Help me to learn to pray the LOTH

[ribbit]

Porthos and Mercygate, thanks for the relies. I learn best if I repeat back what I’m told, so…

For daytime prayer, if there is only one antiphon given per hour which sometimes occurs during Advent, Lent, and Easter and the Office for the dead, the procedure is:

Antiphon
psalm 1
glory be

pause

psalm 2
glory be

pause

psalm 3
glory be
antiphon from above

Correct?

Thanks

Also, about those memorials again…

Okay, so if I am a member of, say, St. Rita’s, then I would celebrate her memorial as a feast and use the commons, correct? Do I also do that if I don’t go to St. Rita’s, but St. Rita is my patron saint? Do the memorials in the “Proper Calender of the Dioceses of the USA” (found in the red supplement) get ‘upgraded’ as well?

 

[porthos11]

Porthos and Mercygate, thanks for the relies. I learn best if I repeat back what I’m told, so…

For daytime prayer, if there is only one antiphon given per hour which sometimes occurs during Advent, Lent, and Easter and the Office for the dead, the procedure is:

Antiphon
psalm 1
glory be

pause

psalm 2
glory be

pause

pslam3
glory be
antiphon from above

Correct?

Thanks

Yes, that’s the way it goes.

 

[porthos11]

Also, about those memorials again…

Okay, so if I am a member of, say, St. Rita’s, then I would celebrate her memorial as a feast and use the commons, correct?

Say St. Rita’s Parish? Yes, you would upgrade your memorial to that of Solemnity, and you say everything from Proper and Common.

Do I also do that if I don’t go to St. Rita’s, but St. Rita is my patron saint?

You may, provided it doesn’t conflict with that of an obligatory memorial, feast, or solemnity.

In the case of St. Rita, she falls on May 22, and there’s no Saint on the Calendar, and it is outside of Lent.

Do the memorials in the “Proper Calender of the Dioceses of the USA” (found in the red supplement) get ‘upgraded’ as well?

This part I don’t understand. What do they have to do with St. Rita?

 

[Gregor]

I attend the Church of Saint Andrew. Do I observe the Feast of Saint Andrew as a Feast or as a Solemnity?

 

[mercygate]

I attend the Church of Saint Andrew. Do I observe the Feast of Saint Andrew as a Feast or as a Solemnity?

Why don’t you ask management? We have Carmelite churches all over the area. I don’t know a single one that celebrates the Feast of Elijah (said to be the founder of the Carmelites) as any kind of feast or solemnity.

Are you St. Andrew the Apostle?

The Church where I attend Mass on weekdays, St. Thomas More, was dedicated on the Feast of St. John Lateran, so they celebrated the feast as a Solemnity.

Isn’t this fun?

 

[frank_duff]

Can any one recommend a good commentary on the Psalms?

I have been praying the LOTH for about three years. I started with Shorter Christian Prayer and “graduated” to the full office. What really hooked me was attending Vespers (Evening Prayer II) at a thriving convent, (this will greatly speed learning the LOTH). To here the Office sung as it is intended it like leaving the earth.

Thank you.

 

[ppojawa]

I would start with the catecheses that popes John Paul II and Benedict gave on each of the psalms and canticles of morning and evening prayer.

 

[AlwaysCatholic]

I have found a good commentary that explains the psalms and canticles: The School of Prayer, an introduction to The Divine Office for All Christians.
It has commentary on the psalms etc, used in the LOTH and some instruction in it’s use.

 

[ddeluna]

Question on (Optional) Memorial of St. John Damascene
I’m a little confused on what I’m directed to do from the St. Joe’s guide. For this memorial it says:

OOR
1458 (Common of Doctors)
Ps 715 (Psalter)
Rd 158 & 1212 (Proper of Seasons and Proper of Saints)
Pr 1214 (Proper of Saints)

If all I need is in the Psalter, Proper of Seasons, and Proper of Saints, when and what I’m I praying from the Common?

Then,

MP
1464
Ps 715
Rd 158
Pr 1214

First, for optional memorials I simply use the same rules that apply to obligatory memorials.

