"Psalm-prayers" in the Liturgy of the Hours

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For those of you who are familiar with the Liturgy of the Hours, does anyone know anything about the Psalm-prayers that conclude the Psalms in the Psalter section of Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, etc.

In my seminary, we always skipped over this section. In another seminary that I was in previously, we were told that it was optional whether or not the leader wanted to read the Psalm-prayer or not.

One individual I know said that the Psalm-prayers were of a dubious origin (who wrote them, were they approved with the rest of the text of the LOH) and that is why they are customarily skipped. Or, is it that these are just for private reflection, and not to be read aloud (at least in common celebration). I thought that remembered seeing mention of them in the General Instruction of the Liturgy of the Hours.

Does anyone know anything about this? Is the psalm-prayer optional or not, and why.
 
The Psalm prayers may be omitted according to the most authoritative source I know for reciting the Liturgy of the Hours – don’t be put off by the title: Madeline Pecora Nugent’s Divine Office for Dodos. I find the psalm prayers a rich source of reflection and sometimes use them for lectio divina. To put that in perspective, I generally think that if something is less than a thousand years old, it has not withstood the test of time.
 
Most Monasteries pause after chanting a psalm, for about a minute. This is to reflect a bit and collect your thoughts or inspirations from that Psalm that was just prayed. It is the custom to call these prayers collects, similar to the collect of the Mass. It is a good habit to not just run from one Psalm to another in the Office but to pause after each as you would after a Reading. If I can, I like to go back over some of the Psalm verses of the day and reflect on them as a period of private Prayer. You would be surprised at the effect it has. I find myself at various periods of the day spontaneously quoting verses that seem to just flow from a moment of inspiration. The Psalms seem to become a bank of prayer and reflection. As you become more acquainted with them, The Holy Spirit starts you using them in prayer. This really helps with making prayer a constant part of the day.
 
When I was in the seminary, we always prayed the psalm prayers, and I do now in my private devotions. :yup:

However I noticed that on the web site, www.liturgyhours.org, they are omitted, I wandered why. :confused:
 
I thought that the book I had was the official text of the Liturgy of the Hours. If it is the official text, and one is saying it in community as a liturgical practice, then would not eliminating it be the same as rearranging parts of the Mass, or substituting one’s own take on the prayers of the Mass?

However, if one is saying the office privately as an act of devotion, I suppose one could eliminate what one chose to, whether or not theChurch in its wisdom put it there to begin with… since one is not obligated to say the Office at all…

I am not aware of any discussions as to whether or not they were “approved” properly or who wrote them and what that would have to do with saying them. It seems to me to border on being hyper-technical… I certainly have never found them to be anything but part of the prayer as a whole.
 
OTM,
Perhaps my intention was misunderstood. My intention was not to be “hyper-technical,” I was rather just motivated out of curiosity–the fact that I have seen many people (and by this I mean trained, orthodox liturgists) skip them in communal and private celebration of the Hours just made me wander about it. Also, shaking off laziness, I finally decided to look up Psalm-Prayers in the General Instruction of the Liturgy of the Hours (found at the beginning of vol. 1 of the 4 volume set).
#112 reads:

“Psalm-prayers for each psalm are given in the supplement of the Liturgy of the Hours, to help in understanding them in a predominantly Christian way. They may be used in the ancient traditional way: after the psalm a period of silence may be observed, then the prayer gathers up and rounds off the thoughts and aspirations of those taking part.”

Note here that the Instruction calls these psalm-prayers part of the “supplement” of the Liturgy of the Hours–whatever that means (so, perhaps they are approved as a supplement, but not mandated as required?). Note that the red-print psalm titles and the italicized sentence by the Church father of New Testament that precedde the psalm are also included in the book and are thus part of the “Official text”, but they are meant only as aids to praying the Psalms and they are not intended to be read aloud (I have never witnessed these be read aloud). Maybe it is an option, perhaps the Psalm-prayer could be read aloud or not (but just because they are printed in the book does not mean they must be read aloud in communal celebration).
At any rate, I was just wondering if someone knew whether this was optional or not. I have no problem with the psalm-prayers (they work like collects at Mass). Nor was I trying to question other people’s practice. However, from what the Instruction says, I do not see that the Psalm-prayer is required (and it would not seem that refraining from reading them would be comprable to the serious liturgical abuse of picking and choosing parts of the Mass).
 
