Sadness over the Divine Office

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Finding a side-by-side could be really useful for you.
Additionally, I took 2 years of high school Latin, and I still have the PDF of my textbook, the powerpoints the teachers used, and the assosiated h mework, so if anyone here wants to teach themselves Latin, just PM me
 
Spyridon said:
Http://divinumofficium.com has a great version side-by-side
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I highly recommend this, and I normally pray the modern LOTH. But I’ve dipped into this, just to see what the older offices were like. It gives you Latin & English side-by-side, and also gives you options of which older office you want.
 
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Spyridon said:
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Tis_Bearself:
think maybe you just need to learn Latin 🙂

Problem solved?
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I’m trying.

I can read it and comprehend it to a degree.

Maybe I should take the time to pray the EF Office in Latin and English simultaneously…
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I think you mean sequentially. If you did it simultaneously, wouldn’t you be talking out of both sides of your mouth? Only politics are adept at that. (Sorry, I couldn’t resist that). : - )

Doing it side by side, so to speak, allows you to more quickly get a grasp of the meaning, and thus learning of the Latin.
 
Spyridon said:
, I am very excited for the Anglican Ordinariate to come out with its official Divine Office.
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I didn’t know they were doing this. Hopefully it will be like the Anglican Breviary that some Anglo Catholics use, which is a very beautiful translation of the EF Breviary in the style of the Book of Common Prayer.

However, I wonder if you would you have to be part of an ordinariate parish in order to use it?
 
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Why would you?

I know a couple non-Catholics who use pray the Divine Office.
 
whyeyeman said:
didn’t know they were doing this. Hopefully it will be like the Anglican Breviary that some Anglo Catholics use, which is a very beautiful translation of the EF Breviary in the style of the Book of Common Prayer.

However, I wonder if you would you have to be part of an ordinariate parish in order to use it?
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@whyeyeman It’s in the works - I’m hoping by the end of this decade it will be approved and published.

And any Catholic Christian or any Christian or any human at all will be able to use it.

The only issue I could see would be if you were a Roman Catholic under a canonical obligation to pray the Hours - in that case you would probably have to get a dispensation from your Ordinary Bishop to use the Ordinariate Office.

But for lay Catholics who pray the Office voluntarily, once the Ordinariate Office gets approval and is published, we’ll have the go ahead to start using it right away.
 
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CilladeRoma said:
Why would you?
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In the same way as if you want to ‘properly’ pray the EF you have to pray in Latin, I was wandering whether you have to be in an ordinariate parish to ‘properly’ pray the Ordinariate Breviary.
 
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Laity may use any prayer book which is not contrary to Catholic faith or morals - as noted above, I use the proposed ordinariate daily office, as published on a private website and currently awaiting review by the Vatican.

Clerics and religious are bound to the authorized books, if they are to fulfill the canonical requirements to recite or sing the office - for the religious, I think this depends on the constitution (?) of the order.

Publicly, the authorized books must be used.
 
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With reference to the Ordinariate Office: The Customary of Our Lady of Walsingham has been published and is authorised for public use in the UK. You may wish to look at that. It’s a beautiful volume and contains Prayer During the Day and Compline.

(To be honest though I prefer to use LOTH in the morning as I’m usually a bit of a sleepy head and I find it easier to navigate and considerably shorter.)
 
As a Discalced Carmelite Secular I believe we are bond to recite the LOTH as per the order of Carmel and if they decide on how the new one is to be read when it is available I will of course go with that. But for now I pray it as our Secular order calls us to pray it. I do know other Religious orders both secular and religious read the LOTH different from the way the Carmelite read it so far as i understand it.
 
I get where you’re coming from, especially Vespers of week III which are so short another oblate and myself have dubbed them « vesperettes »!

A couple of suggestions. One, try chanting it. Christian Prayer has some music and psalm tone suggestions, or you can use very simple tones like in directum or recto-tono. Chanting is like praying twice! And it will lengthen the Office. Two, if you pray the Office of Readings, use a two-week cycle of two nocturnes. This is what is recommended of monastics compelled for valid reasons to use the LOTH instead of one of the monastic breviaries. When I do this, I pray the psalm from week 1, then the Bible reading, then the psalm for week 3, then the patriotic or hagiographic reading. You do the same for weeks 2 and 4. For Thursdays of weeks 2 and 4, psalm 43(44) is used, so for the second nocturne, use the omitted imprecatory psalms, 57(58) and 82(83) for week 2, and psalm 108(109) for week 4.

Then use the Gradual Psalms to pray the other two daytime hours.

During each office, chant the psalms slowly and after each one read it through again meditatively in silence. I chant the psalm first in Latin as I know how to psalmody in all the tones, then I read the psalm silently in my mother tongue (French). The chanting is the « mantra » which focuses the mind, the silent reading the meditation. A perfectly Catholic way to use oriental meditation techniques! Praying both the LOTH and the Monastic at various times, I find the LOTH less rushed, and more meditative and prayerful and more conducive to learning the psalms.

Then « assume the position ». That is if saying the office in private (and not on the bus!), rise and bow at the doxologies, stand when appropriate, etc. In other words, turn it into a truly liturgical moment that consumes you body and soul. All these little tricks will make the LOTH more meaningful and prayerful. Oh and here’s another, learn the Sunday Compline psalms by heart, and recite Compline in the dark from memory. It’s an ancient monastic tradition and the rubrics allow it.
 
StephieNorthCo said:
Doing it side by side, so to speak, allows you to more quickly get a grasp of the meaning, and thus learning of the Latin.
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It’s what I do. I chant the Latin antiphon and chant the psalm on the mode that corresponds to the antiphon. Then I read the psalm silently in French, my mother tongue. I have an excellent Latin-French antiphonary for the LOTH, Les Heures Grégoriennes.
 
I wish I could chant - unfortunately I am utterly tone deaf and my voice is horrific. I don’t even like listening to myself - I’ve literally got one of the least musical voices ever. If you had to listen to me attempt to chant or sing you would blush with embarrasment for me and/or bury your face in your palm. It’s really that bad.

I will try some of the other suggestions…

One thing I’ve been doing - repeat the antiphon after each strophe in the Psalm.
 
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