhere doing something else at the appointed time, and that was stressing me out. Soooooo, I cut back to just doing Lauds, Vespers, and sometimes Compline (because it relaxes me). I feel a lot better now. Can anyone relate?
 
I can. I never added LotH because I already had taken on too many daily prayers last year and by August I got really behind. I cut it back to just Mass most days, rosary most days, indulgenced work (sometimes can use the rosary but not always) most days, short saint prayers, and playing catch up with Divine Mercy chaplets as I had gotten 80 chaplets behind. I have now gotten it down to about 50 chaplets behind and starting to add back some other prayers. I also have two novenas from December that did not get quite done and I am going to finish them. December was a bad month.

If I have to prioritize a daily prayer I make it the indulgenced work because that can only be done once per day, I can’t double it up.

I’m in no shape right now to take on LotH.

I’m quite convinced the Devil doesn’t like when people pray a lot and will make them ill or try to distract or disrupt them.
 
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