Solitary Liturgy of the Hours

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The GI is speaking of favoring praying the LOTH’s in common.

It also states that it’s preferred that the community sings the psalms when possible.

There is little said about praying the LOTH’s individually, except that it can be done.

That being said, the local communities like Third Oder’s, will teach it’s members how the LOTH’s should be prayed individually.

As an OCDS, Discalced Carmelite, Secular, myself, the rule of life mandates that we say the Morning and Evening LOTHs daily. We were instructed by our various spiritual assistants to our community, Discalced Carmelite Friars, on how to pray the office individually. All of them instructed us that the hymn was optional and it was not necessary to sing the psalms either individually or with our community.

My wife and myself pray the Evening Office, Vespers, together. We never sing the hymn as we don’t know them anyway.

Jim
 
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JimR-OCDS said:
We were instructed by our various spiritual assistants to our community, Discalced Carmelite Friars, on how to pray the office individually. All of them instructed us that the hymn was optional and it was not necessary to sing the psalms either individually or with our community.
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That’s you and your wife being individually instructed to do so by a religious community…

I mean this with all charity… But a particular generation of Catholics had this idea that the Liturgy was their servant, and so they could mould the liturgy in their own image. They were free to be loose with the “general” instructions, etc.

It should go without saying that this line of reasoning was DISASTROUS for the Church, and only today with a new generation who understands WE are servants OF the Liturgy, it is not OUR servant, has this errant reasoning started to be addressed.

There is nothing in the GIRM or the Rubrics which suggests the hymn is optional - in fact, the GIRM makes the hymn seem to be an integral element of the structure of the Liturgy.

Thus, in a spirit of humble servitude, the structure of the Liturgy should always be respected. So even in individual recitation, the hymn should at least be recited.
 
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I agree that if you are in an Order you will be instructed. I’m part of a Carmelite Order and we dont skip the hymn when alone either, we just read it aloud or quietly. In fact when we are together we mostly read it unless it’s one we all know, or most of us and someone has the forethought to arrange it before hand and tell everyone else.
I love reading the hymns even though I’ve never heard of most of them which is probably because I dont live in my birth country. I get all excited when I hear one at mass so I can hear what tune it is, which is silly cos I could always look it up on youtube, though somehow I forget. I am rubbish at singing anyway.
 
Again, the GIRM of the LOTH’s is instruction for praying the Office in Common, or in a religious community and little is said about individuals saying it.

Benedictines and Trappist, follow their own LOTH’s which is a two week cycle. The LOTH’s by the Catholic Book Publishing Company, follows a four week cycle. The GIRM doesn’t address the differences, does this mean Benedictines and Trappists are violating the GIRM, or are the people who use the breviary in violation ?

To suggest that the Discalced Friars loosened the instruction is false.

We sang the Hymns in common when we prayed together in our community.

We did not sing the psalms as this requires practice and is generally done by religious communities which pray the Divine Office, everyday.

Jim
 
JimR-OCDS said:
We did not sing the psalms as this requires practice and is generally done by religious communities which pray the Divine Office, everyday.

Jim
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I really don’t care to continue the argument… If you look through this thread Jim, you’ll see you are the sole voice saying the hymn is optional. That should tell you something. Also @OraLabora is clearly an expert on the Roman Office. When he says something about the Office, I’m always inclined to believe what he says stands on serious scholarly rigor.

Jim, you seem to be under the impression that either the hymn is sung or it’s omitted. But the hymns CAN be recited either out loud or in the heart…

Using the logic you’re using, we could also say individual Psalms or their antiphons are optional.

Where do we stop with this line of reasoning? Where do we draw the line that the liturgy is what we make of it?

I’m not saying it’s sinful to omit parts of the liturgy or change it… It just becomes a private devotion instead of a strict public work of the Church. The only time this would be a serious issue is with people who are bound to pray the Office.
 
ChristMyLife said:
I mean this with all charity… But a particular generation of Catholics had this idea that the Liturgy was their servant, and so they could mould the liturgy in their own image. They were free to be loose with the “general” instructions, etc.
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In all charity, I think you misunderstand the use of Liturgy of the Hours within the church. There is great variety between various religious communities with regards to how the LOTH is prayed.

This is not to mention those of us Lay people who pray the LOTH with the church and those of us who pray the offices as a private devotional practice.
 
mrsdizzyd said:
This is not to mention those of us Lay people who pray the LOTH with the church and those of us who pray the offices as a private devotional practice
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Therein lies the crux of the issue.

