Liturgy of the hours

[Jman123]

Is it ok for  a trad layperson to pray the current Liturgy of the Hours? Its somewhat shorter than 62 one.

[Der Polka-König]

Sure, it's okay to -- but I don't know why you would want to. The language is so, so exceedingly Modernist and bland. Lauds and Vespers have goofy "General Intercessions" like are often read at N.O. Masses. The hymns are... well, often not even Catholic at all. And the hours don't follow the traditional structure that's been used since the time of St Benedict. I've still got an old 4-volume set which I keep for referencing on occasion, though each time I open them up, I just end up becoming angered.

If you want something shorter than the full Roman Breviary, I'd recommend either just picking a few hours from the Office to pray (e.g. Lauds, Vespers, and Compline), or pray the Little Office of Our Lady.

[Maximilian]

Is it ok for  a trad layperson to pray the current Liturgy of the Hours? Its somewhat shorter than 62 one.

No. Absolutely not.

If you are going to go to the trouble of spending a large part of your life praying the "Divine Office" -- NOT the so-called "Liturgy of the Hours" -- then don't waste your time praying a pale imitation. Pray the real thing.

[Maximilian]

If you want something shorter than the full Roman Breviary ... pray the Little Office of Our Lady.

Yes, good suggestion.

[Gardener]

If you are short on time, the traditional Little Office would be better.

[Jman123]

Thanks for advice. Good to hear there are shorter alternatives

[MundaCorMeum]

Another option, if you are short on time, is to pray the Mass readings for the day, but spread them out over the course of the day.  My kids and I have been working on building this habit of prayer, and I love it.  The Divine Office is not feasible for me, with the kids or by myself (I've tried several times, and it just never works out).  But, the daily Mass prayers are very doable.  So, with our morning prayers, I read the excerpt for the saint of the day in my missal, the introit, and collect.  Then, after breakfast and chores, before we start school, we read the Epistle.  Before lunch, the gradual and Gospel.  And so forth, through out the day, until all the prayers for the day are read.  I love the concept of constantly turning our hearts and minds back to God, as we move through the various duties and tasks of the day.  It keeps us in tune with the Church season/calendar, as well.  This was something new I decided to do as an Advent devotion with the children, but I plan to continue.  So far, we are only consistent with the prayers we say first thing in the morning, but I'm intent on building from there.

[Kaesekopf]

There is literally no reason to pray the LotH in this post-Summorum world. 

Pray the traditional office.  If you can't handle pre-1911, then pray Divino Afflatu.  If you can't do that, pray the major hours of 1960. 

Don't waste your time on shit translations in a text compiled by a tradition-hating Modernist. 

[martin88nyc]

Check out Anglican Breviary. A complete breviary for 90$

[VeraeFidei]

Is it ok for  a trad layperson to pray the current Liturgy of the Hours? Its somewhat shorter than 62 one.

As others have hinted at, the 62 one is already a joke and hardly any more traditional than LOTH.

[TheReturnofLive]

You can also check out the Monastic Diurnal / the Monastic Breviary, which is used by the Traditional Benedictines.

There's an Anglo Catholic version of it printed by Lancelot Andrewes Press, which is based on an Anglo Catholic 1925 version -
which is actually in canonical use by former Anglican Nuns in MD.

http://andrewespress.com/the-monastic-diurnal?ReturnUrl=LwA%3d

and there's a 1963 Roman Catholic version printed by St. Michael's Abbey and used by them and others by Traditional Bendictines, which is in Latin and in English.

http://www.theabbeyshop.com/product_info.php?products_id=745

Each version follows Prime, Lauds, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers and Compline.

You can see a comparison of both here:

http://absnospin.blogspot.com/2011/11/monastic-diurnal-lancelot-andrewes-vs.html

[martin88nyc]

You can also check out the Monastic Diurnal / the Monastic Breviary, which is used by the Traditional Benedictines.

There's an Anglo Catholic version of it printed by Lancelot Andrewes Press, which is based on an Anglo Catholic 1925 version -
which is actually in canonical use by former Anglican Nuns in MD.

http://andrewespress.com/the-monastic-diurnal?ReturnUrl=LwA%3d

and there's a 1963 Roman Catholic version printed by St. Michael's Abbey and used by them and others by Traditional Bendictines, which is in Latin and in English.

http://www.theabbeyshop.com/product_info.php?products_id=745

Each version follows Prime, Lauds, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers and Compline.

You can see a comparison of both here:

http://absnospin.blogspot.com/2011/11/monastic-diurnal-lancelot-andrewes-vs.html

there are also monastic matins

[moneil]

Reciting the entire Divine Office of St. Pius X can be daunting, and finding the book(s), affording the books, and allocating the time equally so.

Yet, what I've always found most edifying has been the recitation of the entire psalter over a prescribed time period.  While reciting a proper office with its attendant antiphons, little chapter, hymn, versicle and collect is certainly a good work, it is in the psalms that I've found the most spiritual benefit.  Therefore I've always been ambivalent about "Little" or "Partial" offices that leave out the majority of the Psalter.

For example, the Little Office of the BVM only contains 33 psalms (out of 150), or only 22% of the Psalter.  Likewise for reciting only the Diurnal (Lauds through Compline) of the Roman Breviary (St. Pius X) and not Matins, bypassing 34 psalms – never reciting 22.6% of the Psalter.  This phenomena is compounded if a Monastic Diurnal is used as in the traditional Monastic Office (based on St. Benedict's schema) Psalms 1 – 108 (72% of the Psalter) are only recited at Matins.

One option is https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/my-daily-psalms-book-joseph-frey/1119731486?ean=9781618908223&st=PLA&sid=BNB_NOOK+EBooks&sourceId=PLAGoNA&dpid=tdtve346c&2sid=Google_c&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIjOf6r-a83wIVj8hkCh2MlQL4EAQYAiABEgKV6vD_BwE



This book, published in 1947, contains the entire Psalter arranged according to St. Pius X schema for the Roman Breviary, including the Canticles at Lauds, and the Benedictus, Magnificat, and Nunc dimittis canticles.  One can augment this devotion by adding the readings and other propers of a given day from their missal.