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by Catherine Frakas 29 Apr 2002

In General QUESTION from Jeanette Cottone August 29, 2000 Today is August 28, 2000, St. Augustine B & D (Memorial) For Memorials when the MP is from the Commons, the Psalms come from Monday, Week 1, page 670 (4 volume set):but, do I say the Reading and Responsory from Week 1, page 674, or from from the Common of Doctors, page 1783. When confused I say both. Is this O.K? Furthermore, I know that Evening Prayer is Vespers. What is Morning Prayer called? Will you please relate OOR, MP, DP, MID-MP, Mid-DP, EP, NP to the Latin version and your schedule in the monastery. Thank you so very much. You are in my prayers.
ANSWER by John-Paul Ignatius, O.L.S.M. on September 7, 2000 Dear Mrs. Cottone:
Since August 28th is the Feast of St. Augustine, an obligatory memorial, we first start with the Proper of Saints.
The Proper of Saints is arranged by date, so find August 28th.
The Morning Prayer part is on page 1357. Notice that only the Canticle of Zechariah antiphon and the Prayer are all that is listed.
That means that when we get to the Canticle, you need to flip to page 1357 to say the proper antiphon for the Canticle. Also, when you get to the final prayer, you must flip to this same page for that.
So where to we find the rest of the office?
Next, see that the Guide tells us Ps 670. That means that the Psalms begin on Page 670.
Since the Proper of Saints only has a special Canticle Antiphon for the day and a special closing prayer for the day, we take most of the Office from The Psalter - beginning at page 670. That forms our anchor.
Now to make a special note of this day being a feast of a doctor of the Church, we look at the Common of Doctors to see that it might have special for this day.
Under the Common of Doctors for the Morning Prayer we find only a Hymn, the Reading and Responsory, a Antiphon for the Canticle, and the Closing Prayer.
The Antiphon and Closing prayer we are not going to use from the Common of Doctors because we already have a special antiphon and closing prayer from the Proper of Saints.
In other words, on a Feast day like this, whatever portions of the Office are listed in the Proper of Saints outranks those corresponding portions listed in the Psalter, or in the Commons of Doctors and other commons.
This we ignore the antiphon and prayer in the Common of Doctors this time because we will use the antiphon and prayer in the Proper of Saints instead.
So, how do we put this all together? Head spinning? :-) Feast days can be complicated.
Step 1: We do the Hymn from the Commons of Doctors (p. 1782
Step 2: Flip to the Psalter (p. 670) and sing or recite the psalms and their antiphons
Step 3: when you get to the reading, flip to the Proper of Doctors (p. 1783)and read the reading and Responsory there.
Step 4: for the antiphon to the Canticle of Zechariah, flip to the Proper of Saints (p. 1357) and read the antiphon listed.
Step 5: Flip back to the Psalter (p. 674) to read the Intercessions and the Our Father
Step 6: Flip back to the Proper of Saints (p.1357) and read the closing prayer that begins at the bottom of the page.
This one was a good example of all the flipping around. I hope I was able to straighten the tangle for you.
The traditional names of the Hours are listed below. The times can be remembered in a simple formula of every three hours beginning with 3am. So 3am - 6am - 9am - 12noon - 3pm - 6pm - 9pm
But the 3am Office, called Vigils (office of readings), can be said in combination with Lauds (morning prayer) or it is allowed to say at any time of the day.
The 9pm Office, Compline (night prayer), can be said at anytime just before you go to bed, even if you go to bed past midnight.
The Other house MUST be said at the approximate times of the days. So if you miss Morning Prayer you can't makeup for it at noon. The point is to sanctify the various hours of the day. That is why they are called Liturgy of the Hours.
In our Order, our Rule provides for a range of times that our people may say the Divine Office. Within a monastic house all would say the Office at the same time, of course, but we also have Seculars and Oblates who live regular lives in the world, so we have provided a range of times to accommodate people's differing schedules. But if one misses a Office during this range, then that Office is gone, it cannot be made up later.
Here are out time frames:
Vigils (Office of Readings): 2 - 4am (or combined with Lauds, or said at any time of day)
Lauds (Morning Prayer): 5 - 8 am
Tierce (Midmorning Prayer): 8:30 - 10:00 am
Sext (Midday Prayer): 11:30am - 1pm
None (MidAfternoon Prayer): 2:30 - 4pm
Vespers (Evening Prayer): 4:30 - 7pm
Compline (Night Prayer): 7:30 - 10:30pm (for before going to bed, whenever that is)
God Bless.

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