Your Office Is Calling: Learning The Do

[CountrySteve21]

So... How do you do the DO? Anyone want to share what, how and when they pray the Divine Office?

 

I usually start the day with Office f Readings and a nice cup of coffee at about 5 Am then Lauds afterwards. I try to pray all the Daytime Hours unless I have work, then I just pray one of them, then Vespers after work and Compline before bed. I usually try to pray the Office at different hours according to the season of the year. Its absolutely wonderful praying Lauds as the sun is rising!

 

 

Pax

[DJMitch]

"Truly I don't know with all their duties nowadays and our shortage of priests why this duty prevails on them" - sorry, I don't know how to do the blockquote thing, I am new here. But I had to respond to this. This comment underrates the importance of prayer in the Christian life, and particularly in the life of a priest. I do not understand how a priest can persevere in his priesthood for one day, or practise celibacy, if he neglects his breviary. There is an intrinsic connection between prayer and chastity; and all a priest's other duties must flow from his prayer life, which must in the nature of things be a deep one, involving both mental and vocal prayer. How can it be otherwise? If a priest neglects his prayer life, particularly the liturgical prayer of the Church, things will fall to pieces pretty quickly. I would be in favour of it being obligatory for priests to say all seven offices, rather than the five that they are currently required to say - with due submission to Holy Church, of course.

[brandelynmarie]

Perhaps BT was looking at the fact that many priests are so incredibly busy nowadays. For example, we have two priests at my parish also running another parish 15-20 minutes away. And some days they truly run out of time. :priest: So maybe some days Morning & Evening prayer would suffice.

Now that being said, it was either a priest or maybe a saint who mentioned to a lay person that when one is busy, try to pray for at least half an hour a day...& if one is incredibly busy, you really oughta pray for an hour! ;)

[BarbTherese]

Now that being said, it was either a priest or maybe a saint who mentioned to a lay person that when one is busy, try to pray for at least half an hour a day...& if one is incredibly busy, you really oughta pray for an hour! ;)          

 

 LOL - and very true I thought, if probably not possible in a literal sense.  Yet, a very valid point is made and whoever made it, I feel, understands that it is not the length of time in prayer, rather the heart and mind to which we bring to prayer and that that is the actual underlying point.  I do make a comment on rules being made into ends in themselves in my post ( below) into the debate forum.

 

Love the quote!

 

I have transferred my response to DJM into the Debate Forum here http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/topic/135493-divine-officetransfer-frm-transmundane/ as reluctant as I am, overwhelmingly reluctant.......literally scared out me wits, to venture into that sometimes woeful and challenging forum! :)

[BarbTherese]

"Truly I don't know with all their duties nowadays and our shortage of priests why this duty prevails on them" - sorry, I don't know how to do the blockquote thing, I am new here. But I had to respond to this. This comment underrates the importance of prayer in the Christian life, and particularly in the life of a priest. I do not understand how a priest can persevere in his priesthood for one day, or practise celibacy, if he neglects his breviary. There is an intrinsic connection between prayer and chastity; and all a priest's other duties must flow from his prayer life, which must in the nature of things be a deep one, involving both mental and vocal prayer. How can it be otherwise? If a priest neglects his prayer life, particularly the liturgical prayer of the Church, things will fall to pieces pretty quickly. I would be in favour of it being obligatory for priests to say all seven offices, rather than the five that they are currently required to say - with due submission to Holy Church, of course.

 

Welcome to Phatmass and our phamily and community, DJM! :)

 

1. There is an icon on the top of the toolbar in which you are writing your post on the same line as Bold, Italics etc and the 13th icon from Bold. . If you highlight what you want to quote and then click onto that icon, it will happen............sometimes!  Sometimes 'wild and wonderful things' can happen on Phatmass  :)

 

A way I use is at the beginning of your quote type [quote ] without the space.  At the end of your quote type [/quote ] without the space.  That will have the desired effect every time.

 

 

Regards...happy Phatmassing....Barb

[DJMitch]

Thank you for your replies, BarbaraTherese. I have replied to your other reply in the other place. (Well, that was as clear as mud.) Members of the House of Commons refer to the House of Lords, by convention, as "the other place". But that was not what I meant. Thank you for explaining the mysteries of the interwebs to me. And happy September! (In this diocese, Brentwood, it is the feast of St Sebbi, King of the East Saxons. I find it rather delightful that there are local commemorations of saints like that. How many people outside the diocese of Brentwood have heard of St Sebbi? I suppose more now that I have mentioned him in the Internet...) Time for a 3.03 pm cup of tea, I think!

Blessings!

David

[Credo in Deum]

If anyone has an iPhone/iPad and is interested in praying the traditional breviary, then the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate have created an amazing app which gives you the Latin and English translation. It's called the Breviarium Meum. Here is a little synopsis about the app:

"Breviarium Meum allows you to pray the traditional (1962) Latin breviary of the Catholic Church wherever you go. Just pull out your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, select the hour to pray, and begin. You can download the texts up to a week in advance, so you can pray even when you don't have a network connection. So if you’re on a mountain top making a retreat, or down in a valley to celebrate Mass in an isolated village, you can still keep up with the office, even if you left your printed breviary at home.

