How to say Morning Prayer (a.k.a. Lauds) in only Three Hours!

An oldie but goodie from several years ago. I'm sure lots of you will identify with this. The moral: persevere in prayer and just laugh when things don't go well. 

"How does a busy parent find time to pray the Divine Office?" the radio host asked me a few weeks back.

"It's not  that hard if you're motivated," I replied. "Just choose one of the liturgical hours, and link it to some other event on your schedule. Like, as soon as the kids leave for school, sit down and say morning prayer. Or right after dinner, while the kids clear the table and start the dishes, you go sit down and say evening prayer. Don't forget, each liturgical "hour" is nowhere near an hour. Ten minutes, give or take,  is more like it. So it's not that big a deal."

Fast forward to  the following Saturday.

7:30 AM. Found myself awake and strangely rested.  Propped the pillows, grabbed the breviary, and got started on the Invitatory Psalm. Then  my youngest awoke. He has a condition that requires daily medication, and if he doesn't get it quickly, we are all Very Unhappy. So down the stairs I go to give him that plus something to eat.

7:45- I run back upstairs to do Morning prayer in my quiet room, but then remember that in one hour I'd be taking another child to a babysitting job. Better shower and dress now, and then do Morning Prayer.

8:15 - Back downstairs, dressed and with breviary in hand, I address the needs of my early riser, who, as a growing boy, now  needs a second  breakfast. I open the breviary on the kitchen counter,  put water on to boil, and then read the first psalm.  I touch the counter and realize that it is coated in crumbs, yesterday's tacky juice spills,  assorted dirty drinking vessels, scattered lists, and coffee grounds. This really can't wait--it has to be cleaned so the other kids will  have a sanitary kitchen to mess up again. I finish Michael's farina, serve it to him, and attack the counters.

8:35 - I read two more psalms,  the reading, the responsory.  Babysitter-girl  pops into a kitchen, inhales  the rest of the farina, and says we have to get going.

9:20 -Back home.  I sit down and read the antiphon for the Benedictus. Then I look out the window and see that the birds hopping around an empty feeder. And it is so cold today.--poor little things! I run out and fill the feeder, reciting the canticle all the while,  and grab the morning paper on the way in.

10:00AM - Halfway through comics page, I remember that I still haven't finished Morning prayer. Find breviary. Finish.

  I'm not sure what happend to the confident woman who explained it all to the radio announcer. That's what Saturday morning does to me.  

Do you have your own story of a never ending liturgical hour? Share it in comments.    

Divine Office Bootcamp IV - Daytime Prayer

Daytime Prayer is something like  the Trinity: both three and one.

The Liturgy of the Hours gives us three opportunities to pause and praise God during the course of our daily work (or on Sunday, during the course of our rest!), at mid-morning, midday,and midafternoon. In many monasteries, all three of these (short) daytime hours are observed. Recognizing that most parish priests and lay people will find it difficult to do all three daytime hours, the Church  recommends that we aim to do only one of them. (The difficulty is not in the amount of time this takes: each daytime hour can be done in less than five minutes. But actually being able to organize your day and remembering  to stop and pray three separate times during the workday is the hard part.)  Thus, the  references in the General Instruction on  the Liturgy of the Hours to "the Daytime Hour" even though there are , in fact, three "daytime hours"

If you would like to add a daytime hour to your daily prayer routine, choose whichever one you like. Either go consistently with the same one that best fits into your schedule, OR change it up according to what time of day it actually occurs to you to stop and pray.

If you read lots of literature set in monasteries, or during the Middle Ages, or if you like to read a lot about liturgy, you will have heard the Daytime hours described by the names of Terce, Sext, and None. These words are Latin for three, six, and nine, because these hours are traditionally prayed at the third, sixth and ninth hours of the day, that is, at nine a.m., noon, and 3 p.m.

The elements of Daytime Prayer are similar to those of the other hours:
Opening Verse: God, come to my assistance, etc.
Hymn: Always keep in mind that you don't have to use the hymn your breviary has chosen if you don't want to. Any seasonally appropriate choice will do. If you aren't in a position to sing, say/read the lyrics as a poem/prayer.

