Liturgy of the hours vs. the Rosary

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I have been thinking about this. For one who works and has a busy schedule, it can be hard to Pray the daily offices and the rosary every day. So which is more important if one needs to be focused on?
 
codefro said:
I have been thinking about this. For one who works and has a busy schedule, it can be hard to Pray the daily offices and the rosary every day. So which is more important if one needs to be focused on?
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I have this problem myself, and I have voted for The Divine Office, aka LOTH.
 
codefro said:
I have been thinking about this. For one who works and has a busy schedule, it can be hard to Pray the daily offices and the rosary every day. So which is more important if one needs to be focused on?
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The more important one is the one that you are able to say prayerfully, without distraction and with full focus on God. The more important one is the one that will ultimately bring you closer to Christ.
 
I only have time for one or the other as well. As a secular oblate I am bound to at least part of the LOTH so that’s what I do. however I do find the LOTH theologically richer and more profound. With no disrespect meant to the Rosary!
 
But is there any meaning missing when Catholics dont pray the rosary? Again, these are just thoughts and inquiries. I have been thinking about how much impact the rosary is capable of. At the same time I love the divine offices so much! I suppose their is the possibility of morning and evening prayer with rosary in the day. It is just a difficult commitment.
 
A Dominican Friar recently taught us in class that the Divine Office, outside of the Mass, is the most perfect form of prayer we can participate in. He went on to say that in praying the Office you are praying with the whole Church and following Christ’s command to “pray unceasingly”. Furthermore, in praying the LOTH you are praying with Christ, since the words of the prayer are Sacred Scripture itself.

I have opted to make the Divine Office the central focus of my structured prayer life outside of the Mass. I do an occasional Rosary, Devotion to Saint Michael, and now a Litany of Dominican Saints and Blesseds, but the Divine Office remains my focus.

And of course, there is still personal prayer which needs to be done and I always need more of that.
 
OraLabora said:
I only have time for one or the other as well. As a secular oblate I am bound to at least part of the LOTH so that’s what I do. however I do find the LOTH theologically richer and more profound. With no disrespect meant to the Rosary!
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I’d suggest you discuss this with your Spiritual Director. Most Oblates have as part of their rule the ability of the Spiritual Director or Confessor to substitute the office or other requirements with another action that is more suitable for the individual. He may also be able to explain to you why the Office (or a portion) is more suitable, should that be the case. Since none of us here knows what Order or Religious Society you are an Oblate in, nor the rule, it is a hard question to answer.

The Church never asks us to do what is impossible. Even during Colonial times, and after the Revolution in the USA, Catholic priests bound to the office were given an indult to pray all 15 decades of the Rosary if they due to travel (remember mostly horseback those days) they could not pray the Divine Office. Similar concessions have been granted by the Holy See in mission territories. It is not a sign of failure, but more a sign of the understanding of the Church and desire that we do something for the good of one’s soul.
 
codefro said:
I have been thinking about this. For one who works and has a busy schedule, it can be hard to Pray the daily offices and the rosary every day. So which is more important if one needs to be focused on?
Click to expand...
You are not obligated to pray any one of them, unless you are part of a community that has a religious rule stating that you are. .

However, if you’d like to pray both, maybe you can pray one hour, like the morning prayer and then maybe the Rosary in the evening.

You are not obligated to pray any one of them.

However, if you’d like to pray both, maybe you can pray one hour, like the morning prayer and then maybe the Rosary in the evening…

Or you can pray the Liturgy of the Hours one day and the Rosary the next.

The point is, don’t stress over it.
 
Filioque said:
I’d suggest you discuss this with your Spiritual Director. Most Oblates have as part of their rule the ability of the Spiritual Director or Confessor to substitute the office or other requirements with another action that is more suitable for the individual. He may also be able to explain to you why the Office (or a portion) is more suitable, should that be the case. Since none of us here knows what Order or Religious Society you are an Oblate in, nor the rule, it is a hard question to answer.

