This “Catholic Daily Prayer” web site is designed for the layman
who wishes to pray something akin to the Divine Office/Liturgy of the Hours but
who has time to pray for an extended period only once on most days, whether in
the morning or the evening; who wants a wider range of and longer Scripture
readings than provided in the LOTH Morning and Evening Prayer, plus the options
of reading selections from the great spiritual wealth of the Church Fathers;
and who desires the full range of the Psalter without the omissions of modern
Post-Vatican II liturgy which lacks three full Psalms and a number of verses
that are deemed too “harsh” for modern sensibilities.[1]
In structure, when prayed in the morning, the ordo or order
of prayer [linked above as ORDO] combines elements of the Office of Readings (Vigils or Matins) and
Morning Prayer (Lauds) from the Liturgy of the Hours; similarly, in the
evening, the ordo combines elements of Evening Prayer (Vespers) with
Night Prayer (Compline; there is provision for separate Night Prayer as well). In that, a great deal of inspiration has been taken
from The Customary of Our Lady of
Walsingham (2012), one of the fruits of Pope Benedict XVI’s establishment of the
Personal Ordinariates of the Anglican tradition within Catholicism via his
Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum
coetibus (04 Nov 2009).
The Psalter is arranged in a seventeen-week cycle through all 150 Psalms, repeating approximately three times per year, keyed generally to the Liturgical Year but progressing steadily through the Psalms in numerical
order with only a couple of exceptions. One is that the first Psalm after the
Invitatory each Friday is always Psalm 50 (51),[2] Miserere nobis, in light of the
traditional penitential nature of the day of Our Lord’s Crucifixion. Secondly,
the last Psalm when prayed in the morning is one of the three last “Praise”
Psalms, 148-150. Thirdly, three Psalms specifically invoking the evening or
nighttime (4, 90, and 133), are reserved for the end of the day, while
conversely two Psalms invoking the morning (3 and 5) are reserved for the
beginning of the day.
For the exact relation of the seventeen-week cycle to the Liturgical Year, see this table:
The Lesson or Lessons after the Psalms may follow a variety of schedules appropriate to the liturgical season or day, as described on the appropriate page [LINK]. As described there, I follow a two-year cycle of readings from Scripture and the Church Fathers that is available on-line, but the user may follow a different schedule or come up with their own.
For the exact relation of the seventeen-week cycle to the Liturgical Year, see this table:
|
WEEK 1
|
Psalms 1-13
|
Advent 1
|
|
OT 1/18
|
|
WEEK 2
|
Psalms 14-20
|
Advent 2
|
|
OT 2/19
|
|
WEEK 3
|
Psalms 21-29
|
Advent 3
|
|
OT 3/20
|
|
WEEK 4
|
Psalms 30-36
|
Advent 4
|
|
OT 4/21
|
|
WEEK 5
|
Psalms 37-44
|
Christmas 1*
|
|
OT 5/22
|
|
WEEK 6
|
Psalms 45-56
|
Christmas 2
|
Lent 1
|
OT 6/23
|
|
WEEK 7
|
Psalms 57-67
|
|
L2
|
OT 7/24
|
|
WEEK 8
|
Psalms 68-75
|
|
L3
|
OT 8/25
|
|
WEEK 9
|
Psalms 76-81
|
|
L4
|
OT 9/26
|
|
WEEK 10
|
Psalms 82-88
|
|
L5
|
OT 10/27
|
|
WEEK 11
|
Psalms 89-100
|
|
HW
|
OT 11/28
|
|
WEEK 12
|
Psalms 101-105I
|
|
Ea 1
|
OT 12/29
|
|
WEEK 13
|
Psalms 105II-112
|
|
E2
|
OT 13/30
|
|
WEEK 14
|
Psalms 113-118IX
|
|
E3
|
OT 14/31
|
|
WEEK 15
|
Psalms 118X-122
|
|
E4
|
OT 15/32
|
|
WEEK 16
|
Psalms 123-137
|
|
E5
|
OT 16/33
|
|
WEEK 17
|
Psalms 138-147**
|
|
E6
|
OT 17/34
|
* Christmas
1 = Week beginning on Christmas Day if Sunday, otherwise beginning the Sunday after
Christmas; Christmas 2 = Week beginning on New Years’ Day, otherwise
beginning the next Sunday (US Epiphany Sunday)
** Psalms 148-150 are not part of the Seventeen-Week Cycle.
The Lesson or Lessons after the Psalms may follow a variety of schedules appropriate to the liturgical season or day, as described on the appropriate page [LINK]. As described there, I follow a two-year cycle of readings from Scripture and the Church Fathers that is available on-line, but the user may follow a different schedule or come up with their own.
The text of the Psalms is not included here. The user may follow
the index and pray from a Bible or Psalter of his own choice. Links are,
however, provided, to an online repository of the 1963 Grail Psalms as used in
the Liturgy of the Hours. Most users – or, at least, those with any familiarity
with the LOTH – will, I presume, find them the most familiar and comfortable
translation for this type of prayer. Similarly, the texts of most prayers are
not provided here, but rather links to various sources across the Internet.
These may change from time to time as I come across more appropriate versions.
An effort will be made to link to translations that are a balance of sensibilities, traditional and consistent with the Grail Psalms, although a perfect
consistency is likely not attainable.
Overall, priority is given to the seasons of the Church year. A widget provided by Catholic Culture.com appears near the top of the ordo, however, as a reminder of what saint is commemorated on any given day.
Please note that no pretense is intended that this “Catholic Daily
Prayer” is a substitute for the Divine Office, which is indeed a liturgy, part
of the public prayer of the Church even if prayed individually. The various obligations
of clerics and religious to pray at least some part of the Liturgy of the Hours
(or approved variations) each day as participation in that official prayer of
the Church may not be fulfilled here.
This is at best a quasi-liturgical devotion drawing on elements of the “breviary”
as described above, being made available to those of the laity who perceive
needs or wants in line with those described above.
It is, above all, provided for the greater glory of God -- ad majorem gloriam Dei.
[1] Specifically, Psalms 57 (58), 82 (83), and
108 (109); Fr. Felix Just, S.J., provides a handy compilation of these and the “selected
verses from fifteen other psalms” on his page, “Psalms and Verses Omitted from
the Four-Week Psalter,” Catholic-Resources.org
[LINK].
He approvingly considers it “clear” why these psalms and verses were omitted. Msgr.
Charles Pope, however, “Is It Time to Restore the Full Psalter to the Liturgy
of the Hours,” Community in Mission
Blog (08 Jan 2017) [LINK], discusses the omissions as “problematic” and “troubling,” for very good reasons
that still stop short of bluntly pointing out what I consider the most obvious
reason they never should have been excised in the first place: that these Psalms
and verses are part of God’s inspired body of Revelation that He gave us for
our edification.
[2] Psalms are generally numbered according to
the Traditional Catholic sequence based on the Septuagint and the Vulgate. The
corresponding number in the Modern sequence, based on the Hebrew reckoning, is
usually provided parenthetically, but if such is not present, presume the
traditional numbering.
