Liturgy of the Hours--Too Much!

  • Thread starter Thread starter halx
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
halx said:
:)Hello, I didn’t describe my prayer exhaustion situation very well. I had been praying the LOTH Morning, 3 Daily Offices, Evening and Night prayer. I added OOR at lent and kept with it during our Glorious Easter as well. Now, I’ve “hit the wall” so to speak. I thought of other things, like the Magnificat magazine but I feel very sad to not be praying the Prayer of the Church - it ment alot to me, even as I prayed alone I knew I was part of something larger. I can’t read all those psalms - its taking too much of my time as a wife and mother it’s just not joyous more of an endurance contest now. I also need some spice - ideas for meditation maybe. I really don’t know what’s out there - hence the question. Thank you for taking time to offer ideas!🙂
Click to expand...
Therein lies your problem. You’re a wife and mother but you’re trying the prayer life of a cloistered nun or monk. No wonder you’re hitting the wall. The Liturgy of the Hours is graciously offered by the Church to all her children including us married folk, but according to what we can do in our state of life.

Whittle it down. Morning, Evening, and Night Prayer should be sufficient, and perhaps one Daytime Hour if your day allows it.
 
halx said:
:)Greetings!
If the LOTH is too much, what is the next step down? I have a friend who reads the Book of Common Prayer, but that’s Anglican, isn’t it? What should I do?:confused:
Thank you!
Click to expand...
God bless you for WANTING to pray the Divine Office! Since I am a Benedictine, we pray the traditional Monastic Diurnal–the Benedictine Office. Also, I am not with my community right now, so I have to pray my office alone–it is very beautiful and I love it. I miss being able to pray it with my sisters in community, but right now I must be alone with the Lord.

There is no requirement for a lay person to pray certain hours. Pray the hours you are able to pray. The point is not to feel burdened by the Divine Office. If you feel burdened, you need to find something more appropriate.

Also, I agree with the other posters that the Book of Common Prayer IS Anglican.

God bless you!

Sister Terese Peter
 
halx said:
:)Greetings!
If the LOTH is too much, what is the next step down? I have a friend who reads the Book of Common Prayer, but that’s Anglican, isn’t it? What should I do?:confused:
Thank you!
Click to expand...
Magnificat Magazine is pretty good as long as you remember that it’s not the real Liturgy of the Hours.

Something I’ve tried before is just praying the Psalms and Canticles.

Something I’ve never done, but has a notable history, and carries an indulgence with it, is praying the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This used to be done by quite a number of the literate laity in days gone by, and is still a practice for some today.

But as someone seems to have alluded to already, the Rosary is a more than adequate substitute for lay people. In fact, that’s how it got started. Back when Christianity was a contact sport, the monks used to pray all 150 Psalms every day. Most of the non-monk laity, and some of the lay monks couldn’t read, so in imitation of the practice of the monks, these Christians would pray 150 Our Fathers every day. Eventually this evolved into Our Fathers followed by 10 Hail Mary’s 15 times a day, with specific mysteries associated with each decade.

A more recent practice is to say five decades a day, while meditating on a specific set of mysteries. But I’ve found that saying 15 decades a day isn’t all that painful, and has been of great benefit to me. Of course Pope John Paul II added the Luminous Mysteries, so now there are 20 decades in all. Some have complained that the extra set of mysteries has destroyed the relationship of the Rosary to the old practice of praying all 150 Psalms every day, but I think they miss the point. It is not the mysteries that stand for the Psalms, but the Hail Mary’s. One can still pray 15 decades a day in imitation of the old practice.

What works for me is to meditate on the set of mysteries assigned for the day (for those who pray five decades a day) plus the set of mysteries that are chronologically on either side of them. To illustrate, let’s set out the mysteries in chronological order: Joyful–Luminous–Sorrowful–Glorious. Actually it’s helpful to think of these as being on a circle, which will help you to see that the Sorrowful and Joyful mysteries are on either side of the Glorious Mysteries. So on Sunday, on which the Glorious Mysteries are assigned, one would meditate on the Joyful, Sorrowful, and Glorious Mysteries, doing them in that order, chronologically. On Monday, on which the Joyful Mysteries are assigned, one would meditate on the Joyful, Luminous, and Glorious Mysteries, in that order. You can follow it up from there.

I hope that was clear. Good luck!
 
best advice is to cut back, you pray as you can. we lay people especially busy wives and mothers are not called to pray as religious and priests do.

figure out the best time of day for you and just pray the office for that hour

if 3 psalms are too many, just pray one

if you are really tight, just pray the gospel prayer, the Benedictus or Magnificat

for a long time I just prayed night prayer because I never got a chance until bedtime. it is short and you can almost memorize it.

some days all I get to is the invitatory psalm and the gospel prayers because I have them memorized and I can’t find my book, or I have to leave early and am driving etc.

