Praying the old Divine Office yet attending the Ordinary Form Mass

[DavidJoseph]

I truly love the Extraordinary Form of the Mass and attend it every Sunday. I’m also trying to make more of an effort to attend daily Mass; however, at this time my schedule only permits me to attend the Ordinary Form Mass for daily Mass. Not too long ago I also discovered the 1960 Divine Office, which I like. But since I attend the Novus Ordo on weekdays, I’ve been wondering if it would be better to pray the current Liturgy of the Hours instead. Complicating matters is the fact that I like to try and follow both calendars. Any suggestions on which Divine Office / Liturgy of the Hours version to say? Any suggestions on how to better follow both calendars? For that matter, does anybody here pray the old Divine Office yet attend the Ordinary Form Mass regularly? Thanks in advance.

 

[UpUpAndAway]

I am the other way around: I pray the LOTH but EF Mass regularly during the week (Sunday is always OF due to parish service). Since I am a lay person and not a member of a third order, I’m not bound to praying the LOTH or DO at all. Considering that, I’ve been given no indication that there is anything wrong with what I do nor that it would be “better” to pray the DO.

My spiritual director, an ICRSS canon, is aware of my prayer routine and has not cautioned me against it nor advised that I modify it in any way.

I’ll let others recommend LOTH/DO versions to you. My breviary is in French; I’m not familiar with the English breviaries.

I don’t know what you mean by “following both calendars.” If you’re praying the DO, use the old calendar. If you’re praying the LOTH, use the current one. I can’t imagine trying to pray the LOTH with the old calendar or vice-versa. :whacky:

 

[bobballen_18]

I apologize, I don’t have an answer to your question - just a quick related question to you: what is the best resource for praying the Divine Office (1960 or whatever it was before the reforms)? Is there an online (free) source or does one just have to go with the expensive book(s)? In any case, what are you using right now?

I have recently begun to want to pray the DO (in Latin) but haven’t quite put all the effort into finding the best option yet. I did find an online source but it was a subscription, and I’m kind of in a stage of life in which I don’t have a lot of money to spend.

 

[bobballen_18]

On second thought, perhaps I do have a couple thoughts about your post.

I think you can pray whichever one you want - I don’t think there is any obligation either way, especially if you are following both calendars. I would say, though, that if you do end up attending the EF nearly every day instead of the OF, in addition to Sundays, then I would think it makes more sense to use the Divine Office, and perhaps you could just use the OF calendar and LOTR as other things to pray if you want/have time. Personally, I think it is rather annoying that the (Roman Catholic) Church has two calendars and two Forms of the Mass. I don’t see why we can’t just have one of each, taking the best elements from both. Either that, or the Church could just switch to doing exclusively OF (as long as it was celebrated as intended) or exclusively the EF. Then, if it was only OF, EF propers/readings/Divine Office could become extra private devotions on top of the OF lectionary/LOTR, and if it was only EF, vice versa. But I suppose that isn’t possible, now that we have 45 years of having widely used the current lectionary/LOTR, and now that there is a resurgence in the EF and perhaps DO, there would be a lot of disappointed people either way. Sigh.

 

[porthos11]

I truly love the Extraordinary Form of the Mass and attend it every Sunday. I’m also trying to make more of an effort to attend daily Mass; however, at this time my schedule only permits me to attend the Ordinary Form Mass for daily Mass. Not too long ago I also discovered the 1960 Divine Office, which I like. But since I attend the Novus Ordo on weekdays, I’ve been wondering if it would be better to pray the current Liturgy of the Hours instead. Complicating matters is the fact that I like to try and follow both calendars. Any suggestions on which Divine Office / Liturgy of the Hours version to say? Any suggestions on how to better follow both calendars? For that matter, does anybody here pray the old Divine Office yet attend the Ordinary Form Mass regularly? Thanks in advance.

I have it in reverse. I follow the Extraordinary Form of the Mass, but the Ordinary Form of the Liturgy of the Hours.

What you’re doing is just fine, but don’t even try to harmonize the calendars. Follow the calendar for whatever Divine Office you pray, regardless of what Mass you observe. So for example, if the EF celebrates Corpus Christi on Thursday, but the OF on the following Sunday, in your case, pray Corpus Christi on Thursday, and hear the Mass for Thursday in the Ordinary Form.

 

[UpUpAndAway]

On second thought, perhaps I do have a couple thoughts about your post.

