Mass closed during pandemic? What are you doing?

[jeannetherese]

Or review your alter server training or polish up those organ/piano/cantor skills.

 

[mdgspencer]

.
My wife and I go every day to our church and pray in front of the eucharist. Then every day I walk to the adoration chapel next to the church building to adore the eucharist there, while my wife prays to Mary,
When we are there perhaps one other person comes and pays a visit to the eucharist.
The church and the parish grounds are both empty, as if it was an abandoned place. When I spoke to the priest he said that there can’t be a group there or there would be trouble for him. but then people aren’t coming there anyways.

 

[Jerzy]

Praying the Office of Readings with two nocturnes on regular days, and three on Sundays and solemnities.

@OraLabora Would you mind expaning on this? I’ve tried to do an internet search for more information about how exactly this works, but the only results I can find are in languages I can’t speak. This is very intriguing!

 

[OraLabora]

OK. In the monastic Office, Vigils (which became the Office of Readings in the Liturgy of the Hours) had two nocturnes on ordinary days, three on Sundays. It was set up like this:

Invitatory
Hymn
Psalms with Antiphons (6 in the traditional monastic)
Verse
Scripture reading (OT or NT but not Gospel) divided into three sections (4 on Sundays) with a responsory between each.
Psalms with Antiphons (again 6)
Patristic or Hagiographic reading (on saint’s days) also into three or 4 sections
Responsory
Kyrie, collect and conclusion

On Sundays the 3d Nocturne would include 3 OT canticles plus the gospel plus a homily, or a reading from a Church father, and the Te Deum.

The modern LOTH only has one set of psalms and no psalmody between the readings. Some religious communities objected, saying this was too “light” for contemplative orders. Some Benedictines compelled to use the LOTH for valid reasons felt the same way. So in response the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments published in its periodical “Notitiae” instructions on how to do the Office of Readings in two nocturnes (most contemplatives would use it as a night office):

http://www.cultodivino.va/content/cultodivino/it/rivista-notitiae/indici-annate/1974/89.html

Unfortunately the instructions are in French only but the gist of it is this:

Invitatory or opening verse
Hymn
Psalmody with antiphons (3 psalms or sections of longer psalms)
Verse
Scripture reading
Responsory
Psalmody with antiphons as above
Verse
Patristic or hagiographic reading
Responsory
Collect
Conclusion.

And on Sundays, feasts and solemnities, a 3d nocturne using the “Vigils” canticles in the LOTH and a Gospel reading and Te Deum

It looks much more like the layout of the monastic Office. Moreover it puts the Office of Readings on a 2-week rotation rather than 4 week. You use the psalms of weeks 1 and 3 in those weeks, and weeks 2 and 4 in those weeks. There’s some trickery concerning verses so that they aren’t repeated outside Ordinary Time when there’s a greater selection.

There’s also a way to do the minor hours as well, but Benedictines don’t use it. We prefer the gradual psalms in the complementary psalter as they have traditionally been used at the minor hours.

Hope it helps!

 

[Xarto]

Getting mass online from a local church (shop local as they say).

 

[Jerzy]

Thank you for your very generous response—it’s incredibly helpful! Would you mind clarifying a few points?

First, in terms of the psalmody following the Scripture reading, does the rotation work like this for weekdays:

• During the 1st week, you use the psalmody for the Office of Readings from the corresponding day of the 3rd week.
• During the 2nd week, you use the psalmody for the Office of Readings from the corresponding day of the 4th week.
• During the 3rd week, you use the psalmody for the Office of Readings from the corresponding day of the 1st week.
• During the 4th week, you use the psalmody for the Office of Readings from the corresponding day of the 2nd week.

Also, on Solemnities and Feasts, it appears that the psalmody which follows the Scripture reading is chosen “at the discretion of the performer” from the Office of Readings of one of the Sundays, provided that your selection doesn’t repeat a psalm from another office that day.

Is that right? And are Sundays treated as a weekday or Solemnity?

Finally, in regards to the Verse after this additional psalmody: Google Translate says “En cas de doublet, aux temps forts” means “In the case of a doublet, at the high points,” which makes no sense to me. Any chance you could clarify that?

Thanks again! I’ve always wished there were a version of the LOTH “vigil” for weekdays, so this is all a great gift.

 

[OraLabora]

For week 1 and 3, the first nocturne uses the psalms from week 1 and the second from week 3. In weeks 2 and 4, the first nocturne uses the psalms of week 2 and the second, the psalms of week 4. One exception, since on Thursdays both week 2 and 4 use psalm 43, you use psalm 33 from Saturday mid-day prayer instead for the first nocturne.

Most of the Office of Readings psalms BTW, are from the Benedictine cursus for Vigils. A few, notably in week 1, are from Benedictine Prime, and a couple (Saturdays in OT, and Sunday) from Vespers.

For the verses that are doublets, you take the second one from Terce, Sext or None according to the day of the week. By doublets they mean that you would otherwise repeat the same verse at both nocturnes. Instead you substitue one from the daytime hours for the second.

Sundays are treated like solemnities, with 3 nocturnes. You are correct about feasts and solemnities for the second nocturne.

I wasn’t sure what to do for the Easter Octave, so I used the psalms of Week 1 for the second nocturne, and the ones indicated for the Octave for the first Nocturne. Since most of the Octave uses Sunday psalms, using Sunday psalms for the 2nd nocturne would have resulted in a lot of repetition. There’s already too much repetition at Lauds and Vespers!

To really get into the LOTH you need long fingernails: you find lots of buried treasures by scratching beneath the surface. In fact I find more Benedictine tradition in the LOTH than in the post-VIi monastic schema our abbey uses. You just have to dig to find them!

 

[Jerzy]

My goodness, there’s a ton of treasure just in your reply! Thank you for again taking the time to write all this up–it’s very illuminating.

And it’s funny that you mention the need for long fingernails. As I was thinking about your initial reply to my inqury, I was struck by how profoundly this changes my understanding of the LOTH. Even after three years of praying with the four volume set, it’s clear that even just on a liturgical level I’m barely scratching the surface of what the Office has to offer.

I have a copy of St. Benedict’s Rule, and I had just glossed over the bits about the Office, as I thought there would be very little that corresponded to the current version. How glad I am to be so mistaken.

On a final note, I want to take this opportunity to thank you for the impact all the posts you’ve made on this forum about the LOTH has had on my life. When I was first thinking about picking up this form of prayer, I was blessed to run head first into your posts here, and they’ve supplied (and continued to supply) an incredible amount of inspiration and guidance along the way.

God bless! St. Benedict, pray for us!

 

[Redd_Jackal]

I hope my parish is using the downtime to locate the bells normally rung at the elevation of the host and the chalice. EWTN Daily Mass uses theirs as does the outreach Mass of the neighboring diocese.