I Bought "A Shorter Morning and Evening Prayer" BUT I have no Idea how to Use it?

[mcw013]

Hello Everyone,

This is an update related to my previous thread where I wanted to buy a Breviary. Unfortunately the Breviaries available in shops where I am are way out of my budget, so I settled by buying “A shorter Morning and Evening Prayer” Instead, which was the only similar book within my budget.

I just got home with it (about 2 hours now) and I have absolutely no Idea how to Start reading it. I was expecting more instructions on its use in the book itself. I checked some links on google, but they only confused me more. It seems I need detailed instructions on exactly which pages to use for today, as the whole thing appears alien to me.

I do not even know which day to start using (My current date is Wednesday, 14 November 2012).

I have looked through the book, and It seems that the same 4 sets of prayers are repeated every week.

I would really appreciate some advise on where to start. Thank you.

 

[catholictiger]

I’ve never seen shorter morning and evening prayer, but for a standard breviary this is how you pray it.

you begin the day with the invitatory, “lord open my lips”
then you say the invitatory pslam which is usually found in the ordinary which should be right before the 4 week psalter. You say each stanza of the psalm and then repeat the antiphons. Once you finish them you say the glory be.
after this you sing a hymn
then you say the pslams
each psalm has a antiphon which is said before and after the psalm you say the glory be after each psalm.
after you do the psalms you do the reading.
after the reading you have a brief period of silence then do the responsory
then after this you do the gospel canticle
then intercessions
then the our father
then finish with the closing prayer.

one more thing the prayers for the day should be today’s date, if it only one week then you don’t have to worry about what week it starts in.
I hope this helps.

 

[SonCatcher]

I am going to guess that what you have is basically the 4-week psalter and little else. Basically, follow what CatholicTiger said, only you might not actually have the Invitatory (just open with Morning prayer, if this is the case).

You can look at my previous thread for a simple way to know which week of the psalter we are in. (shortcut: this is the 32[sup]nd[/sup] week in Ordinary Time so you would use the 4[sup]th[/sup] week in the psalter.)

Normally, the Benedictus (canticle of Zechariah) and Magnificat (Canticle of Mary) will be printed only once, so you’ll need to flip pages a couple of times, but the rest of the psalms and prayers you need should be on the day’s page. Sunday antiphons and concluding prayers may be in a section of Propers.

 

[mcw013]

I’ve never seen shorter morning and evening prayer, but for a standard breviary this is how you pray it.

you begin the day with the invitatory, “lord open my lips”
then you say the invitatory pslam which is usually found in the ordinary which should be right before the 4 week psalter. You say each stanza of the psalm and then repeat the antiphons. Once you finish them you say the glory be.
after this you sing a hymn
then you say the pslams
each psalm has a antiphon which is said before and after the psalm you say the glory be after each psalm.
after you do the psalms you do the reading.
after the reading you have a brief period of silence then do the responsory
then after this you do the gospel canticle
then intercessions
then the our father
then finish with the closing prayer.

one more thing the prayers for the day should be today’s date, if it only one week then you don’t have to worry about what week it starts in.
I hope this helps.

Thank you! I am unable to find a Canticle, where should this be?

 

[catholictiger]

Thank you! I am unable to find a Canticle, where should this be?

explain to me is this shorter christian prayer?

if this is alot like the breviary it should be in the ordinary which is directly before the 4 week psalter, again not sure what you thing has.

 

[mcw013]

explain to me is this shorter christian prayer?

if this is alot like the breviary it should be in the ordinary which is directly before the 4 week psalter, again not sure what you thing has.

I’m not sure I understand it well enough to explain it to you. Here is a link from the books publisher, with a description of what it is. I Hope this explains it.
harpercollins.co.uk/Titles/34724

 

[SonCatcher]

Thank you! I am unable to find a Canticle, where should this be?

Perhaps it would be convenient to print out the canticles and place them in the front and back covers.

Canticle of Zechariah (morning prayer)
Blessed be the Lord,
The God of Israel;
He has come to His people and set them free.

He has raised up for us a mighty Saviour,
Born of the house of His servant David.

Through His holy prophets He promised of old
That He would save us from our enemies,
From the hands of all who hate us.

He promised to show mercy to our fathers
And to remember His holy Covenant.

This was the oath He swore to our father Abraham:
To set us free from the hands of our enemies,
Free to worship Him without fear,
Holy and righteous in His sight
All the days of our life.

You, My child shall be called
The prophet of the Most High,
For you will go before the Lord to prepare His way,
To give his people knowledge of salvation
By the forgiveness of their sins.

In the tender compassion of our Lord
The dawn from on high shall break upon us,
to shine on those who dwell in darkness
And the shadow of death,
And to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Glory to the Father…

Canticle Of Mary (evening prayer)
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
My Spirit rejoices in God my Saviour
For He has looked with favour on His lowly servant.

From this day all generations will call me blessed:
The Almighty has done great things for me,
And holy is His Name.

He has mercy on those who fear Him
In every generation.

He has shown the strength of His arm,
He has scattered the proud in their conceit.

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
And has lifted up the lowly.

He has filled the hungry with good things,
And the rich He has sent away empty.

He has come to the help of His servant Israel
For He has remembered His promise of mercy,
The promise He made to our fathers,
To Abraham and his children for ever.

Glory to the Father…

 

[Usige]

I believe this is the UK equivalent of Shorter Christian Prayer. Mine had the Canticle of Zachariah on the inside front cover and the Canticle of Mary (aka Magnificat) on the inside back cover. I have seen others that have them in the first couple chapters. I like them on the book covers for convenience.

