Wednesday Liturgy: Combining Office of Readings and Morning Prayer

ROME, APRIL 25, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Answered by Father Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum university.

Q: In religious houses of my order in the United States there is no agreement on the position of the hymn when the Office of Readings and Morning Prayer are combined as a single office. In some houses, the hymn of Morning Prayer is sung immediately after the Invitatory, and then at the end of the Office of Readings the psalmody of Morning Prayer begins immediately. In other houses, the Invitatory is sung and the psalmody of Office of Readings follows immediately without a hymn. The hymn of Morning Prayer is then sung between the responsory of the last reading in the Office of Readings and the psalmody of Morning Prayer. What is the correct way to join these two offices? -- A.T., Charlottesville, Virginia

A: Several readers, in fact, have sent in questions regarding the joining of these two offices.

This question is discussed in No. 99 of the General Instruction of the Liturgy of the Hours:

"If the Office of Readings is said immediately before another Hour of the Office, then the appropriate hymn for that Hour may be sung at the beginning of the Office of Readings. At the end of the Office of Readings the prayer and conclusion are omitted, and in the Hour following the introductory verse with the Glory to the Father is omitted."

It would appear, as our questioner says, that the "praeponi potest" (may be sung at the beginning) here is taken by some liturgists to allow the dropping of the Office of Readings hymn rather than its replacement by the Morning Prayer hymn.

This procedure is incorrect. The clear sense of the norm is that the hymn of Morning Prayer, often specific to the feast or at least more in consonance with its general theme, may replace the hymn of the Office of Readings.

All of the offices open with a hymn, and so there is no liturgical reason why there should be no hymn at the beginning of the Office of Readings.

All the same, the norm says "may," not "must," and thus, while a hymn at the beginning of the Office of Readings may never be omitted, an individual or a community could also opt to sing both hymns.

The hymn corresponding to the Office of Readings is sung at the beginning of that office while the hymn corresponding to Morning Prayer is sung immediately after the second responsory or Te Deum as the case may be.

However, presuming that the hymn of Morning Prayer replaces that of the Office of Readings at a combined office, the proper order would be:

-- "Lord open our lips …";

-- Invitatory psalm with antiphon;

-- Morning Prayer hymn;

-- Office of Readings psalmody;

-- Versicle and response;

-- 1st Reading; responsory;

-- 2nd Reading; responsory;

-- Te Deum (on Sundays except during Lent; during the octaves of Christmas and Easter; and on all solemnities and feasts);

-- Morning Prayer psalmody;

-- Reading;

-- Short responsory;

-- Benedictus;

-- Intercessions;

-- The Lord's Prayer;

-- Concluding prayer;

-- Conclusion.

The most appropriate moment for a homily, if one is given, appears to be between the reading and short responsory of Morning Prayer.