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subject97
Guest
Hey, I was wondering if it would be okay if I just skip over the songs whenever I recite LOTH by myself, as I don’t know how that vast majority of the songs go and I’m pretty sure most of them aren’t on youtube.
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twf
Guest
You can read them rather than sing them if you don’t know the tune. That’s often what I do.
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UpUpAndAway
Guest
As twf said, read them instead of singing them. I did not specifically ask my spiritual director if I could omit any part of any Office, but when he taught me how to pray the LOTH he did instruct me to read each Office’s hymn so I never skip it. If I don’t know the hymn, I simply read it.
Note that my spiritual director is a priest so he is bound to the LOTH, but I am a lay woman who is not. I don’t know if that makes a difference. I imagine that anyone who must pray the LOTH—priests, deacons, members of religious orders, members of third orders, etc.—cannot omit the hymn or any other part. For all the rest of us, your guess is as good as mine. Perhaps someone else can enlighten us both…?
Note that my spiritual director is a priest so he is bound to the LOTH, but I am a lay woman who is not. I don’t know if that makes a difference. I imagine that anyone who must pray the LOTH—priests, deacons, members of religious orders, members of third orders, etc.—cannot omit the hymn or any other part. For all the rest of us, your guess is as good as mine. Perhaps someone else can enlighten us both…?
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xixxvmcm85
Guest
I’ve been told by my spiritual advisor that as a layperson I am not canonically bound to celebrate the LOTH, and so anytime that I do, it’s an act of personal piety. I am therefore allowed to use other translations, older breviaries (even pre-1962), and omit hymns.
If I am, however, celebrating in a group which includes some who are canonically bound to celebrate the hours, then I must follow the rubrics.
The one thing I hate about the shortened Christian Prayer is that there are no scores anywhere to be found. I’m a musician, and I can actually read music. Give me a piece that I’ve never before seen or heard, and I can (at least mediocrely) sing it. If all you print are the lyrics, then how the heck am I supposed to know what tune to sing? This is a pet peeve of mine with Mass programs too. At least give me a melody, for crying out loud, and my baritone voice will try to screech through it
If I am, however, celebrating in a group which includes some who are canonically bound to celebrate the hours, then I must follow the rubrics.
The one thing I hate about the shortened Christian Prayer is that there are no scores anywhere to be found. I’m a musician, and I can actually read music. Give me a piece that I’ve never before seen or heard, and I can (at least mediocrely) sing it. If all you print are the lyrics, then how the heck am I supposed to know what tune to sing? This is a pet peeve of mine with Mass programs too. At least give me a melody, for crying out loud, and my baritone voice will try to screech through it
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OraLabora
Guest
Even as laity, if reciting the LOTH privately, you are attaching yourself to the public prayer of the Church if you follow the rubrics and an approved version of the LOTH.
Even recited privately, the LOTH is the public prayer of the Church.
One can omit things or rearrange things as a private devotion, but if going through all the trouble of reciting, why not join the Body of Christ in the public prayer of the Church?
The key thing about the LOTH: it’s not about personal choice. It’s about being part of the Body of Christ.
The Church, in the General Instructions, encourages the laity to participate in the LOTH, as public liturgy (paradoxically, even when recited privately!)
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alwayslooking
Guest
I don’t know if this is correct or not, but I’ve prayed the LOTH in a religious residence with my spiritual director and his religious brothers; we’ve always skipped over the songs.
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xixxvmcm85
Guest
Oh absolutely! I didn’t mean to give the impression that one should willy nilly alter the liturgy to one’s personal tastes. But if celebrated on one’s own, and necessity dictates, one can make minor modifications. I think simply intoning (or preferably chanting) a hymn for which one doesn’t know the actual tune satisfies this.
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Windmill
Guest
The Christian Prayer volume has the notes for the English hymns for the English LOTH.
If you want to pray the official Latin hymns, you’d get the Liber Hymnarius and listen to Vatican radio or this website. I like to pray the Latin Liturgia Horarum on my iPhone (iBreviary Pro Terra Sancta set to Latin) while opening the above link to Vatican Radio in the background on the same phone and praying with Catholics all over the world in the same language. Technology is a neat thing.
If you want to pray the official Latin hymns, you’d get the Liber Hymnarius and listen to Vatican radio or this website. I like to pray the Latin Liturgia Horarum on my iPhone (iBreviary Pro Terra Sancta set to Latin) while opening the above link to Vatican Radio in the background on the same phone and praying with Catholics all over the world in the same language. Technology is a neat thing.
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