I thot the priority order for MP is:

• Invitatory Antiphon:
  First use Memorial, if not there,
  Second, use Common, if not there,
  Third, use Psalter.
• Hymn:
  First use Memorial, if not there,
  Second, use Common
• Psalmody:
  First use Memorial, if not there,
  Second, use Psalter.
• Reading/Responsory:
  First use Memorial, if not there,
  Second, use Common, if not there,
  Third, use Psalter.
• Antiphon for Canticle of Zechariah:
  First use Memorial, if not there,
  Second, use Common, if not there,
  Third, use Psalter.
• Intercessions:
  First use Memorial, if not there,
  Second, use Common, if not there,
  Third, use Psalter.
• Concluding Prayer:
  First use Memorial, if not there,
  Second, use Common

However, the Proper of Seasons has the Reading, Responsory, Antiphon for Cant. of Zech., Intercessions, and I’m directed there anyway after the Psalms.

Of course, the Common has the Reading, Responsory, Antiphon for Cant. of Zech.

So where am I praying from - Proper of Seasons or Common?*

 

[AJV]

Question on (Optional) Memorial of St. John Damascene
I’m a little confused on what I’m directed to do from the St. Joe’s guide. For this memorial it says:

OOR
1458 (Common of Doctors)
Ps 715 (Psalter)
Rd 158 & 1212 (Proper of Seasons and Proper of Saints)
Pr 1214 (Proper of Saints)

If all I need is in the Psalter, Proper of Seasons, and Proper of Saints, when and what I’m I praying from the Common?*

The hymn and if you are preceding it with the Invitatory, the antiphon.

Then,

 

[ddeluna]

I’m a bit confused with this. The page numbers given correspond in my volume to the OOR rather than MP.

You’re right. I see I wrote the wrong page numbers down, but you answered my question nevertheless.

However, for memorials during Advent, before December 17, you may chose between the Proper of Seasons or the Common as long as there are no antiphons, readings, etc. given under the name of the saint in the Proper of Saints. The General Instruction for the LOTH does not impose a preferential order for this.

Just to make sure I’m reading it correctly, the GILH (239) says that from 12/17 thru the end of the Christmas octave and during Lent, during weekdays, obligatory memorials (obligatory or not, I assume?) are not celebrated. Is this why you say, “…before December 17…”?

My practice is, like you, to normally to choose the Common; but, during Advent, I sometimes choose the Proper of Seasons, since the texts will not be repeated until next year. Whereas in Ordinary Time, I choose the Common more frequently because there are many months in which the texts will occur again when the 4 week cycle starts again.

Yes, I make those choices for the same reasons.

Thank you so much for the clarification. I couldn’t seem to find precise direction on this, and you point out that there is none so I’m free to choose. Cool!

 

[AJV]

You’re right. I see I wrote the wrong page numbers down, but you answered my question nevertheless.

Just to make sure I’m reading it correctly, the GILH (239) says that from 12/17 thru the end of the Christmas octave and during Lent, during weekdays, obligatory memorials (obligatory or not, I assume?) are not celebrated. Is this why you say, “…before December 17…”?

Yes. On the 17th we begin the ‘O Antiphon’ days in preparation for Christmas so these Offices are said in their entirety rather than replaced with those of any saint. When celebrating saint sduring that period, you will use both the Common and the Proper of Seasons in the manner outlined by GILH 239.

1. During privileged seasons, if it is desired to celebrate the office of a saint on a day assigned to his or her memorial:

a. in the office of readings, after the patristic reading (with its responsory) from the Proper of Seasons, a proper reading about the saint (with its responsory) may follow, with the concluding prayer of the saint;

b. at morning prayer and evening prayer, the ending of the concluding prayer may be omitted and the saint’s antiphon (from the proper or common) and prayer may be added.

Ave Maria Purissima!

 

[ribbit]

On 12/8, do you say Evening Prayer for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception or EP I for the 2nd Sunday of Advent? Does it matter that my parish is Immaculate Conception? Or that we are in Advent? Thanks.

 

[ppojawa]

On 12/8, do you say Evening Prayer for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception or EP I for the 2nd Sunday of Advent? Does it matter that my parish is Immaculate Conception? Or that we are in Advent? Thanks.