The Church never asks us to do what is impossible. Even during Colonial times, and after the Revolution in the USA, Catholic priests bound to the office were given an indult to pray all 15 decades of the Rosary if they due to travel (remember mostly horseback those days) they could not pray the Divine Office. Similar concessions have been granted by the Holy See in mission territories. It is not a sign of failure, but more a sign of the understanding of the Church and desire that we do something for the good of one’s soul.
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No worries, no stress. The Rosary doesn’t work for me. And for me to give up the divine office would be like giving up eating. I love the psalms and I love the deep meaning of all the hours and especially the significance of Vigils in monastic life.

I am flexible though. if circumstances require I skip an office I don’t obsess over it. And when I am really short of time I switch to the 4-week psalter instead of the one-week monastic psalter I usually use.

My spiritual director is well aware of these choices.
 
OraLabora said:
No worries, no stress. The Rosary doesn’t work for me. And for me to give up the divine office would be like giving up eating. I love the psalms and I love the deep meaning of all the hours and especially the significance of Vigils in monastic life.

I am flexible though. if circumstances require I skip an office I don’t obsess over it. And when I am really short of time I switch to the 4-week psalter instead of the one-week monastic psalter I usually use.

My spiritual director is well aware of these choices.
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I’m still figuring out my way through the Divine Office.

I alternate between the Liturgy of the Hours (on my iPhone), the traditional Roman breviary and I’m trying to find a Benedictine traditional breviary. I suppose I’m going to have to invent in one of those expensive volumes, unless they come on a Kindle.

Are you suppose to read them out loud. I notice some Orthodox Jews on the train reading their prayers with lips moving.
 
Some say yes some say reading quietly is ok. Except in public I chant them, Lauds and Vespers in Latin 😃

I don’t know what you do for a living or if you have a family, but if you have any kind of a life the traditional Benedictine Office is a daunting challenge. It truly is a monastic prayer, especially Vigils. On Sundays and feasts Vigils is 12 psalms, 3 OT canticles, a long Bible reading, a long patristic reading, the Gospel of the day, a homily or another patristic reading, plus the hymn, Te Decet Laus and Te Deum. Not in that order. Even in private recitation you’re looking at around an hour, sometime between 4 and 6 am.

It ain’t realistic for working layfolk! Most people would give up. Been there done that. Don’t bite off more than you can chew, I suggest starting easy with the 4-week LOTH to build an appetite and then growing into what you can handle. Right now for me the 1-week moastic schema my abbey uses works well.
TrueLight said:
I’m still figuring out my way through the Divine Office.

I alternate between the Liturgy of the Hours (on my iPhone), the traditional Roman breviary and I’m trying to find a Benedictine traditional breviary. I suppose I’m going to have to invent in one of those expensive volumes, unless they come on a Kindle.

Are you suppose to read them out loud. I notice some Orthodox Jews on the train reading their prayers with lips moving.
Click to expand...
 
I believe that part of the history of the Rosary includes a connection to the LOTH.

For those who could not read, could not memorize the 150 psalms, the rosary (not the one we use now) was substituted. For the lay Catholics.

It was like 150 Lord’s Prayers, easy to remember, and counted on a ‘prayer rope’.
Later the Ave Maria’s were substituted, the mysteries added, the division into decades, the Creed, etc.

But the 150 came from the number of Psalms there were recited each day by the monks.

So it makes sense to use the LOTHs as you can, but if memory is needed (eg when traveling) use the Rosary.

During the 40 days for life, I am able to begin and end my prayers from the LOTH. But when I walk from Train to Office, I can fit in 5 decades so I get in 2/day. But normally that is when I listen to EWTN (Catholic Answers). So I have to juggle what I can pray and when I can learn. Never enough time for both.
 
OraLabora said:
I don’t know what you do for a living or if you have a family, but if you have any kind of a life the traditional Benedictine Office is a daunting challenge. It truly is a monastic prayer, especially Vigils. On Sundays and feasts Vigils is 12 psalms, 3 OT canticles, a long Bible reading, a long patristic reading, the Gospel of the day, a homily or another patristic reading, plus the hymn, Te Decet Laus and Te Deum. Not in that order. Even in private recitation you’re looking at around an hour, sometime between 4 and 6 am.

