Liturgia Horarum

[Claudius]

I am not sure if this area is the best place to but this kind of thread but I was wondering how many Catholic Lay people out there pray the daily office at home. I began the practice about a year ago and now I say it half in Latin and half in English. (the standard parts are in Latin but the psalms and readings are in English). If you do pray the hours, how that that helped your faith or life in general? What challenges have you confronted?

 

[Ahlman]

When I was a newly convert, I used to pray all five hours each day (Office of Readings, Lauds, During the day, Vespers, Compline). However, this didn’t work very well in the long run, and priests that I spoke to actually discouraged me to pray all of it everyday. Nowadays I stick to Lauds, Vespers (usually together with other parishioners before evening Mass) and Compline. At Lauds, instead of the short reading I read the longer reading from the 2-year cycle of readings for Office of Readings. And I also use to read the patristic writing from Office of Readings before Compline. The important thing isn’t how much you pray, but that you pray with devotion.

 

[Claudius]

I know what you mean. I started out on all five as well. I couldn’t keep up and found at the end of the day praying for about 3 hours all at once to catch up. Then I would skip a week just because I was used up. I had to find a balance. It is tough to get Lauds in for me, sometimes I have to say it on the train to work in the morning. I get Daytime prayer in about half the time. I used to feel jipped that I didn’t get all of it in my copy of Christian Prayor but I have since fealt that I have all I really need. I usually wind up praying the same three psalms for about a week. Then I will do the same psalms again in Latin so that I really have them down. I got the list of the Daytime psalms off of the internet so now I just keep it simple and go at my own pace. Vespers is really the office that I always get to and really can do up a lot. I have a little space in my home where I light some candles and my wife prays with me. She has to pray in Japanese of course but we are praying together and both understand. It also gives us a lot to talk about afterwards. I do compline almost all in Latin and actually have all of it memorized except for the rotating psalms but I suppose that those will come in time. They are getting easier every day.

I really must say how happy I am that I discovered the Liturgy of th Hours. Just now I can’t remember exactly how I came across it but when I did I just got hooked. It has really helped to strengthen me and my faith. It is difficult living in a country where most people aren’t Christian and even the ones that are don’t speak English, the priest does of course. On the other hand, Catholics in Japan take faith very seriously, almost as if they are trying to prove to all the foriegners that they really are Christians.

By the way, when you say the hours, do you stand or kneel? I prefer to kneel but that either makes the Cruxifix on the wall too high for kneeling or too low for standing.

 

[ItalianBoy1993]

Where can I purchase a nice 4 volume set of the Daily Office, I have been looking for this for quite some time.

 

[Just_1_hr_a_wk]

Where can I purchase a nice 4 volume set of the Daily Office, I have been looking for this for quite some time.

I always check Amazon.com.

Also local religious item store.

 

[japhy]

I have “Christian Prayer” which is a somewhat condensed version of the Divine Office. There have been seasons where I prayed it every day. Lately, I have not done so. I’d say I’ve been too busy, but that’s not really an excuse.

I try to pray Lauds, Vespers, and Compline. I created a booklet for Compline that contains the entire thing in Latin and English. I pray Compline (Night Prayer) in Latin, and I pray some of the Ordinary parts of Lauds and Vespers in Latin.

 

[puzzleannie]

if I were in a monastery where they rang bells I could keep up with the time of day, and I could pray the hours because everybody else would stop work, go to the chapel together and pray together. I would be living a life ordered to regular prayer, the Work of God, as Benedict calls it. When you are living a life ordered to the continual conflicting demands of other people (whether they are your boss, your clients, your children, or the Maytag man) you can’t do this, and the new LOTH reflects this as does the V2 reminder that this is a prayer for the laity as well.

whenever your day begins, start it 15 min earlier with morning prayer, and included the invitatory. whenever the natural translation between your work day and your “evening” comes, take another 10 minutes for evening prayer. even if you can’t do that, whenever your day ends, take another 5 minutes for night prayer. if you often begin and end your day, or spend a bit of evening here on the internet, do it online if you have to. but just do it.

have tried it all ways and for beginners Shorter Christian Prayer is the easiest way to form the habit. Don’t invest in the full expensive deal until you have been praying faithfully for at least a year, a full liturgical cycle, know how the rhythm works, want to add Office of Readings, and now have more time to devote. The book is not as important as the habit. Even if you use Magnificat or a similar aid to establish the habit, that is better than buying the “right” book and not using it.

i got started with a little booklet the St. Louis Jesuits give away as thanks for a donation, it has samples of daily prayer for the week and the seasons, and most of the psalms and all the canticles are included. a beginner could pray quite nicely with this for a year or so, but then you get hungry for more, so you go to Shorter Christian Prayer and become familiar with the 4 week psalter cycle, and someday, maybe, graduate to Christian Prayer one volume (bulky and hard to use for me, but the print is easy to read) or if you are lucky get a 4-volume as a gift.

