Does anyone here pray Divine Office (the Liturgy of the Hours) on a regular basis?

Question

If you do, are you a priest, religious, or lay. Give me your opinions on it. Has it changed your life?

Answer 1

I do pray the Liturgy of the Hours regularly. I am a priest (diocesan). The psalms do and have changed my life. The psalms, when prayed ernestly, do and have increased my prayer life and has been a great aid in my remaining a faithful and holy priest. A priest who does not pray does not remain a holy priest for long.
Because I pray the psalms, I have become more alert to the human condition and plight. I have become more aware of who God is and how He relates to us. My worship and offering of the Mass remains vital and vigorous (it is never a dull ritual to me) and praying the psalms within the Mass helps me remember that the Mass is life giving and exciting.
However, we must remember that praying the psalms is not merely repeating the words. A lot of thought must be involved. For example, in any of the lamentation psalms there are three parts noted. First part is the complaint to God. About mid way of the psalm the author changes his tone. He begins to remember God's good deeds. In the third the pslamist is praising God profusely. So, the thought that goes into to this is what made the author change from despair to praise?
We must take the psalms and "chew" over them like a lion chewing a bone. When a lion is chewing on a bone it is so into the act of chewing and enjoying the bone that the lion begins to purr in response. The purring is a natural response to the goodness of the bone. And so it is when praying the Divine Office. We pray and chew on the psalms until our hearts naturally "purr" with joy, understanding, and response to the goodness that God is.
Wish I could say more, but I do have to check out the air conditioning of our portable building. I think its motor burned out.
May the Lord bless and keep you. May He let the light of His face shine upon you.
God's and your beast of burden
Fr. john

Answer 2

I'm a Catholic Christian and yes, i have prayed Liturgy of the hours in my life. I'm no member of any monastic group. But i do find it comforting, helpful and soothing. Take for example, Lauds. Which is the morning prayer. So that helps me start a new day but also the rosary. And there are other Liturgy of the hour prayers. Vespers, which is the evening prayer and is around either 5:00 PM or 6:00 PM. Then there's the final one, Compline which is night prayer and that helps me conclude the day and a good night's sleep. Then another new begins. A friend of mine who happens to be a Catholic priest and he told me all about it.

Answer 3

I am a lay person.

I have prayed the Office for about 6 years. Not every Hour, but fairly regularly.

It has given me a deeper appreciation for scripture, a greater feel of participation in the Life of the Church....I mean- how totally cool is it that Catholics around the world are reading the same thing on the same day???

It has also lead me into a paid position with the Church....my dream job....which I never could have arrived at without a deeper commitment to my prayer life!

Answer 4

hi Matthew, this is large that you want to wish the Liturgy of the Hours, it really is a appealing liturgical prayer in accordance to Scripture. probably this is least difficult to commence with morning prayer and nighttime prayer. at present we purely all started the fourth week of commonplace time. So the following day morning, (Jan 31) flow to the 4-week psalter, and seem up Monday of Week 4. For now do not worry about the invitatory psalm. purely pray the antiphons formerly each psalm, the psalm itself, and after the psalm say the antiphon back. each in certain situations there's a psalm-prayer; you could say that too. After praying the three psalm, examine the quick studying, say the responsory verse after it, and then the antiphon for the Canticle of Zechariah (Benedictus) and the canticle itself, and then pray the intercessions observed through the Our Father and the final prayer. this is the mandatory structure for morning prayer. nighttime prayer is fairly a lot a similar, except in selection to the Canticle of Zechariah, the Canticle of Mary is used (Magnificat). the following day is the ceremonial dinner of St John Bosco, so that you could use the prayer for his ceremonial dinner. yet per chance for now purely stick with the 4 week psalter to dodge confusion. keep on with that for some weeks and also you'll get the dangle of it. even as Lent begins, use the certain Lent textile. the internet website stated through the different individual could be useful too.

Answer 5

I'm starting to do morning and evening prayers. I'm a lay person and I think they are beautiful. I may try to bring a breviary to work to do the other hours at break or lunch.

To New Catholic....welcome and so do I....I think Adoration brings me to the reality of what's important more than anything

Answer 6

I never do... I pray from my own heart, my own words all the time. God isn't interested in scripted prayer.

Answer 7

I am just now learning of it.

I hope someone will answer this.

I do spend time in Adoration ever week.

Peace!