What IS the Liturgy of the Hours?

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I’ve seen many people post about the Liturgy of the Hours, and I am confused! :confused:
What is it, exactly?
Is it part of ‘everyday’ Mass?
Or it is a prayer, like the Rosary?

Thank you in advance! 👍 🙂
 
It is certain prayers you say at set times of the day. Clerics are required to pray it. When you pray the Liturgy of the Hours, you are praying with the entire Church. Below is an online Liturgy of the Hours.

divineoffice.org/
 
Greetings,

The Liturgy of the Hours (aka the Divine Office) is the official prayer of the people of God, the Church.

The Liturgy of the Hours is recited by laypeople, consecrated religious, and the clergy.

The Divine Office consists of several readings, psalms, prayer, intercessions, and responses. These prayers are organized into daily hours, which in and of themselves consist of these prayers, responses, psalms, etc.

Clergy are required, to recite the Liturgy of the Hours.

Depending on the National Conference of Bishops, permanent deacons recite only some of the hours of prayer.

Priests and Bishops are required to recite all of the hours.

The LOTH today contain Lauds (morning prayer), daytime prayers, Vespers (evening prayer), and Compline (night prayer).

If you are interested in praying the LOTH I recommend the app iBreviary for apple products. As well as divineoffice.org

God Bless you, and peace be with you.
 
astroalbert said:
Greetings,

The Liturgy of the Hours (aka the Divine Office) is the official prayer of the people of God, the Church.

The Liturgy of the Hours is recited by laypeople, consecrated religious, and the clergy.

The Divine Office consists of several readings, psalms, prayer, intercessions, and responses. These prayers are organized into daily hours, which in and of themselves consist of these prayers, responses, psalms, etc.

Clergy are required, to recite the Liturgy of the Hours.

Depending on the National Conference of Bishops, permanent deacons recite only some of the hours of prayer.

Priests and Bishops are required to recite all of the hours.

The LOTH today contain Lauds (morning prayer), daytime prayers, Vespers (evening prayer), and Compline (night prayer).

If you are interested in praying the LOTH I recommend the app iBreviary for apple products. As well as divineoffice.org

God Bless you, and peace be with you.
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Thank you! 👍
 
To my understanding, the Liturgy of the Hours differs between rites; for instance, the Dominicans have a different Liturgy of the Hours from the Latins from the Carmelites, etc. Plus it is a bit of an overstatement to say the LOTH is the prayer of God’s people because there is no singular set; likewise, the Eastern Catholic Churches have different LOTHs generally called the offices.

Anyway, the devotion of saying the LOTH as a lay person, I personally feel, brings great order to one’s day. It’s a good way to organize your day around prayer as opposed to just making prayer another itemized thing on the agenda.
 
MorEphrem said:
To my understanding, the Liturgy of the Hours differs between rites; for instance, the Dominicans have a different Liturgy of the Hours from the Latins from the Carmelites, etc. Plus it is a bit of an overstatement to say the LOTH is the prayer of God’s people because there is no singular set; likewise, the Eastern Catholic Churches have different LOTHs generally called the offices.

Anyway, the devotion of saying the LOTH as a lay person, I personally feel, brings great order to one’s day. It’s a good way to organize your day around prayer as opposed to just making prayer another itemized thing on the agenda.
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It’s not a different Liturgy of the Hours between the different religious orders (at least, not the ones I’m aware of). The difference is in the celebration of memorials, feasts, etc., that are particular to each order. As a Secular Discalced Carmelite, I celebrate feasts that Franciscans (for example) don’t.
 
MorEphrem said:
To my understanding, the Liturgy of the Hours differs between rites; for instance, the Dominicans have a different Liturgy of the Hours from the Latins from the Carmelites, etc. Plus it is a bit of an overstatement to say the LOTH is the prayer of God’s people because there is no singular set; likewise, the Eastern Catholic Churches have different LOTHs generally called the offices.
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Different religious institutes have their own calendars and some monastic orders even have different schemas, as OraLabora will tell you about the Benedictines. But it is indeed the prayer of God’s people, because when we pray an approved edition of the LOTH, we are engaging in liturgy in union with the whole Church. Just as the Mass or Divine Liturgy is engagement in the liturgy of Heaven with all the saints and angels participating, the Divine Office is a participation in public liturgy all the same. It is the second highest form of prayer. Rosaries and private devotions are a tertiary form of prayer that is not even in the same class.
 