I was responding to the “dubious origin” comment above. You have read more deeply into the instructions than I have, and I will submit to your answer that they seem to be optional.

I say them, and the thought never occured not to.
 
The psalm-prayers are not in the Latin text of the LOH. At lest not in either of the copies found in Duke Divinity School library. I have always assumed that they were added in the English translation, but from what AngelicDoctor says it appears probable that they were added to the Latin text in a later supplement, and that the Duke copies are an earlier version that lacked them.

In Christ,

Edwin
 
In my seminary we pray them and I did a little research about them. In the LOH approved for the United States and the other Episcopal Conferences that use the one common in the US (Catholic Book Publishing) has the Psalm-Prayer, the Roman Office does not. The Psalm-prayers were developed in order to reflect upon the psalm. It is not required that they are said, it is optional for the individual or the community. So some places uses them, some do not. For example, in my parish we us the online copy from Liturgy of the hours.net for the faithful to use during Vespers. The online version does not have them so I won’t lead into the psalm-prayer, although I do know some people who will say them after the antiphon.

Somebody did reply mentioning the pause at the end of the psalm as done in the monastareis and that is one of the reasons why we have it, in order for us to take the time to reflect.

Since they is no rule stating you must, if you enjoy them, use them. If not, don’t worry about it. And if you are visiting a community (such as a parish, seminary, monastary/convent) who does (or does not), just flex with it.

Later, I will post my references I used to find the answer since it was a question I had as well when I began my seminary studies.

-Dan G. :cool:
 
Gouletdr,

Thank you for that information. That was just the information I was looking for. I would appreciate the sources when you have a chance to post them (so I can direct someone with this question in the future).
 
Here are some sources about Liturgy of the Hours and the source about the Psalm-Prayers:

Psalm-Prayers: *From Breviary to Liturgy of the Hours: The Structural Reform of the Roman Office, 1964-1971 *by Stanislaus Campbell, F.S.C. Published by Liturgical Press, 1995, ISBN: 0-8146-6133-5.
This book cover a history of the structure of the LoH and goes into detail about 1964-1971. This is not a “How to” book. But it does state that the Psalm-Prayers are an optional supplement. Apparently in other countries they are found in a supplement booklet. Pages 163 and 168 discusses them if you should find this book in a bookstore or library and want to look it up.

*General Instruction of the Liturgy of the Hours: Liturgy Document Series 5, *Published by the U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops, 2002, ISBN 1-57455-528-6.
Although I am sure Psalm-Prayers are mentioned elsewhere, for this thread group this source addresses them at para. 112:
“112. Psalm-prayers for each psalm are given in the supplement to The Liturgy of the Hours as an aid to understanding them in a predominantly Christian way. An ancient tradition provides a model for their use: after the psalm a period of silence is observed, then the prayer gives a resume and resolution of the thoughts and aspirations of those praying the psalms.”
Others sources for general interest:

*Making the Day Holy: A Commentary on the Liturgy of the Hours, *by Charles E. Miller, C.M., Published by Catholic Book Publishing Co., 1975 ISBN: 089942-410-4 (No. 410/04)

*The Monastic Hours: Directory of the Work of God and Directive Norms for the Celebration of the Monastic Liturgy of the Hours (2nd Edition), *edited by Anne M. Field, O.S.B., Published by Liturgical Press, 2000 ISBN: 0-8146-2330-1

*The Church at Prayer: An Introduction to the Liturgy, Volume IV: The Liturgy and Time, *edited by Irenee Henri Dalmais, Published by Liturgical Press, 1985, ISBN: 0-8146-1366-7 (v. 4)

*The Rule of Saint Benedict *various translations are out there so take your pick!