Psalmody: three psalms or parts of psalms, introduced with antiphons and concluded with Glory Be's.
You will notice that during Holy Seasons and  on feasts and solemnities there may only be a single antiphon used at the beginning and end of the psalmody, while during ordinary  time there is an antiphon for each psalm or psalm-section.

The bulk of the Daytime Prayer psalter consists of  the longest psalm , Psalm 118, broken into its many sections over the course of 20 days. It's a good one for daytime prayer, because it speaks so much of living the moral life, God's law, and loving God's will through thick  and thin. Just what we need to help us get through the rigors of our daily work, don't you think?

After the psalmody  comes a super short reading (often a single verse of scripture) , followed by a short versicle , a concluding prayer, and then the conclusion "Let us bless  the Lord/And give  Him  thanks."

If you decide to pray more than one daytime hour, you will go to the complementary psalmody for your psalms to avoid repeating the same ones twice in a day. Your breviary  will tell you the page number for these. Divineoffice.org has the  complementary psalmody worked right into its sequence. The ibreviary.com app has you clicking back to the "Prayers" page to find  them.

And let this suffice for Daytime Prayer.

Any questions?

Bootcamp III Evening Prayer and Lent offices

Now that I fixed the sadly truncated Bootcamp II post (half of which was missing) it's time for Bootcamp III. Evening Prayer.

Basically, if you know how to do Morning Prayer, Evening prayer goest the exact same way. No invitatory psalm, of course. Just begin "O God, Come to my assistance/Lord,, make haste to help me. Glory be...etc."

Evening Prayer follows the exact same format as Morning Prayer. The gospel canticle is the Magnificat. And during the evening intercessions, you may add your own petitions just prior to the last one, which is usually for the dead.

Praying Morning and Evening Prayer during ordinary time is a cinch. You simply use the psalter from beginning to end. (unless it's a saint's feast but we'll talk about that another time.)  On Sundays, however, you do have to turn to the front of the book (Proper of Seasons) and find the concluding prayer for whichever Sunday of the year it is.  

Now we are in lent and so, if you are using a breviary, you have to start using your ribbon-flipping skills on a daily basis. If this sounds too scary, switch to an online breviary app. but really, there's nothing scary about it. And aren't most of us trying to cut down on staring at electronic devices during lent? So if you've gotten out of the habit of using your printed breviary, this is the time to get back to it.

Anyway, throughout lent we will use the psalter only for the psalms, at which point we turn to the front of the book (Proper of Seasons) and use it for the reading until the end. So really, not too difficult.  These first four days (Ash Wednesday thru Saturday) we are told to use week IV of the psalter (although Friday week III's psalmody is another option for Ash Wednesday). After that we go in order, weeks I thru IV, then start over with weeks I and II for weeks 5 and Holy Week.

Did you ever wonder why the front section of the book  (and the back section of saints' feasts) are called "Propers"?  I used to, since my everyday definition of "proper" was "appropriate" or "correct". As in "proper behavior" or "the proper way to fill out a check is..."    But the Latin word proprius means "belonging to", (like "property" is what belongs to us). So the readings and prayers in the front third of your breviary are those which "belong to" lent. And those in the back of your book "belong to" the specific memorials and feasts of the church year.

Next Up: Bootcamp IV - Daytime Prayer

Sorry! Re-posting a Messed-Up post: Bootcamp II

Somehow, when I posted this two days ago, the first half of the text did not show up. Forgive me for not going to the blog to proofread my work. 

This will be  a really boring post for anyone who is not actually trying to learn the Divine Office. But if you are trying to learn it,why, you'll be edified, instructed, and even entertained. So give it a try.

In the previous section I suggested that rank  beginners would do well to start with a week or two of Night Prayer, in order to get a feel for praying the Office without the worry of flipping around in the breviary.  After a few weeks of Night Prayer, you should be ready to add Morning Prayer or Evening Prayer to your  repetoire. Maybe both. But for starters, choose the one that best fits your available time.