I see I ignored OP’s question. yes it has been transformational. I finally pray regularly for the first time in my life, it is the foundation of my vocation as a Benedictine Oblate, of course, I love praying it with others best, introduce it at every appropriate opportunity with the children, youth, parents and catechists, and it gives me the framework for what I now know is an absolute essential, regular morning and evening prayer. When I don’t pray, things grind to a halt. Every moment taken away from committed prayer time translates to hours of labor and frustration. Every moment dedicated to these hours (not even full hours many days) translates to hours of productive, blessed time in my day and job.

wisdom from your elders: if you have time management issues they will not be resolved until you commit to regular prayer time, and if you do commit to regular prayer time, and give God one hour a day, even broken up into bits, you will resolve your time management problem. (ok granny, shut up and go pray).

 

[porthos11]

When I was a newly convert, I used to pray all five hours each day (Office of Readings, Lauds, During the day, Vespers, Compline). However, this didn’t work very well in the long run, and priests that I spoke to actually discouraged me to pray all of it everyday. Nowadays I stick to Lauds, Vespers (usually together with other parishioners before evening Mass) and Compline. At Lauds, instead of the short reading I read the longer reading from the 2-year cycle of readings for Office of Readings. And I also use to read the patristic writing from Office of Readings before Compline. The important thing isn’t how much you pray, but that you pray with devotion.

Actually, it’s not too difficult to squeeze in the Office of Readings. Try waking up 15 minutes earlier and combine it with your Morning Prayer by moving the Morning Prayer hymn to the Office of Readings. Half an hour total.

What I don’t usually do is Daytime Prayer, and if ever, I say just one. But I do not commit myself to it.

 

[Ahlman]

Of course it isn’t impossible to squeeze in all of the hours. However, there are also other forms of prayer than the LOtH, like daily Mass, contemplative prayer, lectio divina and the Rosary.

 

[AJV]

What I don’t usually do is Daytime Prayer, and if ever, I say just one. But I do not commit myself to it.

I have a day-time prayer “substitute” which comes as close as possible - memorize the Gradual psalms and recite them at each hour. On Fridays, the Psalm 50 (again since it is there at Lauds) and Psalm 129.

 

[Anne1964]

Where can I purchase a nice 4 volume set of the Daily Office, I have been looking for this for quite some time.

Amazon often has used copies which are less expensive.

I bought my set off of Ebay at a very good price.

 

[nlh1302]

I started praying the Office when I was still in RCIA. I started with Christian Prayer, but it wasn’t long before I decided to go right to the 4-volume set (I couldn’t afford the whole set at once, but whenever I got some gift money I bought a volume or two until my collection was complete). One of the big attractions was having the patristic writings in the Office of Readings.

I’m a convert from a Pentecostal background, in which my prayer life many times waxed or waned depending on how jacked-up emotionally I was; What praying the Office did for me was to put some much-needed discipline into my prayer life, to be in constant contact with God regardless of how I was feeling; trust me, it’s not always easy getting out of bed at 5:30 am to be able to pray Lauds properly before getting ready for work. I really do believe, though, that my spiritual life is on a much more even keel now since taking up the Office (along with getting to Mass at every available opportunity).

On Sundays I like going to church early and praying the Office of Readings before Mass; by the time Mass begins I’m in a very worshipful frame of mind.

The only challenge I’ve encountered is having to pray Compline relatively early in the evening. If I wait until right before bedtime I’m likely to pass out before I get the chance to pray!

 

[otjm]

I am not sure if this area is the best place to but this kind of thread but I was wondering how many Catholic Lay people out there pray the daily office at home.

I have, but honestly it has been a little hit and a lot of miss for the last couple of years.

I began the practice about a year ago and now I say it half in Latin and half in English. (the standard parts are in Latin but the psalms and readings are in English).

You are welcome to your share and mine in Latin. I studied Latin in high school and college, and I find it slows me down, and not in a way I like. I prefer English.

If you do pray the hours, how that that helped your faith or life in general?

Yes, as a means of deepening my faith. Part of faith is being drawn ever deeper into the mystery of God and our relation with Him.

What challenges have you confronted?

Time coupled with consistency. The LOTH is the one thin I miss most from my time in seminary (colleg) years ago. And it was the one thing that attracted me to contemplative life (I considered Benedictines and Trappists), but it was not the time in my life to make that decision. I still feel more than just a twinge when I attend the Office with the monks of Our Lady of Guadalupe (Trappists) just prior to Midnight Mass. And I most definitely miss saying the LOTH in community.