How to pray the Liturgy of the Hours?

[damooster]

I bought the *Christian Prayer *(one volume book containing the Morning and Evening prayers of the Divine Office) yesterday and I have no idea how to properly pray. It came with the St. Joseph’s Guide, but that pretty much just tells you what page to find the prayers.

I’m specifically looking for help determining the proper order to say the prayers and when am I supposed to stand, sit etc (I will be praying the Morning prayers at the parish before Mass).

Thank you.

 

[George_Craft]

I’m not sure of the proper postures to pray the Divine Offices, but this site has the daily prayers for the office of readings, lauds, vespers and compline.

What’s really nice is that each days prayers are listed with a calendar at the bottom of the page for ease of finding the prayers for a particular day.

 

[Spirithound]

In the table of contents you will find a section called the Ordinary. This is the template you will use to pray the LOTH.

In the Ordinary, you will find a short opening rite, followed by the Glory Be.

Right now, in Ordinary Time, you will be using the Psalter for most of the rest of the Liturgy. It contains Antiphons and Psalms to pray. Pray through what you find in the Psalter. Today is the Friday of Week 2.

At the end, you turn back to the Ordinary for a closing rite.

There’s a little more on Sundays, but you will see instructions as you go along.

Peace

 

[tee_eff_em]

Regarding postures: If you are praying privately, you may adopt whatever you find comfortable and appropriate (as far as I know).

When celebrated in common, the *General Instruction of the Liturgy of the Hours *says:
263. All taking part stand during:

• 
  *]the introduction to the office and the introductory verses of each hour;
  *]the hymn;
  *]the gospel canticle;
  *]the intercessions, the Lord’s Prayer, and the concluding prayer.
  1. All sit to listen to the readings, except the gospel.
  2. The assembly either sits or stands, depending on custom, while the psalms
     and other canticles (with their antiphons) are being said.
  tee

 

[rpp]

I pray the Liturgy of the Hours. However, I use the four-volume set. The one-volume Christian Prayer is fine, but there is a bit more page flipping as the antiphons are not repeated. Also, Christian Prayer does not have the Office of Readings. Other than that, it is an excellent way to pary the Divine Office. I sometimes use my Christian Prayer volume especially when I am traveling during those times when I have to change volumes.

I learned to pray LOTH because I attend daily Mass at a convent/retreat house and the sisters pray Morning Prayer just before morning Mass. When I went there on a retreat shortly after my confirmation, they also introduced me to Evening Prayer. It was not long before I got hooked. Of course since these are Franciscan sisters, they pray with the Franciscan supplement and use the Franciscan liturgical calendar. Eventually I found this book, Divine Office for Dodos. Check out this site: divineofficefordodos.com/

I especially love the LOTH because I always know what day on the liturgical calendar it is. For example, today, on the Franciscan calendar is the feast day for St. Veronica Giuliani, a holy nun who suffered the stigmata.

I will add that the sisters say that they like the addition of a deep bass voice to their Morning Prayer. (My voice is particularly deep early in the morning!)

 

[cricket36]

I recently started praying the LOTH. I have the book Christian Prayers but I found it confusing and haven’t figured out how to use it easily. However, I use the Universalis website because it is free and it shows all the hours. Here is the site:

universalis.com/USA.Sunday/-400/n-web.htm

Hope this helps.

 

[rpp]

I recently started praying the LOTH. I have the book Christian Prayers but I found it confusing and haven’t figured out how to use it easily. However, I use the Universalis website because it is free and it shows all the hours. Here is the site:

universalis.com/USA.Sunday/-400/n-web.htm

Hope this helps.

Universalis uses a different translation than the authentic LOTH. Additionally, as it is a Protestant site, it does not follow the proper liturgical calendar.

 

[KarenElissa]

The best directions I’ve found are here. You want the first link. It has directions on what to pray when, with examples, and page numbers for all the major books.

 

[Joe_Kelley]

Universalis uses a different translation than the authentic LOTH. Additionally, as it is a Protestant site, it does not follow the proper liturgical calendar.

I believe that it is Catholic. It offers a variety of calendars. However, it uses different translations and omits some portions due to copyright restrictions. These are not a major problem unless you are under obligation to do the LOTH.

For the full LOTH see Liturgy of the Hours Apostolate. They charge for a subscription, but it is free Friday and Sunday. This lets you see what is different in Universalis and to check the procedures. It is a very good site. I used it while he was setting it up, but decided not to buy it. I use the one volume Christian Prayer and get the
Office of Readings from Universalis.