Rosary vs. Liturgy of the Hours: If one only has time for one, which is better? Which is more powerful or better to be prayed?

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Choosing which prayer to pray isn’t like investing in the stock market. Pick the prayer that you prefer, or do both if you like. God won’t sit there holding a log sheet and track how many times you said Prayer X vs Prayer Y.
 
Further, the Rosary evolved as a substitute for the Psalter, when majority of people were illiterate and poor (150 Hail Mary’s, one for each Psalm of the Psalter).

This is no longer true today and books are affordable and most of us can read. Further, the Church in her widsom recognized that the Office had long been denied to the lay faithful to which it also belonged and revised it to account for that and the circumstances of modern life.

Moreover, the Divine Office exists throughout all the particular churches of the Catholic (and Orthodox) communion, in all its rites and Uses. The Rosary is a devotion exclusive to the Latin church.

Plus, the Divine Office is considered an extension of the Eucharistic celebration throughout the day (so much so that it can even be joined with it), so after Mass, the Divine Office is indeed the second most important prayer in the Church.

Now, I don’t pit one against the other, given their close relationship, the the original poster did specify time constraints, so if I need to choose, I will always choose the prayer of the Church over any private devotion.
 
Swiss_Guy said:
I thought THE prayer of the Church was the holy Mass. 🤷
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All liturgical prayer is the Prayer of the Church, that is both the Mass and all the Hours of the LOTH.
Swiss_Guy said:
I’d also like to switch my vote from rosary to LOTH but I can’t. Oops. :o

PS: LOTH is a lot shorter than the rosary at one time imho.
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I believe that is so if you only pray one of the Hours. If you pray them all then they are equal if not the LOTH being longer.
 
Personally there’s far more to enrich us in the LOTH. More scripture, patristic readings, Marian devotions, and most importantly, the regular parade of the lives of the saints to inspire us, both the little blurb describing each saint, but the hagiographic writings as well at the Office of readings.

Plus it is the Church’s liturgy.
 
Pray what you can when you can.It’s all about intent and disposition towards God.
“For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy.” St Therese
I don’t think with the proper intent one is ‘better’ than the other. Praying the whole office would be longer. Sure, The Divine Office is liturgical, and part of the official prayer life of the Church. But as with daily mass, not everyone is obliged, expected or able to make that commitment as laudable and noble that may be.
I like the Divine Office, but I don’t pray it ‘religiously’, pun intended, and will often simply recite a rosary, divine mercy. (Can be done without beads and from memory) Our Father, even a single line of scripture can be a prayer as powerful as any other.
 
Not trying to derail the thread, but this presents itself as a great opportunity to read what James says about prayer in both chapters 1 and 4…essentially, THAT WE PRAY always out trumps WHAT WE PRAY!
 
Rich_C said:
I used to think this way, but I changed my mind.

Our Lady of Fatima asked the laity to faithfully pray our rosaries every day. She didn’t ask ask us to pray the Office. Other saints urgently recommend praying the rosary. I don’t know of any that recommend praying the Office.

The Holy Sacrifice is certainly supreme, but after that it seems to me a Catholic should pray the rosary.

Of course, if you can do both, even better! I’m grateful that usually I can pray both the rosary and Office. I love them both. But if I have to choose, I choose the rosary.
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Our Lady asked this at Fatima because lay Catholics at that time, did not pray the LOTH, for most couldn’t even read.

The Liturgy of the Hours is the prayer of the Church, and it’s also a liturgy, but can be prayed by lay people and clergy alike,

I will do the LOTH and if I have time, ad the Rosary. Otherwise the Rosary is said at a separate time.

As a Secular Order Carmelite, we’re mandated to pray the Morning and Evening LOTH, but there is no mandate on the Rosary, although having a strong devotion to the Blessed Mother is part of our spirituality.

Jim
 
I’m not crazy about ranking prayer(s). It seems…I don’t know…superstitious maybe.

That said…
I prefer the Rosary. Not because of any Marian apparition but because, for one thing, it forces me to slow down and think about the mysteries and let my heart do the talking to Jesus and Mary about them.

Maybe it’s time for a modification of the saying about which Bible is best.

Which way to pray is best? The one you’ll do from the heart. 🙂

Here is an interesting paragraph from the Catechism:
Meditation engages thought, imagination, emotion, and desire. This mobilization of faculties is necessary in order to deepen our convictions of faith, prompt the conversion of our heart, and strengthen our will to follow Christ. Christian prayer tries above all to meditate on the mysteries of Christ, as in lectio divina or the rosary. This form of prayerful reflection is of great value, but Christian prayer should go further: to the knowledge of the love of the Lord Jesus, to union with him. (1997 Catechism of the Catholic Church 2708)
 
It’s going to take time for many Catholics to warm to the LOTH because they grew up with the rosary and the LOTH is foreign to them. Whoever prays Morning and Evening Prayer, though, prays 6 to 7 Psalms, reads at least 2 Scripture readings, prays 2 daily intercessions of the Church, recites 2 Our Fathers, recites 2 Gospel passages and is praying in union with the Church itself. It does take concentration and the will to do it, especially if it seems dry, but it truly is enriching. I think it helps to have a decent grasp of the history of the Hebrew people/OT, and at least some basic theology to really get into it. I can see why the rosary would be more appealing for those who don’t have that kind of understanding/catechesis since all that’s needed is a basic knowledge of the Gospel events it celebrates in the mysteries. 🙂
 
JimR-OCDS said:
As a Secular Order Carmelite, we’re mandated to pray the Morning and Evening LOTH, but there is no mandate on the Rosary, although having a strong devotion to the Blessed Mother is part of our spirituality.

