Dealing with Prayer Interruptions - Liturgy of the Hours/Divine Office

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Quick question regarding dealing with interruptions when praying the liturgy of the hours.

Sometimes I pray the Liturgy of the Hours/Divine Office at home or at Church before the Mass starts. Sometimes, my prayers are interrupted at home when I have to attend to unforseen family chores. In other times, the Mass at church starts when I haven’t quite finished the prayer.

Does anyone know what I ought to do in these situations? Let’s say I was praying the Evening Prayer and I have finished praying all of the psalms but was interrupted before the “Our Father” part. Do I come back to finish off the remaining portion after? Or do I have to pray the whole prayer over again?
 
If you are interrupted in the middle of the Divine Office, just go back and pick up where you left off. So, if you are interrupted before reciting the Pater Noster in Compline, then go back when you are free again and begin at the Pater Noster. I am not familiar with the rubrics of the Divine Office, but there is no such rubric in the Little Office of the BVM that indicate the hours must be said continuously with no interruptions (as far as I know) so I presume no such rubric exists for the Divine Office either.
 
It kinda depends on where I was and how long the interruption lasted. Normally I’d just pick up where I left off, but if I was just at the 1st or 2nd psalm and left off for an hour plus I’d likely just start from the beginning.

Since it’s a liturgical act, I would say that it is envisioned that the office is completed in a contiguous unit, but I’ve never seen anything in the rubrics or instructions that say you cannot break off and resume later.
 
Charity takes precedence. If it has been too long I rejoin the church, that is the hour everyone else would be at.

Peace
 
When I was a postulant in a Benedictine monastery, the sisters told me and my fellow postulant how one of the old nuns had died suddenly in the middle of First Vespers of Christmas (prayed early evening on Christmas Eve). The sisters had just sung the antiphon for one of the Psalms, and then Sister X collapsed and died, God rest her soul.

One of the sisters administered CPR, emergency help was called in, and eventually Sister X was taken away. Not sure when she actually declared dead, but the disruption took probably 30 - 60 minutes.

After their sister was taken away, the rest of the community picked up their books and finished from exactly where they’d left off.

The nuns are bound by their vows to pray the Divine Office. The prioress could have allowed each nun to complete Vespers privately, but they opted to complete it as a community.

Just one example of an interruption and the choice to pick up where you left off. Well, it is rather extreme, but there you have it. 😊
 
Confiteor_Deo said:
If you are interrupted in the middle of the Divine Office, just go back and pick up where you left off. So, if you are interrupted before reciting the Pater Noster in Compline, then go back when you are free again and begin at the Pater Noster. I am not familiar with the rubrics of the Divine Office, but there is no such rubric in the Little Office of the BVM that indicate the hours must be said continuously with no interruptions (as far as I know) so I presume no such rubric exists for the Divine Office either.
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There is no Pater Noster for Compline. You might be referring to Lauds or Vespers.

If I am in the middle of an hour and I am called for chores, I continue on with my prayer while doing chores.
 
GoGoDiego said:
There is no Pater Noster for Compline. You might be referring to Lauds or Vespers.

If I am in the middle of an hour and I am called for chores, I continue on with my prayer while doing chores.
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There is, in secreto, with the monastic rubrics that I use. In community the cantor intones “Pater noster”, then the rest is said in silence until the cantor intones “et ne nos inducas in tentationem” to which all respond “sed libera nos a malo”. In private, I just recite it in secreto.
 
GoGoDiego said:
There is no Pater Noster for Compline. You might be referring to Lauds or Vespers.
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I see. Apparently there is only a Pater Noster in the Compline of the traditional Divine Office. I am not familiar with the new Divine Office so I just based it off of the traditional one.
 
Confiteor_Deo said:
I see. Apparently there is only a Pater Noster in the Compline of the traditional Divine Office. I am not familiar with the new Divine Office so I just based it off of the traditional one.
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No, as I pointed out above also in the current monastic Divine Office. Which in fact, even in its modern version, is the only “traditional” Divine Office as its basic structure is 1500 years old. The 1960 Roman Breviary is not traditional. It is modern, and its basic schema was promulgated in 1910.

In fact, Compline in particular is very far from tradition in the 1960 breviary. Compare the psalters of the Pius V breviary (16th century), the monastic Breviary (6th century) and the 1960 breviary:

Monastic: Ps, 4, 90 and 133 every day.
Pius V: Ps. 4, 30, 90 and 133 every day.
1910-1970:

Sun: 4 90 133
Mon: 6 7 7
Tues: 11 12 15
Wed: 33 33 60
Thurs: 69 70 70
Fri: 76 76 85
Sun (after first Vespers): 87 102 102

The repetition for the Monastic and early Roman Offices was part of another beautiful tradition: reciting Compline from memory every night in a dark church lit, if at all, only by candlelight.
 
OraLabora said:
No, as I pointed out above also in the current monastic Divine Office. Which in fact, even in its modern version, is the only “traditional” Divine Office as its basic structure is 1500 years old. The 1960 Roman Breviary is not traditional. It is modern, and its basic schema was promulgated in 1910.

In fact, Compline in particular is very far from tradition in the 1960 breviary. Compare the psalters of the Pius V breviary (16th century), the monastic Breviary (6th century) and the 1960 breviary:

Monastic: Ps, 4, 90 and 133 every day.
Pius V: Ps. 4, 30, 90 and 133 every day.
1910-1970:

Sun: 4 90 133
Mon: 6 7 7
Tues: 11 12 15
Wed: 33 33 60
Thurs: 69 70 70
Fri: 76 76 85
Sun (after first Vespers): 87 102 102

The repetition for the Monastic and early Roman Offices was part of another beautiful tradition: reciting Compline from memory every night in a dark church lit, if at all, only by candlelight.
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My apologies, I didn’t read your post when I responded to GoGoDiego. I think, however, that the 1960 Breviary is still considered traditional, at least in relation to the new Divine Office, despite it being rather young when compared to your Divine Office. When I said “traditional Divine Office”, I was including the Trident 1570 Breviary. I suppose I could have made that more clear.
 
