Praying the Little Office of the BVM - When the recitation of the rosary gets too tough!

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Anyone else find that they love to pray the Little Office of Our Mother, Mary? I find that when I just can’t wrap my heart/mind around the recitation of the rosary that praying the Little Office brings me great solace.

I guess if it was hard for great saints such as St. Therese of Lisieux and St. Bernadette to pray the rosary then I am in good company. 😉 (Not that I’m a saint mind you lol)

I bought the Catholic Book Publishing version of the Little Office and am very content with it. I know others will complain that the wording of this edition lacks a certain poetical grace but I am not bothered by it. I don’t think human language can even begin to give a proper description concerning the things of heaven.

Peace.
 
My previous director, who is a nun and ex novice mistress. used to say “Pray as you can, not as you can’t”…pretty sound advice I think:thumbsup:
 
PazFeAmor said:
Anyone else find that they love to pray the Little Office of Our Mother, Mary? I find that when I just can’t wrap my heart/mind around the recitation of the rosary that praying the Little Office brings me great solace.

I guess if it was hard for great saints such as St. Therese of Lisieux and St. Bernadette to pray the rosary then I am in good company. 😉 (Not that I’m a saint mind you lol)

I bought the Catholic Book Publishing version of the Little Office and am very content with it. I know others will complain that the wording of this edition lacks a certain poetical grace but I am not bothered by it. I don’t think human language can even begin to give a proper description concerning the things of heaven.

Peace.
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Whoa! Rookie Catholic here who LOVES my new Mother but works shifts and often has trouble carving out awake time to pray the Rosary. What is this Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary??? I’m also just starting to read about St Therese, so I am really intrigued. Please send me a message.
:coffeeread:
 
Echoing a rookie Catholic’s post (I can’t claim being a rookie !) I’m assuming Office of the BVM is different than Litany? I LOVE the Litany of Our Lady.

Seat of Wisdom, pray for us.
Cause of our joy, pray for us.
Spiritual Vessel, pray for us.
Vessel of Honor, pray for us.
Singular Vessel of devotion, pray for us.
Morning Star, pray for us.

Isn’t it beautiful? Those are just a few but more I thought of are like music to the heart as they come out. I love that Litany. Please advise re Office of BVM. And thanks.
 
BarbaraTherese said:
My previous director, who is a nun and ex novice mistress. used to say “Pray as you can, not as you can’t”…pretty sound advice I think:thumbsup:
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I like that one. It teams well with -* If you can pray well do so. Otherwise pray badly like the rest of us.* 👍
 
Joe_Kelley said:
I like that one. It teams well with -* If you can pray well do so. Otherwise pray badly like the rest of us.* 👍
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Hail Joe!..I like the quote…from another ‘rest of us’…
Some do apparently try to persevere in a way of praying that is laboured and ardous. Prayer is simply the raising of the mind and heart to God in whatever way may work for one - for that ‘work for one’ is a gift of God’s Grace…
 
BarbaraTherese I think that is great advice and have often found that when I can’t find any peace in saying the rosary or have too many distractions going on in my head for me to be able to concentrate on prayerful meditations then I just pray the Liturgy of the Hours or the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary reverently.

I have never been able to pray from the heart to be honest and so the next best thing for me is praying the Office.

Sheila0405 The Little office for the BVM is a condensed version of the Common of the Blessed Virgin Mary contained in the Liturgy of the Hours. The Liturgy of the Hours is prayed at different hours of the day (ex. 6am, 9am, 12 noon, 3pm, 6pm, 9pm, Midnight). Just to use one example, whenever there are special feast days for the Blessed Virgin it is prayed.

So, the Little Office is a shorter version of the prayers said in the Liturgy of the Hours for Our Blessed Mother. This is just a super brief explanation as I am sure there are others who can explain it better than I.

I got my copy for about $11 dollars. You can view the publishers website below.

Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Catholic Book Publishing)

catholicbookpublishing.com/(A(JxdgXrf6xwEkAAAAZmM4YTRmOTAtODkwMC00YzgxLWJmZTYtMmUxMWEwMTJiMmY4xxNyilQC7AC0YsSneOUvmFZ7bqc1))/ShowProduct.aspx?ProductID=307&DepartmentID=91&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1

Conservative Yep, it is different. As I explained above to Sheila it is just a condensed version of the prayers to the BVM from the Liturgy of the hours. The Litany of Loreto is indeed gorgeous and I am consecrated to the Holy House of Loreto as a matter of fact. 🙂

Peace.
 
BarbaraTherese I think that is great advice and have often found that when I can’t find any peace in saying the rosary or have too many distractions going on in my head for me to be able to concentrate on prayerful meditations then I just pray the Liturgy of the Hours or the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary reverently.

