Morning Prayer QUESTION from Sister Marisol Garcia February 2, 2000 When praying morning prayer should we repeat the ant. after the psalm as well as befor it? Some of the Sisters and I were wondering.
ANSWER by John-Paul Ignatius, O.L.S.M. on February 7, 2000 Dear Sister:
Please excuse my tardiness in answering your question.
The General Instruction of the Litergy of the Hours (GILH)nos, 113-120, and 123 speak to this.
It is permissible to do it either way. The Antiphon is to be recited at the beginning of each psalm, but it option at the end of the psalm.
Since I sing the Office, even when alone (unless I am on a bus or a plane or something where they would kick me off for having a bad voice), I try to always maintain a symetry in the singing, or recitation of the Office.
Thus, after I sing the psalm, I thing sing the Glory to the Father and the As it was in the beginning per normal, then repeat the Anthiphon.
The Psalm-Prayer is a supplemental element. They are present to help in understanding the psalm in a particularly Christian way.
The ancient traditional way is to have a period of silence after the psalm and then end with the Psalm-Prayer. (GILH, 112)
Since there is to be a period of quiet anyway at the end of the psalms, I have my people quietly say the Psalm-Prayer to themselves during that period of silence.
Since this is an supplemental element, you have the option.
God Bless
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