It ain’t realistic for working layfolk! Most people would give up. Been there done that. Don’t bite off more than you can chew, I suggest starting easy with the 4-week LOTH to build an appetite and then growing into what you can handle. Right now for me the 1-week moastic schema my abbey uses works well.
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Oh I am a working mother. Plus I have other stuff going on.

Right now I only aspire to do one hour, ha ha. Whichever one is shortest. 😃

I do want to pray something traditional because I find it to be very inspiring to recite the same prayers that were recited for over a thousand years. That’s why I am interested in the traditional Benedictine breviary.
 
I have to agree with NewsTheMan, that is what all prayer is about 👍

I prayed my first rosary 45 years ago and while it’s changed a bit over the years, I still find it as powerful as it was then.
I can’t remember the last missed day, in fact the day just doesn’t feel right unless it is prayed!

I also pray the Angleus every day as well. Obviously I am a groupie of Our Blessed Mother 😃

But, again, it is truly whatever works best for you.
 
codefro said:
I have been thinking about this. For one who works and has a busy schedule, it can be hard to Pray the daily offices and the rosary every day. So which is more important if one needs to be focused on?
Click to expand...
I pray Lauds as soon as I get up/

The Rosary on the way to dropping the kids off at school (after I drop them off, and on my way to work).

Vespers after we close. (Vespers only takes 5-10 minutes)

FWIW:)

ie, I choose both 😃

If I have to choose one, it would be the LotH. I have a deep devotion to our Blessed Mother, but she prayed the Psalms…if it was good enough for her…
 
I am happy to know that other people think about these issues as well. 🙂

I still want to think about it, because I would like a consistent prayer life, which is a benefit of the daily office. On the other hand, I would say the rosary is one of the biggest reasons I became a Catholic. I had the offices in the Anglican Church, but I couldn’t resist the Roman Catholic Rosary. It is amazing! :gopray2:
 
TrueLight said:
Oh I am a working mother. Plus I have other stuff going on.

Right now I only aspire to do one hour, ha ha. Whichever one is shortest. 😃

I do want to pray something traditional because I find it to be very inspiring to recite the same prayers that were recited for over a thousand years. That’s why I am interested in the traditional Benedictine breviary.
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Well the prayers themselves will have changed over those thousands of years; so too the calendar as more saints are added; and the OT canticles at Lauds always followed what the Roman Church was doing (it’s written in the Rule) and that has changed over time as well. What is traditional though, is the psalm order.

But the psalms, no matter how you arrange them, are very old indeed! And the current LOTH has done a reasonable job of keeping most of the psalms in their traditional place, for example 109 at Vespers, 62 at Lauds, 148-149-150 at Lauds, 4, 90 and 133 at Compline at least on Sundays, with an option to use them every day if desired.

If you want a true Benedictine tradition, and want to pray only one Office, do Compline every night, from memory, in the dark. That’s how it’s still prayed in monasteries using the traditional Benedictine schema; I was at one such monastery in France last year and it was awesome to hear the psalms chanted “in directum” in Latin, from memory in the dark chapel. It’s the simplest psalm tone and easy to learn.

Note though that compared to the Roman version of Compline, the Monastic can seem quite austere: the psalms are chanted without antiphon, there is no responsory (“Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit”; instead there’s a simple verse), and there is no Nunc Dimittis. However the Marian antiphon is always chanted at the end, followed by the Angelus which the monks say silently before shuffling off to their cells.
 
OraLabora said:
If you want a true Benedictine tradition, and want to pray only one Office, do Compline every night, from memory, in the dark. That’s how it’s still prayed in monasteries using the traditional Benedictine schema; I was at one such monastery in France last year and it was awesome to hear the psalms chanted “in directum” in Latin, from memory in the dark chapel. It’s the simplest psalm tone and easy to learn.

Note though that compared to the Roman version of Compline, the Monastic can seem quite austere: the psalms are chanted without antiphon, there is no responsory (“Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit”; instead there’s a simple verse), and there is no Nunc Dimittis. However the Marian antiphon is always chanted at the end, followed by the Angelus which the monks say silently before shuffling off to their cells.
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I love Compline!

From memory? Err… in time. 🙂

I feel like I asked you about this video in another thread, but is this one a traditional Benedictine Compline?
 
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