Hope this helps to all those interested.
Have a blessed day!

PAX

Daniel Goulet

Feast of St. Peter Claver
 
Interesting thread.

I was reflecting on that just this morning.

Our Parish has Lauds just before 8:30 Mass. Our pastor skips over the Psalm prayer, while our associate pastor does not.

I generally read them in private devotion.
 
My “Liturgia de las Horas” from Spain (1979 edition) has no psalm prayers.
 
As mentioned by Contarini, psalm prayers are not included in the Latin editions Liturgia Horarum, neither in the *editio typica *of the 1970s, nor the *editio typica altera *of the mid 1980s. No psalm prayers even in the latest reprinting of the Liturgia Horarum, editio typica altera. The story is that the *Liturgia Horarum *was never intended to be complete in only 4 volumes. Somewhere in the middle of 2008, there was a rumour that Volume V of *Liturgia Horarum *would finally see the light of day, which would contain, among other things, the optional Lectionary also promised in the General Instruction to the Liturgy of the Hours. Of course, Rome does work slowly, so whether Volume V will materialise in 2009 or beyond remains an open question.

The British edition *The Divine Office *does not include psalm prayers either. Nor the Chinese editions of the Liturgia Horarum.
 
otm said:
I was responding to the “dubious origin” comment above. You have read more deeply into the instructions than I have, and I will submit to your answer that they seem to be optional.

I say them, and the thought never occured not to.
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When I was trained to lead the LOTH we always did the Psalm Prayers and I’ve never omitted them when we’ve done a communal celebration. I never realized that they were optional but even knowing that I wouldn’t omit them.
 
Since they are optional and apparently found only in the American version, I omit them. Some of them are unnecessarily verbose and almost as long as the psalm they follow. One in particular has rather imprecise theology - it begins with “You condemned the rich, Lord Jesus, because they already received their reward…” which implies that Jesus damned them to hell. Apparently there were different authors that contributed them, as happened with the intercessory prayers.
 
I have browsed through the Liturgy of the Hours from many language editions and to date I’ve only seen that the American version of the LOTH has the psalm prayers included. Even the universal version in Latin doesn’t include them.

As others have already replied here, I wouldn’t fret over whether to recite them or not. If you like them, pray them.
 
Hi everyone! I came across this forum seeking some information about the origins of the “psalm prayers” in the US edition of the LOTH. I know they are not present in Latin, Polish and German versions of the Breviary. Others here mentioned Chinese and Spanish without “psalm prayers”. I don’t recall seeing them in the English version for Australia and NZ. And I’ve never seen a “supplement” to the Breviary in any language containing “psalm prayers”.

I was wondering where did the “psalm prayers” come from, and when?

I omit them in my private prayer because I find them “off”, to put it very mildly. I also can’t stand “corn” in the Psalms. Until Columbus (1492), corn was strictly an American plant. In some places where the actual Psalms mention grain or wheat, those became “corn” for some reason. I hope a new US translation of the LOTH will keep the corn flakes out.

Side note: I looked up the King James version of the Bible (from 1611) online for “corn” - and it returned over 100 results.
drforjc said:
I find them a bit flowery and trite.
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That’s exactly what I think.
 
Caloripher said:
I also can’t stand “corn” in the Psalms. Until Columbus (1492), corn was strictly an American plant.
Click to expand...
No this is not true. In British English, “corn” means the principal cereal crop of a country. In North America it happens to be maize. In Britain, “corn” designates wheat:
  1. British : the grain of a cereal grass that is the primary crop of a region (as wheat in Britain and oats in Scotland and Ireland); also : a plant that produces corn.
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(source: Merriam-Webester)

Therefore any translation that is from a British source will correctly use “corn” to designate wheat.
 
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