Are you unfamiliar with the old breviary? It’s a part of your heritage, and one that you have a right to know about and experience. As the instruction Universae Ecclesiae reaffirms, one goal of the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum was to offer “to all the faithful the Roman Liturgy in the Usus Antiquior, considered as a precious treasure to be preserved” (8a).

This app is the easiest way to pray the breviary. It gives you all the texts in order, so you don’t have to flip back and forth as you would with a printed breviary. If the text is too small, you can make it bigger. If you don’t understand the Latin, you can display a parallel English translation.

Those more familiar with the breviary, and especially priests, will be pleased to see we’ve included a selection of prayers and blessings in Latin, such as are normally found in the appendix of a breviary.

[DJMitch]

Credo: wonderful!  I have just downloaded it to my iPad.

[CountrySteve21]

If anyone has an iPhone/iPad and is interested in praying the traditional breviary, then the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate have created an amazing app which gives you the Latin and English translation. It's called the Breviarium Meum. Here is a little synopsis about the app:

"Breviarium Meum allows you to pray the traditional (1962) Latin breviary of the Catholic Church wherever you go. Just pull out your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, select the hour to pray, and begin. You can download the texts up to a week in advance, so you can pray even when you don't have a network connection. So if you’re on a mountain top making a retreat, or down in a valley to celebrate Mass in an isolated village, you can still keep up with the office, even if you left your printed breviary at home.

Are you unfamiliar with the old breviary? It’s a part of your heritage, and one that you have a right to know about and experience. As the instruction Universae Ecclesiae reaffirms, one goal of the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum was to offer “to all the faithful the Roman Liturgy in the Usus Antiquior, considered as a precious treasure to be preserved” (8a).

This app is the easiest way to pray the breviary. It gives you all the texts in order, so you don’t have to flip back and forth as you would with a printed breviary. If the text is too small, you can make it bigger. If you don’t understand the Latin, you can display a parallel English translation.

Those more familiar with the breviary, and especially priests, will be pleased to see we’ve included a selection of prayers and blessings in Latin, such as are normally found in the appendix of a breviary.

 

That might just inspire me to buy an IPhone  :saint2:

[marigold]

I usually start the day with Office f Readings and a nice cup of coffee at about 5 Am then Lauds afterwards. I try to pray all the Daytime Hours unless I have work, then I just pray one of them, then Vespers after work and Compline before bed. I usually try to pray the Office at different hours according to the season of the year. Its absolutely wonderful praying Lauds as the sun is rising!


Pax

Out of props but that sounds wooooonderful. What a blessing to be able to do that!

[brandelynmarie]

Here is a question I never thought of before: Are we to be praying the Office aloud? I'm usually alone & so that wouldn't be a problem & I can imagine in public places one would pray silently out of charity...but I just realized I always read/pray it silently...thoughts? :bible:

[puellapaschalis]

Here is a question I never thought of before: Are we to be praying the Office aloud? I'm usually alone & so that wouldn't be a problem & I can imagine in public places one would pray silently out of charity...but I just realized I always read/pray it silently...thoughts? :bible:

 

At the very least I move my lips. This might end up in a low murmur, depending on how likely it is I'll get tossed off a train as a religious weirdo as a result.
 

[Egeria]

Here is a question I never thought of before: Are we to be praying the Office aloud? I'm usually alone & so that wouldn't be a problem & I can imagine in public places one would pray silently out of charity...but I just realized I always read/pray it silently...thoughts? :bible:

In my experience it actually makes quite a big difference praying aloud (when appropriate). As I recall, Father Gabriel Bunge discusses the importance of this (and other things such as posture in prayer and the role of the body in prayer, more broadly) in his highly recommended book Earthen Vessels.

[brandelynmarie]

At the very least I move my lips. This might end up in a low murmur, depending on how likely it is I'll get tossed off a train as a religious weirdo as a result.
 

 

:hehe:

 

In my experience it actually makes quite a big difference praying aloud (when appropriate). As I recall, Father Gabriel Bunge discusses the importance of this (and other things such as posture in prayer and the role of the body in prayer, more broadly) in his highly recommended book Earthen Vessels.

 

I'm going to start praying the LOTH aloud when I'm alone. ;) It makes sense because that is basically what the whole Church is doing! I'm going to look into this book as well. Thanks you guys. :blush:

[puellapaschalis]

I know, but I'm quite serious. There is a swelling of anti-religious feeling here, spurred on by the "religion of peace"'s antics and generic secularism. "Fighters" returning from Syria &c. are being arrested; there is talk in government of taking away their passports, their families' passports (the vast majority of them are 1st or 2nd generation immigrants) and there are moves to remove children from such families and place them into state care (which I would not wish on anyone, even with my disgust of Islam).

 

Now people are generally unable to make distinctions because every religion is like the other, so if I'm praying on a train I make sure a 'secular' book is also visible. And, Heaven help me, I've noticed I sometimes bob my head back and forth whilst praying the psalms.

 

I used to cover my head all the time, but there's no way I'd do that now. Life is pretty weird here.

 

:offtopic:  (sorry)

Edited September 2, 2014 by puellapaschalis