Thursday, December 11, 2014

Gift Guide for Breviary Buffs plus Q&A

Otherwise known as...Divine Office Supplies!

Here are a few books that can enrich your understanding and experience of the Liturgy of the Hours. If any appeals to you, send a link to those who want to know what you want for Christmas. Or, to be really crass (as I sometimes am), order the book, toss it at your loved one, and say, "Here, give this to me for Christmas."

Clicking on the pictures will take you to each book at Amazon.

The School of Prayer is a wonderful, in depth introduction to the Liturgy of the Hours: what it is, where is comes from, why you should pray it.   Best of all, commentary that a layman can understand in every psalm and canticle (from morning and evening prayer) in the 4-week psalter. If you want to know more about interpreting the psalms than what is in my own book, this is the next step up.




Most of you either have The Everyday Catholic's Guide to the LOTH or have absorbed most of what's in it through reading this blog. But if you are trying to explain to your friends why you love the Liturgy of the Hours--and want them to try it too--this is a quick and informative guide that will do a good job of getting them interested. Also, if you are still stumbling with those questions about finding the correct prayers for a saint's memorial, or whether a feast takes precedence over a Sunday, etc., chapter 7 is a great reference guide to keep handy.


Not to be  confused with the first title on this list, Pope Benedict XVI's A School of Prayer is a beautiful collection of papal audience addresses given in 2011 and 2012. It's subtitle--The Saints Show Us How to Pray--is misleading, because only a few of these are about what particular saints taught. Most of them are about prayer traditions in the Bible, the prayer of Christ, liturgical prayer, and the psalms as prayer, and therefore, highly relevant to people like us who liturgically pray the words of the Bible, especially the psalms, and try to  pray them in union with Christ!  Chapter 7 , The People of God at Prayer: the Psalms, was to me worth the price of the book.

That's enough for today. More titles to come in my next post.

Feel free to use the comment section for any questions about the Liturgy of the Hours.


Saturday, December 6, 2014

Solemnity Alert! No First Vespers!

Monday is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin  Mary.

But Sunday, being a Sunday of Advent, takes precedence. So we would not use Evening  Prayer I for the solemnity.
Murillo, Immaculate Coception, Museo del Prado