Elizium23 said:
Different religious institutes have their own calendars and some monastic orders even have different schemas, as OraLabora will tell you about the Benedictines. But it is indeed the prayer of God’s people, because when we pray an approved edition of the LOTH, we are engaging in liturgy in union with the whole Church. Just as the Mass or Divine Liturgy is engagement in the liturgy of Heaven with all the saints and angels participating, the Divine Office is a participation in public liturgy all the same. It is the second highest form of prayer. Rosaries and private devotions are a tertiary form of prayer that is not even in the same class.
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My apologies, I didn’t mean to make it sound like there is somehow a substance or quality difference between the LOTH variations nor did I mean to deny that it is the prayer of God’s people :cool:. I just meant to say there was variation.

I’m unsure if the Latin LOTH explicitly says it but in the conclusion of every Syriac office it goes as far as to say what you’ve said (something to the effect of everyone who says the office is partaking of the same thing).
 
agnes_therese said:
It’s not a different Liturgy of the Hours between the different religious orders (at least, not the ones I’m aware of). The difference is in the celebration of memorials, feasts, etc., that are particular to each order. As a Secular Discalced Carmelite, I celebrate feasts that Franciscans (for example) don’t.
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For the Benedictines, it is different. While the structure is the same, and as you note the calendar is different, so too is the psalmody. Our abbey for instance uses an approved schema that has the entire psalmody on a 1-week cycle instead of 4 weeks, and Vigils (instead of the Office of Readings) has 6 psalms in 2 nocturnes. There is also the traditional Benedictine schema which exists in a post-Vatican II version that also has the entire psalmody in 1 week… but with many repeated psalms so 250+ psalms are recited per week. There are a few approved 2-week schemas as well, and several monasteries have their own schemas. Basically the abbot is free to build an Office from “Thesaurus Liturgiae Horarum Monasticae”.

There are other differences as well; for example the Sunday gospel canticle antiphons in the LOTH has one antiphon for each of years A, B and C to be used at 1st Vespers, Lauds and 2nd Vespers, whereas the monastic Office has a 1 or 2 year cycle of antiphons for 1st vespers depending on whether a 1 or 2-year lectionary is used at Vigils, and for Lauds and 2nd Vespers there are separate antiphons for the Benedictus and Magnificat for each of the 3 years.

The Cistercians also have their own schemas, as do the Carthusians (which resembles the traditional Benedictine Divine Office actually)
 
OraLabora said:
For the Benedictines, it is different. While the structure is the same, and as you note the calendar is different, so too is the psalmody. Our abbey for instance uses an approved schema that has the entire psalmody on a 1-week cycle instead of 4 weeks, and Vigils (instead of the Office of Readings) has 6 psalms in 2 nocturnes. There is also the traditional Benedictine schema which exists in a post-Vatican II version that also has the entire psalmody in 1 week… but with many repeated psalms so 250+ psalms are recited per week. There are a few approved 2-week schemas as well, and several monasteries have their own schemas. Basically the abbot is free to build an Office from “Thesaurus Liturgiae Horarum Monasticae”.

There are other differences as well; for example the Sunday gospel canticle antiphons in the LOTH has one antiphon for each of years A, B and C to be used at 1st Vespers, Lauds and 2nd Vespers, whereas the monastic Office has a 1 or 2 year cycle of antiphons for 1st vespers depending on whether a 1 or 2-year lectionary is used at Vigils, and for Lauds and 2nd Vespers there are separate antiphons for the Benedictus and Magnificat for each of the 3 years.

The Cistercians also have their own schemas, as do the Carthusians (which resembles the traditional Benedictine Divine Office actually)
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Thank you! I stand corrected. So, some orders have the “normal” LOTH with their particular calendars, and some have their own schemas.
And some people think the LOTH would be boring! 😉
 
agnes_therese said:
Thank you! I stand corrected. So, some orders have the “normal” LOTH with their particular calendars, and some have their own schemas.
And some people think the LOTH would be boring! 😉
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Monks sometimes joke that when a young novice has finally figured out the Divine Office, he’s ready for solemn profession, and that’s why it takes many years before a monk can make solemn profession!

And to add to the confusion, some Benedictines with active external apostolates use the 4-week LOTH but with the Benedictine calendar. Also they can use the 4-week when traveling.
 
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