Jim
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OFS similar (although praying the Rosary is encouraged)
 
Both the rosary and the LOTH take there life from the Sacred Scriptures. The rosary invokes the source of our redemption and the means glorifed in Mary. It is christocentic prayer for in the middle the holy name of Jesus is invoked along with the holy name of Mary in which we celebrate in the Mass tomorrow. There was a post by the hermit from New York, a quote from the Catechism on Lectio Divina, this is advocated by Pope Benedict XVI in the his writting of Verbum domini and other occasions. He believes this practice will usher new life into the Church. There are demands to pray in many ways. The Rosary was adovcated in a number of ways through the Roman Pontiff. Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus was advocated by Leo XIII, Pius XI, and Pius XII. Pope Benedict XV wrote in Spiritus Paraclitus, “We have got, then, to read Holy Scripture assiduously; we have got to meditate on the Law of God day and night…” (n. 40) I would say that it really all depends on obedience, because any good act done on our own will is throughly tainted will self-love and self-will. I do not know of any better help then Mary to undertake all the demands of God that the Pope expects of us. It all becomes sweet with her and no other, and Jesus is glorifed by our total love for her.
 
porthos11 said:
There should be no problem ranking prayers since the Church does it herself.
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I’ve never seen a top 10 list of prayers. 😛

I still have a problem with ranking prayers. It’s like telling someone that they have to talk to a loved one in a specific way, and that way is the better one.

The Rosary, Liturgy of the Hours, Lectio Divina, meditating on the daily Mass readings, etc. are all good. The Church encourages them all. I don’t think that means we have to do them all.

If you have time for one of 'em, take some with 'em both on their own and choose the one you are drawn to. Just my :twocents:
 
I put the Liturgy of the Hours first, since it is the prayer of the Church (Liturgy). All other form of devotion must flow from the Liturgy and has the Liturgy as its goal.
Thus, praying the Liturgy of the Hours is my priority.

The other thing is, Rosary is a devotion. It is always private. Even 1000 people prayed it together, it is still a private prayer. But the Liturgy, even if only one person prays it, the whole Church participates (the triumphant, the suffering, the militant). The whole theological foundation of Liturgy won my heart.

Of course, subjectively it is always at discretion of the person praying, which will aid the person better.
But, objectively, the Church does have a refined theology on prayer. Thus, prayers do have grades, with the Liturgical prayers at the very top and the Mass as the crown. Devotional prayers are evaluated by the Liturgy as standard, and so on.

The original question is “what my preference will be if I’m short of time and need to choose between LOTH and Rosary.” In my case, the LOTH.
 
When you pray the LOTH you are praying many of the same prayers that Christ Himself prayed - the psalms.

When you pray the LOTH you participate in the liturgical life of the Church - you enter into the stream of history that the Church travels, and so follow and live the Church’s calendar.

When you pray the LOTH you know that millions of lay, secular and religious folks are praying with you.

When you pray the LOTH you are praying with the voice of the Church in unison with the Church.
 
I agree that ranking prayers is silly.

Where ever the good Lord leads you into prayer, that is where you should be.

It is he who feeds us in whatever prayer we engage in, it’s not the method of prayer itself.

Jim
 
The Liturgy of the Hours is the official prayer of the Church. The Rosary is a private and approved-public devotion. The one is essential to the life of the Church, sanctifying the hours of the day; the other is a haphazard litany that can be prayed by anyone at any time, and unstable by nature. The former is as ancient as the Church; the latter is an invention of the 13th century, fully developed only by the 15th.

If you have time for only one of the two, then for the love of God, stick to the LotH! It has readings from the Fathers, diverse prayers, and the actual Scriptures from which the Rosary meditations are derived. 🙂
 
WeSeeLight said:
The Liturgy of the Hours is the official prayer of the Church. The Rosary is a private and approved-public devotion. The one is essential to the life of the Church, sanctifying the hours of the day; the other is a haphazard litany that can be prayed by anyone at any time, and unstable by nature. The former is as ancient as the Church; the latter is an invention of the 13th century, fully developed only by the 15th.

If you have time for only one of the two, then for the love of God, stick to the LotH! It has readings from the Fathers, diverse prayers, and the actual Scriptures from which the Rosary meditations are derived. 🙂
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In many ways the LoTH pre-dates the Church, it is rooted in the even more ancient custom of the Jewish people to pray the psalms morning and night.

The LoTH is a great prayer vigil, it is one continuous prayer of the Church. Somewhere, every hour of the day someone is praying the LoTH. One time zone relays the other. It truly cements us into the Body of Christ. A relay race to eternal life!
 
triumphguy said:
The LOTH is THE prayer of the Church.

The Rosary is a devotion.
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👍

The LOTH/Breviary is more efficacious simply because it is the Church’s prayer. The only other prayer more efficacious is the Mass.
 
The Liturgy of the Hours, along side of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the prayer of the Church. In recent years, there have been developments which allow pretty much anyone with internet access to be able to pray the LOTH without issue. The Rosary is a beautiful devotion, and one that my wife and I pray together from time to time, but the Divine Office is the prayer of the Church going back to the prayer of the Jewish Temple in the Davidic Kingdom. Our Blessed Lord would have likely prayed the psalms this way and so would have the apostles, and for that matter, our Blessed Mother and St. Joseph. In early Christianity, the recitation of psalms is one of the earliest Traditions of the Church in both Eastern and Western Christianity, a Tradition that continues today. The ancientness and history of praying to God in this manner combined with the fact that the Church requires it of her priests and religious and strongly encourages it of the faithful ought to tell us something about its importance.

For those who cannot make daily Mass, the LOTH is probably the best way to participate in the daily liturgical life of the Church. In addition, it allows us to frame our day around Christ. Even if one cannot do the major hours, the smaller hours can be done.

Peace,
 
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