LOTH, Breviary, Christian Prayer, or Little Office?

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I’m trying to improve my prayer and looking at a few options, but have become confused. I would like to add about 15-20 mins of prayer in the morning and night and the below options seemed appropriate.

Should I buy a LOTH and what kind ? Or a Breviary ? I heard the LOTH could be confusing for someone just starting this type of prayer.

How about the book below which I saw someone in Church using ?
amazon.com/Christian-Prayer-Catholic-Book-Publishing/dp/0899424066/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1437401789&sr=8-1&keywords=christian+prayer&pebp=1437402296274&perid=12ZQAJVKYJZB4MW0MSQP

I have also come across the Little Office of the BVM at the below link which looks good.
baroniuspress.com/book.php?wid=56&bid=47#tab=tab-1

Please kindly assist me in discerning which one would be appropriate.

Thank you and god bless.
 
The current version of the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin is nice for a total beginner. it is inexpensive and it got me used to the cyclical nature of liturgical prayer. It is just a seven day cycle of morning and evening prayer repeated weekly with no variation.

This is the current version…books.google.com/books/about/Little_Office_of_the_Blessed_Virgin_Mary.html?id=8yf3PwAACAAJ

The Barinius Press version is of the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary is not the current version. They one you linked to is the old office from before 1962. It uses very archaic language and is somewhat complex for a beginner. I eventually figured it out well enough but found myself trying to figure out the language - words like plenteous, propitiation, spake, thither and vouchsafe and clunky sentence structure - more than I was praying. For example;

Behold, Mary hath borne us the Saviour, whom John beholding, exclaimed; Behold the Lamb of God etc.

I have a copy of the Baronius version, pristine condition and hardly used, if that is what you decide upon. Send me a PM and we will work a deal. You can see it at forums.catholic-questions.org/showpost.php?p=12192830&postcount=8

After a few months I slowly moved to Shorter Christian Prayer which was a little more complex and eventually to the full Christian Prayer which I try to pray regularly.

-Tim-
 
Dryfly said:
I’m trying to improve my prayer and looking at a few options, but have become confused. I would like to add about 15-20 mins of prayer in the morning and night and the below options seemed appropriate.

Should I buy a LOTH and what kind ? Or a Breviary ? I heard the LOTH could be confusing for someone just starting this type of prayer.

How about the book below which I saw someone in Church using ?
amazon.com/Christian-Prayer-Catholic-Book-Publishing/dp/0899424066/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1437401789&sr=8-1&keywords=christian+prayer&pebp=1437402296274&perid=12ZQAJVKYJZB4MW0MSQP

I have also come across the Little Office of the BVM at the below link which looks good.
baroniuspress.com/book.php?wid=56&bid=47#tab=tab-1

Please kindly assist me in discerning which one would be appropriate.

Thank you and god bless.
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I would recommend the Christian Prayer book, as it consists of the complete Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer and Night Prayer in their official forms as approved by the Catholic Church.
 
I love my Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary from Baronius Press. The physical quality of the book matches the beautiful, sublime content. As TimothyH pointed out, the language is archaic. For me, that is a plus. I love the traditional renditions and style of language. At first, it can be difficult not to stumble over the psalms and readings because of their style. But as the Little Office becomes habit, the words flow like second nature. I appreciate this version of the Little Office much more today than when I purchased it a year ago. It really grew on me. Who knows, you might have the same experience! It is a matter of personal taste, but it has my whole hearted recommendation for what it is worth and it certainly fulfills the criteria you are looking for in your prayer routine: user friendly, simple, easy to follow schedule, not much page flipping, and packed with supplemental information that describes the Little Office and its beautiful, rich history. It is so wonderful to render such prayers to Our Blessed Lady in union with all the saints and faithful who have prayed these exact prayers down through the ages!
 
In times past…one might pray both the Office (LOTH) and the Little Office.

The Carthusians still do this today.
 
It has taken me several attempts to wrap my head around it, but I have been using Shorter Christian Prayer for the past couple of weeks (after owning it for about 4 years!).

This website might be useful to you: Coffee and Canticles.
 
Thank you everyone!

I do need something relatively easy to follow. Any other recommendations that might prove useful ?
 
porthos11 said:
I would recommend the Christian Prayer book, as it consists of the complete Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer and Night Prayer in their official forms as approved by the Catholic Church.
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This is what I have and I love it. The free app Laudate also has LOTH for use on a phone or tablet. I have it on both my phone & tablet. It does require internet access to use it though but even I was able to figure it out.

I have a thing for books so I do love my book version of Christian Prayer book.
 
Bookcat said:
In times past…one might pray both the Office (LOTH) and the Little Office.

The Carthusians still do this today.
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Yes, the do, and to top it all their version of the LOTH is far heavier than the 4-week psalter used by the secular Church. I believe theirs is very similar to the Benedictine Divine Office which would be the recitation of about 250 psalms per week :eek: (obviously with many repeated psalms). But some of the hours are recited in their cells.
 
Dryfly said:
Thank you everyone!

