Liturgy of the Hours rubrics

[estesbob]

I pray the office daily, but - excuse my ignorance - I don’t understand what “reading all three of the readings on days when there’s a saint in the Office of Readings” means.

Does this mean just reading from the 4-week psalter instead of what the Proper of the Saints prescribes? or adding to what is prescribed?

And what are the three readings? (What part/s of which hour/s?)

Thanks

We are talking about the second non-scipture reading. There is always one in the proper and when there is a saint they have their own second reading. . So you could read the scripture reading, the second reading for the day and the non-sciprutre reading for the saint. Thats three readings.

Of course if its a feast day you could end up with two spripture readings and two second readings but doing that could really rack up the purgotary time…

 

[Trevelyan]

Is the non-scripture reading part of the Office of Readings? I’m not familiar with that.

If it’s part of Morning, During the Day or Evening Prayer then your Liturgy of the Hours must be different over there in the US, because down here in Australia there’s no non-scriptural reading.

Here Morning and Evening Prayer just go:

Hymn
3 psalms (with antiphons)
scripture reading
short responsory
Benedictus/Magnificat ant.
Intercessions
Our Father
Concluding Prayer

 

[porthos11]

Is the non-scripture reading part of the Office of Readings? I’m not familiar with that.

If it’s part of Morning, During the Day or Evening Prayer then your Liturgy of the Hours must be different over there in the US, because down here in Australia there’s no non-scriptural reading.

Here Morning and Evening Prayer just go:

Hymn
3 psalms (with antiphons)
scripture reading
short responsory
Benedictus/Magnificat ant.
Intercessions
Our Father
Concluding Prayer

We are talking about the Office of Readings, not Morning and Evening Prayer.

 

[AJV]

I pray the office daily, but - excuse my ignorance - I don’t understand what “reading all three of the readings on days when there’s a saint in the Office of Readings” means.

Does this mean just reading from the 4-week psalter instead of what the Proper of the Saints prescribes? or adding to what is prescribed?

And what are the three readings? (What part/s of which hour/s?)

The structure of the Office of Readings is like this:
Opening versicles
Hymn
Psalms
Versicle and Response
First Reading
Responsory
Second Reading
Responsory
(Optional 3 Canticles and a Gospel Reading)
Te Deum on feasts, Sundays and solemnities
Closing Prayer

Unlike the other hours, the Office of Readings does not have anything other than the hymn, psalm and sometimes a versicle just before the main reading in the psalter. This is on the 4 week cycle

The other parts i.e. the first Scripture Reading and its responsory and the second reading from the Fathers and its responsory change with each day. They are not repeated over a four week cycle like the Short Readings in Morning and Evening Prayer… They go by (Day of the Week) in Week X in (Season). So today for example would be Monday in Week 30 in Ordinary Time.

On saints days the Second Reading of the day and its responsory (e.g.Thursday in Week 1 of Advent) is replaced by one related to the saint (St. Ambrose).

The closing prayer is the closing prayer of the last Sunday. If there is a feast then it is the closing prayer referring to a particular saint.

Is the non-scripture reading part of the Office of Readings? I’m not familiar with that.

If it’s part of Morning, During the Day or Evening Prayer then your Liturgy of the Hours must be different over there in the US, because down here in Australia there’s no non-scriptural reading.

In Australia, I think the Office of Readings is found in a 3 volume edition marked the Divine Office. It will not be found in the 1 volume ‘Daily Prayer’. The Scripture Reading in the Office of Readings is also much longer then for Morning Prayer or Evening Prayer.

(You can click on the link in my sig to see an example of the Office of Readings)

Catholic36:

Is it disobedient to read all three of the readings on days when there’s a saint in the Office of Readings?

Maybe if you would like to read all 3 readings, but still stick to the rubrics, you can finish the Office with the closing prayer after the second reading and then read the third.

Just to note though that from the 17-24 December and during Lent, the reading of the saint with its responsory and closing prayer,comes after the second reading and does not replace it.

 

[asteroid]

I quite often read all 3 readings - especially when the ferial 2nd reading is part of a series working through one letter or sermon, like Augustine’s sermon on the shepherds or Clement’s letter to the Corinthians. I don’t want to miss a bit.

And some days I haven’t got the time and so don’t read the Office of Readings at all. Oh well, not many of us have time for MP, EP, Prayer during the day, Night Prayer and the Office of Readings - especially not while going through Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises in daily life. So no self-condemnation here.

But then I might do something very wrong. If I’ve missed a day I might read the previous day’s readings in addition to the current days so as not to miss a bit.

Another fault I commit is adding to the intercessions and using them as a basis to pray with, sort of treating each sentence or section as a topic for personal prayer.

Today I committed a major sin in morning prayer though. I realised I’d gone through two sections of The Benedictus without putting the antiphon between them. And I must have been tired as I had to go back a bit after praying be freed “from the hands of Abraham our father”! Ooops.

