Liturgy of the Hours - So confused

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DJorourke

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I’m new to this and trying to fumble my way through, but am doing not such a good job.

I own the full 4-book set of the liturgy of the hours. And sometimes I seem to be doing alright with it, flipping here, then there, then somewhere else.

Rigth now, I’m so totally confused.

This is the 5th week in Ordinary Time, but Psalter contains only 4 weeks (which I’ve been praying for the last few weeks).

Honestly, I have no idea what I should be praying right now.

As an example, here’s what I DID pray last Friday morning (IV week of Ordinary time). Can someone please help me figure out what I’m doing right and wrong?:
Opening - “God, come to my assitance - Lord make…”

Hymn - Week IV - Pg 1234
“We turn to you, O God of every nation,
Giver of life…”
(Is this right? Or should I have used the Proper of Saints [pg 1344] because it was the Presentation of the Lord Feast day on Feb 2nd?)

Psalmody - Week IV - Pg 1234…1236
Psalm 51

Reading - Feb 2nd Proper of Saints - Pg 1352
Malachi 3:1

Resposory - Feb 2nd Proper of Saints - Pg1352
“Worship the Lord in his holy court
-Worship the Lord…”

Canticle - Week IV - Pg 1236…1237
Tobit 13:8-11, 13-15
(not at all sure if this was right…The ordinary also has Luke 1:68-79. Should I read that every morning? Or do I go with what’s in the Psalmody?

Intercessions - Week IV - Pg1239
“We trust in God’s concern…”
(or, should it be the one from the Proper of Saints? Pg153)

Our Father…

Conclusion
 
Here is a good guide to the Liturgy of the Hours.

ewtn.com/expert/answers/breviary.htm

There is a small guide that is published yearly to help figure out what the readings are for the day.

There are four weeks in each of the four volumes. You rotate through the four weeks. I don’t have my Liturgy on me right now so I can’t tell you where we are, I’m sure someone on here will.

But don’t fret to hard, because as a lay person ANY prayer is better then no prayer. You will eventually get it right.

Pick up that guide since things do get confusing on Feast days, and such. Even priests can get confused as to what readings to use on “special” days.
 
There is a yearly guide that is tied to the 4 volume set. It will tell you what is for each day including the optional prayers for different saints and feast days. Any Catholic book store will have these guides.
 
There are a couple of good books that will help you with the mechanics.

One is: **Lord, Open My Lips: The Liturgy of the Hours As Daily Prayer (Paperback) **bySeth H. Murray who is a deacon in the Archdiocese of Portland

And this one: **The Divine Office for Dodos: A Step by Step Guide to Praying the Liturgy of the Hours (Paperback) **
by Madeline Pecora Nugent . It is kind of corny humor but an easy read, instruction.

Hope you find these helpful. I have both of them and enjoyed both. Found them very helpful. As I said the one is corny but I overlooked that part and concetrated upon the “how to”

Good luck…
 
We are in week one now. Althugh you best bet is to get the St Josephs 2007 guide to the liturgy of the Hours the weeks Psalter is always given in the proper for the Sunday of the week(in this case the topo of page 168)

For moring pryaer today you would have used the Pslams and antiphons for Monday week 1 P 706 to 710 with the balance coming from the common of Martyrs page 717. The antiphon for the Benedicsut is from page 1366 as is the closing prayer

This will all be a lot easier then we get to Lent and there is less jumping around.
 
You can get the Saint Joseph Guide for 2007 online, or in any Catholic bookstore.

This is a good online version of the LOTH: universalis.com/, you can check yourself here to see if you’re in the right spot in the book.
 
BeeSweet said:
You can get the Saint Joseph Guide for 2007 online, or in any Catholic bookstore.

This is a good online version of the LOTH: universalis.com/, you can check yourself here to see if you’re in the right spot in the book.
Click to expand...
Universalis is a good guide but i dont like the translation they use there.
 
DJorourke said:
I’m
This is the 5th week in Ordinary Time, but Psalter contains only 4 weeks (which I’ve been praying for the last few weeks).
Click to expand...
it is called the 4 week psalter because it repeats the cycle every 4 weeks, so the 5th Sunday you begin over again with Week I.

