Praying the Divine Office

[Thomas_Francis]

So how do I pray the Reading? Is it like an acclamation to God or something?

Once I understand this, I think I’ll have it down pat and ready to go Thanks!

Just like the Psalms, meditate on what God is telling you and how it applies to what’s going on in your life.

 

[daria1588]

Actually, Inquisitor, I don’t think it’s quite right to say the Divine Office and Liturgy of the Hours are two different things. Liturgy of the Hours is the name that the Church has preferred since revising the breviary in the 1970s. But even the General Instruction on the Liturgy of the Hours uses both terms interchangeably. The breviary that is used in Australia and England says “Divine Office” on the cover.

You state some confusion about which parts of the Liturgy you “pray” and which ones you “dont pray”. Inquisitor, everything in the Liturgy of the Hours is prayer. This does not mean that we are directly addressing God with every psalm and reading. Prayer is a conversation with God. When a reading or a psalm is in the third person, think of it as God talking back to us.

I have a blog dedicated to the Liturgy of the Hours/Divine Office, explaining how it works, answering questions, and giving people motivation to keep going with it. Next to the mass itself, there is no better prayer you can be doing. When you pray the LOTH, you are praying together with the entire Church. You are praying with Jesus to his Father on behalf of the Church. It’s quite a privilege.

If you want to check my blog it’s called Coffee and Canticles. dariasockey.blogspot.com/

 

[TheInquisitor]

Actually, Inquisitor, I don’t think it’s quite right to say the Divine Office and Liturgy of the Hours are two different things. Liturgy of the Hours is the name that the Church has preferred since revising the breviary in the 1970s. But even the General Instruction on the Liturgy of the Hours uses both terms interchangeably. The breviary that is used in Australia and England says “Divine Office” on the cover.

You state some confusion about which parts of the Liturgy you “pray” and which ones you “dont pray”. Inquisitor, everything in the Liturgy of the Hours is prayer. This does not mean that we are directly addressing God with every psalm and reading. Prayer is a conversation with God. When a reading or a psalm is in the third person, think of it as God talking back to us.

I have a blog dedicated to the Liturgy of the Hours/Divine Office, explaining how it works, answering questions, and giving people motivation to keep going with it. Next to the mass itself, there is no better prayer you can be doing. When you pray the LOTH, you are praying together with the entire Church. You are praying with Jesus to his Father on behalf of the Church. It’s quite a privilege.

If you want to check my blog it’s called Coffee and Canticles. dariasockey.blogspot.com/

Wow, thank you very much .

Thanks everyone else for their help to. I look forward to getting into this new habit.

 

[EricFilmer]

Thanks for the answers guys

Can I get some clarification on the daily prayers?

So, If I just have the sext prayer, I won’t be missing much not having the terce and none prayer. From what I could tell from you guys, they are just small additions right?

I really don’t know anything about the website you mentioned, but I know a good bit about the official English book version of the LOTH (I’ve prayed it every day for years) and the nuances about Daytime Prayer in general.

The current official English version of the LOTH has provisions to pray all three of the Daytime Prayers, but few people do all three on a daily basis. Those who do probably belong to cloistered, contemplative religious orders.

For other people who are committed to praying the LOTH, the usual practice is to pray one of the Daytime Prayers on any given day, rather than all three. The exact one chosen (Midmorning, Midday, or Midafternoon) should, naturally, correspond to the time of day when the person decides to pray the Daytime Prayer. Incidentally, this is the policy for the priests who happen to serve in the diocese where I live (so whereas they are free to pray all three Daytime Prayers each day if they want, they are required to only pray one of them).

In the General Instructions of the LOTH, we see all this basically described in paragraphs 77 & 78. They have this to say specifically about Daytime Prayer:

1. Outside choir, without prejudice to particular law, it is permitted to choose from the three hours the one most appropriate to the time of day, so that the tradition of prayer in the course of the day’s work may be maintained.
2. Daytime prayer is so arranged as to take into account both those who recite only one hour and those who are obliged, or desire, to say all three hours.

(Source)

With all this in mind, the website you mentioned probably only included one of the Daytime Prayers to avoid the website from being unnecessarily crammed with too much stuff. After all, people who normally pray all three of the Daytime Prayers are certain types of religious who have their own special breviaries, and wouldn’t be using a website like this.

The downfall, of course, is that even for those who only desires to pray one of the Daytime Prayers, when using this website they cannot pick which of the three to pray, as Midday Prayer is the only one provided.

Anyway, I commend you on your decision to pray the LOTH. It enhances ones spiritual journey as well as ones knowledge of Scripture, the saints, and the writings of the Early Church Fathers. Moreover, praying the LOTH allows one to gain a better appreciation for the spirituality of the different liturgical seasons.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

The current official English version of the LOTH has provisions to pray all three of the Daytime Prayers, but few people do all three on a daily basis. Those who do probably belong to cloistered, contemplative religious orders.

.

And religious orders such as the Benedictines, follow the Divine Office of their order, which has a two week cycle, where the breviary follows a four week cycle.

In other words, if you’re attending evening prayer at the local monastery, more likely than not, you’ll have to use their text and leave your breviary in your room.

Jim

 

[EricFilmer]

And religious orders such as the Benedictines, follow the Divine Office of their order, which has a two week cycle, where the breviary follows a four week cycle.

In other words, if you’re attending evening prayer at the local monastery, more likely than not, you’ll have to use their text and leave your breviary in your room.

Jim

This is true. I have visited a number of different religious communities throughout the U.S. and have joined them for praying the Divine Office. In my experience, what you have stated is, indeed, often the case. Religious communities often use a version of the Divine Office that they, themselves, designed which are not compatible with the official English version of the LOTH. And just in case someone reads my post and gets the wrong impression, it is within the rights of a religious community to do this sort of thing (so the term “official English version” simply means the one approved for English-speaking clergy and religious who do not belong to a religious community that has its own version).

As a matter-of-fact, I can only remember visiting a single religious community that did not have its own version of the Divine Office and used the standard breviary instead.

 

[MaryMagdala]

Eric, yes, I have the Franciscan prayer book used by a local order that I sometimes do
retreats with and am a Companion to the order (just as a friend and prayer warrior, not as a third order). It is a very nice "prayer"book but not the official book of approved prayers.
The “prayer” part follows the 4 week psalter, but they have added readings from St, Francis, St. Clare, and other Franciscan saints that you wouldn’t find in the DO.

I own my own Christian Prayer, Shorter Christian Prayer and Daytime Prayer books.
However, it is much easier to use the online prayer site. You don’t have to turn here, there, and everywhere trying to find the right reading at the right time. You can sing along, pray along, no need to be able to read music or to have rhythm LOL

Glad you are going to get started on the DO, don’t overthink it too much. Start with morning and possibly evening prayer and then work into the others. Morning and evening prayer are considered the “hinges” of our day. Once these are in place on a daily basis, you can add night prayer and then the daytime hours as you please. For most non-monastical people (not in a monastary) 1 daytime prayer is probably all that can be managed. Either way, you will know when you are doing what the LORD is asking of you when you get there by prayer and worship!