I jumped head first into the 4 Volume LOTH with the Divine Office. After all the Divine Office provides you with much more readings with ancient church fathers. The Shorter Christian Prayer subsists in the Christian Prayer book and the Christian Prayer [1 volume] subsists in the Liturgy of the Hours [4 volume set]. What cool about it is that if you have a famly or are part of a community you can still join together and read the Morning and Evening prayers together. YOu just need to know how to do it. I still use the cheat booklet to find everything. I know how the books are divided. There is a lot of flipping. If you just want something more simplified you could just use the Shorter Christian Prayer I guess. But then that takes all the fun out of it. The Magnificat is good too. My wife loves to read it instead. However, one day I hope to convert her, that pagan woman, to read with me. The LOTH is the only devotion that really brings me closer to God…next to the Mass of course.
NOTE: The LOTH follows only the Mass in importance in the Church because it IS the prayer of the Church. A priest or religious or even laity that are faithful at praying the prayers usually are very devout and orthodox from my experience. Occasionally some fall away from doing it. But it is very important to keep devoted even when you encounter dry moments. That said. If you’re married with children like us, then your children become your prayer most of the time. I do the best I can and really don’t like missing it. But it gets frustrating trying to be a father and pray the hours. I usually end up doing at least some part and always or more regularly always begin my day with the sign of the cross and “Lord Open my lips and my mouth will proclaim your praise”. And then I go into the Invitory Psalm with anitiphon. Memorized it. There is a pattern in the readings if you pay attention. They cycle. The songs also have a pattern if you look it up.
If you can afford it, buy one volume at a time. That’s how I got my last 4 volumes. I also bought the others for my children.
