Absolutly NO offence meant whatsoever, but this is exactly what I was referring to in my other post. This sounds…, well for lack of better words, … complicated! I wish I could tell you the number of times I have looked at learning the LOTH and approached it with loads of zeal, which was suddenly squashed as soon as I actually read and tried to figure it all out! :banghead:
There is a wonderful book by the Dummies Series called Liturgy of the Hours for Dummies. For those who are interested in the simple Roman Rite, it’s perfect. It walks you step by step through the Roman Rite. Once you get Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer follows the exact same pattern. Those are the two hinges.Absolutly NO offence meant whatsoever, but this is exactly what I was referring to in my other post. This sounds…, well for lack of better words, … complicated! I wish I could tell you the number of times I have looked at learning the LOTH and approached it with loads of zeal, which was suddenly squashed as soon as I actually read and tried to figure it all out! :banghead:
In the end I just say, (sighs) “I think I’ll stick to the Rosary!”
Absolutly NO offence meant whatsoever, but this is exactly what I was referring to in my other post. This sounds…, well for lack of better words, … complicated! I wish I could tell you the number of times I have looked at learning the LOTH and approached it with loads of zeal, which was suddenly squashed as soon as I actually read and tried to figure it all out! :banghead:
In the end I just say, (sighs) “I think I’ll stick to the Rosary!”
One of the first things that you’re taught when you become a postulant in the Franciscan family is the LOTH. If you really want confusion, think Franciscan. We have eight books. For each season there are two books, one has the Roman edition of the Divine Office and the other book has the Franciscan edition of the Divine Office. The Franciscan edition takes precedence. You always have to check the Franciscan edition to make sure that there is no Franciscan feast that day. If there isn’t, then you pray from the Roman Breviary. If there is a Franciscan feast, you ignore the Roman Breviary and use the Franciscan edition. The ordo, which is a little pamphlet like a calendar, gives you tons of numbers for the different pages, but it does not tell you which book. It’s not user friendly.Brother,
Thank you for that book title! I never thought to check the ‘for dummies’ stuff! I will give the LOTH another look. Who knows, I might ‘get it’ yet!
Oneofthewomen,
Thank you for your advise of learning the LOTH.
The clergy in our parish are overwhelmed and I would really think twice before I bothered them. I tend to be one of those that likes to try to figure things out on my own because I end up praying on my own.
Thank you once again, at least I don’t feel like I’m the only one that looks at the LOTH and :bigyikes:
No!One of the first things that you’re taught when you become a postulant in the Franciscan family is the LOTH. If you really want confusion, think Franciscan. We have eight books. For each season there are two books, one has the Roman edition of the Divine Office and the other book has the Franciscan edition of the Divine Office. The Franciscan edition takes precedence. You always have to check the Franciscan edition to make sure that there is no Franciscan feast that day. If there isn’t, then you pray from the Roman Breviary. If there is a Franciscan feast, you ignore the Roman Breviary and use the Franciscan edition. The ordo, which is a little pamphlet like a calendar, gives you tons of numbers for the different pages, but it does not tell you which book. It’s not user friendly.
Once you figure out how to juggle these books around with ten fingers, five ribbons and six holy cards to keep your place, the next thing is to figure out whether you’re to stand, sit, bow or do a jib and when to do it.
You have to picture this. We pray Matins, Lauds, Vespers and Compline in common. The little hours we pray individually. For about three months, you feel like a complete idiot. Until you go through an entire cycle, you don’t get it.
Brother, what time does your Franciscan community pray Matins? I’ve spent some time at two Benedictine monasteries and we sung Matins at 3:30 AM (1961 Divine Office – nice and long!). Despite initial difficulty, I began to really appreciate the Night Office. Maybe it’s the added penance of being up early, or maybe it’s the actuality of praying at all hours, but Matins became quite special.
If an illiterate country bumpkin like me can get it, anyone can get it. Patience is a sign of a soul at peace with God.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, FFV
The reason it seems so complicated is that it is the traditional prayer of the church, which means it evolved. The roots are in a recitation of the psalms, plain and simple.
I agree, this is a fine post and well put.
This. Not only are you praying with the church today, you are praying with the church throughout the ages.
Thanks
We pray Matins at 5;00 and then we go from there. Monastic communities can do it in the middle of the night, because they go to be very early. We can’t go to bed before 11:00. The rule requires certain things that monastics don’t do. We have to eat three meals together. We must have an hour or two of community recreation. We must put in an hour of manual labor around the house. And we have apostolic duties. Even though most of our brothers are not priests, we don’t have lay brothers, which monasteries do have. The lay brothers take care of all the housekeeping, grocery shopping, car washing, laundry, cooking, setting tables, picking up after meals, doing dishes, etc etc. In our community everyone does these things, whether you’re ordained or not.Brother, what time does your Franciscan community pray Matins? I’ve spent some time at two Benedictine monasteries and we sung Matins at 3:30 AM (1961 Divine Office – nice and long!). Despite initial difficulty, I began to really appreciate the Night Office. Maybe it’s the added penance of being up early, or maybe it’s the actuality of praying at all hours, but Matins became quite special.
I do remember one of the monastery’s dogs chasing a skunk into the cloister one Matins, though… that was quite eventful! And a new type of incense, too
- PAX
Actually that would not meet the requirements for liturgy. The requirements for the Liturgy of the Hours are set by the Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship. Even when a religious community alters the breviary, which happens all the time, the changes must be approved or the Divine Office is considered invalid. You’re praying and it’s valid prayer; but you are not praying with the Church.
If you are interested in a simpler form of liturgical prayer, I recommend the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is prayed at the same hours as the LOTH but only a subset of psalms is used rather than rotating through the entire Psalter.Absolutly NO offence meant whatsoever, but this is exactly what I was referring to in my other post. This sounds…, well for lack of better words, … complicated! I wish I could tell you the number of times I have looked at learning the LOTH and approached it with loads of zeal, which was suddenly squashed as soon as I actually read and tried to figure it all out! :banghead:
In the end I just say, (sighs) “I think I’ll stick to the Rosary!”
The Little Office of the Virgin Mary is beautiful; but it’s not liturgy. It’s private prayer. It was denied by the CDW around 1985 when people noticed that it was not included in Canon Law. People asked. The answer was that the CDW did not consider it a liturgical prayer of the Church, but a devotional prayer.
Forgive my tangent, but this is the main thing that is holding me back from becoming a Third Order Carmelite right now. I pray the Divine Office 1962 edition, currently from DivinumOfficium.com but soon to be praying from the Baronius Press edition. I pray the Lauds, Vespers and Compline per the current Constitution of the OCDS’s, but I pray the hours that correspond to the liturgy in which I attend, the Extraordinary Form.
