Simple way to figure out what week to use in LOTH

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There is a recent post in Ask an Apologist asking what week we are in for the Psalter. Fr. Serpa gave an excellent resource for finding the current day/week but what if it should become unavailable?

Here is the way I figured out: Remember simple division that does not break down to decimal places but keeps the “remainder” as a notation? Simply divide the week number (pay attention to this at Mass) by 4 and look at the remainder. 3 weeks out of 4, that remainder is exactly the week to use in the Psalter. Whenever there is no remainder, use week 4.

Examples:

Last week was the 15th week of Ordinary time. 15/4 = 3 R3 (3rd week in the Psalter)

This is the 16th week of Ordinary time. 16/4 = 4 R0 (4th week in the Psalter)

Next week will be the 17th week of Ordinary Time. 17/4 = 4 R1 (1st week in the Psalter)

If you must use a calculator, you can look at the place after the decimal, but you’ll have to memorize the interpretation.

.25 → week 1 in the Psalter
.5 → week 2
.75 → week 3
(no decimal) → week 4

Examples:
15th week: 15/4 = 3**.75** (3rd week in the Psalter)
16th week: 16/4 = 4█ (4th week in the Psalter)
17th week: 17/4 = 4**.25** (1st week in the Psalter)

Hope that’s simple enough. If not, then the only advice I have is: don’t get scrupulous about it.
 
That seems complicated to me. Even easier:
  1. Get the St. Joseph’s guide every year, it’s less than $3.
  2. Many Catholic wall calendars show the week of the liturgical year.
  3. Visit www.divineoffice.org.
 
The pages with the antiphons and prayers for the Sundays in Ordinary Time (p.611 on) tell you what week (1 to 4) it is too.
 
superamazingman said:
Well, lent and easter too, no?
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Any season where the weeks are numbered. 😃

I think Christmas season is the only one that it doesn’t work for (each day has its own entry in the Propers, fortunately). It also is a little tricky when the Sunday is a solemnity that trumps the regular readings (such as the weeks following Pentecost). If a current year missal is available, one might have to take a look at the entry for the following Monday to determine the week.
 
agnes_therese said:
That seems complicated to me. Even easier:
  1. Get the St. Joseph’s guide every year, it’s less than $3.
  2. Many Catholic wall calendars show the week of the liturgical year.
  3. Visit www.divineoffice.org.
Click to expand...
  1. if available, that could be a great resource. Many breviaries include such a guide for the year published and the 3 or so years following.
  2. Unfortunately, wall calendars don’t tell you the week in the Psalter. You’d have to then do the math (in the OP) - or see how well triumphguy’s idea of checking the propers works out. The calendar DOES solve the problem of figuring out what week it is when the Sunday is a solemnity. (my previous post)
  3. Same problem as Fr. Serpa’s suggestion. An Internet resource might not always be available.
 
JGMendes4049 said:
I stand corrected. 🙂
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Well advent as well, but let’s hope we can all figure out the psalter week during advent. I got quite a few chuckles from my friends once when I asked what week it was just after I said it was the third Sunday of advent.
 
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