Let's take a look at Morning Prayer. Find the week in the psalter that we should be on.
Technically, if MP is the first hour of the day that you pray, you aren't supposed to begin with "O God, Come to my assistance, etc" Instead,you should  begin with the Invitatory. The psalter gives you the invitatory antiphon for the day. Use this with Psalm 95, which you will find on page 688 in the one-volume CBC breviary. If you have a dfferent edition, hunt for the "Ordinary", which is a bunch of instructional pages inconveniently buried between the Proper of Solemnities and the  Psalter. You will notice instructions to repeat the antiphon several times throughout the psalm, reminiscent of the responsorial psalm at mass. Do not feel obligated to do this if you don't want to. This is a practice more suited to public recitation (like monasteries) where the group is divided into two "choirs" that take turns with responses. Those who pray privately just say the antiphon before and after.

In fact, I'll tell you a secret. I don't always pray the Invitatory  psalm before Morning prayer. Since I know it by heart I often say it as I'm getting out of bed in the morning. Later, when I do morning prayer, I open with "O God come to my assistance..."  This custom of mine is not in the rubrics. It's just my way of getting into the day's office well before I go downstairs and figure out where I left my breviary. Luckily we lay folk are not bound to do everything according to regulation. In fact we are encouraged to adapt the Divine Office to our situation.

Now, back to Morning Prayer. It's just like Night Prayer, just a bit longer and with intercessions added. First the psalmody, which usually consists of two psalms and a canticle. (canticle: a psalm-like passage that is from some other  part of the Bible)  Anitiphon, psalm, glory be, antiphon.  I know they stick the psalm prayer in there such that you'd think it comes before the repeated antiphon, but the general instructions  imply that this is not the case. Recite the psalm prayer after you have finished with the antiphon.

After  psalmody comes a reading, and a few seconds or more of  reflection. Then the responsory. Then the canticle of Zechariah (antiphon, canticle, antiphon.) Save yourself endless annoyance by making a photocopy of this canticle from the Ordinary and pasting inside the front cover of your book so it is easy to find each day until you know it by heart. Now for the intercessions. There are several ways to do this.  You'll notice that each petition is divided into two parts. (again, for group recitation). You may read each one, then repeat the  "Lord-hear-our-prayer"-type response given in the beginning. OR you may simply read each petition WITHOUT using the response/refrain. Both options are in the general instruction. I usually skip the repeated response, being a person lacking in devoutness who wants my liturgical hours to be short and sweet.

Next, recite the Our Father. Then the final prayer. Conclude with, (while making the sign of the cross),May the Lord bless us, protect us from every evil, and bring us to everlasting life. Amen.

This is all pretty straightforward during Ordinary time. It gets  little more complex during lent, or when you celebrate a saint's feast. I recommend not worrying about the saints or the seasons for the first weeks that you use the psalter. There's enough to do just getting familiar with the feel and flow of things without adding more complications.

You will notice that the psalms of Morning prayer have, well, a nice morning feel to them. They often refer to the morning, to daybreak or dawn,  to the rising of the sun and the beauty of creation. This isn't just the Church trying to be cute and give us some Hallmark moments to rouse us from our AM stupor until the coffee kicks in. It's because the Divine Office is meant to sanctify each part of the day. We are asking God to bless and consecrate our morning, our midday, our evening, and all the activities that go with each of these. It all fits together. Like the movements of a symphony.

If you have any questions, just ask.

Divine Office Boot Camp II: Invitatory Psalm and Morning Prayer

This will be  a really boring post for anyone who is not actually trying to learn the Divine Office. But if you are trying to learn it,why, you'll be edified, instructed, and even entertained. So give it a try.

In the previous section I suggested that rank  beginners would do well to start with a week or two of Night Prayer, in order to get a feel for praying the Office without the worry of flipping around in the breviary.  After a few weeks of Night Prayer, you should be ready to add Morning Prayer or Evening Prayer to your  repetoire. Maybe both. But for starters, choose the one that best fits your available time.

