What's up with the Liturgy of the Hours?

  • Thread starter Thread starter maria_rose
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
M

maria_rose

Guest
I’m not sure where to ask this ,but somehow felt this is the place.
I’ve heard a lot about the Liturgy of the Hours in snippets and brief mentioning by devoted catholics,but never got any details. What is it exactly?
Is it published in a Latin/english version?
Would it benefit me to pray it as a lay person?
Please help!:confused:
 
The Liturgy of the hours is prayer that you do through out the day that focus mainly on the psalms and readings from the bible. The office is the longest so I normally do it first and enter into the morning prayer immediately afterwards. In the mid morning around 9 or 10 i do the mid morning prayer and at around 12 or 1 I do the mid day prayer. you than have the afternoon prayer i do this at about 3 and than the evening prayer 5 or 6 and finally the night time prayer I do this right before bed. I love the office. I have recently stopped doing the Hours because I found that I could not find time due to events that have happened in my life. I do however look forward to returning to it.

I hope this helped.
 
www.universalis.com is a great resource for it. If the books confuse you (like they easily do me) this site has everything for every day already on the page ready to go.

The service on the website is free. They also offer programs for your computer/laptop and pda for a one-time activation fee.
 
st_lucy said:
The Liturgy of the hours is prayer that you do through out the day that focus mainly on the psalms and readings from the bible. The office is the longest so I normally do it first and enter into the morning prayer immediately afterwards. In the mid morning around 9 or 10 i do the mid morning prayer and at around 12 or 1 I do the mid day prayer. you than have the afternoon prayer i do this at about 3 and than the evening prayer 5 or 6 and finally the night time prayer I do this right before bed. I love the office. I have recently stopped doing the Hours because I found that I could not find time due to events that have happened in my life. I do however look forward to returning to it.

I hope this helped.
Click to expand...
Wow! what a blessing to be with God so much throughout a day. But how do you do it with a job, children, husband and household? It sounds almost impossible to do. Any suggestions how to make it work?:confused:
 
maria_rose said:
Wow! what a blessing to be with God so much throughout a day. But how do you do it with a job, children, husband and household? It sounds almost impossible to do. Any suggestions how to make it work?:confused:
Click to expand...
Well, I think at first it seem almost impossible but when you learn to set aside time through out the day for God it becomes easier and easier as the days go on. Also you need to remember that the office the first prayer is the longest with the morning prayer I would say it took maybe 45 minutes. I usually wake up first and pray this while my family slept. The rest of the prayers only take about 10 minutes. So its not so bad.
 
maria_rose said:
Wow! what a blessing to be with God so much throughout a day. But how do you do it with a job, children, husband and household? It sounds almost impossible to do. Any suggestions how to make it work?:confused:
Click to expand...
I’d suggest morning prayer (with invititory), evening prayer, and when you have time, night prayer. Or night prayer in lieu of evening prayer. If you have a family, evening prayer can be tough to schedule in since that’s when dinner is being prepared, everyone comes home from work and school, etc.

I’m not sure how others do this, but I try to read the prayers slowly and out loud, maybe in a whisper but at least moving my lips and trying to give the prayers the correct vocal intonation coming from my heart. And I frequently pause to ponder what I just read and said, and frequently re-read some verses.

The object is to talk with God, from your heart (with the psalms and readings as a guide), and not to race through the prayers. IMHO quality is better than quantity. Then if you find yourself with more time in the future, try to do more.
 
Praying all of the Hours is not an imposition but a tremendous grace that got me through some difficult times. The Office of Readings only takes about 15 minutes or so (unless you are using it for Lectio Divina), and the other Hours are about 5 minutes each. It is an excellent way to keep Christ and His Word in mind throughout the day. It is considered the main prayer of the Church, apart from the Mass. I recommend it for anyone, regardless of their state in life.
 
Unitas said:
www.universalis.com is a great resource for it. If the books confuse you (like they easily do me) this site has everything for every day already on the page ready to go.

The service on the website is free. They also offer programs for your computer/laptop and pda for a one-time activation fee.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the link. It helps a lot. I was hoping to start the Liturgy of the Hours by Ash Wednesday but did not know how. A friend kindly lend me a book which is so confusing.
This link provides the needed help in time. Thanks again!
 
InLight247 said:
Thank you for the link. It helps a lot. I was hoping to start the Liturgy of the Hours by Ash Wednesday but did not know how. A friend kindly lend me a book which is so confusing.
This link provides the needed help in time. Thanks again!
Click to expand...
It should be noted that Universalis is based on the UK version of the Liturgy, so it is not the same as we use in the US. They use their own interpretation of the psalms and readings. And they don’t have the reflections that immediately follow the psalms that we have in the US Christian Prayer book. That being said, I use Universalis sometimes as a “backup” when I have my Palm PDA with me, but not my book of Christian Prayer.

There is a supplement to the book of Christian Prayer called the St. Joseph Guide For Christian Prayer (The Liturgy of the Hours) which tells you exactly which pages to be on for each prayer for each day. Once you get the hang of it, this guide is no longer necessary but it is great for beginners. It’s not expensive ($3 ?)

Morning prayer takes me 20-25 minutes (if I sing the recommended hymn) and Evening Prayer takes 15-20 minutes. To those who do it in 5 minutes, all I can say is…are you sure you’re getting as much out of it as you might? Or giving God as much attention, reverence, and devotion as he deserves?
 
ricmat said:
It should be noted that Universalis is based on the UK version of the Liturgy, so it is not the same as we use in the US.
Click to expand...
What about this site for night prayer?
www.ebreviary.com
I have been using this for night prayer. Is this the US version?
Is there any complete and easy to follow online morning prayer version available?
Thanks.
 
InLight247 said:
What about this site for night prayer?
www.ebreviary.com
I have been using this for night prayer. Is this the US version?
Is there any complete and easy to follow online morning prayer version available?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
ebreviary looks like the US version.

I’m not aware of any on-line US version of morning prayer.

I’d highly recommend The book of Christian Prayer, however! In addition to morning and evening prayer, it includes daytime prayer, night prayer, and most of the office of readings. As well as hymns and some sermons from the early church fathers.
 
The Liturgy of the Hours is the official liturgy of the Church, along with the other official liturgy, the Mass.

There are a number of ways to involve yourself in the Liturgy of the Hours.

The simplest may be the Magnificat (sorry, I do not have the name of the publisher) which publishes a monthly (or more frequent) booklet with a small part of Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer, along with, I think, Night Prayer (Lauds, Vespers and Compline).

There is a longer one volume set which has the 4 weeks with Sundays and holidays (and I think Lent and Advent) called Shorter Christian Prayer. If you want more focus on the Liturgy of the Hours than the Magnificat gives, that is probably the best source.

Then there is the thick one volume of the Liturgy of the Hours (Shorter CP is about 3/4" thick, as opposed to the 1 vol. which is about 1 1/2" thick). Then there is the 4 volume set.

Whatever you do, don’t start with the 4 volume set; you will be overwhelmed.

Is it helpful to pray it? It is made up of primarily Psalms and OT readings. As a lay person you are not required to say it, or say it in a particular fashion (although it is certainly a good exercise to do correctly). It is better to pray than to not pray (any prayer). If the format works for you, you will find many blessings. It may not fit everyone and there is nothing wrong with that.
 
🙂 Thank you so much for your suggestions and ideas. I deeply appreciate it.
I think <I’ll start with the book of Christian prayer to get myself in a stronger spiritual place. Any ideas who sells it for good price?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top