Liturgy of the Hours

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Among_Strangers

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I did a search on this in the forums and got a ton of threads that had nothing to do with it. So, if this info has already been discussed sorry for duplicating.

DW got me a very nice set of the Liturgy of the hours books. Soft black leather 4 volume set. I have no idea how to use them and there doesn’t seem to be an easy way to figure it out. I have been looking on line and I found this site I really like: ebreviary.com/

I know I can get a little pamphlet that has the references in the books I have. I am working on getting that.

Is there a step by step sort of like a missal for the Mass for lay people that want to pray the Hours or the Office of the Readings?

Thanks liturgy buffs 🙂
 
Among_Strangers said:
I did a search on this in the forums and got a ton of threads that had nothing to do with it.
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Wow! You’re right. I’d thought the forum vanilla search feature was better than that? As a tip, further down the Search menu is “Search CAF with Google”, which returns more focused results for “liturgy of the hours”.

Until you can get a paper copy of the page guide, if you have the edition published by Catholic Book Publishing, you may find this site helpful: The Liturgy of the Hours.

As for other questions, the Google search above will undoubtedly turn up some threads where folks recommend other support materials (I am not familiar with them myself). Or ask a more specific question here and I shall try to answer (more likely: someone else will beat me to it).

tee
 
You can and should ask your Pastor.

It might be best to pray one of the simpler offices such as Compline (Night prayer) or the Mid-day Hour, then grow into the rest.
 
tee_eff_em said:
Wow! You’re right. I’d thought the forum vanilla search feature was better than that? As a tip, further down the Search menu is “Search CAF with Google”, which returns more focused results for “liturgy of the hours”.

Until you can get a paper copy of the page guide, if you have the edition published by Catholic Book Publishing, you may find this site helpful: The Liturgy of the Hours.

As for other questions, the Google search above will undoubtedly turn up some threads where folks recommend other support materials (I am not familiar with them myself). Or ask a more specific question here and I shall try to answer (more likely: someone else will beat me to it).

tee
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Hey this is good too - thanks you guys.

p.s. tee I have read a lot of your stuff and you are one grade A class act who as an added bonus is also a major crack up!
 
bpbasilphx said:
You can and should ask your Pastor.

It might be best to pray one of the simpler offices such as Compline (Night prayer) or the Mid-day Hour, then grow into the rest.
Click to expand...
I am meeting with one of our permanent Deacons this afternoon and this is one thing I will talk to him about.
 
The Ordinary has a lot of great info printed in red. For the most part, that should give a good head start.

I would, however, suggest that you start, not with the simpler offices, but with Morning and Evening Prayer, because these are the “hinge” offices and are to be given preference.
 
Among_Strangers said:
I did a search on this in the forums and got a ton of threads that had nothing to do with it. So, if this info has already been discussed sorry for duplicating.

DW got me a very nice set of the Liturgy of the hours books. Soft black leather 4 volume set. I have no idea how to use them and there doesn’t seem to be an easy way to figure it out. I have been looking on line and I found this site I really like: ebreviary.com/

I know I can get a little pamphlet that has the references in the books I have. I am working on getting that.

Is there a step by step sort of like a missal for the Mass for lay people that want to pray the Hours or the Office of the Readings?

Thanks liturgy buffs 🙂
Click to expand...
Like the post above me, follow the ordinary and start off with Morning and Evening Prayer, and night Prayer. Office of the Readings is good too.

The Ordinary will tell you what to do. If you know someone who does it regularly, maybe ask if you can join him/her for a few weeks, to get the hang of it. Having someone show you the ropes is VERY useful here. Maybe ask your parish priest if you could pray it with him. After all, he’s gotta do it anyways! 😉
 
porthos11 said:
The Ordinary has a lot of great info printed in red. For the most part, that should give a good head start.

I would, however, suggest that you start, not with the simpler offices, but with Morning and Evening Prayer, because these are the “hinge” offices and are to be given preference.
Click to expand...
👍
 
I pray the office. It’s not always possible without sacrificing sleep. And since I design roads and stuff being tired all the time is not always a good thing for others. So I sacrifice it from time to time. I pray the rosary on the way to work. I love the Divine Office/Liturgy of the Hours. There are 3 basic books/sets of books. The Shorter Christian Prayer that contains the 4 weeks of the LOTH, Morning and Evening Prayers and I believe the Night Prayers. Then there is the Christian Prayer book which is what we used in the seminary. I can’t remember how we prayed the Office of readings though. I remember printed sheets and that may have been how. I would have loved to had a set of my own, but I didn’t really get much support from family so I was basically on my own… Then there is the 4 volume set. You have a nice set is sounds like. My are vinyl and suffice for me. The Guide is useful. Start little steps.

First things first.
Start the morning with
“Lord open my lips…and my mouth will proclaim your praise.”

The you read the antiphon of the day and recited Psalm 95 stanza by stanza…at the appropriate time as indicated by the rubriks in red you reapeat the antiphon. Do this all the way through. At the end of the Psalm you recite “Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning is now and will be forever, Amen”
Then recite the antiphon again.

This is always done before you recite the morning, or even the evening prayer. Of course you’re beginning. So don’t be hard on yourself. Be kind, since God is just pleased that he sees you joining in with the official prayer of the Church. This pleases God. It will make you holy if you do it with all your heart by joining in with the Will of God.

The rest is complicated. The guide gives you the rest. Just say what you can and as you go you will get more in tune with what you are doing. With time you see a pattern. There are norms, ordinary prayers for feasts, memorials etc. The morning prayer includes the Cantile of Zachariah and the Evening Prayer includes the Cantile of Mary. It’s take from Luke 1. It will make sense when you read it. All morning, evening, and mid day prayers begin with a song. At the end of each Psamody you say the Glory Be as stated above and on a particular part of the book that each book contains. The Ordinary is the basica guide. There are many parts and that is why there are streamers…book marks. They are color for a reason to help you keep track as you will flip back and forth between them. Initially you will make many mistakes. But in time it will become more clear. The key is to pray the reading, not just blurp them out. Most religious to NOT recite the Psalm Prayers… That will save you time initially. Why…ask a priest or deacon. I’ve been told by one friar that “most religous with any dignity would not recite them”… I’ve also been told some distrubing things about them. I believe they are meant for ecumenism but I’m not sure about that. I have received an answer from our pastor on this yet.

Boy. you are lucky if your wife gave you these prayer books. You ought to buy her a subscription to the Magnificate…it’s a simple version of the LOTH. It’s great for daily mass since it includes the mass readings of each day. It also contains a meditation. My wife loves it. I’ve used it and liked it but I prefer the Official Prayer…the LOTH. I’ve done this for about 2 years now and make mistakes. But not too bad for a beginner. I’ve memorized certain parts for ease, like you’d memorize the Our Father… It makes things easier. Things to memorize

Psalm 95, other psalms with time…you’ll see later why
Canticles
tune to some of the songs if you can.
and the order of the prayers.
Just by mear repetition you’ll learn the other more frequently used prayers.

If you’ve alread recited the Lord Open My lips part then there is a break you recite “God come to my assistance, Lord make haste to help me…Glory be to the Father…etc.”

There is an order. Get the guide. Using the first website you showed is a good way to check yourself.
 
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