I have never been able to pray from the heart to be honest and so the next best thing for me is praying the Office.
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I know what you mean about distractions buzzing round and round in the head…at times I may cut out private prayer altogether and simply go about my duties … for the love of God who loves me and us in our poverty no matter how dire. Times when my heart and mind is anywhere and everywhere. Other ways may work for others at times of distructions buzzing or perhaps times of great stress - I can find it hard to pray at these times too. I am all for - if it works, then go with the flow. I think it may have been St. Teresa of Avila who recommended if one simply cannot pray, to go about one’s duties for the love of God with simplicity, lack of anxiety insofar as one can manage and certainly without useless scruples about “missing prayer”…and complete nonesense!

I keep The Little Office of Our Lady in my bag since it is only about 8inches x 5 inches and 3/4 inch thick. I may use this when out and about and missing my usual prayer times. I have no vehicle and spend at times much time on the bus or waiting at bus stops. I also carry a rosary in my bag for this purpose.

What I think perhaps we can fail to understand is that when we cannot raise my heart and mind to God, we are really doing so by using some other method of being with God. As Father Ron Reisler (spelling is wrong I know!) wrote, it is not so much where one’s head and heart is as where one’s being is…in other words, being about God’s Will whatever it may be, and sometimes God’s Will is simply to try to make the best of a lousy situation. Blessings - Barb:)
 
I love The Little Office (and use the same Catholic Book Publishing edition). I have informally promised the BVM that I’d pray 5 decades everyday anyway, but sometimes I don’t feel like I did a very “good” job praying. I always feel a sense of completion on praying The Little Office. I know that feeling isn’t the point, but since I’m a human in the present culture that is the way I think.
 
Paz - Thanks for that info. I’m going to look for it. Have you been to the Holy House of Loreto? You’re the first person I’ve ever heard having that devotion.

BarbaraTherese - Ditto. Now, after reading about so many here who seem to make prayer such a daily part of their life, I don’t feel bad - since my mind can’t concentrate either, I feel so lacking in Our Lady’s request. I start my day with the Morning Offering - this way, no matter what, everything I do offered to God.
 
Conservative said:
Paz - Thanks for that info. I’m going to look for it. Have you been to the Holy House of Loreto? You’re the first person I’ve ever heard having that devotion.
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You’re welcome. 😃

I have never been to the Holy House of Loreto but one can become a member of the Universal Congregation of the Holy House of Loreto by going to the official website of the shrine of the Holy House. 🙂 You can enroll as an individual or as a family.

santuarioloreto.it/default_eng.htm

Peace.
 
PazFeAmor said:
You’re welcome. 😃

I have never been to the Holy House of Loreto but one can become a member of the Universal Congregation of the Holy House of Loreto by going to the official website of the shrine of the Holy House. 🙂 You can enroll as an individual or as a family.

santuarioloreto.it/default_eng.htm

Peace.
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Thanks for that link. I was there many years ago - beautiful - and brought statue of Our Lady of Loreto back home. Interestingly, you will see little girls there waiting to receive First Holy Communion - their dresses, while traditional white, are designed to look like the garment on Our Lady of Loreto.
 
Conservative said:
Thanks for that link. I was there many years ago - beautiful - and brought statue of Our Lady of Loreto back home. Interestingly, you will see little girls there waiting to receive First Holy Communion - their dresses, while traditional white, are designed to look like the garment on Our Lady of Loreto.
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You’re welcome 🙂 How wonderful that God blessed you with being able to visit the Holy House! I hope that one day I will just as blessed to see it with my own eyes as well.

Peace.
 
Conservative said:
Paz - Thanks for that info. I’m going to look for it. Have you been to the Holy House of Loreto? You’re the first person I’ve ever heard having that devotion.

BarbaraTherese - Ditto. Now, after reading about so many here who seem to make prayer such a daily part of their life, I don’t feel bad - since my mind can’t concentrate either, I feel so lacking in Our Lady’s request. I start my day with the Morning Offering - this way, no matter what, everything I do offered to God.
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Hello Conservative…though your Prayer Life may not be going as you would hope - you would like, or perhaps as others may think that perhaps it should - obviously The Lord is important to your days. In other words, it is not so much about what a person may feel, think or perhaps even believe as where the actual being of the person is - centralized, focused. I hope that makes sense to you.🙂
Our feelings can be all over the place, along with our thoughts…and even our belief system can be distorted so that one is no longer sure of actually what one actually believes - yet our heart and centre of our being is perhaps, painfully even, focused on The Lord and desires to love and serve Him in all things.

Blessings this Lent…Barb
 
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