Wednesday Liturgy: Follow-up: Combining Office of Readings and Morning Prayer
ROME, MAY 9, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Answered by Father Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum university.
A reader rightly reprimanded me for substituting "Lord open our lips" rather than the correct "Lord open my lips" in our April 25 piece on combining the Office of Readings and Morning prayer. The error was due to a momentary "lapsus" at the keyboard with no ulterior motives or hidden theological meanings.
Another reader asked: "Can one in praying the Office combine other hours as the Office of Readings and Morning Prayer? Such as doing Midday Prayer and Evening Prayer together?"
In principle, only the Office of Readings can be combined with another office. However there may be cases when time constraints require the celebration of one office immediately after another (for example, Morning Prayer and Midday Prayer).
In this case the only difference is that after praying the first closing prayer, one omits the usual conclusion of the first office and the introductory verse and "Glory be" of the second office, and commences with the hymn of the second office, which proceeds as normal.
Finally, a seminarian from Malta inquired: "Could you please tell me if it is necessary to say the verse in italics that is usually printed before each psalm during the celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours? As I understood the General Order for the Liturgy of the Hours, in No. 114, one may chose to say the verse instead of the antiphon during the year when the office is not sung. But one should not say both, especially if it is sung on feast days."
No. 111 explains these phrases: "[A] heading is put before each psalm to indicate its meaning and importance in Christian life. These headings are given in the divine office merely as an aid for the person saying the psalms. To promote prayer in the light of the new revelation, a phrase from the New Testament or Fathers is added as an invitation to pray in a Christian way."
Thus, these phrases are above all a help in personalizing the prayer. They are not usually recited aloud. However, as our seminarian points out, No. 114 allows these verses to replace the antiphons during Ordinary Time when the office is not sung. This possibility gives the option of some variety during a period when the same antiphons are frequently repeated.
This possibility may not be used on any occasion when the office is sung, nor during the major liturgical seasons of Advent, Christmas, Lent and Easter. Nor may it be used on feast days and those memorials of saints when the office is celebrated using proper antiphons.
A reader rightly reprimanded me for substituting "Lord open our lips" rather than the correct "Lord open my lips" in our April 25 piece on combining the Office of Readings and Morning prayer. The error was due to a momentary "lapsus" at the keyboard with no ulterior motives or hidden theological meanings.
Another reader asked: "Can one in praying the Office combine other hours as the Office of Readings and Morning Prayer? Such as doing Midday Prayer and Evening Prayer together?"
In principle, only the Office of Readings can be combined with another office. However there may be cases when time constraints require the celebration of one office immediately after another (for example, Morning Prayer and Midday Prayer).
In this case the only difference is that after praying the first closing prayer, one omits the usual conclusion of the first office and the introductory verse and "Glory be" of the second office, and commences with the hymn of the second office, which proceeds as normal.
Finally, a seminarian from Malta inquired: "Could you please tell me if it is necessary to say the verse in italics that is usually printed before each psalm during the celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours? As I understood the General Order for the Liturgy of the Hours, in No. 114, one may chose to say the verse instead of the antiphon during the year when the office is not sung. But one should not say both, especially if it is sung on feast days."
No. 111 explains these phrases: "[A] heading is put before each psalm to indicate its meaning and importance in Christian life. These headings are given in the divine office merely as an aid for the person saying the psalms. To promote prayer in the light of the new revelation, a phrase from the New Testament or Fathers is added as an invitation to pray in a Christian way."
Thus, these phrases are above all a help in personalizing the prayer. They are not usually recited aloud. However, as our seminarian points out, No. 114 allows these verses to replace the antiphons during Ordinary Time when the office is not sung. This possibility gives the option of some variety during a period when the same antiphons are frequently repeated.
This possibility may not be used on any occasion when the office is sung, nor during the major liturgical seasons of Advent, Christmas, Lent and Easter. Nor may it be used on feast days and those memorials of saints when the office is celebrated using proper antiphons.
posted by Chipi Buenafe at
10:01 PM
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