Liturgy of the Hours - Daytime Prayer Question

[AuntMartha]

Hi,

I have been slowly learning how to pray the Liturgy of the Hours. I have the book Christian Prayer, and the St. Joseph guide. But there is one question that I cannot find the answer to:

When praying Daytime Prayer (Midmorning, Midday, and Midafternoon), there is a section of three psalms for each day of the week. Then there is a direction in red in the book that says “At the other hours, the complimentary psalmody is used.” And a page is given to turn to for those. Then the Midmorning, Midday, and Midafternoon Readings and Prayers are listed.

The trouble is - the complimentary psalmody has three psalms listed for each daytime prayer. So which do you use? The three psalms listed in the general Daytime prayer section, or the three in the complimentary psalmody?

Thanks from a very confused,

 

[CathMass]

You must use the proper daytime prayer for one of the three hours listed. For example, you pray the proper daytime prayer for midmorning. In that case you only pray the midday and midafternoon from the complementary psalmody.

 

[mercygate]

Hi,

I have been slowly learning how to pray the Liturgy of the Hours. I have the book Christian Prayer, and the St. Joseph guide. But there is one question that I cannot find the answer to:

When praying Daytime Prayer (Midmorning, Midday, and Midafternoon), there is a section of three psalms for each day of the week. Then there is a direction in red in the book that says “At the other hours, the complimentary psalmody is used.” And a page is given to turn to for those. Then the Midmorning, Midday, and Midafternoon Readings and Prayers are listed.

The trouble is - the complimentary psalmody has three psalms listed for each daytime prayer. So which do you use? The three psalms listed in the general Daytime prayer section, or the three in the complimentary psalmody?

Thanks from a very confused,

I highly recommend *The Divine Office for Dodos *by Madeline Pecora Nugent, available from the Confraternity of Penitents’ gift shop (www.penitents.org). This gives full instructions for praying the Office throughout the whole year from either the 4-volume LoH or the 1-volume Christian Prayer.

 

[Maryam]

It is my understanding that if you pray more than one of the Hours then the first Daytime Hour that you pray would be using the Psalms for the Current Psalmody… If you pray the other hours then you would use the “Complimentary Psalmody”…

Example: First Daytime Prayer hour you pray is “Midmorning” so you would use the Current Psalmody… If you pray another hour from Daytime Prayer…say…“Midday” then you would use the psalms in the Complimentary Psalmody.

Excerpt from Christian Prayer instructions below (page 994)

“Those who say only one of the three hours use the current psalmody. Those who say several hours use the current psalmody for one hour; in the other hours they use the complementary psalmody.”

If you are only praying one of the hours for Daytime Prayer (Midmorning, Midday, Midafternoon) then just use psalms in the Current Psalmody for that day.

I hope my explanation is clear… If anything isn’t clear please feel free to ask me to explain better any unclear points…

God bless

 

[mercygate]

It is my understanding that if you pray more than one of the Hours then the first Daytime Hour that you pray would be using the Psalms for the Current Psalmody… If you pray the other hours then you would use the “Complimentary Psalmody”…

Example: First Daytime Prayer hour you pray is “Midmorning” so you would use the Current Psalmody… If you pray another hour from Daytime Prayer…say…“Midday” then you would use the psalms in the Complimentary Psalmody.

Excerpt from Christian Prayer instructions below (page 994)

“Those who say only one of the three hours use the current psalmody. Those who say several hours use the current psalmody for one hour; in the other hours they use the complementary psalmody.”

If you are only praying one of the hours for Daytime Prayer (Midmorning, Midday, Midafternoon) then just use psalms in the Current Psalmody for that day.

I hope my explanation is clear… If anything isn’t clear please feel free to ask me to explain better any unclear points…

God bless

That is correct, but there is no “prejudice” to saying the psalmody of the day for Midday Prayer and using the Complementary Psalmody for Midmorning and Midafternoon prayer.

Note: The daytime offices in Christian Prayer are a little different from the offices in the LoH. In the LoH, at the end of the psalmody for the day, it notes which of the 3 series of complemetary psalms should be said that day, e.g., *I and III," “II and III.” That happens when one or more of the Psalms of Ascent appears in the daily psalmody at any of the other hours.

 

[AuntMartha]

Thank you all! That does make sense, and I understand how to go about it now.

mercygate, thanks for the tip about the DODOS book. I have e-mailed the penitents about ordering a copy. I think I can use all the help I can get! I think once a person understands the LoH it should not be difficult to know the order, etc., but it is a complex process to learn.

In the meantime, I am enjoying using LoH for prayer - it really keeps me anchored and focused on God throughout the day.

 

[mercygate]

Thank you all! That does make sense, and I understand how to go about it now.

mercygate, thanks for the tip about the DODOS book. I have e-mailed the penitents about ordering a copy. I think I can use all the help I can get! I think once a person understands the LoH it should not be difficult to know the order, etc., but it is a complex process to learn.

In the meantime, I am enjoying using LoH for prayer - it really keeps me anchored and focused on God throughout the day.

I’ve been praying the LoH for 5 years and I STILL check my DODOS book!

 

[Maryam]

That is correct, but there is no “prejudice” to saying the psalmody of the day for Midday Prayer and using the Complementary Psalmody for Midmorning and Midafternoon prayer.

Note: The daytime offices in Christian Prayer are a little different from the offices in the LoH. In the LoH, at the end of the psalmody for the day, it notes which of the 3 series of complemetary psalms should be said that day, e.g., *I and III," “II and III.” That happens when one or more of the Psalms of Ascent appears in the daily psalmody at any of the other hours.

I think you misunderstood what I wrote…I never said that you can’t use the Complimentary Psalmody for Midmorning and Midafternoon Prayer…I only used **Midmorning and Midday **prayer as examples… So I don’t have any “prejudice” about using the Current Psalmody for any of the hours.

If you already know you will be praying more than one hour then the first hour prayed would be using the Current Psalmody and the other hours the Complimentary. Which is what the instructions for Christian Prayer I posted already states.

God bless

 

[mercygate]

I think you misunderstood what I wrote…I never said that you can’t use the Complimentary Psalmody for Midmorning and Midafternoon Prayer…I only used **Midmorning and Midday **prayer as examples… So I don’t have any “prejudice” about using the Current Psalmody for any of the hours.

If you already know you will be praying more than one hour then the first hour prayed would be using the Current Psalmody and the other hours the Complimentary. Which is what the instructions for Christian Prayer I posted already states.

God bless

Sorry if I misunderstood. I took your statement "It is my understanding that if you pray more than one of the Hours then the first Daytime Hour that you pray would be using the Psalms for the Current Psalmody… " to mean that one must pray the first daytime hour from the current psalmody.

But as you note, the instruction says that when praying all of the daytime hours, you may choose when to pray from the current psalmody. I always do it at midday.