 

[catholictiger]

I’m not sure I understand it well enough to explain it to you. Here is a link from the books publisher, with a description of what it is. I Hope this explains it.
harpercollins.co.uk/Titles/34724

ok from your webisght it appears you have the 4 week psalter, which simply is the four week cycle of psalms that all deacons preists and bishops are required to say every single day. Today is the Wednesday of week 4. So the psalms come from wednesday week 4.

now you will probably begin with God come to my assistance, followed by the glory be, and then a hymn.

my guess is that in the book itself you will see in bold Wednesday, Week IV. Under that you will either see invitatory or Morning prayer, directly under that you may see God, come to my assistance. Glory to the Father. As it was in teh beinning. Alleluia. This is what you must begin your prayer with if you don’t do the invitatory. Lets assume you don’t

so you say God come to my assistance, Lord make haste to help me (make the sign of the cross while doing this) then you say Glory to the father and to the son and to the holy spirit as it was in the beginning is now and will be forever amen. Alleluia.

after that you will probably have a hymn, recite it if you want if you know the melody sing it.

then after that you should have psalmody.

Tomorrows Psalmody is Psalm 143:1-11
you start this first one out with the antiphon tomorrow is “at daybreak, be merciful to me, o lord”

then you recite the psalm
at the end of the psalm to the glory be

then when you finish it you may have a psalm prayer you read that and then repeat the antiphon.

then you have the second plasm, this one is the canticale for you purposes there is no different in what you do.

again say the antiphon recite the psalm, say the glory be, and repeat the antiphon.

then you have your last psalm tomorrow is 147:1-11

same process as the first psalm.

after this you do the reading tomorrow is from romans.

then after the reading you take a brief period of silence to reflect on the reading, and they you do the response. Don’t finish the glory be for the response, stop after you say glory to the father and to the son and to the holy spirit, then repeat the response.

then you may have a canticle, if not go straight to the intercessions.

say them and say the response tomorrow’s is your are our life, o lord.

after the intercession you say the our father

and finally the closing prayer.

While this doesn’t concern you tomorrow is a feast day and this will change what we use, but because your book doesn’t have a proper of saints you won’t have to worry about that.

I will do my best to answer any more questions you have, my response may be slow being a seminarian is a very busy life.

 

[poche]

Today 11-15-2012 we are on Thursday of week 4
That is week 32 of ordinary time.

 

[poche]

Maybe you could try to find a community that prays the Liturgy of the Hours.

 

[Jay_Gage]

MCW–Congratulations on finding the best Breviary out there! I have used others but keep coming back to “A Shorter M&E Prayer” because it is so simple to use. Here are my recommendations:

1. Today is Sat 11/17/12–put your blue ribbon marker on page 27 (We are starting Psalter week one tonight because there is no Saturday Evening Prayer–it’s always called Sunday Evening Prayer 1, followed by Sunday Morning, then Sunday Evening Prayer 2).
2. Put your red ribbon on page 528. This will be used to keep track of what week you are on in the liturgical calendar and will only be used on Sundays during ordinary time. After next week you will move the marker to page 377 to begin the season of Advent on Dec 2, 2012.

Now just pray every “hour” as described and move the blue ribbon forward each day as you pray. When you get to the end (Saturday morning of Psalter week four) you start back over in week one.

If you can, get the $1.95 brochure “Frequently Used 'Texts and Dates for the Four Week Psalter.” It will help you keep track of what week you should be on and has the Canticles used every day.
An example can be found here:
aquinasandmore.com/catholic-books/frequently-used-texts-and-dates-for-the-four-week-psalter/sku/58453

The Canticles mentioned each hour are found on pages 20-22 in “The Ordinary,” which lays out the structure of prayer. Although I skip them when I’m pressed for time or do quiet prayer instead.

I hope I haven’t made this sound more confusing than it is. You pretty much just read page-by-page like a normal book with a little flipping around on Sundays and holidays.

Enjoy.

 

[mcw013]

MCW–Congratulations on finding the best Breviary out there! I have used others but keep coming back to “A Shorter M&E Prayer” because it is so simple to use. Here are my recommendations:

1. Today is Sat 11/17/12–put your blue ribbon marker on page 27 (We are starting Psalter week one tonight because there is no Saturday Evening Prayer–it’s always called Sunday Evening Prayer 1, followed by Sunday Morning, then Sunday Evening Prayer 2).
2. Put your red ribbon on page 528. This will be used to keep track of what week you are on in the liturgical calendar and will only be used on Sundays during ordinary time. After next week you will move the marker to page 377 to begin the season of Advent on Dec 2, 2012.

Now just pray every “hour” as described and move the blue ribbon forward each day as you pray. When you get to the end (Saturday morning of Psalter week four) you start back over in week one.

If you can, get the $1.95 brochure “Frequently Used 'Texts and Dates for the Four Week Psalter.” It will help you keep track of what week you should be on and has the Canticles used every day.
An example can be found here:
aquinasandmore.com/catholic-books/frequently-used-texts-and-dates-for-the-four-week-psalter/sku/58453

The Canticles mentioned each hour are found on pages 20-22 in “The Ordinary,” which lays out the structure of prayer. Although I skip them when I’m pressed for time or do quiet prayer instead.

I hope I haven’t made this sound more confusing than it is. You pretty much just read page-by-page like a normal book with a little flipping around on Sundays and holidays.

Enjoy.

Thank you! I will try this later today.

 

[John_Lilburne]

A good book for learning this is “A Guide to Morning and Evening Prayer” by Fr Robert Taylerson, published Catholic Truth Society, ISBN 9781860823091, cts-online.org.uk/acatalog/info_D671.html .

It has 55 pages with six lessons, included detailed instructions on setting up markers, which page to turn to, and the meaning of symbols like * and † (that can be used for singing).

I bought a copy yesterday in Australia for $5.50. The cover price is £1.95.