Sundays of Advent trump nearly anything. So we say Evening Prayer I for the 2nd Sunday of Advent.

 

[ddeluna]

You must have been reading my mind. That was a great question on whether to pray EP1 for 2nd Sunday or Advent on Sat. evening or EP2 for Immac. Concept. I was wondering about that too. Thanks.

 

[ddeluna]

Yes. On the 17th we begin the ‘O Antiphon’ days in preparation for Christmas so these Offices are said in their entirety rather than replaced with those of any saint. When celebrating saint sduring that period, you will use both the Common and the Proper of Seasons in the manner outlined by GILH 239.
Ave Maria Purissima!

Excellent. Thanks for that!

Ave Maria Gratia Plena!

 

[ddeluna]

A question about LOTH prayers beginning 12/17

On page 269 just above the heading MONDAY it says:
On the weekdays from Dec. 17 to Dec. 23 inclusive, everything designated for Week III is omitted; invitatory, hymns, readings, responsories, verses, prayers, and the intercessions for Morning and Evening Prayer are said, 318ff.

So this means that I won’t pray from the the Proper of Seasons 4th Week of Advent Monday onward, simply skipping from p. 269 to 318 and ignoring all that’s in between?

 

[mercygate]

A question about LOTH prayers beginning 12/17

On page 269 just above the heading MONDAY it says:
On the weekdays from Dec. 17 to Dec. 23 inclusive, everything designated for Week III is omitted; invitatory, hymns, readings, responsories, verses, prayers, and the intercessions for Morning and Evening Prayer are said, 318ff.

So this means that I won’t pray from the the Proper of Seasons 4th Week of Advent Monday onward, simply skipping from p. 269 to 318 and ignoring all that’s in between?

yup. You catch on quick!

 

[JimR-OCDS]

My wife and myself pray the LOTH together and have been using the Christian Prayers, The Liturgy of the Hours. We always wanted the 4 volume set, but at $135-$145 per set, this would mean spending about $300 for two sets, after shipping and handling.

Well, we were going to bite the bullet and go for it, but God had other plans. My wife had been talking over the internet with a former monk, who is a friend of ours. He told my wife that he had an extra 4 volume set, which a woman had given him. It had belonged to her late husband, and she didn’t know what to to with them, so she donated them to the monk. Well, he told my wife, you can have them. Then, my wife found a website, which had the four volume set for $120. We both received our 4 volume sets this week.

My wife wanted the used set. Ironically, my wife has a devotion to St Theresa the Little Flower. Well. apparently the man that own this 4 volume set also had the devotion. Inside were prayers to St. Theresa, but also a pressed rose.

Praise Jesus!

Jim

 

[mercygate]

My wife and myself pray the LOTH together and have been using the Christian Prayers, The Liturgy of the Hours. We always wanted the 4 volume set, but at $135-$145 per set, this would mean spending about $300 for two sets, after shipping and handling.

Well, we were going to bite the bullet and go for it, but God had other plans. My wife had been talking over the internet with a former monk, who is a friend of ours. He told my wife that he had an extra 4 volume set, which a woman had given him. It had belonged to her late husband, and she didn’t know what to to with them, so she donated them to the monk. Well, he told my wife, you can have them. Then, my wife found a website, which had the four volume set for $120. We both received our 4 volume sets this week.

My wife wanted the used set. Ironically, my wife has a devotion to St Theresa the Little Flower. Well. apparently the man that own this 4 volume set also had the devotion. Inside were prayers to St. Theresa, but also a pressed rose.

Praise Jesus!

Jim

Your wife is fortunate. I, too, wanted a used LOTH but could not find one. I wanted a set that had been baked and frozen in the car, prayed into and maybe been moistened with a few tears. Nobody had one (though I have a Pius X Breviarium Romanum). It really is interesting to see those old holy cards tucked in the pages . . . They tell a lifetime story.

I have a new LOTH but my *Christian Prayer *came out of a Franciscan retirement home. It belonged to a Sister who had prayed it and frayed it!