Matins and verspers

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Paul_theApostle

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I have seen that in the Eastern Churches.their churches and parishes perform matin and vesper services ,but the Catholic Churches have only Masses,in the morning or several throughout the day and in the evening.

Although i see Fransiccans or Benedictine monasteries performing the divine office and matins and vespers,

Is it forbiden for local parishes to perform these services in their churches?

Is this a deviance from Tradition that they celebrate only Mass morning and evenings?
 
  1. Public and common prayer by the people of God is rightly considered to be among the primary duties of the Church. From the very beginning those who were baptized “devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the community, to the breaking of the bread, and to prayer” (Acts 2:42). The Acts of the Apostles give frequent testimony to the fact that the Christian community prayed with one accord. [1]
The witness of the early Church teaches us that individual Christians devoted themselves to prayer at fixed times. Then, in different places, it soon became the established practice to assign special times for common prayer, for example, the last hour of the day when evening draws on and the lamp is lighted, or the first hour when night draws to a close with the rising of the sun.
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  1. Wherever possible, other groups of the faithful should celebrate the liturgy of the hours communally in church. This especially applies to parishes - the cells of the diocese, established under their pastors, taking the place of the bishop; they “represent in some degree the visible Church established throughout the world.” [94]
  2. Hence, when the people are invited to the liturgy of the hours and come together in unity of heart and voice, they show forth the Church in its celebration of the mystery of Christ. [95]
GENERAL INSTRUCTION OF THE LITURGY OF THE HOURS:

ewtn.com/library/curia/cdwgilh.htm#Ch I-I
 
Paul_theApostle said:
I have seen that in the Eastern Churches.their churches and parishes perform matin and vesper services ,but the Catholic Churches have only Masses,in the morning or several throughout the day and in the evening.

Although i see Fransiccans or Benedictine monasteries performing the divine office and matins and vespers,

Is it forbiden for local parishes to perform these services in their churches?

Is this a deviance from Tradition that they celebrate only Mass morning and evenings?
Click to expand...
No.
No.
 
It isn’t “forbidden”, but try getting the local bishop or priest to agree to open the church to hold the service.

A while back our Gregorian schola proposed to hold 1 vespers service at our local church during Advent and we were turned down. Not enough people would be interested we were told. There wasn’t even an attempt to try it once.

Sometimes the Church is its own worst enemy. We shouldn’t be worried about Evangelical Protestants, we should be worried about the level of commitment from our own clergy.

Fortunately we have a Benedictine monastery nearby and they observe all the canonical hours. I am an oblate there, and pray the Divine Office daily myself.
 
OraLabora said:
It isn’t “forbidden”, but try getting the local bishop or priest to agree to open the church to hold the service.

A while back our Gregorian schola proposed to hold 1 vespers service at our local church during Advent and we were turned down. Not enough people would be interested we were told. There wasn’t even an attempt to try it once.

Sometimes the Church is its own worst enemy. We shouldn’t be worried about Evangelical Protestants, we should be worried about the level of commitment from our own clergy.

Fortunately we have a Benedictine monastery nearby and they observe all the canonical hours. I am an oblate there, and pray the Divine Office daily myself.
Click to expand...
Whats involved in praying Div. Office alone?

Is it simple to follow?

Is it hours,matins vesp?
 
Praying the Divine Office alone, you can either read it out loud or sing it. (Or as a layperson not obligated to pray the Office, you could even read it silently, though that’s not traditional. Or you could just listen prayerfully to somebody else read or sing it, which is traditional.)

Again, since you’re a layperson and not obligated, you can just pray whatever hours you want (though you should probably stick with the same one/s every day). The books are a bit complicated but learnable. Also nowadays, there are websites and apps that provide you with exactly the right psalms, readings, prayers, etc. for the particular day and hour. There are also podcasts that you can download per day.
 
Paul_theApostle said:
Is it forbiden for local parishes to perform these services in their churches?
Click to expand...
No, it’s actually encouraged.

GILTH:
*21. Wherever possible, other groups of the faithful should celebrate the liturgy of the hours communally in church. This especially applies to parishes - the cells of the diocese, established under their pastors, taking the place of the bishop; they “represent in some degree the visible Church established throughout the world.”
  1. Hence, when the people are invited to the liturgy of the hours and come together in unity of heart and voice, they show forth the Church in its celebration of the mystery of Christ.
  2. Morning prayer and evening prayer are therefore to be accorded the highest importance as the prayer of the Christian community. Their public or communal celebration should be encouraged…*
 
ok looks good,

If you get this in book form,do you have to buy it again for each year ?or is it the same year year after year,

i guess it is the same but is there dates on the Pages with says which saint is celebrated etc? which may change every year?
 
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