Liturgy of the Hours for Lay Catholics

[Krisdun]

Can anyone pray the Liturgy of the hours or must priests/deacons lead these prayers to receive graces associated with them? I heard it is a higher order of prayer so I am not sure.

 

[Fauken]

Yes, lay people can pray the LOTH. In fact, lay people in religious Orders are obligated to pray it.

 

[MikeInVA]

Check out the threads here on CAF. Many lay people pray the LotH every day. It can be complicated at first, but it follows a rhythm so once you get the hang of one office, the others are easy to pick up. While I recommend getting a copy of Shorter Christian Prayer to get started, you can also find a lot of resources online, particularly iBreviary.org.

 

[OraLabora]

The laity are in fact encouraged to pray the LOTH. It’s in the General Instruction of the LOTH.

 

[Paul_Edwards]

Lay people can pray the office, but when doing so only a priest or a deacon should say “Dominus Vobiscum. Et Cum Spiritu Tuo”. A lay person, even if a seminarian or in minor orders, should instead say “Domine, exaudi orationem meam. Et clamor meus ad te veniat.”

 

[Stephen_says]

Please, can you translate to the vernacular?

Lay people can pray the office, but when doing so only a priest or a deacon should say “Dominus Vobiscum. Et Cum Spiritu Tuo”. A lay person, even if a seminarian or in minor orders, should instead say “Domine, exaudi orationem meam. Et clamor meus ad te veniat.”

 

[edward_george1]

The only time that formulation comes up in the modern office is at the end of the principal hours of Lauds and Vespers, at the blessing. And the formulary used at that point both in private recitation by clerics and for laymen in the absence of a cleric is “May the Lord bless us, protect us from all evil, and bring us to everlasting life.”

-Fr ACEGC

 

[Paul_Edwards]

Please, can you translate to the vernacular?

Paul_Edwards:

Lay people can pray the office, but when doing so only a priest or a deacon should say “Dominus Vobiscum. Et Cum Spiritu Tuo”. A lay person, even if a seminarian or in minor orders, should instead say “Domine, exaudi orationem meam. Et clamor meus ad te veniat.”

Edited due to a mix up of two different parts of the office.

The former means “The lord be with you. And with your spirit”.

The latter means “Oh Lord, hear my prayer. And let my cry come unto you.”

 

[Cham65]

I would recommend everyone pray the liturgy of the hours it provides a great daily rhythm for prayer

 

[Fauken]

the latter means “O God come to our aid. O lord make haste to help us”.

No, the latter means “Oh Lord, hear my prayer. And let my cry come unto you.” “Oh God come to our aid, Oh Lord make haste to help us” would be “Deus, in adjutorium meum intende. Domine, ad adjuvandum me festina.”

 

[edward_george1]

Actually, the latter means “O Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come unto you.”

“God, come to my assistance/Lord, make haste to help me” is “Deus, in adjutorium meum intende; Domine ad adjuvandum me festina.”

 

[OraLabora]

The Latin conclusion for private recitation by the laity (and clerics) is in fact: “Dominus nos benedicat, et ab omni malo defendat, et ad vitam perducat aeternam”. (man that’s tough to write with spell check trying to “correct” almost every word!)

I use it twice a day

 

[Maccabaeus2165]

I pray the LoTH and I find it to be a beautiful and sanctifying rhythm for the day

 

[OraLabora]

No, the latter means “Oh Lord, hear my prayer. And let my cry come unto you.”

Correct and it is the in fact the incipit of psalm 101(102), which in the modern LOTH is recited on Tuesdays of Week IV of the psalter, at the Office of Readings.

 

[porthos11]

The laity are in fact encouraged to pray the LOTH. It’s in the General Instruction of the LOTH.

And Vatican II.

The Liturgy of the Hours is Christian Prayer, not clerical prayer. Clerics and religious have the mandate to pray it, but this prayer belongs to the whole people of God. For laity, we pray this as an exercise of our priesthood of the baptized.

 

[phil19034]

Can anyone pray the Liturgy of the hours or must priests/deacons lead these prayers to receive graces associated with them? I heard it is a higher order of prayer so I am not sure.

Yes, anyone can pray it.

And to be honest, the priests and bishops who modified it after Vatican II hoped that the laity would pray it more after they simplified it some & introduced the vernacular.

 

[Margaret_Ann]

Stephen_says:

Please, can you translate to the vernacular?

Lay people can pray the office, but when doing so only a priest or a deacon should say “Dominus Vobiscum. Et Cum Spiritu Tuo”. A lay person, even if a seminarian or in minor orders, should instead say “Domine, exaudi orationem meam. Et clamor meus ad te veniat.”

Yes. The former means “The lord be with you. And with your spirit” and the latter means “O God come to our aid. O lord make haste to help us”.

Incorrect. "Domine, exaudi orationem meam. = O Lord, hear my prayer.

Et clamor meus ad te veniat. = And let my cry come into Thee.

Deus, in adjutorium meum intende = O God, come to my assistance.

Domine, ad adjuvandum me fesrina. = O Lord, make haste to help me.

When I was on retreat, we’d pray Prime and Compline with the priests in Latin and occasionally the Sixth Hour.

 

[SJstl]

Divine Office (https://divineoffice.org/) has the podcast with the audio so you can follow along with the LOTH.

Is anyone aware of a livestream video where you can watch and listen and a schedule?

 

[Nik]

I pray (part of) LOTH and I’m not even Catholic let alone clergy or religious.

I found getting an app was a good place to start. Can only do it with a book in church when one of the sisters comes and tells me where the ribbons go

 

[Dave27360]

Can anyone pray the Liturgy of the hours or must priests/deacons lead these prayers to receive graces associated with them? I heard it is a higher order of prayer so I am not sure.

As others have mentioned anyone can pray the Liturgy of the Hours. And the laity, too, are encourage to recite the divine office, especially with the priests, or among themselves, or even individually. (see Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium Chapter IV The Divine Office 100).