Let's take a look at Morning Prayer. Find the week in the psalter that we should be on.
Technically, if MP is the first hour of the day that you pray, you aren't supposed to begin with "O God, Come to my assistance, etc" Instead,you should  begin with the Invitatory. The psalter gives you the invitatory antiphon for the day. Use this with Psalm 95, which you will find on page 688 in the one-volume CBC breviary. If you have a dfferent edition, hunt for the "Ordinary", which is a bunch of instructional pages inconveniently buried between the Proper of Solemnities and the  Psalter. You will notice instructions to repeat the antiphon several times throughout the psalm, reminiscent of the responsorial psalm at mass. Do not feel obligated to do this if you don't want to. This is a practice more suited to public recitation (like monasteries) where the group is divided into two "choirs" that take turns with responses. Those who pray privately just say the antiphon before and after.

In fact, I'll tell you a secret. I don't always pray the Invitatory  psalm before Morning prayer. Since I know it by heart I often say it as I'm getting out of bed in the morning. Later, when I do morning prayer, I open with "O God come to my assistance..."  This custom of mine is not in the rubrics. It's just my way of getting into the day's office well before I go downstairs and figure out where I left my breviary. Luckily we lay folk are not bound to do everything according to regulation. In fact we are encouraged to adapt the Divine Office to our situation.

Now, back to Morning Prayer. It's just like Night Prayer, just a bit longer and with intercessions added. First the psalmody, which usually consists of two psalms and a canticle. (canticle: a psalm-like passage that is from some other  part of the Bible)  Anitiphon, psalm, glory be, antiphon.  I know they stick the psalm prayer in there such that you'd think it comes before the repeated antiphon, but the general instructions  imply that this is not the case. Recite the psalm prayer after you have finished with the antiphon.

After  psalmody comes a reading, and a few seconds or more of  reflection. Then the responsory. Then the canticle of Zechariah (antiphon, canticle, antiphon.) Save yourself endless annoyance by making a photocopy of this canticle from the Ordinary and pasting inside the front cover of your book so it is easy to find each day until you know it by heart. Now for the intercessions. There are several ways to do this.  You'll notice that each petition is divided into two parts. (again, for group recitation). You may read each one, then repeat the  "Lord-hear-our-prayer"-type response given in the beginning. OR you may simply read each petition WITHOUT using the response/refrain. Both options are in the general instruction. I usually skip the repeated response, being a person lacking in devoutness who wants my liturgical hours to be short and sweet.

Next, recite the Our Father. Then the final prayer. Conclude with, (while making the sign of the cross),May the Lord bless us, protect us from every evil, and bring us to everlasting life. Amen.

This is all pretty straightforward during Ordinary time. It gets  little more complex during lent, or when you celebrate a saint's feast. I recommend not worrying about the saints or the seasons for the first weeks that you use the psalter. There's enough to do just getting familiar with the feel and flow of things without adding more complications.

You will notice that the psalms of Morning prayer have, well, a nice morning feel to them. They often refer to the morning, to daybreak or dawn,  to the rising of the sun and the beauty of creation. This isn't just the Church trying to be cute and give us some Hallmark moments to rouse us from our AM stupor until the coffee kicks in. It's because the Divine Office is meant to sanctify each part of the day. We are asking God to bless and consecrate our morning, our midday, our evening, and all the activities that go with each of these. It all fits together. Like the movements of a symphony.

If you have any questions, just ask.

Online conference for Catholic Moms--Coming Soon!

 For all those who can't afford plane tickets and hotels and entrance fees for a live  conference, this is the next best thing. I participated as a speaker in last year's event and can vouch for the faith and the talent of the organizers. You can enjoy this from the comfort of your home, or else turn it into a local event at your parish with a large screen TV or projector.

As if $14.99 isn't enough of a deal: If you do sign up, use the coupon code  SOCKEY  for an extra discount. 

Liturgy of the Hours Bootcamp

Since many people decide to start praying the Liturgy of the Hours as a lenten project, I thought this would be a good time to re-run some old "how-to" posts.  If you know someone like this, feel free to share. 


