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CanMan86
Guest
The problem is I don’t know what it is, can someone explain it to me? Thanks. 
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Phemie
Guest
The Liturgy of the Hours is the official prayer of the Church. I don’t know how old you are (probably 22 by your username) but if you’re familiar with the priest praying the Breviary, that’s the liturgy of the hours.The problem is I don’t know what it is, can someone explain it to me? Thanks.
There are set prayers, readings & psalms for set hours of each day of the year.
Often parishes will celebrate the prayers for the times which could be called the ‘hinges’ of the day: Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer but there are also prayers for other times. The better known are ones are noon and night.
When you pray the rosary, that’s a private prayer; when you pray the Liturgy of the Hours you are joining yourself to the entire Church praying the same prayers all over the world.
You’re in Ontario – if you ever have the opportunity to attend the Summer Institute in Pastoral Liturgy or the Summer Institute in Religious Education at St. Paul University in Ottawa (usually the first 2 full weeks of July) you will experience sung Morning and Evening Prayer, every day. It’s an experience not to be missed.
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CanMan86
Guest
I feel a little overwhelmed by this… umm if I want to start praying the liturgy of the hours where do I start? Is there a guide to the LOH? I want to enrich my prayer life and don’t know where to start!
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KarenElissa
Guest
First you get a book. I personally use Christian Prayer. There is also Shorter Christian Prayer and a longer four volume, complete set. I think Christian Prayer is a nice middle of the road size.
Then you read the stuff in the front, feel totally lost and figure you will never understand what to do.
Ok, then you either talk to your priest and ask for help or go here and click on the first link. It gives directions, including page numbers for any of the LOTH books, and examples of what to do. I know there are a couple of other websites, but that is the one that I used to figure it all out.
I’ve been using it for nearly a year now and love it. It is the most consistent I’ve ever been with praying every day.
And I love the fact that even though I’m physically praying alone, I’m really praying with so many people, all over the world.
Then you read the stuff in the front, feel totally lost and figure you will never understand what to do.
Ok, then you either talk to your priest and ask for help or go here and click on the first link. It gives directions, including page numbers for any of the LOTH books, and examples of what to do. I know there are a couple of other websites, but that is the one that I used to figure it all out.
I’ve been using it for nearly a year now and love it. It is the most consistent I’ve ever been with praying every day.
And I love the fact that even though I’m physically praying alone, I’m really praying with so many people, all over the world.
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NeedImprovement
Guest
It is a little overwhelming in the beginning (at least it was for me CanMan 86.)
You might find it a little discouraging if you were just to check out the following link on the General Instruction to the LOTH, without having the actual breviary handy.
ewtn.com/library/curia/cdwgilh.htm
There is a single book/volume - (good for starting with) ;and there is also a more complete 4 volume set.
The way I started was with the “hinges” Phemie mentioned- Morning and Evening prayer. If you can pray these, officially you’re praying the breviary and you’ll be able to branch out from there. The content of these prayers vary daily, for feasts, memorials (optional) and for solemnities (office for the dead is another option sometimes[these differences aside, the psalms based on a 4 week cycle- the objective being to pray all the psalms within that cycle]), and in the single volume edition you have to turn some pages back and forth while praying particular hours(but they give you lots of ribbons to mark your places ). You really should have two basic tools to start:
The Breviary (single book edition, or the 4 volume edition of) -
The ordo takes a lot of guesswork or calculation out of exactly which prayers should be said that day. There is also a little booklet published yearly to help orient one in the recommended readings for that day, but it’s not always available.
You could ask your parish priest where you can get a copy of these, or look up a liturgical store in your area. The Daughters of St. Paul, and the CCCB also sell the ordo.
http://www.cccbpublications.ca/site/component/option,com_virtuemart/page,shop.product_details/flypage,/category_id,135/product_id,1276/Itemid,53/lang,eng/
I’m likely to confuse you if I keep going, but you need to make sure you get the Book as it is titled above - don’t get fooled by names like An Everyday Book of Hours; it’s not the same thing at all.
