Here is the link for everything you need. Scroll down for the second OOR reading, responsory and the concluding prayer. You may use the concluding prayer at each of the hours. If you have a great devotion to St. John Paul, you may wish to use the common of pastors/pope.
I just received a pre-release copy of O Day of Resurrection, the Liturgy of the House for Sunday, sung by the Benedictines of New Camaodoli hermitage.
I listened to most of it last night and the rest this morning. It includes Vigils, Lauds, Vespers, and Night Prayer. The readings are left out of this recording, as are the intercessions (assuming the monastic office even has intercessions? I really don't know) Everything else is there, and all is sung/chanted.
As I mentioned above, this is the monastic version of the Liturgy of the Hours, so it's a bit different from our breviary, which was designed for parish clergy, active religious, and lay people. So, for example, lauds and vespers have 3 psalms plus canticle, rather than 2 psalms. Also, each hour ends with a "troparion" which is more or less the same thing as an antiphon. The dictionary tells me that this troparion is meant to set the liturgical theme or mood for the rest of the day. Or maybe for the rest of the time until the next hour with its own troparion is said.
These hours are done entirely in English, with the exception of the Salve Regina at the end of Night Prayer, which is in Latin. The chant is sometimes Gregorian style (adapted for English) and sometimes Byzantine chant, which is in four (or more) part harmony. I especially liked the Our Father, which was adapted from a setting by Rimsky-Korsakov. The chanting is beautiful. Great music, clearly enunciated so that you can understand the words. And its a pleasure to hear all males voices. You hear much of that in a typical parish church. And if there's no monastery in your area--with a decent cohort of musically talented monks living there--audio recordings are the only way to experience this very beautiful and masculine beauty.
...which is why one and only one aspect of this recording annoyed me somewhat. The psalms and canticles used were one of those "inclusive" translations which goes out of its way to avoid masculine nouns and pronouns. So instead of: Let the sons of Israel say: his love endures forever. Let the sons of Aaron say: his love endures forever. the monks instead say:
Let the family of Israel say: God's love endures forever. Let the family of Aaron say: God's love endures forever. If you don't find this kind of thing tedious and irritating, good for you. There are historical and theological reasons why it bothers me, but I don't have to drag that up here. There are plenty of places on the internet giving reasoned arguments pro and con for inclusive language, so look them up and make up your own minds.
All in all, this is a very nice recording. It will give those of us who mostly recite the hours at home, privately or at most with one or two people a better sense of the Liturgy of the Hours as the public worship of the body of Christ, and will maybe inspire with the ideal of singing as a way to enhance, nay,to complete what we are doing when we pray it.
And do check out this video for sample of the monk's music and a peep at their home in Big Sur, California.
a. very knowledgeable about the Liturgy of the Hours and
b. very alert to LOTH news and information out on the internet.
One of these is long time blog follower Lenny Vaillencourt, who often sends me items of interest that I might have missed. Lenny actually sent me this back in August.
All Saints Day and All Souls Day occur on a Saturday and Sunday this year. What a headache it would be to figure out what the correct offices/masses would be said that day!
"In 2014, the Solemnity of All Saints on November 1 falls on a Saturday, with the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls’ Day) taking place on the following Sunday, November 2. The Secretariat of Divine Worship wishes to clarify the situation regarding the correct Mass and Office to be used during November 1–2.
Both All Saints Day and All Souls’ Day are ranked at no. 3 on the Table of Liturgical Days. Thus, on Friday evening, October 31, Evening Prayer I of All Saints is celebrated. On Saturday, November 1, both Morning and Evening Prayer II of All Saints Day are celebrated, though for pastoral reasons where it is the custom, Evening Prayer II may be followed by Evening Prayer for the Dead. For Sunday, November 2, the Office for the 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time is said, especially in individual recitation; the Office of the Dead may be used, however, if Morning or Evening Prayer is celebrated with the people (see Liturgy of the Hours, vol. IV, November 2).
On Friday evening, Masses are that of the Solemnity of All Saints. On Saturday evening, any normally scheduled anticipated Masses should be for All Souls’ Day. (If desired for pastoral reasons, a Mass of All Saints Day outside the usual Mass schedule may be celebrated on Saturday evening.)"
Evening Mass
Liturgy of the Hours
Saturday, November 1, 2014
All Souls (anticipated)
Morning & Evening Prayer II of All Saints (EP of the Dead optional after EP II of All Saints)
Sunday, November 2, 2014
All Souls
Individual recitation: Morning & Evening Prayer II of 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time
Once every four weeks, on Wednesday of week I in the Office of Readings, we get Psalm 18. With vivid imagery of storm and destruction, it describes, well, a very rough time for the psalmist, the dramatic arrival of God to rescue him, and finally, peace, rest, and confidence that he can do all things through the strength the Lord supplies. The notes in my Bible say that this psalm recalls David's rescue from, and victory over, the murderous Saul.
It's a great psalm. Great to read when you are in the midst of troubles or when you have just gotten past them.
Verse 20 of this psalm was a particular favorite of Mother Delores Hart, the 1950's movie- star- turned- Benedictine -nun, whose amazing story we read in The Ear of the Heart Poor Sister Delores had a very difficult struggle in her early years at Regina Laudis Abbey. She cried herself to sleep nearly every night. She seemed to have missed the memo (before she entered) that chanting the Office in Latin was the primary work of a Benedictine monastic--and she was terrible at Latin! But somehow the unshakable conviction that God wanted her there saw her through that long crisis.
One day, Sister Delores chanted Psalm 18 verse 20 (in Latin) and couldn't quite figure out what it meant, but somehow felt it had great significance for her. After prayers, she asked another nun for the translation, which begins "He brought me out to a place of freedom." Sister saw this as a sign that God was bringing her out of all her vocational difficulties, and so she took her firsts vows with confidence. She even made this verse the motto on her souvenir memorial card for her profession day.
Just one example of how the Liturgy of the Hours is both our public prayer on behalf of the Church, but also our very personal communication with God at the same time.
A couple weeks ago, as I was walking out of daily mass with a few of the other church ladies, I made some comment about the saint's memorial we had just celebrated--Padre Pio.
"What?" excalimed one of my friends, "Are you saying today was Padre Pio's feast? I thought it was some St. Pius something-or-other. Now I feel like I missed it!"
Which got me wondering why the Powers that Be had to call Padre Pio by the English (Latin?) version of his name. I mean, for cryin' out loud, everyone knows who Padre Pio is! Why try to hide his identity with "Pius" thus confusing him with the two sainted popes by that name who are already on the universal calendar.
But looking back through the calendar, I see it is pretty standard to translate names into English. Hence, we didn't see St. Francesco on October 4th, or St. Giovanni Bosco on January 31st. We do have two Frenchmen on our calendar in French: St. Therese (not Theresa) and St. Andre (not Andrew) Bessette. And I also notice St. Juan Diego (not St. John James) on December 9th. So what gives with Padre Pio?
End of rant. I hope you are all enjoying October weather and October saints.
If anyone has any questions or comments related to the Liturgy of the Hours, please use the comments section below.