If you want to pray the Liturgy as a strict act of public liturgical worship, the Rubrics must be upheld vigorously.

If you want to pray it as a private devotional, you’re free to add, subtract, or modify whatever you like.
 
I’m the only Discalced Carmelite responding. Does this make my order loose and making the LOTHSour servant as you posted ?

Again, the GIRM for the LOTH’s is a General Guide, not an absolute mandate on how it’s to be prayed.

As I posted, it doesn’t say whether the LOTH’s should be said in a two week or four week cycle either, but that’s one of the differences between how it’s pray in monastic communities veses lay communities using Christian Prayer, The Liturgy of the Hours.

OraLabora is very knowledgeable about the LOTH’s, but he hasn’t shown that the GIRM mandates singing the hymn when the office is prayed by an individual in private.

It’s optional, and IMHO, merely reciting it removes the reverence and poetry the hymn was designed for.

But again, that’s up to the individual. It’s not mandated that we recite it if we don’t sing it.

Jim
 
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mrsdizzyd said:
I couldn’t sing the hymns even if I wanted to. I’m not familiar with the melody of any of them, and my music reading is very rusty (not that there is always notation for the hymns).
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FWIW, you can find a lot of them on YouTube.

I’m another one who can’t sing. But I’m happy to listen to someone else singing. 🙂
 
BTW, the four volume set of the LOTHS, doesn’t include the music for the hymns

The reason being is that the music issue is for the organist or cantor when prayed in common.

Jim
 
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mrsdizzyd said:
I couldn’t sing the hymns even if I wanted to. I’m not familiar with the melody of any of them, and my music reading is very rusty (not that there is always notation for the hymns).
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There is a free app called BreviaryTunes that helps quite a bit with this. I use it even when I know the tune. I also find some of the songs on Youtube but this can take a little longer.
 
OraLabora said:
They always recite the hymn, even in private.
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There seems to be a lot of flexibility when praying in the vernacular in terms of substituting various hymns. The English Liturgy of the Hours volumes include various “popular” English hymns, some of Protestant origin. When I use the DivineOffice.org app, all sorts of hymns show up that I’m pretty sure are not in my hard copy LOTH set nor from the official Latin hymnody.
 
The situation is a bit different in French, there’s an official French hymnal pout out by the AELF (French-language equivalent of ICEL). The hymns are all “official”, and for any hymn with a number, a melody exists in the hymnal. The melodies are from various modern, 15-18th century, Reform, and Gregorian sources.

As for the assertions of Jim that the General Instructions are just general guidelines, and without trying to be too pedantic about it, the fact is that they are both General, but precise in their generality; more specific instructions are in fact in the rubrics themselves, in the daily texts.

The language in both the General Instructions, and in the rubrics, is very precise and needs to be read at face value. When something is optional in general, it is listed as such in the General Instructions; when optional in specific contexts, it is indicate as such in the rubrics.

Here are some examples. For instance, when discussing the Invitatory, this is the General Instruction:
  1. The invitatory is placed at the beginning of the whole sequence of the day’s prayer, that is, it precedes either morning prayer or the office of readings, whichever of these liturgical rites begins the day. The invitatory psalm with its antiphon may be omitted, however, when the invitatory is the prelude to morning prayer.
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This is a commonly misinterpreted instruction, unless the language is taken precisely. It specifies what is mandatory, and what is optional. The full parsing of this instruction is:
  1. The Invitatory is only used at either the Office of Readings, or Morning Prayer, whichever comes first in the daily cycle, as either Office can be the starting point of the liturgical day. Any other Office is not a normal starting point (for those bound to the Office).
  2. If the Invitatory is said before the Office of Readings, both the opening verse (“Lord, open my lips…”) and the invitatory psalm are said.
  3. If Morning Prayer is the first Office of the day, the invitatory psalm may be omitted. In other words, it is optional.
No such option is given for the hymn:
  1. The structure of the liturgy of the hours follows laws of its own and incorporates in its own way elements found in other Christian celebrations. Thus it is so constructed that, after a hymn, there is always psalmody, then a long or short reading of sacred Scripture, and finally prayer of petition.
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and
  1. Even when the hours are recited, hymns can nourish prayer, provided they have doctrinal and literary excellence; but of their nature they are designed for singing and so, as far as possible, at a celebration in common they should be sung.
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Also in terms of choice of texts, the GI also say things like “Option to choose an Office” and “Option to choose texts”. Clearly when there is an option, the GI says so.

