Liceity of extending certain parts of the Liturgy of the Hours

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Excellent thank you so much.

Could you find out for me about doing a 2 week Psalter cycle for Lauds and Vespers etc as well as the OOR?

Oh and for the question 4 - is it okay to use my NABRE Bible for that longer reading, or should I stick to the 1970 NAB as currently used in the LOTH? A slightlt modified form of the 1986 NABRE NT is used at Mass.
 
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Check out this link. In particular, the monastic Schemas C and D are on a two week cycle, and also schemas A and B can have some parts on a 2-week cycle by omitting some psalms one week, and others on alternate weeks (both are on a 1-week cycle in their basic versions). The main schemas can all be found on this page. I have also been to a monastery that used a modified LOTH 4-week cycle for the OOR, Lauds and Mid-day prayer, and a two-week cycle for Vespers chanted in Latin from the Antiphonale Monasticum by omitting the 2nd psalm on weeks I/III and the third psalm on weeks II/IV.

In principle though, monastic schemas are for the communities that use them, including the oblates, and the laity that attend all or part of the Offices at the monastery itself.

http://www.gregorianbooks.com/gregorian/www/www.kellerbook.com/SCHEMA~1.HTM

I’m not sure about Bible versions in the English world. I used the French AELF Bible translations for the LOTH, monastic or otherwise (when I do Offices in Latin, like the abbey I still use French readings). The AELF translations are the only ones approved for the francophone world. I’m not sure about the situation for the anglophone world.
 
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OraLabora said:
I’m not sure about the situation for the anglophone world.
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The Bible used in the current English LOTH is the original 1970 NAB.

I’ll stick to that version if I use an extended reading.

I’ll check out that link, but to be honest it sounds daunting.

I’ve only been praying the LOTH about 3 years or less now so I’m nowhere near experienced with it.
 
Do you think it’d be alright if tonight when I pray Vespers, I pray the Psalmody from Friday of wk 1 as prescribed, then immediately after also pray the Psalmody from Fri wk 2?
 
There’s a joke in the monastic world: you enter as a postulant, and when you’ve finally figured out the Divine Office you’re ready for solemn profession.

And that usually takes 3 or 4 years, so you’re getting close 😉
 
There’s no public recitation of the office at your cathedral? Ours has lauds every weekday morning.
 
I don’t think that would be liturgically Ok. You could, however, pray the additional psalms devotionally at the end of the office.
 
Nope, I wish there was.

They do Lauds for a few days in holy week, but nothing really besides that.

I’m not gonna complain though - the Cathedral celebrates the OF Mass better than anywhere else I’ve ever seen.
 
I’ll pray the Rosary and the wk 2 Psalms before I begin Vespers tonight, then I’ll use an extended reading and extra intercessions.

That should total about 45 minutes.
 
@OraLabora

Would you know why there is a difference between how the Australian way of LOTH is prayed and that found in the Laudate and iBreviary apps, the American Way.
 
Spyridon said:
Do you think it’d be alright if tonight when I pray Vespers, I pray the Psalmody from Friday of wk 1 as prescribed, then immediately after also pray the Psalmody from Fri wk 2?
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I tend to like to stick to the program when I do liturgy, using only the licit options in the GILH (for example with the LOTH I use the Sunday psalms for Compline every day). As an exception, I’ll add some “monastic touches” such as the Kyrie-Christe-Kyrie between the intercessions and the Our Father.

I agree that sometimes the LOTH, especially Vespers of Week III which are notoriously short, leaves me hungering for more. I can chant Vespers of week III, fully, in Gregorian chant, with sung intercessions, readings and conclusion, in only 15-17 minutes. The monastic schema I use, takes about 30 minutes. So I get where you’re coming from. Instead I try to extend the Office by chanting the psalms s-l-o-w-l-y in Latin, then silently reading, again slowly, the psalm in French. Same thing for the hymns. I do the readings and intercessions already in French like at the abbey.

Pray it slowly and meditatively; add silences between each element, and a longer silence after the reading.

I like to say that the Monastic Office is a psalm praying machine, and the LOTH is a contemplative/meditative Office, and I often spend an extended time using the LOTH for just that reason.
 
Roseeurekacross said:
Would you know why there is a difference between how the Australian way of LOTH is prayed and that found in the Laudate and iBreviary apps, the American Way.
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Maybe someone else can chime in, but I believe that the Australian version is identical to the UK, whereas the American and Canadian use the ICEL translation version. The US/Canadian is called “Liturgy of the Hours” and the Australian is called “Divine Office”. The differences would be the translations used.

Of course using Latin solves all these problems 😛
 
This makes sense. I am going to check now if I am learning the Monastic or Divine Office, or if they are the same.

It’s so confusing at times!
 
Spyridon said:
I cannot chant or sing so that’s not an option. I can’t read music and I’m totally tone deaf and my voice is horrendous.
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Ordination has made many soloists of those who assumed they were incapable of reading music or carrying a tune.

If there is no one else to hear you but He who gave you the voice you have, what is harmed by singing, save possibly your pride?

If someone is there to hear you, I would agree that perhaps it is not for you to give them penances. Mercy could possilbly intervene in that case, yes, LOL.
 
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The Monastic Office is easy to identify, it is longer! Most monastic schemas are on a 1-week or 2-week cycle of psalms.

There are some monasteries that use the 4-week Liturgy of the Hours (or Australia/UK/Ireland/NZ Divine Office), especially those with external apostolates, or running colleges, and the like, but if they do they likely use a monastic calendar of saints.
 
If you use the Universalis app there may be an option to pray an extended Morning Prayer. This is available on the app in the UK.

Another option would be to pray the LOTH as it stands and spend time afterwards on Lectio Divina with the Gospel of the day. That can last as long as you like.
 
I know that the North American Liturgy of the Hours is four volumes and the UK Divine Office is three volumes. It would make sense that Australia would use the British version.
 
OraLabora said:
Maybe someone else can chime in, but I believe that the Australian version is identical to the UK, whereas the American and Canadian use the ICEL translation version. The US/Canadian is called “Liturgy of the Hours” and the Australian is called “Divine Office”. The differences would be the translations used.
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Exactly.

Different translation of the texts.

Plus in the American version the 1970 NAB is used for the Bible, whereas in the UK one the Jerusalem Bible is used.
 
My poor wife and 3 cats as well as a beta fish 🐟

I live in a small 1 br apartment, so if I start singing she will hear.

Like I said, I do a sort of wannabe Byzantine style chant, but that’s the extent of that.
 
Hey @OraLabora, did you mean that you pray “Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison, Kyrie eleison” after the Our Father and before the concluding prayer?

Do you say each just once, or twice as in Mass, or thrice?
 
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