Help with the Christian Prayer brevary

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Gabrielle

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Hi everyone! I just received my copy of Christian Prayer today, and I’m super lost. It comes with a St.Joseph guide, which is nice for finding out what page to go to for prayer, but where do all the ribbons go? How do I know where they go every day? I’m sorry if I ask too many questions, and thanks for the answers!
 
You might find it helpful to sit down in person with someone who prays the LOTH. You can ask your questions and pray together to see the structure of the prayer and how everything fits together.
 
Titivillus said:
Wherever you find them most helpful to go. There is no “right” answer.
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Ah, but this is the right answer! 😉

OP, I could tell you where I place mine, but that may not really help you much… Just keep working on the prayers; you’ll figure out a ribbon system that works for you. Meanwhile, if you have specific page number questions or other issues with the mechanics, consult the Guide or let us know. Several of us frequent LOTH; I personally prefer the Christian Prayer version.
 
Where do the ribbons go? Depends on how many ribbons you have!

Here’s where I place mine:
Purple: Proper of Seasons
Green: Current day in the Psalter
Orange: Night prayer
Blue: Marian Antiphons
Red: Proper of Saints
Gray: Hymns
White: Common of Saints
 
I put mine as follows (no particular order as to colour, but rather, relative ribbon position)

Proper of Seasons
Ordinary
Psalter
Night Prayer
Proper of Saints
Common
Additional Commons (e.g. "who worked for the underprivileged; for teachers; for religious)
Morning hymn
Evening hymn
Proper hymn

If you notice, that’s ten ribbons, rather than the supplied five. That’s because I bought another ribbon set as produced by Catholic Book Publishing Company, and simply inserted it into the spine of the book, giving me ten ribbons.
 
People get extra ribbons? And here I’ve always thought marking pages was what holy cards were for. 🙂
 
SuscipeMeDomine said:
People get extra ribbons? And here I’ve always thought marking pages was what holy cards were for. 🙂
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Ribbons can be easier to manage than holy cards because they are less cumbersome and are less likely to get in the way of the text you are reading.

CBP’s binding allows one to purchase replacement ribbons, or even make one yourself with a strip of strong cardboard, some ribbon, and a glue gun.
 
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SuscipeMeDomine said:
People get extra ribbons? And here I’ve always thought marking pages was what holy cards were for. 🙂
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I bought an extra tab of ribbons after I acquired the Proper Offices of Franciscan Saints and Blesseds (which piggy-backs onto Christian Prayer). I place them:

Proper of Seasons
Ordinary
Psalter
Daytime Prayer
Night Prayer
Hymn
Proper of Saints
Common of Saints
Office of Readings
Franciscan Propers

I have to say, I am not impressed with the CBP ribbon quality, however 🎗️ I’ve only had the book 38 years and they keep snapping off! :roll_eyes:

Yeah, that was sarcasm. Though any time I have occasion to stop by the Catholic store, they tell me how quickly they sell them out of stock.
 
Wow! Thank you so much guys! The guide, the links, and the examples have all been amazing. I’m still pretty lost. Last night I found some YouTube videos, and I attempted to say night and morning prayer, but I am pretty sure I said it all wrong. Either way, I will hopefully be less lost with what you guys have given me. I have the feeling I’ll be coming back soon though 😭! It’s more complicated than I thought!
 
Gabrielle said:
Wow! Thank you so much guys! The guide, the links, and the examples have all been amazing. I’m still pretty lost. Last night I found some YouTube videos, and I attempted to say night and morning prayer, but I am pretty sure I said it all wrong. Either way, I will hopefully be less lost with what you guys have given me. I have the feeling I’ll be coming back soon though 😭! It’s more complicated than I thought!
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If this was Thursday, it would have been straightforward. Everything from the four week Psalter, Thursday Week III.

Today is a bit different because of the Feast. We celebrate the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica, and everything from Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer is from the Common of the Dedication of a Church.
 
It can seem very confusing at first but stick to it… you will get the hang of it (then advent will start and you’ll be confused again…just kidding sort of 😉 ). It is pretty repetitive and actually goes in a nice little rhythm.

You have been given lots of advice, all I’ll add is don’t give up… it is possible to figure it out. It may help, to look at an online app alongside your book to check you are going right for a little while. God bless
 
The ordinary section should give some instruction in how to use the book.

You can start with just the psalter of the day, in the appropriate week and then as you get used to the rhythm and flow of that, begin to add-in the commons of saints and seasons, etc. Honestly i’d really recommend this, because each Hour follows the same pattern every day, and this would let it become intuitive, and give you a better idea of where and how the commons and propers fit in.
 
Todd_Easton said:
It suggests one ribbon in each of following sections: Proper of the Seasons, Ordinary, Psalter, Night Prayer, Proper of Saints.
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I’m not familiar with that website, but it looks good. I’m excited to go through it later.

This is exactly how I set my ribbons up.
In the ordinary, I keep my ribbon on the pages with the Canticle of Mary or Canticle of Zachariah.
In practice though, I cut off the page with the canticles from some old copies of Magnificat magazine, and keep that with the Psalter ribbon instead of flipping to the Ordinary ribbon.
 
Catholic Book Publishing sells a set of cards that help a lot. Card 1 is the canticles, Card 2 is the psalms for feasts and solemnities, I can’t remember what Card 3 does, and Card 4 is an outline of each office.
 
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