(cont’d)
 
(cont’d from above)

In the rubrics, similarly what is optional and what is not is clear. In the Ordinary, for instance, it never specifies the Hymn as optional in the rubrics. It simply states its position, and from where to select the texts. In the Invitatory, it gives a selection of permissible psalms. In the Rubrics for the Office of Readings, it says that the 2-year cycle of readings may be used, it says that for the 2nd reading, “another reading can be used that is in keeping with the spirit of the Bible and the liturgy”.

Both the GI, and the Rubrics, are thus very clear on what is optional or open to various choices.

Nowhere in either the GI, or the Rubrics, are the hymns even suggested as optional. Therefore IMHO, a precise reading of both the GI and Rubrics indicate that the hymn is mandatory, and as noted above, while singing it is preferred, saying “as far as possible in common celebration should be sung”, which means in private recitation, they can be recited. It does not say it may be omitted. So with all due respect to communities that suggest otherwise, I think they are mistaken, as confirmed by our monks who do recite the hymn even privately.
 
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Because the rubrics deals with praying the LOTH’s primarily in common, not by an individual, the hymn is not optional when prayed in common.

The options that the Rubrics present, are for the general instruction for praying the LOTHs in common, which individuals also follow, but with exceptions. We don’t chant the psalms and we’re not required to stand and kneel while praying it, alone.

Heck, before Vatican II, few lay Catholics knew what the LOTH;s were, never mind pray them.

Even after, praying the LOTH’s by lay people has become relatively new and it’s probably why the Rubrics which were written for the LOTH’s back in 1973, says very little about individually praying the LOTH’S.

If the hymn was not optional for individuals, but that they must sing it, then the Catholic Book Publishing Company failed by not providing the music for the hymns in the four volume set. The music is a separate and no one I know, has purchased the music for their individual prayer. It’s interesting that the music is in the short breviary of Christian Prayer.

At any rate, if you desire to sing the hymn by yourself in your home, then by all means go for it, But it’s not necessary.

Also, many of us Discalced Carmelites who pray the office alone in our homes, pray the words of the LOTH’s mentally in silence and not verbally out loud. This isn’t specified in the Rubrics either, and I would have a problem with anyone who would suggest that praying the office silently is wrong.

Jim
 
It does appear that there is a difference in interpretation. Certainly the Benedictines don’t think the hymn is optional.

My analysis has to conclude the same. There are several rubrics for private recitation. One rubric says that the invitatory antiphon does not need to be repeated after each strophe of the invitatory psalm, in private recitation. In the General Instructions it mentions that the repeated part of the responsories need not be repeated in private recitation. In the rubrics, the concluding formula for private recitation or assemblies not presided by a priest or deacon, is provided and indicated as to be used in private recitation.

In short, therefore, both the General Instructions and rubrics specify what applies in private recitation.

There are no such indications for the hymn, thus, logically, the hymn needs to be at least recited, in private recitation (even though singing it is preferred, if possible).
 
There are no such indications for the hymn, thus, logically, the hymn needs to be at least recited, in private recitation (even though singing it is preferred, if possible)…
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If recited, then it’s not a hymn.

My spiritual assistants told us otherwise. It’s optional and I;ll follow their instruction over the demands of this forum. 😃

Also, I got into a little debate with a lay Carmelite on an issue, because it wasn’t the Carmelite Tradition, as she was accustom to. Yet, the instruction that I was using, was from a Discalced Carmelite Friar himself. Go figure.

Anyway, as you know, they approved to begin a new translation of the Liturgy of the Hours, shortly after the new English translation of the Mass was released. However, I understand that the negative reception of the new translation of the Mass is causing the LOTH translation to be put on the back burner for now, as we may yet see another translation of the Mass.

Jim
 
JimR-OCDS said:
If recited, then it’s not a hymn.
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They can be viewed as a form of poetry as well. In fact the main body of Gregorian hymnody is based on the iambic poetic form, with the second largest group in the sapphic form, with a few in other forms.

Thus, even recited, they can have a poetic, almost musical cadence.

The can also be sung on very simple Gregorian melodies, that are very easy for even the newest of newbies to learn, starting from monotone chant through a couple of very simple melodies without any melismas; although I think for a hymn I’d prefer it recited with a poetic lilt matching the meter of the poetry (iambic, sapphic, or other), rather than in monotone. These were among the first chants that I learned.

Some of the vernacular hymns, often translations of the Gregorian equivalents, follow this form; others do not.

Thus, to me, they still have poetic value, even recited instead of sung.
 
Perhaps those who put together Liturgy of the Hours mean to say the hymn presented is optional or in other words you can substitute it with another appropriate hymn!
 
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