Commons or Current Weekday QUESTION from Jeanette Cottone September 13, 2000 Hi,
You and your organization are in my thoughts and prayers. God needs you to keep the remnant growing.
Re: Liturgy og the Hours
For a Memorial, which takes precedence -- the Commons (as in Commons of Pastors, Doctors, Virgins, etc.) or the current weekday? I am assuming that for Feasts and Solemnities that it is Proper (as in Proper of the Saints), Commons and current weekday in that order as far as flipping pages. For Memorials, does this sequence hold true?
Thank you and God Bless, Jeanette
ANSWER by John-Paul Ignatius, O.L.S.M. on September 30, 2000 Dear Mrs. Cottone:
Thank you for remembering us in your prayers.
The General Instruction of the Liturgy of the Hours gives at 235-240 gives the answer to this.
The psalms and their antiphons are taken from the current week unless they are listed in the Proper, in which the Proper takes precedence.
The antiphon at the invitatory, the hymn, the reading, the antiphons at the Canticles of Zechariah and of Mary, and the intercessions are those in the Proper. If not in the Proper, then in the Common or from the current week and day.
The concluding prayer is from the Proper.
The general rule of thumb is to always begin with the Proper. What is not contained in the Proper may then be taken from the Common or the 4-week Psalter as appropriate. Notice, though that the psalms are taken from the Psalter for Memorials.
For Solemnities and Feasts, all is taken from the Proper with anything missing taken from the Common.
God Bless
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