Do you pray The Liturgy of the Hours?

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Hi, I try my best to recite the LOTH, however I do not keep the hours at regular intervals (because I am laity and sometimes lazy). Also, I work crazy hours in a shift work environment and am too busy at times. If I miss Morning prayer, I will recite both morning prayer and daytime prayer and noon hours, time permitting. There are times I recite everything (office of readings/morning prayer/daytime prayer/evening prayer) all at once in the evening beause I had no time during the day. When I know I will not have time at night, I will recite everything in the morning. I know this may not be the best way for everyone, but if I have the time, I would rather recite what I missed earlier in the day. Most recommend that if you missed an hour, just continue with the proper reading when the next hour comes. When I am working the night shift and get home in the morning, I may be reciting night prayers when I should be reciting morning. If I recite morning prayers during the night for example, I am comforted that somewhere in the world, it is morning.

Here are some links I that really helped me when I started out!!! some of the links have been posted already.

prayer.rosaryshop.com/discoveringPrayer.pdf This is an easy read and I highly recommend this for newbies. The manual is free but make a donation if you can.

divineoffice.org/
feeds2.feedburner.com/praystationportable
On these sites, you can listen to the LOTH and follow along with your book.

universalis.com/ The site is free, has readings and “liturgical calendar”. A great guide to use with your LOTH book.

rosaryshop.com/calendar.php?year=this Liturgical Calendar

catholicliturgy.com/index.cfm/FuseAction/DocumentContents/Index/2/SubIndex/39/DocumentIndex/2 genral instruciton on LOTH. For advanced users who need explicit rules.

Hope all the links for for you, ciao and God Bless All.
 
whatevergirl said:
*What did you think of the magnificat? I went to magnificat conferences in pittsburgh, and they were very moving, but something about them…something, i can’t put my finger on. *

I appreciate your reply, annie…you’ve given me much to go on…thank you!
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I never heard of the conferences, are they put on by the folks who publish the magazine? I mean the magazine that is about half the size of reader’s digest, has daily Mass readings, a shorter morning and evening prayer, a saint for each day, and a meditation, and some short articles on seasonal topics, and great art work on the cover. for someone who just wants to start the regular habit I think it is a great place to start, affordable, about $38 a year I think, compared to similar publications, and as I say great for travel (I travel light). personally I found forming the habit of regular morning and evening prayer at set hours was even more important than what psalms I prayed on which day. Once the habit was formed, I found it much easier to slip into the actual LOTH. STarting from scratch, trying to form a regular formal prayer habit, plus learn the complexity of the LOTH with the seasonal propers etc, can be so intimidating that the whole idea gets lost and we are back to square one.
 
whatevergirl said:
There are prayer study books that accompany the liturgy prayer books for beginners. If I don’t see anything on amazon, I’m planning to buy it from www.catholiccompany.com

Secular Franciscans, what would you be doing in this group? That sounds interesting.
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There is a small compaignion to liturgy of the hours but I don’t have it. I am not sure what the chapter of Secular Franciscans will be doing for sure. Sunday is a come and see meeting for me. They do however pray the liturgy of the hours and some of them have taken certain vows. Every chapter is different. It will be a while before I can take my classes to become a member Right now it is just getting to know what is done at our chapter
 
puzzleannie said:
I never heard of the conferences, are they put on by the folks who publish the magazine? I mean the magazine that is about half the size of reader’s digest, has daily Mass readings, a shorter morning and evening prayer, a saint for each day, and a meditation, and some short articles on seasonal topics, and great art work on the cover. for someone who just wants to start the regular habit I think it is a great place to start, affordable, about $38 a year I think, compared to similar publications, and as I say great for travel (I travel light). personally I found forming the habit of regular morning and evening prayer at set hours was even more important than what psalms I prayed on which day. Once the habit was formed, I found it much easier to slip into the actual LOTH. STarting from scratch, trying to form a regular formal prayer habit, plus learn the complexity of the LOTH with the seasonal propers etc, can be so intimidating that the whole idea gets lost and we are back to square one.
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Hi annie-I’ll have to look for the website…basically, when I went to these conferences in Pittsburgh, it was run by a woman and a few others…and a breakfast was involved, she told a lot of uplifting stories…and we prayed throughout. The only thing I disliked was a basket went around several times for people to put money in, and the breakfast/seminar cost money…you had to pay for a ticket…like $30. I get the basket going around one time, not several. But, other than that, it was a great experience…let me find the site.
 
whatevergirl said:
oh thank you! do you have a link by chance…where to buy online?
I read through this thread, and I have much to take in…I’m so excited. You know the Catholic faith is like an endless gift. Everyday, I open up something new. :love:
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The link to Catholic Book Publishing Company, which is the publisher of the St. Joseph Guide, is catholicbookpublishing.com/ShowProduct.aspx?ProductID=311&DepartmentID=11&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1. They price the Guide at $2.75 plus $3.00 shipping. Be careful to choose the edition that goes with your one or four-volume set, depending on which you use.

The Guide is also available from Amazon.com (just type in “St. Joseph Guide” into the search box). The lowest price I saw was $0.82 + 3.95 shipping.