An actual “Hour”, for example “Morning Prayer”, can easily be recited in a 15-17 minute time frame without rushing it. But the more I go on, the more likely you are to get confused. Here’s a brief layout of morning prayer (private recitation style):
One always starts the first hour with the Invitatory, the Invitatory Psalm and its accompanying antiphon (usually recited at the beginning and after the Gloria at the end of the psalm when prayed privately) commonly used invitatory psalms are psalms 95, or 100, or 67, or 24. then you begin the hour:
Hymn
Psalmody (consisting of 3 psalms and their respective antiphons usually)
Reading (from Sacred Scripture)
Responsory
Gospel Canticle (which also has an antiphon)
Intercessions
Conclusion (Our Father + concluding prayer).
In the Book itself, at the beginning, you have a brief taken from the General Instruction for the LOTH, and before that a very clear explanatory 5 page piece entitled HOW TO USE THE LITURGY OF THE HOURS.
I swear to you CanMan 86, it looks a lot bigger on paper than it actually is, and once you get the hang of it, it isn’t difficult at all.
If you get those two tools you could probably make a go of it, and there are members who could be PM’ed if you needed a little help to get up and running.There are several priests and deacons in these forums too (heck…even I could probably help you get up and running without getting us excommunicated - but you do need the tools…otherwise it’s like trying to explain to the next guy up at bat in a baseball game how to swing a bat while he isn’t holding and hasn’t ever held one in his hands )
God Bless you CanMan 86, let me know if I can give you a hand bro’.
You might find it a little discouraging if you were just to check out the following link on the General Instruction to the LOTH, without having the actual breviary handy.
ewtn.com/library/curia/cdwgilh.htm
There is a single book/volume - (good for starting with) ;and there is also a more complete 4 volume set.
The way I started was with the “hinges” Phemie mentioned- Morning and Evening prayer. If you can pray these, officially you’re praying the breviary and you’ll be able to branch out from there. The content of these prayers vary daily, for feasts, memorials (optional) and for solemnities (office for the dead is another option sometimes[these differences aside, the psalms based on a 4 week cycle- the objective being to pray all the psalms within that cycle]), and in the single volume edition you have to turn some pages back and forth while praying particular hours(but they give you lots of ribbons to mark your places
). You really should have two basic tools to start:The Breviary (single book edition, or the 4 volume edition of) -
- CHRISTIAN PRAYER: THE LITURGY OF THE HOURS [usually published by The Daughters of St. Paul.
The ordo takes a lot of guesswork or calculation out of exactly which prayers should be said that day. There is also a little booklet published yearly to help orient one in the recommended readings for that day, but it’s not always available.
You could ask your parish priest where you can get a copy of these, or look up a liturgical store in your area. The Daughters of St. Paul, and the CCCB also sell the ordo.
http://www.cccbpublications.ca/site/component/option,com_virtuemart/page,shop.product_details/flypage,/category_id,135/product_id,1276/Itemid,53/lang,eng/
I’m likely to confuse you if I keep going, but you need to make sure you get the Book as it is titled above - don’t get fooled by names like An Everyday Book of Hours; it’s not the same thing at all.
An actual “Hour”, for example “Morning Prayer”, can easily be recited in a 15-17 minute time frame without rushing it. But the more I go on, the more likely you are to get confused. Here’s a brief layout of morning prayer (private recitation style):
One always starts the first hour with the Invitatory, the Invitatory Psalm and its accompanying antiphon (usually recited at the beginning and after the Gloria at the end of the psalm when prayed privately) commonly used invitatory psalms are psalms 95, or 100, or 67, or 24. then you begin the hour:
Hymn
Psalmody (consisting of 3 psalms and their respective antiphons usually)
Reading (from Sacred Scripture)
Responsory
Gospel Canticle (which also has an antiphon)
Intercessions
Conclusion (Our Father + concluding prayer).