May I suggest that while you are learning you stay with the 4 week psalter and don’t worry about Sundays, feast days, saints days and seasons of the year until you are comfortable with the basic 4 week psalter.

if you are not obligated by your vocation to recite LOTH you are free to pray as much or as little as you can manage.

do morning prayer every day until you get comfortable with it. Then start adding evening prayer.

YOur set probably came with a flyer that has the repeated psalms and canticles on it (Benedictus, Magnificat, Invitatory Psalm, te Deum), you can use that as your place marker for each day in the psalm cycle. When you get to the end of week 4, go back to Week 1 for Sunday Evening Prayer I (recited on Saturday evening).

If you don’t have that flyer (look in all 4 volumes to make sure) put a ribbon in the middle where those common repeated prayers are. That is also where the plan for each part of the hours is laid out. REad it very carefully.

then read the history and introductory part at the beginning of the first book (Advent and Christmas), which is a learning experience.

Best way to learn is to find someone experienced to pray with you.

When you get comfortable with the psalter and the rhythm, you can get a ribbon to mark the Sundays of the year, and substitute the readings, antiphons and intentions for the Sundays. be warned, it make take a year of this to get brave enough to add the liturgical seasons and feast days. Add saint days last. Many feasts and sundays use the psalter from Sunday Week I, so your set also has a flyer with those psalms, since they are prayed so frequently, that is also a help.

somebody here is going to post a link for daily prayer, you can also access it on-line at catholicexchange.com, which will help you keep track.

take my advise, and stick with the 4 week psalter until you get comfortable.
 
Use the link Jakub gave you, it tells you exaclty what to read each day and you can learn from that,…
 
DJorourke said:
I’m new to this and trying to fumble my way through, but am doing not such a good job.

I own the full 4-book set of the liturgy of the hours. And sometimes I seem to be doing alright with it, flipping here, then there, then somewhere else.

Rigth now, I’m so totally confused.

This is the 5th week in Ordinary Time, but Psalter contains only 4 weeks (which I’ve been praying for the last few weeks).

Honestly, I have no idea what I should be praying right now.

As an example, here’s what I DID pray last Friday morning (IV week of Ordinary time). Can someone please help me figure out what I’m doing right and wrong?:
Opening - “God, come to my assitance - Lord make…”

Hymn - Week IV - Pg 1234
“We turn to you, O God of every nation,
Giver of life…”
(Is this right? Or should I have used the Proper of Saints [pg 1344] because it was the Presentation of the Lord Feast day on Feb 2nd?)

Psalmody - Week IV - Pg 1234…1236
Psalm 51

Reading - Feb 2nd Proper of Saints - Pg 1352
Malachi 3:1

Resposory - Feb 2nd Proper of Saints - Pg1352
“Worship the Lord in his holy court
-Worship the Lord…”

Canticle - Week IV - Pg 1236…1237
Tobit 13:8-11, 13-15
(not at all sure if this was right…The ordinary also has Luke 1:68-79. Should I read that every morning? Or do I go with what’s in the Psalmody?

Intercessions - Week IV - Pg1239
“We trust in God’s concern…”
(or, should it be the one from the Proper of Saints? Pg153)

Our Father…

Conclusion
Click to expand...
stfrancisdesales.com/liturgy.php

It gives the page numbers for all the hours including Daytime Prayer and the Office of Readings for each week.
 
I get the Magnificat. Am I correct in assuming that the daily prayers and such are correct to follow for the Hours?
 
First of all, DON’T GIVE UP!!! In my first week of seminary, most of the orientation period was devoted to learning the Liturgy of the Hours. It’s confusing at first, but with experience, you’ll soon know your way around the breviary and it will become an integral part of your prayer life.

Here’s a quick way to know what week of the Psalter you should be in. I learned this from a priest and had wished they had taught us this in seminary. Look at your handy parish calendar or bulletin, which will show you what week of the year it is (i.e. 4th Week of Ordinary Time, 3rd Week of Advent, etc.). If that week’s number is divisible by four (i.e. 4,8,12,16), then you should be reading Week IV in the Psalter. These weeks are mileposts to help you know where you should be.

For example, if it is currently the 13th Week in Ordinary Time, the closest week divisible by four is the 12th Week. Therefore, since the 13th Week is one week ahead, you should be in Week I of the Psalter.

NOTE: Some religious houses (monasteries or convents) pray all three daytime hours (midmorning, midday, midafternoon), but priests and deacons are bound to pray only one of them, in addition to the other hours.
 
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