Responsories of Office of Readings in public recitation QUESTION from M Smith on January 15, 2003 1. I use the UK/Australia version of the multi-volume office. The responsories to the Office of Readings show a R and a V, with the latter half of the R being introduced by an asterisk (*). Does the leader read out the R, with the people replying by the V section and then the leader joining in with the part introduced by the asterisk or does the the leader start the V section as well, and the people only join in with the part following the asterisk? These responses do not seem as easy to understand as the shorter ones in Morning and Evening Prayer, where it is clearly marked who says what and who replies.
2. In the General Instruction, it refers to a Supplement and a Lectionary. Are these really the same book? You refer to a US translation in an earlier posting for the second-year of the two-year cycle for the Office of Readings. Does this book also contain the Psalm Prayers? I have not been able to find this volume in a UK/Australia translation (and in fact, cannot even find it in Latin in the Vatican's shop); do you know if one exists?
Thanks in advance
ANSWER by John-Paul Ignatius, OLSM on January 22, 2003 Dear Mr. Smith:
On your first question: The V is where the leader recites the line alone. The R is the response of the people.
On the second question: The Lectionary is the book that contains the readings for Mass. The Supplement is a little booklet published by Catholic Book Publishing Company that contains the offices for feast days that have been added to the Roman Calendar since the publication of the main books. The one that I spoke of was for the United States.
Most of the English-speaking world uses the translation we use in the United States. The United Kingdom and Australia, however, use a different translation. I do not know if the Australian edition has a supplement or not.
The only edition in the U.S. that contains the whole of the Office of Readings is the 4 vol set.
There is a link at the bottom of the Purchase the Divine Office page where you can buy the Latin Edition. The purchase page is linked on the Divine Office Forum index page.
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