Evening prayers in LOTH, help please

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Nathan

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Greetings!
I just started praying the liturgy of the hours on Dec 31, 2017, and I have been confused about Evening Prayer I and II. I have read that Evening Prayer I is to be prayed “the morning before” and is “like Saturday mass is to Sunday mass”, but I’m still a bit confused. On days that have both Evening Prayer I and II, on the night before, do I pray both its Evening Prayer (or Evening Prayer II) along with the following day’s Evening Prayer I? Also, if its any help, I am using the one volume Christian Prayer, not the four volume LOTH set.
All responses are greatly appreciated, God bless!
 
If tomorrow is a solemnity with its own proper Evening Prayer I and II, today’s Evening Prayer would be omitted, and Eve. Prayer I gets used tonight; Eve. Prayer II gets used on the actual day.
 
Only Solemnities and Feasts (corrected in edit) have 2 Evening Prayers. Evening Prayer I is prayed on the evening-before the calendar day. Evening Prayer II is prayed on the evening of that calendar day. So no single calendar day has 2 evening prayers.

It helps to first understand how Saturday-Sunday works, then apply it to other days that have 2 evening prayers.

There is no evening prayer for Saturday because the day after is always a Sunday; so Saturday evening gets Evening Prayer I of Sunday, while Sunday gets Evening Prayer II of that same Sunday.

Liturgically, in the Mass and the Hours, Sunday begins on Saturday evening, in keeping with the biblical method of reckoning days. The biblical transition from one day to the next is sunset (not sunrise or midnight). So, in biblical times every day ends and the next one begins at sunset.

In the modern liturgy of the Hours, the prayers are labeled according to our calendar days. So evening prayer of Monday is prayed on Monday evening (Monday in the secular calendar).

Solemnities are the exception, and all Sundays are solemnities. For Solemnities, we still keep the biblical reckoning that the day begins in the evening. That’s what we call the “liturgical day” to distinguish it from the calendar day.

When we have a Solemnity, it begins the evening before the calendar day and that takes the place of whatever would otherwise occur on the calendar day. Meaning: if Thursday is a solemnity, then it begins on Wednesday evening with Evening Prayer I of the solemnity, and at the same time, evening prayer of Wednesday is omitted completely (because it is replaced).

An example;

This year, the Solemnity of St Peter and Paul is Friday, June 29

It falls on Friday of the 12th week of Ordinary Time. However, it completely replaces that day. Even though it will be the 12th week and it will be a Friday, there will be no actual “Friday of the 12th week” celebrated.

On the evening of Thursday, June 28 we will pray Evening Prayer I of Sts Peter & Paul (completely replacing the Thursday evening prayer). Then on Friday, morning prayer of Peter & Paul through to evening prayer II of Peter &Paul. These completely replace the prayers for Friday of the 12th week.

So the liturgical day of “Peter & Paul” has 2 evening prayers, even though the calendar day of Thursday has 1 evening prayer (EP I) and the calendar day of Friday as 1 evening prayer (EP II).
 
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Nathan said:
Greetings!
I just started praying the liturgy of the hours on Dec 31, 2017, and I have been confused about Evening Prayer I and II. I have read that Evening Prayer I is to be prayed “the morning before” and is “like Saturday mass is to Sunday mass”, but I’m still a bit confused. On days that have both Evening Prayer I and II, on the night before, do I pray both its Evening Prayer (or Evening Prayer II) along with the following day’s Evening Prayer I? Also, if its any help, I am using the one volume Christian Prayer, not the four volume LOTH set.
All responses are greatly appreciated, God bless!
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This is a difficult time of year for understanding the calendar. It gets very confusing for the 3 weeks after Christmas. It’s great that you’re praying the Hours, but you could not have chosen a more difficult time to start learning how the liturgical calendar works.

December 31 has its own prayers proper to that day; unless it’s a Sunday, which it is this year, in which case it’s Holy Family. As I said, confusing. But note that there is no evening prayer. Why? because it’s always the day-before January 1, the Solemnity of Mary. So on the evening of Dec. 31, we always pray Evening Prayer I of the Solemnity of Mary.
 
Thank you so much @Arkansan and @FrDavid96, you’ve both helped me understand LOTH so much better. God bless you both 😃
 
Only feasts of our Lord that fall on a Sunday have Evening prayer I and II. Feasts not on a Sunday have only 1 Evening Prayer. So for instance, if the Transfiguration falls on a Sunday, it has EP I and II. If it falls on a weekday, only one EP. Feasts that are not of our Lord never fall on a Sunday, as they are superseded in rank by the Sunday, so they never have more than 1 EP.
 
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