| "As Jesus
was the true worshipper of the Father, so let prayer and
contemplation be the soul of all they are and do. Let them
participate in the sacramental life of the Church, above all the
Eucharist. Let them join in liturgical prayer in one of the forms
proposed by the Church, reliving the mysteries of the life of
Christ." Rule 8, Secular Franciscan Rule. The Liturgy of the Hours (all the hours) or, the shortened version, Christian Prayer, consisting of mainly Morning and Evening Prayer, are forms of Liturgical Prayer of the Church. Many people in SFO Fraternities get very confused praying these prayers which are prayed by all priests, bishops, cardinals and even the Holy Father. There is a tremendous knowledge of unity when we pray these prayers and know that the rest of the Catholic Church is praying them also. For us they are optional, and one form among many of Franciscan Liturgical Prayer. For the clergy, including religious priest, brothers and sisters/nuns, these prayers are mandatory. Let us use Christian Prayer (Catholic Book Publishing Company) as a basis for this explanation. There are other editions published by other publishers, but most of the clergy use the aforementioned editions, although usually in the 4-book version. If you are new to this form of prayer, and you are apprehensive about excessive page turning, let me suggest that you begin with the 4-week psalter, namely the "red edged" pages from page 701 (Sunday, Week I, beginning with Evening Prayer I, which is said the night before, in other words, on the Saturday Evening preceding the Sunday in question. This 4-week Psalter ends on page 993 with Saturday Morning Prayer of Week IV. If you do nothing else but use this 4-week Psalter, you are at least praying the Hours and fulfilling your SFO Liturgical Prayer option. How do you know which Week you're in.... well for that you can of course use an "Ordo" (A guide to liturgical prayers, such as the "Roman-Franciscan Guide," which is available from St. Francis Bookshop in Cincinnati, OH - they are an "Authorized Source" of the Franciscan Liturgical Commission, but Franciscan Resources in Menahga, MN also have these products). But there is another way. Look at your Catholic Calendar or Church Bulletin, and say, it happens to be the 9th Sunday of Ordinary Time. In the front of Christian Prayer, is the "Proper of Seasons" and if you look for that Sunday, you'll find it on page 253. And under the Title, you will find in red (rubrics, or instructions, are in red) "Psalter, Week I" So now you know! And, as long as you are looking at the Proper of Seasons, there are "proper prayers" for the Sundays and Solemnities found there. So, when on the 9th Sunday of Ordinary Time, you get to one of the Gospel Canticles, those are the antiphons that need to be used, rather than the one in the Psalter. Same goes for the prayer at the end of the Hour. In Special Seasons, such as Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, etc., you will find that there are many more seasonal exceptions to the Psalter, so we must be aware of those. Suppose the Catholic Calendar mentioned a Saint. Say, for example, St. John Bosco on January 31st. There is a "Proper of Saints" (begins on page 1060), and feastdays are in date order. If you go to Jan. 31st, you'll find an instruction pointing to "the Common of Pastors" (and also "or of holy men: teachers" - but we'll stick to the first entry). The Common of Pastors is found in the "Commons" section which begins on page 1355. And the one for the Pastors is on page 1422. Please note that "Evening Prayer I" is used only when the feast occurs on a Sunday or is a Solemnity. However, St. John Bosco is a Memorial. If, in the Proper of Saints, it does not say specifically "Memorial" then it is treated as an "Optional Memorial" (Optional means - it's up to you). With Saints and Blesseds - you must use the entire prayers in the "Commons (e.g. Common of Pastors) only if the feastday is a Feast or Solemnity. Sundays always supersede this instructions. But, if the saints day is listed as a Memorial or Optional Memorial, we use the Psalms in the Psalter, but everything from the Reading onwards come from the Commons. That's what people find confusing, but as you become more familiar with the use of this form of prayer, you'll be able to find these parts more easily. That is, if you religiously use the ribbons provided. Many people move the ribbon out, that's an easy way to get lost. I use my ribbons by moving them from page to page as I am turning pages during prayer, and I never get lost. Well, almost never. I've prayed the 4-volume edition of the Liturgy of the Hours from 1983 (because that's when I bought my set of books, initially) until about a year ago. My eyesight isn't all that great (optic nerve damage due to a stroke) and so I prefer the big-print edition of Christian Prayer. The pages are numbered exactly like the normal- print edition, which is handy. What are the other sections: Let's start with hymns. These begin on page 1507 (there I am not sure the page numbers are the same to those Christian prayer books which do not show musical notation) Each "Hour" near the beginning, uses hymns. Sometimes more than one are listed. You can use either one. If it is a Sunday, (weekday) Solemnity, or Saint's feast, the Commons generally show a preferred hymn number. Then we use those. Immediately following the 4-week Psalter (page 994) you will find "Daytime Prayer." These prayers are optional for SFO, they mostly consist of 1 or more, up to 3 Psalms and a few prayers. There are daytime prayers for midmorning, midday and midafternoon. After this section, on page 1034, you'll find night prayer. Again, this is optional for SFO, but it's a nice practice to follow. Night prayer always ends with a Marian Antiphon (page 1056-7).
After the Hymns and other musical pages (page 1875) you will find Office of Readings for the 4-week Psalter. This is a small subset from the Readings found in the 4-volume edition, where every day of the year incl., Saints feast days have an "Office of Readings" which in religious life are prayed prior to Morning Prayer, sometimes very early before daybreak. The Trappists said them at 3 AM. I did not get up for it (also because of the cold) but I should have, because when chanted in Gregorian Chant there parts are beautiful. For us, SFO's it is important to note that, often, the Second Reading in the "Office of Readings" are written by (from writings or from a homily) the Saints whose feastday we are celebrating, and they are quite beautiful. So you might, at some time, want to use a 4-volume edition. Here are some other pages on this website dealing with this subject:
How to pray the Office
in community The image, above, is to demonstrate monks in choir. They have wooden choir stalls and face forward in preparation for Holy Mass. When celebrating the Liturgy of the Hours they face each other. This image is from http://www.mellifontabbey.ie a Cistercian Abbey in Ireland in County Louth. It has an interesting history. This page was written for Divine Mercy Fraternity, Vero Beach, Florida 1/31/2007 |
I've experienced this at a Trappist
monastery where I was on retreat (as a Postulant to OFM). Their
choir benches face each other in the Sanctuary and are tiered. Their
custom is to darken the Chapel/Church entirely except for floor
lighting, and invite retreatants to come and participate in giving
the Abbot or his representative a sign of peace. This is done while
the Salva Regina (or, Regina caeli, depending on the Season) is
chanted, and for me it was an awesome experience. I very much felt a
part of that community, when I was there. That was at