I don’t have the distraction of kids you do and I find it hard to pray every hour every day.

how I started was with a little book that had samples of the various hours, for each day of the week, it was a give away from the Jesuits for a donation. I still have that book and it is great for a day trip when I don’t want to carry the bigger book.

I used to get migraines so I would fall asleep at 6pm and wake in the middle of the night. I found that to be a call to prayer, so I found out about the Office of REadings from my brother and he sent me a guide to that.

don’t obsess about whatever prayer you choose, the beauty of LOTH is that it fits the rhythm of the hours in conjunction with the work of the day, so you fit what you can into that.

I like Shorter Christian Prayer because that is how I learned with the Oblates, it is light weight and goes everywhere.

before I got that I had a little book vest pocket size with NT and psalms, so I would just use a book mark and pray one psalm at a time, and one portion of the gospel. It was always in my purse so a good way to fill waiting time in line, at doctor’s office, or riding the bus as I was doing then.
 
halx said:
:)Hello, I didn’t describe my prayer exhaustion situation very well. I had been praying the LOTH Morning, 3 Daily Offices, Evening and Night prayer. I added OOR at lent and kept with it during our Glorious Easter as well.
Click to expand...
Well that is your problem, that is an awful lot! Like others have said, I’d just cut back on the number of hours you pray. I stick with Morning and Evening Prayer, they are the “bigger” hours. Also, if I remember correctly, deacons are only required to pray Morning and Evening Prayer. Since they are also married with families, that seems like a good standard to go by. 🤷 👍
 
DivineOffice.org has helped me to get the prayers done and added a little more excitement to it as well as eliminated some of my confusion. I sometimes have trouble figuring out what I should be doing when and what 😛
DivineOffice.org says the prayers aloud and you follow along, as if you were in a group and they have beautiful recordings for the hymns!
 
halx said:
:)Greetings!
If the LOTH is too much, what is the next step down? I have a friend who reads the Book of Common Prayer, but that’s Anglican, isn’t it? What should I do?:confused:
Thank you!
Click to expand...
The rosary is often described as the laymans breviary…
 
TimothyH said:
Brrr! Is it just me or was there a sudden chill in the room? 🙂

Seriously, why not just do the night prayer? It is reasonably short and cycles weekly. No feasts or special days. No changes for the seasons. It’s reasonably simple.

-Tim-
Click to expand...
When St Josemaria Escriva was asked what to do when one felt 30mins of prayer was too long he answered “Increase it to 45mins.”

That’s where I got my logic from!!! The OP does not need alternatives. S/he needs stamina. Of course the LOTH is prayer that brings you into intimate union with the Church as you are are praying with her and for her. It also brings you into spiritual union with the Holy Father.

Satan will do anything to get you to stop praying it.

I have made it a rule myself that when I pray the LOTH I do so for Priests so that when I feel too tired or demotivated, I remember that there are Priests out there that are depening on my Prayer for their safety and spiritual welfare. This motivates me again.

What happens when the OP feels that the Rosary is too much or the other alternatives you suggest are too much???

Spiritual stamina my friend. Now I will shut up so that the temp in the room can get back to more comfortable levels.
 
nickybr38 said:
I have a really basic, really kind of stupid question…

Can you pray the LOTH alone? It seems to be written for a group… but I’m on my own with this one. There are some great sites that offer daily prayers from the LOTH but like I said they don’t really explain if it’s be done alone or with a group.

😊
Click to expand...
Yes you can pray it alone (though you are not alone :)…)
 
Fergal said:
When St Josemaria Escriva was asked what to do when one felt 30mins of prayer was too long he answered “Increase it to 45mins.”

That’s where I got my logic from!!! The OP does not need alternatives. S/he needs stamina. Of course the LOTH is prayer that brings you into intimate union with the Church as you are are praying with her and for her. It also brings you into spiritual union with the Holy Father.

Satan will do anything to get you to stop praying it.
Click to expand...
As my spiritual director said, that attitude may come from the angel of light: Lucifer
For he beguiles often, not by lies, but by exagerating the truth.

If 15 minutes of prayer is good, the 45 minutes is better.
If he can get you to be so dedicated to trivia, you can lose sight of God.
If he can get you discouraged, you may stop altogether.

If 15 minutes is a burden, try 5 minutes.
God wants you to find joy in prayer. Once you find the joy at 5 minutes, increase to 10.

However. He also offered the warning: never make changes when you are depressed.
If there was a time when you found joy, keep going for 3 months. If it does not return, then cut back the time.