Missing out an antiphon and accidentally skipping lines must be worth major purgatory “time” if reading all three readings is.

Having said all that, I do try to use the divine office reasonably properly and am loving having the 3 volume edition (since August) instead of the 1 volume edition (which I used on and off long before I was a Catholic).

 

[AJV]

Missing out an antiphon and accidentally skipping lines must be worth major purgatory “time” if reading all three readings is.

It is, but if you’re good and recite a rosary with your family and devoutly meditate on 5 mysteries , or go and adore the Blessed Sacrament for half an hour, you get the plenary indulgence

.

In the older breviary they used to have a prayer, Sacrosancte,with an Our Father & Hail Mary said after the Office, the recitation of which supplied (i.e. ‘made up’ or compensated for)defects committed in the recitation of the Divine Office “through human frailty”. In 1956 it was suppressed and the indulgence transferred to the Antiphon of the Blessed Virgin said after Compline (Night Prayer)

 

[Trevelyan]

I was under the impression that the Office of Readings was like a separate hour - like what used to be Vigils - that priests can read any time during the day.

So is the Office of Readings completely separate to Lauds, Vespers etc (as in ‘Daily Prayer’), like a separate hour?

Or by just praying the Office of Readings is one praying extended versions of the prayers at each hour? (i.e. is ‘the Office of Readings’ synonymous with ‘The Divine Office’?)

Sorry, this seems very convoluted!

 

[porthos11]

I was under the impression that the Office of Readings was like a separate hour - like what used to be Vigils - that priests can read any time during the day.

Yes, the Office of Readings is a completely separate hour, formerly known as Matins or Vigils. Since the reform, it can be said at any time of the day. The one-volume editions of “Daily Prayer” do not contain the complete office of readings. To get the complete cycle, you must get the three-volume “Divine Office”.

It consists of the Introduction (or Invitatory, if it’s the first prayer of the day or combined with Morning Prayer), hymn, three psalms or sections thereof, a verse, a long Scripture reading with responsory, a long non-Biblical reading with responsory, and (on Sundays, Solemnities, and Feasts outside Lent), the hymn Te Deum. The Office of Readings closes with the concluding prayer and acclamation.

So is the Office of Readings completely separate to Lauds, Vespers etc (as in ‘Daily Prayer’), like a separate hour?

Yes. However, the rubrics also allow us to combine the Office of Readings with another hour immediately following.

Or by just praying the Office of Readings is one praying extended versions of the prayers at each hour? (i.e. is ‘the Office of Readings’ synonymous with ‘The Divine Office’?)

No, “Divine Office” is synonymous with “Liturgy of the Hours,” i.e. the whole thing.

 

[Trevelyan]

Thanks

Do you all have the Divine Office, including the Office of Readings, in a single volume or in a three-volume set?

And Daily Prayer, without the OofR, in a single volume?

 

[prv]

It is also appropriate to note that the Hours can be combined with Holy Mass, if appropriate.

 

[porthos11]

Thanks

Do you all have the Divine Office, including the Office of Readings, in a single volume or in a three-volume set?

And Daily Prayer, without the OofR, in a single volume?

Most of us here from the US and other nations use the four-volume Liturgy of the Hours, the American counterpart of your three-volume Divine Office. None of the single-volumes have the complete Office of Readings. The Daily Prayer doesn’t have the complete Office of Readings, but perhaps a selection only (I don’t really know, I use the American editions).

 

[Trevelyan]

Thanks, again.

 

[AJV]

Thanks

Do you all have the Divine Office, including the Office of Readings, in a single volume or in a three-volume set?

And Daily Prayer, without the OofR, in a single volume?

The Office of Readings is an hour by itself. However, since it is very long (the varible parts exceeding 800 readings and responsories)it is not possible to fit it with all the other hours in a single volume. Then too, many people do have much time and the Office of Readings is the longest hour. Hence the onle volume editions always include Morning and Evening Prayer, and then vary in how much of Prayer during the Day and Night Prayer they include. ‘Daily Prayer’ includes all 4 (Morning, Daytime, Evening, Night), but in the US, I think Christian Prayer and Shorter Christian Prayer do not. In ‘Daily Prayer’ the Office of Readings is given only for two days of the year- Christmas (pg 74) and Holy Saturday (pg 308).

 

[gitsch]

After reading all the responses, I just think it is awesome that so many Catholics from all over the world are praying almost the same prayers every day. I recently attended a weekend of LOTH with some monks and their chanting was very inspiring.

Instead of concerning ourselves with technicalities, lets just treasure the extra time we are sharing with God.

God’s Peace,

 

[hilde_the_dog]

Thanks for the discussion I’ve learned alot. I started using the Magnificat (the kiddy pool) last year and was thinking of moving over to the deep end soon. So this was timely.