Almost every store that carries the one- or four-volume LOH carries these guides. They cover one year, so you need to buy a new one each year if you rely on them. I think they’re well worth the price. I buy mine from the local Pauline Book Store.
 
I’ve been praying the LOTH for several years now. I started with the one volume Christian Prayer and transitioned to the full 4 volume set a couple years ago. I absolutely love it and could not imagine going a day without praying it. I travel quite a bit in my job and will pray on the plane or in airport terminals between flights. I think it also presents a good witness to those around me in the airports. It takes some time and effort to get the hang of it, but once you do, it just naturally becomes a part of your day, like breathing.

Peace!
 
I’ve been praying the Office for years too, using various forms:
  • the four-volume set,
  • Shorter Morning and Evening Prayer,
  • or that little prayer book from the Confraternity of the Precious Blood (My Daily Psalm Book) (scroll down the page),
  • and most recently, Magnificat. I love that one because it has Morning Prayer (an abbreviated form of the Office), the Daily Mass, a Daily Meditation, a Saint for the Day, and Evening Prayer, along with beautiful artwork with stories about it, and other treasures.
For instructions on praying the Hours, try this short little booklet from the Daughters of St. Paul: How to pray the Liturgy of the Hours by By Judith Kubicki, CSSF.

And I do believe Magnificat is affiliated with the women’s group, Magnificat. It mentions that on the back cover or somewhere. I used to work with a woman who was in Magnificat and I went to some of their events. Nothing wrong with 'em that I know of. No surprise that they have to raise money to pay for their events. They do have to pay to get speakers from all over the country and also for food and a hall and all that. Why shouldn’t they charge?
 
I got Shorter Christian Prayer, but all the sections are so confusing! And the instructions aren’t very easy to follow… can anyone give a short rundown on how this works? 🙂
 
The Christian Prayer I got included a booklet on what to pray at what hours and had inserts that contained invitary psalms and Te Deum
 
Hmm, I sort of got the idea of how the Psalters work, but how do I pray those along with the Propers for the day? Also, in the Psalters, it starts with Sunday Evening… what happened to Sunday Morning? Does it skip Sunday Morning because of Mass?
 
Jenny_Z said:
I got Shorter Christian Prayer, but all the sections are so confusing! And the instructions aren’t very easy to follow… can anyone give a short rundown on how this works? 🙂
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Go here and use the first link. It is how I learned and is wonderfully helpful! You can use it for any of the books, it includes page numbers for all of them.
 
MadCow1024 said:
I try to pray Lauds and Vespers each day. I use the single volume Christian Prayer, which is under $30 if it is purchased from Amazon. The current year of the St. Joseph’s guide was included when I purchased it. I have not purchased the guide for this year. I use the guide at the St. Thomas More House of Prayer for current page numbers for those prayers when I need them.

liturgyofthehours.org/

This site also has a tutorial for praying vespers and has links to the SQPN Pray Station Portable if you want to hear the morning and evening prayers for a day.

I’m will PM you a link to an online source for the St. Joseph’s Guide for Christian Prayer for 2009.
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That is such a neat site…thank you…I wish I could go there for a retreat, it looks so calming and inviting. *
 
I was lucky enough to be given the four-volume set just befpre Lent as an early birthday present. My sleep schedule never has me up early enough for Morning Prayer, but sometimes I say it when I wake up anyways :o

Having the Office of Readings included has been such a blessing - actually it has become my favourite hour (are we supposed to have a favourite hour?!).

For those intimidated by the four-volume set, don’t be! Other than praying Vespers a few times in my life, this is the first exposure to the Liturgy of the Hours that I’ve had, and it really isn’t as complicated as it looks. As long as you use your St. Joseph guide for the year and get your ribbons in place, there isn’t much jumping around. No, I’d say the most challenging part is getting into a rhythm with the hours - making them a part of your day.

I’m still working on it!
 
*Is waking up very early, a requirement to praying the LOTH? 😊😃

I was wondering too, if these are contained on dvd/cd somewhere? (not youtube) I might have to explore that…that would be great!*
 
mattkubes said:
I was lucky enough to be given the four-volume set just befpre Lent as an early birthday present. My sleep schedule never has me up early enough for Morning Prayer, but sometimes I say it when I wake up anyways :o
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Ya, I’m usually up to say Morning Prayer at more or less the right time, but I can’t say Evening Prayer until almost 9pm during the week. I don’t get off work until 8 and then have to drive home. I figure I’m not obligated to say it for any reason and God understands my crazy work schedule. 😃
 
KarenElissa said:
Ya, I’m usually up to say Morning Prayer at more or less the right time, but I can’t say Evening Prayer until almost 9pm during the week. I don’t get off work until 8 and then have to drive home. I figure I’m not obligated to say it for any reason and God understands my crazy work schedule. 😃
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Yep, I think what matters most is that you’re praying the hours! And I have to admit, I’ve had my Night Prayer go (and maybe start) a little past midnight before…but I figure a short drive to the West would have me praying it at the right time, and God isn’t limited to time zones denial :o
 
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