All people are unique. Not all find solace in prayer. I pray Morning and Evening prayer many days (not all). I pray a rosary 6 times a year. I find Eucharistic Adoration tedious unless I have my bible with me.

However, I spend many hours reading church fathers and doctors of the Church
I read the bible in all the languages I know.
I also like to sit quietly and reflect on what I know.

I have a wife who loves the LOTH and prays it always. Along with an hour of contemplation each day. I cannot do that. Don’t try to conform yourself to another’s method of being with God. Find what works for you and do it. That is the point of prayer, of reading, of contemplation.

Be with God in the way that suits your personality.
 
As a lay person, you are not required to say the LOTH. There are many devotions you can substitute instead. Booklets like Magnificat have condensed morning and evening prayers for each day. You could say the rosary, use your prayer time to say a novena, read some scripture and meditate (Lecto Divina), or recite other traditional prayers. The Book of Common prayer is Anglican, but it does contain some beautiful prayers that it is perfectly acceptable for a Catholic to say. Also look at Fr. Hardon’s prayer book.
 
Fergal said:
When St Josemaria Escriva was asked what to do when one felt 30mins of prayer was too long he answered “Increase it to 45mins.”

That’s where I got my logic from!!! The OP does not need alternatives. S/he needs stamina. Of course the LOTH is prayer that brings you into intimate union with the Church as you are are praying with her and for her. It also brings you into spiritual union with the Holy Father.

Satan will do anything to get you to stop praying it.

I have made it a rule myself that when I pray the LOTH I do so for Priests so that when I feel too tired or demotivated, I remember that there are Priests out there that are depening on my Prayer for their safety and spiritual welfare. This motivates me again.

What happens when the OP feels that the Rosary is too much or the other alternatives you suggest are too much???

Spiritual stamina my friend. Now I will shut up so that the temp in the room can get back to more comfortable levels.
Click to expand...
Who was St. Josemaria speaking to? A priest? Religious? Married person?

We are all called to prayer, but always according to our state in life. The OP is describing the life of a contemplative/monastic, which is wrong for a wife and mother who has other duties that do take precedence. Even diocesan priests, with their active ministries cannot adhere to the monastic model, hence, they pray only one Daytime Hour. Deacons, being more close to the secular life, have an obligation to Lauds and Vespers only, and they are clerics, not laymen.

Unfortunately, this advice of telling the poor wife and mother to increase her prayer is not the most sound. She must go back to her state in life. Three Daytime Hours? For a married woman? Accept the gift the Church offers, and pray according to what she can according to her vocation. Lauds and Vespers is a good start and no one should take her to task for reducing her prayer time.
 
OFF TOPIC: Is anybody else thinking: Lord of the Hours, when they see LOTH? No? Just me? Okay… Hee. Clearly I’ve read too much fantasy fiction.
 
:)I want to thank you all for your thoughtful and great ideas! I am a big fan of both the Rosary and The Divine Mercy. I researched the Book of Christian Prayer and was very impressed, especially since it would let me keep the “prayer of the whole Church” that I treasured from the LOTH. I ordered a copy and should be enjoying it in only 3 or 4 days! I was thinking of a subscription to Magnificat but was sad to hear that the prayers and psalms do not align with the LOTH. Thank you all so much. I’m grateful to be able to come here and ask questions and receive so many valuable answers. God Bless you all:)
 
Fergal said:
A lay person and I don’t know if they were married or not.
Click to expand...
Membership in Opus Dei has several levels. Even those who commit to chastity and potentially live in community with other Opus Dei members are lay, but they are not at all in the same state of live as a wife and mother.

Thankfully, the OP has found a good solution to her situation that doesn’t involve over-commiting herself to a task designed for religious and not laymen.
 
halx said:
:)I want to thank you all for your thoughtful and great ideas! I am a big fan of both the Rosary and The Divine Mercy. I researched the Book of Christian Prayer and was very impressed, especially since it would let me keep the “prayer of the whole Church” that I treasured from the LOTH. I ordered a copy and should be enjoying it in only 3 or 4 days! I was thinking of a subscription to Magnificat but was sad to hear that the prayers and psalms do not align with the LOTH. Thank you all so much. I’m grateful to be able to come here and ask questions and receive so many valuable answers. God Bless you all:)
Click to expand...
This I think is a great solution. Christian Prayer contains the complete texts for Morning, Evening, and Night Prayer for the entire liturgical year. I think for the married layman, this is perfect. It has only selections for Daytime Prayer and the Office of Readings, which you may use if you find yourself with some free time. But I’d say stick to Lauds, Vespers, and Compline at the least, and you should likely be okay.

Moreover, Christian Prayer contains musical notation, so if you’re good at that, you can actually sing the hymns.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top