Divine Office options?

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I have been searching for an office to pray (really I just want Lauds/Vespers/Compline but I’ll buy a whole book because sometimes I’ll pray the other ones) but can not find a specific kind that will be best for me. I was wondering if anyone knew of any other options I had not yet considered.
  • Must be a book and not an app (I am absolutely opposed to using a phone or a computer to pray in general, especially first thing in the morning and last thing in the day before bed).
  • The calendar must either be easily adjustable to (easily being there is an existant guide to doing it) or already keyed to the 62 EF.
  • Preferably English-only text (I hate the idea praying in another language than my native one, although due to how annoying this whole office search is I might just be forced to learn latin and begin using a latin-only edition 5 years out from now. This year I’m buying the books to begin learning it).
  • DOES NOT COUNT SUNDAYS AFTER TRINITY.
I looked into the Anglican Breviary, but it counts Sundays after Trinity although other than this it is the most perfect book I’ve seen for this purpose. The Lancelot Andrewes Press monastic diurnal (I’m fine with, even I would prefer a Benedictine Office) also does this, although I am unclear on if it contains in it a guide to keeping with the 62. Farnborough diurnal isn’t English-only, the Baronius office is ridiculously expensive and even if I could afford it I would hate myself for buying it and not giving the money to something better than a prayer book, etc, etc.

Can’t use the LOTH since the calendar is off, the Little Office I do use sometimes although I’d prefer an English-only print.

Are there any other options? Even a fabricated office made just primarily out of the Psalms would be better than these.

Or as a last resort: is there an English-only office that I can just print out and put in a binder?
 
I like the Baronius Press Little Office, but it looks like you’ve got that covered. I just said the English side anyways. I plan on ordering a new copy shortly.

Nice first post.
 
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Why not just go with the official Office of the Church, the Liturgy of the Hours? It’s easy and flexible. You can do all 7 canonical hours if you have time, or just one mid-day prayer. You can use the Office of Readings as Vigils. You can combine it with Lauds into an office of Matins just like it used to be (Lauds would immediately follow Vigils). You can use psalms 4, 90 and 133 every day at Compline and recite it from memory just as was done in monasteries for millennia. There are so many ways that this very modern Office can be used to dip into some very venerable traditions of the Church.

Best of all, it is fully liturgical.

And always remember this very important point: the liturgy isn’t “all about me and my preferences”.
 
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This is true and it would honestly be the easiest option. I would begin with Christian Prayer and then buy the full set, but the problem is the calendar is different from the EF. Not having Septuageisima, differing feast days, and so on. Is there a way to modify it to match the EF calendar? Not having two readings, different Saints on different days, and other chaos that just makes life more difficult.

Also it is approved which is something I’m kind of looking for but have all but given up on. At least as long as I don’t know Latin (praying without being able to also meditate on the words bothers me far too much to just begin praying in latin now, although I do know Saint writings say you don’t have to pray with understanding of the exact words, or any understanding at all for it to be truly prayer and meritorious).
 
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tagtotaloffice said:
Is there a way to modify it to match the EF calendar? Not having two readings, different Saints on different days, and other chaos that just makes life more difficult.
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No. You can’t just charge liturgy like that. The LOTH is not like the rosary where you can pray whatever mysteries you want on any day. The LOTH, as it states in the name, is liturgical. The rosary is not. You have to follow the rubrics for what you’re praying, and trying to pray the Office for Septuagesima Sunday on an OF breviary is a violation of the rubrics for the OF, as you’re supposed to be praying the Office for one of the Sundays of Ordinary Time.
 
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I think part of your problem is that you want to pray in English. The EF Office as well as the pre-Conciliar monastic Office (Monastic Diurnal) must, to be liturgical, be prayed in Latin. You could do as I do with the LOTH: I chant the psalm in Latin but re-read it silently in French afterwards (my mother tongue). It makes for a slow meditative praying of the Office, which increases its length somewhat (about 25 minutes for Lauds, 20-25 for Vespers), and allows one to truly savour each psalm. It is one of the gifts of the modern LOTH.

So you could use the EF Office, learn to pronounce the Latin, recite it in Latin, and quietly take a silent pause to read each psalm in English. It will be quite a bit longer that way though. You can also recite each verse in Latin and then read the English side immediately but I find that distracting. I prefer to chant through in Latin then have a silent pause to read in French.

Otherwise if you want an English Office other than the LOTH you are pretty much stuck with the Ordinariate Office though I’m not at all familiar with it.

Lastly, concerning the Monastic Diurnal, unless you are a Benedictine (religious or oblate) it’s doubtful it is the appropriate liturgical Office for a layperson to pray. As an Oblate I can and do use the Monastic Office from time to time but as my abbey is an OF abbey, I use the post-conciliar schema they use (Schema B, all 150 psalms in a week). The original Benedictine Office (that of the Monastic Diurnal plus Vigils) does exist in an adapted post-Conciliar form, but only in Latin or Latin with vernacular alongside.

This all, of course, assumes you want your recitation to be liturgical as opposed to a private devotion. For the latter you can “do your own thing” but it ceases to be liturgy.
 
This is an option, I’ll try it today with an office. It’ll also help learn the language, etc. Thank you, I didn’t even think of this. 🤦‍♂️
 
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