All right. You want to start praying the liturgy of the hours. Unless you are  are super-zealous,  it is probably not a good idea to attempt all 5 liturgical hours (or seven since you have the option of doing daytime prayer 3 times instead of just once). The Church recommends that the laity use Morning and Evening   Prayer, calling these two hours the "hinges" of the liturgical day. So that is a worthy goal.

But for  those in the  just -starting- and -not-so-sure-I can-handle-this category, I'm going to recommend beginning with the hour of Night Prayer. There are several reasons for this:

1. It is shorter than Morning or Evening prayer, ever an advantage to those of us who are piety-challenged.
2. Night Prayer is on a simple 7-day repeating cycle. It does not change during Advent, Lent, or for feast days.  It's in the no-flip zone of your breviary.
3. For those who already  pray around bedtime, there is no huge change in habits to form.
4. The psalms of Night Prayer are just about the best ones there are in terms of beatiful imagery and inspiring one-liners that will soon become part of your spontaneous prayer language. For example, Psalm 130 (the De Profundis for you Latin geeks), and Psalm 91, the "Warrior's Psalm".

Okay, here we go. Note that in the "Christian Prayer"  breviary , there is no night prayer for Saturday. Saturday night is called Sunday I (as in the vigil of Sunday) and Sunday is called Sunday II. In the Pauline Media breviary, Saturday is called Saturday.

1.Begin with the sign of the cross while reciting O God come to my assistance. O Lord make haste to help me. say the Glory Be*. And unless it's lent, you may add Alleluia
2. Do a brief examination of conscience and make an act of contrition (your choice which version to use)
3. Sing or recite the hymn.
4. Recite the antiphon. Recite the psalm and the Glory Be*. Repeat the Antiphon. (note: the subtitle and the scripture citation directly under the psalm number is not meant to be recited out loud as part of the Office. It is there for private meditation. Of course, if you are doing this by yourself, the whole thing is private, but I just want you to distinguish the essentials of the prayers from the little extras that are thrown in.)
5. Do this with the second psalm if there is one.
6. Read the reading. Pause a moment for reflection: What is God saying to me here?
7. Recite the responsory.(Into your hands,Lord, I commend my spirit, etc.)
8. Canticle of Simeon (the ultimate bedtime prayer): Aniphon, canticle(make the sign of the crossas you begin it), Glory Be*, Antiphon.
9. Recite the final prayer, and then, while making the Sign of the Cross, say the concluding verse: May the all powerful Lord grant us a restful night and a peacful death. Amen. Then recite one of the traditional Marian Prayers listed. (Hail Holy Queen, Hail Mary, or Ave Maris Stella)
10. Enjoy the peaceful restful mood Night Prayer will give you as you drift off to sleep.
*Whenver you begin the Glory Be, it is customary to bow your head during the words, Glory be to the Father adn to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. 

That's it. The whole thing takes 5 minutes once you've got the basic routine down.  Longer, of course, if you were to sing the hymn, and/or take your time meditating on the psalms.

Next week we'll run Bootcamp II.  

Another link about the Liturgy of the Hours

Phil Kosloski has a worthwhile post about the Liturgy of the Hours. Check it out!

Read My Lips! How "Vocal" must our Office Be?

The question comes up from time to time about whether we are required to pray the Liturgy of the Hours out loud at least to the extent of whipering or  moving our lips.

This post on Fr. Z's blog, and the comments that follow, discusses just that.

My personal feeling (which has absolutely no authority  behind it) is that one can remain silent so long as one is "saying" the words inside one's head.  This is something I don't do when reading a novel (I'm not a super speed reader but do have a pretty rapid recreational reading speed), but  make the conscious effort to do when reading the LOTH. That is, I can "hear" each word in my mind. I believe this is the practice that Fr. Z. is defending, and finds a hint of support for in the General Instruction.

But it looks like longstanding tradition (by  which I do NOT mean magisterial, sacred Tradition) is against us.

Thank you to Henry Edwards for alerting me to Fr. Z's  post.