I think you can pray whichever one you want - I don’t think there is any obligation either way, especially if you are following both calendars. I would say, though, that if you do end up attending the EF nearly every day instead of the OF, in addition to Sundays, then I would think it makes more sense to use the Divine Office, and perhaps you could just use the OF calendar and LOTR as other things to pray if you want/have time. Personally, I think it is rather annoying that the (Roman Catholic) Church has two calendars and two Forms of the Mass. I don’t see why we can’t just have one of each, taking the best elements from both. Either that, or the Church could just switch to doing exclusively OF (as long as it was celebrated as intended) or exclusively the EF. Then, if it was only OF, EF propers/readings/Divine Office could become extra private devotions on top of the OF lectionary/LOTR, and if it was only EF, vice versa. But I suppose that isn’t possible, now that we have 45 years of having widely used the current lectionary/LOTR, and now that there is a resurgence in the EF and perhaps DO, there would be a lot of disappointed people either way. Sigh.

You mean LOTH, right? 'Cause LOTR means something else entirely to me

While I think I understand what you’re driving at, I actually like the existence of both. By keeping a foot in each camp so to speak, I believe I have the best of both worlds.

 

[OraLabora]

The current LOTH can be prayed in Latin as well. I use mostly Latin but also French.

 

[bobballen_18]

You mean LOTH, right? 'Cause LOTR means something else entirely to me

While I think I understand what you’re driving at, I actually like the existence of both. By keeping a foot in each camp so to speak, I believe I have the best of both worlds.

Wow!!! That is really, really funny - yes, I meant LOTH. I can’t believe I was unconsciously writing LOTR each time!

All I am driving at is that the existence of two forms of the Liturgy (probably inevitably, although if the OF had always been celebrated the way it was intended maybe not as much) causes division among Roman Catholics. Maybe it shouldn’t, but the fact of the matter is that it does. There are strong opinions both ways, and although I clearly disagree with one side, I believe that side has understandable concerns. I know everything wasn’t just peachy before 1970, but at least worship was much more uniform than it is today. I understand we can all have our private devotions, so those will vary from person to person, but as the Liturgy is the source and summit of our lives due to the importance of the Eucharist, and as receiving the Eucharist is the greatest sign of our unity as Christians, it just doesn’t sit well with me personally that we all experience such different Liturgies within the same rite. I know I can take comfort that even if the Liturgies are so different, we are all still unified by reception of the Eucharist, but it seems to me that MOSTLY uniform liturgies (again, just within the same rite) would be a great external expression of that unity.

OK, on this particular topic, I will no longer respond, since it is mostly off topic.

 

[OraLabora]

One has to be conscious of one pre-1970 fact when considering the Liturgy of the Hours: not only was participation of the laity at other than the Parish celebration of Vespers or occasional visits to a monastery of not frequent, it was in fact not even encouraged. The Divine Office was strictly the world of clergy, and in its Benedictine flavour, monastics. It was also necessarily entirely in Latin.

On the other hand, the Liturgy of the Hours followed a desire in Sacrosanctum Concilium that the reform of the Divine Office encourage the laity to participate even privately:

1. Pastors of souls should see to it that the chief hours, especially Vespers, are celebrated in common in church on Sundays and the more solemn feasts. And the laity, too, are encouraged to recite the divine office, either with the priests, or among themselves, or even individually.

(my bold)

In my mind, this is a great gift of the Church to us. It is a gift that I accept freely and I pray the LOTH every day with gratitude and reverence.

 

[DavidJoseph]

What you’re doing is just fine, but don’t even try to harmonize the calendars. Follow the calendar for whatever Divine Office you pray, regardless of what Mass you observe. So for example, if the EF celebrates Corpus Christi on Thursday, but the OF on the following Sunday, in your case, pray Corpus Christi on Thursday, and hear the Mass for Thursday in the Ordinary Form.

I don’t know what you mean by “following both calendars.” If you’re praying the DO, use the old calendar. If you’re praying the LOTH, use the current one. I can’t imagine trying to pray the LOTH with the old calendar or vice-versa. :whacky:

I had just about forgotten about this thread! My apologies!

I apologize for not being more clear when I referred to “following both calendars.” Actually, I wasn’t really referring to the Liturgy of the Hours per se; I was referring to my devotional life as a whole. For example, in my daily meditation on weekdays I like to use the “In Conversation With God” series, which follows the current calendar, but on Sundays, when I tend to attend the Extraordinary Form, I use Divine Intimacy (unless I’ll be attending the Ordinary Form instead). Even if I were attending the Extraordinary Form exclusively, I couldn’t see myself dumping In Conversation With God – I’ve always liked it better than Divine Intimacy.

Another way I try and follow both calendars is as follows: At the end of the rosary, I pray the St. Michael prayer and add brief invocations to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Immaculate Heart of Mary, St. Joseph, and the saint(s) of the day for both calendars.