In the Book itself, at the beginning, you have a brief taken from the General Instruction for the LOTH, and before that a very clear explanatory 5 page piece entitled HOW TO USE THE LITURGY OF THE HOURS.
I swear to you CanMan 86, it looks a lot bigger on paper than it actually is, and once you get the hang of it, it isn’t difficult at all.
If you get those two tools you could probably make a go of it, and there are members who could be PM’ed if you needed a little help to get up and running.There are several priests and deacons in these forums too (heck…even I could probably help you get up and running without getting us excommunicated - but you do need the tools…otherwise it’s like trying to explain to the next guy up at bat in a baseball game how to swing a bat while he isn’t holding and hasn’t ever held one in his hands
)God Bless you CanMan 86, let me know if I can give you a hand bro’.
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bpbasilphx
Guest
Ask the pastor about the details of praying the Office.
He would be delighted to help you.
He would be delighted to help you.
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otjm
Guest
It is sometimes easier to crawl before one walks.
There is a booklet published monthly (or better) called the Magnificat; it has a very reduced version of the LOTH.
The next level would be the LOTH version mentioned above, Shorter Christian Prayer. It has the weekly versions of the larger parts of the LOTH, but is not as complete as thenext mentioned versions. You should be able to also get a guide to it, which will tell you what page(s) you need to be on. Years ago, when I was in college seminary, this is what we used, as we said Morning Prayer (Lauds) and Evening Prayer (Vespers) in community. It alos have Night Prayer (Compline).
The next step up is to Christian Prayer, a larger one volume edition of LOTH; it has more parts of the LOTH than SCP. I would not recommend getting this first, as it is 1) more expensive and 2) more complex than SCP; you should try to start simply and see how it fits into both your prayer life and your daily schedule. Getting into to complex a version can result in being overwhelmed and ending up not doing any of it.
The next step, and usually the final one, is the four volume set. All three should ahve guides as to where you need to be on any given day and/or hour.
It takes a while to get used to the Psalms as a prayer format, but I find it to be very fruitful. And the part I miss most is saying it in community.
There is a booklet published monthly (or better) called the Magnificat; it has a very reduced version of the LOTH.
The next level would be the LOTH version mentioned above, Shorter Christian Prayer. It has the weekly versions of the larger parts of the LOTH, but is not as complete as thenext mentioned versions. You should be able to also get a guide to it, which will tell you what page(s) you need to be on. Years ago, when I was in college seminary, this is what we used, as we said Morning Prayer (Lauds) and Evening Prayer (Vespers) in community. It alos have Night Prayer (Compline).
The next step up is to Christian Prayer, a larger one volume edition of LOTH; it has more parts of the LOTH than SCP. I would not recommend getting this first, as it is 1) more expensive and 2) more complex than SCP; you should try to start simply and see how it fits into both your prayer life and your daily schedule. Getting into to complex a version can result in being overwhelmed and ending up not doing any of it.
The next step, and usually the final one, is the four volume set. All three should ahve guides as to where you need to be on any given day and/or hour.
It takes a while to get used to the Psalms as a prayer format, but I find it to be very fruitful. And the part I miss most is saying it in community.
J
jmcrae
Guest
After flipping around in the book for a while, you finally find the instructions in the middle. This seems to be typical of most Catholic writing - they start in the middle and then work their way out towards both covers of the book at the same time, so that there is the first end, and the last end, and the beginning is in the middle.First you get a book. I personally use Christian Prayer. There is also Shorter Christian Prayer and a longer four volume, complete set. I think Christian Prayer is a nice middle of the road size.
Then you read the stuff in the front, feel totally lost and figure you will never understand what to do.
I’m a convert; this, and trying to pronounce people’s names, are the hardest things to get used to.
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