How to Read the Liturgy of the Hours

[SalesianSDB]

I have the Christian Prayer: The Liturgy of the Hours book published by the Daughters of St. Paul. It is only one volume so I assume that it is the shorter version of the Liturgy of the Hours.

About 7 years ago, a month before my grandfather passed away, he was teaching me how to pray the LOTH. He used his Spanish edition, I used my English edition. He was relatively new to the LOTH but knew how to pray it (though not as an expert). After he passed away I barely prayed it since I never really learned. But now I want to get serious about it.

So here’s my question:
How does one pray the Liturgy of the Hours (shorter version)? Can I have a step by step lesson?
And if possible, where in the Daughters of St. Paul edition can I find what I need to pray?

How do I know what week to pray without buying the $12 book Pauline Press published annually?

These are a lot of questions. My apologies, but I am technically brand new to the LOTH.

 

[agnes_therese]

You might start by visiting www.divineoffice.org. The page numbers it gives for each of the hours won’t match your volume, but it could help you get the overview of how to pray the LoH.

 

[KarenElissa]

This is the best set of directions I’ve found. It has examples, including page numbers to get you started.

 

[Jon_in_the_Nati]

Actually, divineoffice.org does have the page numbers for Christian Prayer, as well as for the relevant volume of the four-volume office.

The site the poster just ahead of me mentioned is a really good one. If you want a guidebook, but don’t want to pay for the one you mentioned, you might try the St. Joseph Guide for Christian Prayer, which is $2/yearly edition and gives you the page numbers for all of the parts. There is also The Divine Office for Dodos, which comes highly recommended and costs ~$4 for a used copy.

One way I learned how to pray (using the 4 volume set) was to spend a week or so praying the offices in front of my computer with divineoffice.org open. I already had a basic knowledge of the structure and setup of the office, so knew what I thought should be recited and I would compare it to the correct version on the website. When I was wrong, I would try to figure out why I was wrong. In this way, I taught myself.

And of course, you can always ask a priest to help you. Remember, priests, deacons and religious are canonically bound to pray the LOTH, so they know how to do it, but I find many do not talk about it because they assume lay people will not be interested. Whatever method you choose, rest assured that after a week or two it really will become second nature and you’ll be praying like a monk.

 

[agnes_therese]

Just to clarify - I know a few people who have the Daughters of St. Paul edition of Christian prayer, and it is a bit different than the one-volume you usually see. But I should have said the page numbers may not match.

Divineoffice.org also has various mobile apps. It’s not free, but for someone who has a tablet (or smartphone, if your eyes are better than mine), and isn’t locked into having a physical book, it’s quite nice. And roughly 1/10th the cost of the 4-volume in books.

Actually, divineoffice.org does have the page numbers for Christian Prayer, as well as for the relevant volume of the four-volume office.

The site the poster just ahead of me mentioned is a really good one. If you want a guidebook, but don’t want to pay for the one you mentioned, you might try the St. Joseph Guide for Christian Prayer, which is $2/yearly edition and gives you the page numbers for all of the parts. There is also The Divine Office for Dodos, which comes highly recommended and costs ~$4 for a used copy.

One way I learned how to pray (using the 4 volume set) was to spend a week or so praying the offices in front of my computer with divineoffice.org open. I already had a basic knowledge of the structure and setup of the office, so knew what I thought should be recited and I would compare it to the correct version on the website. When I was wrong, I would try to figure out why I was wrong. In this way, I taught myself.

And of course, you can always ask a priest to help you. Remember, priests, deacons and religious are canonically bound to pray the LOTH, so they know how to do it, but I find many do not talk about it because they assume lay people will not be interested. Whatever method you choose, rest assured that after a week or two it really will become second nature and you’ll be praying like a monk.