Office of readings and morning prayer

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anon91549587

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  1. In regards to the divine office , if i were to start with the office of readings , do i still need to pray the 3 psalms of morning prayer or could i go straight to the reading → responsory → canticle etc ?
  2. can i skip the office of readings and just pray the morning prayers?
 
I usually do morning and evening prayer. Night prayer is shorter so I usually try to get that in too.
If I am interested in doing the readings for the day and don’t have a lot of extra time I skip the prayers and go straight to the readings. I focus the most on morning and evening prayer but that is just me. I’m only obligated to say morning and evening prayer…
 
anon91549587 said:
can i skip the office of readings and just pray the morning prayers?
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Unless you’re under canonical obligation (clergy, religious, etc.), you don’t have to pray the Office of Readings at all - or any of it. Morning Prayer is an independent hour of the Office, so yes, you can certainly do it alone.
anon91549587 said:
In regards to the divine office , if i were to start with the office of readings , do i still need to pray the 3 psalms of morning prayer or could i go straight to the reading → responsory → canticle etc ?
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Again, assuming you’re not obligated to pray the Office, you can do whatever you want as a personal devotion. If you want to join the Church’s liturgy for the day, you need to follow the rubrics given in the link posted above. I don’t believe what you propose here is the proper blending of OOR and MP. @oralabora is our resident expert.
 
Thanks for clarifying guys. Whenever i read the office it takes very long , almost 45 mins just to finish the OOR and MP.
 
As pointed out, the Office of Readings, and Morning Prayer, are two separate offices. There is a rubric for joining them together, but let’s look at the structure of each independently, then I’ll show how to blend them.

OOR

If first Office of the day: “Lord open my lips…”
Invitatory Antiphon
Invitatory Psalm

If not the first office of the day, e.g. said the evening before: “Lord, come to my assistance…”

Hymn
Three psalms or sections of psalms
Verse
Biblical reading
Responsory
Patristic/Hagiographic reading
Responsory
Te Deum (Sundays, feasts and solemnities except Sundays in Lent)
Collect (Seasonal, or of the saint/feast)
Conclusion

MP

If first Office of the day: “Lord open my lips…”
Invitatory Antiphon (optional)
Invitatory Psalm (optional)

If not the first office of the day, e.g. you said the OOR earlier: “Lord, come to my assistance…”

Hymn
First psalm
Old Testament canticle
Second Psalm
Short reading
Responsory
Gospel canticle antiphon
Gospel Canticle (Benedictus)
Intercessions
Our Father
Collect (of the day, season, or saint)
Conclusion

To join the two Offices together

“Lord open my lips…”
Invitatory Antiphon
Invitatory Psalm
Hymn (either the one specified for Morning Prayer or the one for the Office of Readings)
Three psalms or sections of psalms from the Office of Readings
Verse
Biblical reading
Responsory
Patristic/Hagiographic reading
Responsory
Te Deum (Sundays, feasts and solemnities except Sundays in Lent)
First psalm from Morning Prayer
Old Testament canticle
Second Psalm
Short reading
Responsory
Gospel canticle antiphon
Gospel Canticle (Benedictus)
Intercessions
Our Father
Collect (of the day, season, or saint)
Conclusion

In other words, you get to eliminate one hymn, and you only say the Collect of Morning Prayer.

As always I advise people wanting to get into the LOTH to spend some quality time with the General Instruction of the Liturgy of the Hours (if you don’t have the books you can use Google to find it), and the Ordinary section in the books. These are invaluable for correctly praying the Office if not using a website.

PS in principle, you can also join the Office of Readings to either Mid-day prayer, Evening Prayer or Night Prayer. The formula is the same as if for joining Morning Prayer, but without the Invitatory verse/antiphon/psalm.

Edit: corrected a copy/paste error for the joint Offices, I had two hymns when only one is required just after the Invitatory.
 
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anon91549587 said:
  1. In regards to the divine office , if i were to start with the office of readings , do i still need to pray the 3 psalms of morning prayer or could i go straight to the reading → responsory → canticle etc ?
  2. can i skip the office of readings and just pray the morning prayers?
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On number 1 yes you still say the psalms for Morning Prayer. The Psalms and canticles are the core of the office and cannot be omitted.

On number 2 of course you can. Many laypeople just use the one volume edition for morning, evening and night prayer.
 
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