The Liturgy of the Hours, the Breviary – The Work of the Faithful in the Practice of Catholic Prayer

The Breviary, which is the Liturgy of the Hours, is a prayer book in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church.

The four-volume set follows the Church’s Liturgical Calendar. Volume I Advent to Christmas, Volume II Lent and Easter, Volume III Ordinary Time, Volume IV Ordinary Time.

The Breviary is a collection of prayers, hymns, psalms, Bible readings, and readings from the Fathers and Saints of the Church.

Note: All volumes have the main table of contents at the front. On the back are: Annex I – Canticles and Gospel Readings for Vigils; Appendix II – Shorter forms of the intercessions to be used in the evening prayer; Appendix III – Additional Prayers for Use in the Liturgy of the Hours; Appendix IV – Poetry; Appendix V – Feast Days for Use in the Diocese of the United States or Other Specific Countries. These Appendices are followed by Indexes to Psalms, Canticles, Scripture Readings, Hymns, and the Alphabetical Index of Celebrations.

Volume I It begins by giving The Decree of the Congregation for Divine Worship, The Promulgation of the Apostolic Constitution, Table of Liturgical Days, Principal Celebrations of the Liturgical Year, and the General Roman Calendar.

Now specific to the recitation of the daily Liturgy –

Volume I – The liturgical cycle of the Catholic Church begins with the season of Advent/Christmas.

All prayers, readings, homilies and reflections focus on the ancient hope, always fresh and constant: the coming of the Lord.

The soul focuses its daily prayer and meditation on this glorious and joyous expectation and its fulfillment.

The Christmas season continues the celebrations with a deep and permanent thanksgiving until the feast of Mary, Mother of the Holy Child our Lord on the first of January and then until the Epiphany on the twelfth day of Christmas. The Baptism of Jesus on January 6 closes this cycle and the first Volume.

Volume III it is used from January 7 to the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, approximately ten weeks of Ordinary Time. (In simpler terms, the variances are determined by the date of Ash Wednesday which, in turn, is determined by the date of Easter, a moving Sunday in the calendar. By interest: Easter is calculated to be the first Sunday , after the first full moon, after the first day of spring in the Gregorian calendar.

To continue: The Psalms, the Readings from both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, from the lives of the Saints or from their writings, the hymns and prayers continue in marked form. The emphasis is on faithful daily obedience to the demands of the First Commandment: ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind…’. Regular prayers of praise, adoration, thanksgiving, petition and contrition are our response to this Commandment, the cornerstone of the Christian life.

Volume II – continues with the Easter Season. This begins on Holy Saturday at the Vigil Mass of the Resurrection and ends fifty days later on the Feast of Pentecost. The songs of the Liturgy, the psalms, the readings, all tell of the wonders of God’s Love for His people – “The people sitting in darkness have seen a great light, and on those sitting in the region of the shadow of death, Light has dawned” . Matthew 4:16

Volume III – Returning to the liturgical cycle Ordinary Time resumes in week ten until week seventeen in the same rhythm, always old, always new.

Please note that these cycles of the seasons vary slightly. The last week of Ordinary Time before Lent and the last week of Ordinary Time before Advent are not constant.

Check online or with a priest to find the right day if you want to join the Church in the prayer life of the Breviary. The practice of the Liturgy of the Hours is a voluntary commitment. It is wise to undertake this with the guidance of a priest, religious, or lay person familiar with the practice.

Volume IV – contains the Liturgy from week eighteen to week thirty-four and completes the cycle of the liturgical year with the celebration of the feast of Christ the King the last Sunday in ordinary time.

The first Sunday of Advent begins the cycle again with Advent – Christmas in Volume I.

The simple sentence pattern is constant. Variations are found in selected content only according to seasons and holidays.

Tea hours means the time spent praying the specific section of the day’s liturgy; It is not usually an hour of sixty minutes.

The daily seven-hour prayers are usually prayed by cloistered religious, monks and nuns. All People with the necessary time can certainly pray to them. The five liturgical hours are usually prayed by the active clergy and the laity. Ordained ministers: bishops, priests, and deacons are required to pray the daily Office. Religious Orders follow their formats, generally in the Roman Rite. The laity pray the Liturgy of the Hours as best they can.

For those who would like to adopt this Universal Church Prayer but do not have enough time, the christian prayer book he gives the morning and evening prayers called cardinal or hinge prayers of the Breviary.

Each Hour always begins with “God Come to My Help, Lord Hasten to Help Me…” followed by the Gloria, a hymn, the recited or sung antiphons, the psalms with responses, the Gloria and the Prayer of the Psalm. Continuing in this way, the three psalm recitations with their antiphons and the psalm prayer (if present) are recited, ending with the last Gloria at the end of the third psalm. The readings from the Bible followed by the prayer of the Responsory, the Antiphon, the Canticle of Zechariah in the morning, the Antiphon with the Canticle of Mary in the evening continue, then the Intercessions follow: the Universal Church prays for all peoples, then the Our Father, the closing. prayer and a brief prayer of praise or petition. “Praise the Lord and give thanks. Amen” or “May the Lord bless us, protect us from all evil and lead us to Eternal Life. Amen.”

The daily invariant cycle:

Office of Readings (30 minutes), Morning Prayer: before noon (15-20 minutes), Daytime Prayer: noon or early afternoon (10 minutes), Evening Prayer: after 4 pm (15-20 minutes), and Night prayer when retiring (5-10 minutes). The Daytime Prayer is recited three times by those who pray the seven Liturgical Hours: once at mid-morning, once at noon, and once at mid-afternoon. The Office of Readings can be prayed at any time of the day.

If some or all of the Hours are sung, the time spent with God in prayer is beautiful and longer.

The Liturgy of the Hours prayed by the Universal Church in all parts of the world unites the faithful in an ever new and endless work of piety. This form of prayer is not necessarily personally felt or understood until many days have been spent in faithful commitment. The realization of unity in prayer and purpose grows and deepens with prayerful practice.

‘May the Lord bless us, protect us from all evil and lead us to eternal life’ – so pray the final blessings of the Morning and Evening Hours.