Christian Prayer: The Liturgy of the Hours

This is the best version of compressed liturgy of the hours

I’ve always wanted a prayer book I can use day and night. This book is quite comprehensive for each day of the year and includes the major daily Saints.

これ 凄いです。できれば、高校生のときに これで 読めばよかった。 ' Catechism of the Catholic Church' との併読をお薦めします。 まず 高校生・大学生が無理なく読める英文です。

Nice book A+++

Schnelle Lieferung! In sehr gutem Zustand! Bin sehr zufrieden. Kann ich nur empfehlen!! Der beigefügte St. "Josephs Guide" war von Jahr 2023. Also bitte beim nächsten Mal daran denken, der aktualisierte Guide mitzuliefern. Thanks Very much and God bless your work!!!

I was baptized and raised United Methodist, and I was looking for some structure to my prayer life (a way to be more methodical about it, you might say), when I came across morning and evening prayer selections from the Liturgy of the Hours (a.k.a. Divine Office) in a magazine called "Magnificat." The Liturgy of the Hours is a Catholic devotion said by priests, monks, and nuns at specific hours of the day, as well as by some lay people. I did debate for several months over whether to buy this prayer book, mostly because I wasn't certain how much of the Liturgy of the Hours it contained or how difficult it would be to use, but it's Catholic-ness is a non-issue. Most of the content of this prayer book is indisputably ecumenical, as it's taken directly from books of the Bible that all Christian denominations share. Mostly, it gives an order to the readings. The order boils down to: introductory prayer, hymn, Bible readings from three psalms, Bible reading, praise response, canticle, special prayers for other people, spiritual growth, and God's will; Lord's Prayer, closing prayer. (A canticle is a song of praise devised from a Bible passage. Think Miriam leading the people in a song of praise after the Exodus.) There are antiphons (kind of like a choral response during the psalms and canticles) and sometimes short prayers between the psalm readings as well. The psalms and other readings are taken directly from the Bible, the prayers relate to the Bible readings for the day, and the theological selections have, thus far, been universal if occasionally a little difficult to understand due to some archaic language and heavy philosophical reasoning. Apart from the instruction to say a Marian antiphon at the end of each Night Prayer, and a hymn in praise of the saints the other day, there's nothing that a Protestant could protest. I've personally found it easy enough to skip saying a Marian antiphon, since I don't have any memorized and I'd have to turn to another section to find one, and I replaced the hymn using the topical index. I've been very glad I bought it, and I'm always striving to use it more, as it's easier to live in an awareness of God when I regularly turn back to Him in prayer. Since I might have bought it sooner if I could have found clear information on the contents, and I've been using it for a while now, I'd like to share a little about what the contents are. First of all, the Saint Joseph Guide for Christian Prayer for the current year comes along with the book. This handy little booklet lists all the page numbers for the day's prayers. The book begins with a small section on the decrees made about the Liturgy of the Hours, a couple of calendars of holy days, and instructions on how the prayers are said (typical order, which parts are sung, making substitutions, etc.). The next few sections take up most of the book. They're morning and evening selections of psalms, Bible readings, specific prayers, etc. for particular times of the year. There's selections of Bible readings and prayers for Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, particular saints' days (include a biographical paragraph), Sundays, and a full 4-week psalter for "Ordinary Time," the time between seasons. Often, the psalms in the 4-week psalter for Ordinary Time are used in combination with the special selections for the seasons and holy days. Then there's another section of morning and evening prayers but for different events rather than certain dates, e.g. "Dedication of a Church." Inserted between the "Proper of Seasons" and the "Proper of Saints" (morning and evening prayers determined by date and determined by holy day, respectively), there's two small sections for daytime prayer and night prayer; they cover one week each before repeating. There are a few alternative psalms given for daytime prayer, since that can occur up to three times per day (9 am, noon, 3 pm). The book contains music for parts of the Liturgy that may be sung, and 185 hymns with music. This section begins with a topical index for hymns, e.g. "Evening prayer." At the end is a 4-week Office of Readings, with three psalms and longer Bible readings. There are also non-Biblical selections written by theologians and saints.