Confiteor_Deo said:
My apologies, I didn’t read your post when I responded to GoGoDiego. I think, however, that the 1960 Breviary is still considered traditional, at least in relation to the new Divine Office, despite it being rather young when compared to your Divine Office. When I said “traditional Divine Office”, I was including the Trident 1570 Breviary. I suppose I could have made that more clear.
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Nope, 1910 isn’t even close, and was every bit as controversial in its time compared to 1970. For one, it played total havoc with the antiphonary. For another, too may venerable traditions were broken. Compline is one example, Lauds is another. Some mistakenly label it “traditional” but it isn’t. The 1570 breviary is no longer in licit use so I don’t generally include it other than to illustrate the changes in 1910.

What the 1960 Breviary is, is a licit pre-Vatican II Divine Office sometimes known as the Extraordinary Form (to go along with the Mass it accompanies). I don’t want to imply it isn’t licit. It remains fully so, at least after the 2007 Motu Proprio. It just isn’t traditional, it’s a breviary from a point in history in the Church.

To get us back on topic: if I have to interrupt an Office and it’s a short interruption (answer phone, my wife needs help for a moment), I’ll simply pick up where I left off. If it’s a long interruption (say a pipe breaks in the house and I have to do emergency plumbing), I’ll play abbot and dispense myself 😛
 
OraLabora said:
Nope, 1910 isn’t even close, and was every bit as controversial in its time compared to 1970. For one, it played total havoc with the antiphonary. For another, too may venerable traditions were broken. Compline is one example, Lauds is another. Some mistakenly label it “traditional” but it isn’t. The 1570 breviary is no longer in licit use so I don’t generally include it other than to illustrate the changes in 1910.

What the 1960 Breviary is, is a licit pre-Vatican II Divine Office sometimes known as the Extraordinary Form (to go along with the Mass it accompanies). I don’t want to imply it isn’t licit. It remains fully so, at least after the 2007 Motu Proprio. It just isn’t traditional, it’s a breviary from a point in history in the Church.
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The Superior General of the FSSP referred to the 1961 Breviary as traditional. I don’t see what the big deal is. Your Divine Office might be considered to have more traditions or be older, but that doesn’t mean the 1961 Breviary can’t be called traditional. 🤷
 
Confiteor_Deo said:
The Superior General of the FSSP referred to the 1961 Breviary as traditional. I don’t see what the big deal is. Your Divine Office might be considered to have more traditions or be older, but that doesn’t mean the 1961 Breviary can’t be called traditional. 🤷
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How about we settle on “venerable”?
 
OraLabora said:
There is, in secreto, with the monastic rubrics that I use. In community the cantor intones “Pater noster”, then the rest is said in silence until the cantor intones “et ne nos inducas in tentationem” to which all respond “sed libera nos a malo”. In private, I just recite it in secreto.
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I am referring to the post-1970 (Vatican II) Office and with no distinct rubrics and particular rites whatsoever. And with regard to that, only Lauds and Vespers have Paters.
 
GoGoDiego said:
I am referring to the post-1970 (Vatican II) Office and with no distinct rubrics and particular rites whatsoever. And with regard to that, only Lauds and Vespers have Paters.
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That is correct, but it would be licit to do so if you’re living your life under the Rule of St. Benedict, so I pointed it out as a bit of extra information. I should add that it is always preceded by the Kyrie Eleison, Christe Eleison, Kyrie Eleison.
 
OraLabora said:
Nope, 1910 isn’t even close, and was every bit as controversial in its time compared to 1970. For one, it played total havoc with the antiphonary. For another, too may venerable traditions were broken. Compline is one example, Lauds is another. Some mistakenly label it “traditional” but it isn’t. The 1570 breviary is no longer in licit use so I don’t generally include it other than to illustrate the changes in 1910.

What the 1960 Breviary is, is a licit pre-Vatican II Divine Office sometimes known as the Extraordinary Form (to go along with the Mass it accompanies). I don’t want to imply it isn’t licit. It remains fully so, at least after the 2007 Motu Proprio. It just isn’t traditional, it’s a breviary from a point in history in the Church.

To get us back on topic: if I have to interrupt an Office and it’s a short interruption (answer phone, my wife needs help for a moment), I’ll simply pick up where I left off. If it’s a long interruption (say a pipe breaks in the house and I have to do emergency plumbing), I’ll play abbot and dispense myself 😛
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I suppose you could use the crosier for making a bend in the pipe… 😛
 
Confiteor_Deo said:
I agree that venerable would be a good term to use, but I prefer to call it traditional. You can prefer whichever term, it doesn’t matter to me.
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So something that lasted 9 years, and only started 55 years ago is traditional? Yes, one can call something anything they want, but there generally seems to be some agreement among linguists that the use of the word implies some anchor points to distinguish it from something else; thus whose tradition? Someone who had used the 1910 version would likely not refer to it as traditional, as the prior version certainly had more time in place; and the fact that it was around for only 9 years seems to imply that the moniker “traditional” has far less to do with any tradition than it does as some sort of badge of honor or means of separating oneself off from others, as in “I use the “traditional” Office.”

Just sayin’.
 
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