I do need something relatively easy to follow. Any other recommendations that might prove useful ?
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Two thoughts:
  1. go on line if you can; it doesn’t cost you the price of a book; and you can “try it out” without the investment, until you are sure you want to do this.
  2. one can also use the small magazine “Magnificat”, which has a number of other things; it may be a bit weak on the LOTH, but it provides a starting place, with weekday Masses and some spiritual reading.
I was in minor college seminary 1964-1966 and we used Shorter Christian Prayer, and said Morning Prayer (Lauds) and Evening Prayer (Vespers) in community, with Night Prayer (Compline) on your own; and the book served me quite well for a number of years. It was short on feast days, as Christian Prayer has more; but if you are just getting started, I would not recommend starting with that until you have some significant time under your belt. It (Shorter Christian Prayer) is not at all that difficult to follow, allows you to say the major parts you wish to do, travels easily, and you don’t feel like you have this inch and a half book that you are either not comfortable using, or simply find that you are not using a lot of because that was not what you were looking for.
 
DryFly–

Christian Prayer = Liturgy of the Hours (aka “Divine Office”)

There are three versions: Shorter Christian Prayer, the one volume Christian Prayer, and the four volume Christian Prayer.

If you want to experiment, the least expensive way is following www.divineoffice.org.

They have each day’s office and a podcast of them reciting the prayers, so you can hear them as well as read them.
 
Are the readings the same in the Shorter Christian Prayer, the Christian Prayer, and the LOTH ? I understand there will be more or less readings and prayers depending on the book.

I’m asking as I see that some of the readings between divineoffice.org and the ibreviary app seem slightly different.

I’ve been using the divineoffice.org and wondering if these are the same prayers others are using in the LOTH and if I’m praying along with the clergy and the monks.

Thanks!
 
Christian Prayer and the LOTH would have the same readings for Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, and Night Prayer.

Christian Prayer has a truncated version of the Office of Readings, and I’m not 100% certain about Daytime Prayer.

The problem with Shorter Christian Prayer is that is so truncated that it includes almost none of the feasts and memorials of the Saints. You would need at least Christian Prayer for that.

Also it doesn’t contain the Commons which are called for on Feasts and some Solemnities, and parts of memorials. The Proper of Seasons for Advent, Lent, and Easter are also truncated in Shorter Christian Prayer.

If you want a physical book, my recommendation is skip Shorter Christian Prayer and go with Christian Prayer or LOTH. Christian Prayer is not that much more $$ than SCP and you won’t “outgrow” it as fast.
 
thank you. I guess I can figure out the Christian Prayer book. Worse case, I just look at the divineoffice.org website as it seems to show which pages to use on a daily basis. I’m going to go for it!

Thanks everyone for your help.
👍
 
Dryfly said:
thank you. I guess I can figure out the Christian Prayer book. Worse case, I just look at the divineoffice.org website as it seems to show which pages to use on a daily basis. I’m going to go for it!

Thanks everyone for your help.
👍
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If you buy Christian Prayer brand new, it also comes with a guide for the current year that can tell you the pages for the celebration. This guide is published yearly by Catholic Book Publishing Company.

And yes, you can figure it out quite easily. Christian Prayer is not a difficult book to navigate. You just need to know the time of year, the celebration for any given day and its rank. But there is good introductory material at the beginning that tells you the structure and format of each Hour for the different kinds of celebrations.
 
Frankly, I would recommend giving the LOTH a try, especially in an electronic format, as others have mentioned.

Purchasing the actual volumes can be costly—or not so costly if you simply buy one at a time—and yes, they can be a bit difficult to get used to.

But in all sincerity, I wouldn’t describe the LOTH as being tremendously complicated, and I’m sure a couple of weeks of use would have you feeling quite comfortable with a vast majority of the daily hours.

The Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as published by Baronius Press, is indeed quite beautiful. Someone mentioned archaic language. Well, yes, it’s true the language is not particularly modern. But I also wouldn’t describe it as being so out of date that you’d basically never understand it without a formal education. As with the LOTH, I’m sure a couple of weeks of use would be tremendously helpful, and would put to bed the vast majority of problems.

In comparison to the LOTH, I would describe the Little Office as being an absolute cinch to use, almost as if it were specifically designed for little ones. You basically open up to a page and read. The “flipping” between sections is incredibly rare, probably about a tenth that of the LOTH. I was able to figure out the Little Office in maybe 30 minutes, after having a beginner’s level understanding of the LOTH.

But I would encourage you to familiarize with the LOTH. Start by using one of the various websites so you can get a feel for how all the parts come together. Then, after a while, why not invest in the current volume, along with a St. Joseph’s guide?

Again, I wouldn’t permit myself to feel intimidated, you can totally be extremely comfortable with the LOTH. 🙂
 
DryFly – there’s a lovely book called “The Everyday Catholic’s Guide to the Liturgy of the Hours.” I found it very helpful when I began praying the LotH.

Also, Catholic Book Publishing offers a set of inserts that can help guide you:

catholicbookpublishing.com/products/94
 
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