Editor’s note: The responses below frequently quote the General Instruction of the Liturgy of the Hours verbatim without encumbering the text with repeated quotation marks. Readers are encouraged to consult the General Instruction for further details.
Q: When is the Office of Readings to be celebrated?
A: According to the General Instruction of the Liturgy of the Hours (GILH), the Office of Readings may be recited at any hour of the day (59). It can also be said as a night office of praise, either very early in the morning and before Morning Prayer or even during the night hours of the previous day, after Evening Prayer has been said (GILH, 58-59). The GILH also notes that all who maintain the character of the Office of Readings as a night office are to be commended.
Q: From where are the readings for the Office of Readings taken?
A: The First Reading is normally to be taken from the Proper of Seasons. On solemnities and feasts, however, it is taken from the Proper or the Common. On solemnities and feasts of saints a proper second reading is used; if there is none, the second reading is taken from the respective Common of Saints. On memorials of saints when the celebration is not impeded, the reading in connection with the saint replaces the current second reading (GILH, 66-67).
Q: Can I choose a different First Reading for the Office of Readings?
A: During Ordinary Time, on a particular day or for a few days in succession, it is permissible, for a good reason, to choose readings from those provided on other days or even other biblical readings, for example, on the occasion of retreats, pastoral gatherings, prayers for Christian unity, or other such events. Additionally, when the continuous reading is interrupted because of a solemnity or feast or special celebration, it is allowed, during the same week, taking into account the readings for the whole week, either to combine the parts omitted with others or to decide which of the texts are to be preferred (GILH, 248).
Q: Can I choose a different Second Reading for the Office of Readings?
A: There is an option to choose, with a good reason, another reading from the same season, in preference to the Second Reading appointed for the day. On weekdays in Ordinary Time and, if it seems opportune, even in the seasons of Advent, Christmas, Lent, and Easter, the choice is open for a semicontinuous reading of the work of a Father of the Church, in harmony with the biblical and liturgical context (GILH, 250).
Q: How can the Office of Readings be extended with a Vigil?
A: Those who desire, in accordance with tradition, to extend the celebration of the Office of Readings with a Vigil can do so on Sundays, solemnities, and feasts. The GILH notes that among these solemnities, Christmas and Pentecost are preeminent and that the celebration of Vigils is also useful on the occasion of pilgrimages (71, 73). The Office of Readings is then celebrated as usual up to the end of the readings. After the two readings but before the Te Deum, canticles should be added from the special appendix. Then the Gospel should be read; a homily on the Gospel may be added. After this, the Te Deum is sung and the prayer said. On solemnities and feasts, the Gospel is to be taken from the Lectionary for Mass; on Sundays, from the series on the paschal mystery in the appendix.
Q: Can a longer Scripture reading for Morning and Evening Prayer be used in place of the short reading? Can there be a homily?
A: The GILH permits freedom to choose a longer Scripture reading, either from the Office of Readings or from the Lectionary for Mass, especially in a celebration with a congregation (46). Additionally, on the occasion of retreats, pastoral gatherings, prayers for Christian unity, or other such events, more suitable or longer readings may be chosen (GILH, 248). The GILH also permits a “short homily” or a period of silence after the reading (45).
Q: How are the intercessions at Morning and Evening Prayer prayed?
A: The intercessions are so arranged that they can be adapted for celebration with a congregation or in a small community or for private recitation. The intercessions in a celebration with a congregation or in common are thus introduced by a brief invitation given by the priest or minister and designating the single response that the congregation is to repeat after each petition. Different methods can therefore be used for the intercessions. The priest or minister may say both parts of the intention and the congregation respond with a uniform response or a silent pause, or the priest or minister may say only the first part of the intention and the congregation respond with the second part. It is permissible to include particular intentions at both Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer (GILH, 188-193). There is also an appendix of shorter forms of the intercessions for use at Evening Prayer. These very brief intercessory prayers can replace the longer ones.
Q: Which psalms are used for the daytime hours?
A: Two psalmodies are provided: the current psalmody and the complementary psalmody. Those who pray one hour should use the current psalmody. Those who pray more than one hour should use the current psalmody at one hour and the complementary psalmody at the others. The current psalmody consists of three psalms (or parts in the case of longer psalms). The complementary psalmody consists of three sets of three psalms, chosen as a rule from the Gradual Psalms; these are also used on solemnities, the Easter Triduum, and days within the octave of Easter (GILH, 81-83).
Q: When is Night Prayer celebrated? Is there an Examination of Conscience at Night Prayer?
A: Night Prayer is the last prayer of the day, said before retiring, even if that is after midnight (GILH, 84). It is a laudable practice to have an examination of conscience before the hymn. In a celebration in common, this takes place in silence or as part of a penitential rite based on the formularies in the Roman Missal (GILH, 86).
Q: Which psalms are used for Night Prayer?
A: After Evening Prayer I of Sunday, the psalmody consists of Psalm 4 and Psalm 134; after Evening Prayer II of Sunday, it consists of Psalm 91. On the other days psalms are chosen that are full of confidence in the Lord; it is permissible to use the Sunday psalms instead, especially for the convenience of those who may wish to pray Night Prayer from memory (GILH, 88).
Q: Can any of the Hours be combined with Mass or other Hours?
A: Yes, the GILH (93-99) explains how to combine hours with Mass or other hours. Morning Prayer, Daytime Prayer, and Evening Prayer can be combined with Mass. Daytime Prayer and Evening Prayer can be prayed directly after Mass, after the Prayer after Communion. The Office of Readings can also be prayed immediately before another hour of the Office, especially Morning Prayer (GILH, 60). When this occurs, the prayer and acclamation at the end of the Office of Readings are omitted, as is the introduction to the other hour.
Q: How are the psalms said or sung?
A: At the beginning of each psalm, its own antiphon is always to be said or sung. Then the psalms are said or sung in one of three ways: directly, that is, all sing the entire psalm, or antiphonally, that is, two choirs or sections of the congregation sing alternate verses or strophes, or responsorially (particularly appropriate for the Benedicite canticle from Daniel). At the end of the psalm, the “Glory to the Father” is said or sung. The antiphon may be repeated at the end of the psalm. Alternatively, the antiphon may be repeated after each strophe of the psalm as well. This repetition is the norm for the Invitatory Psalm, except in private recitation, where it need only be prayed at the beginning and end of the psalm.
Q: What is the purpose of the captions printed in italics under the Psalm number?
A: These captions, usually a quotation from the New Testament or from the Fathers of the Church, are added to foster prayer in the light of Christ’s new revelation and are an invitation to pray the psalms in their Christological meaning. They are intended as an aid to prayer to explain the psalms’ meaning and their import for the personal life of the believer. When the Office of Ordinary Time is recited, not sung, the captions may be used in place of the proper antiphons (GILH, 111, 114).
Q: Why is a psalm divided up in several sections at some hours?
A: When a psalm may be divided because of its length into several sections within one and the same hour, an antiphon is given for each section. This is to provide variety, especially when the hour is sung, and also to help toward a better understanding of the riches of the psalm. Still, it is permissible to say or sing the complete psalm without interruption, using only the first antiphon (GILH, 115, 124).
Q: Our parish prays Sunday Evening Prayer with the parish community. Must we use the proper psalms?
A: In place of the Sunday psalms of the current week, there is an option to substitute the Sunday psalms of a different week, and, in the case of an office celebrated with a congregation, even other psalms especially chosen to lead the people step by step to an understanding of the psalms (GILH, 247).
Q: How is the Lord’s Prayer prayed?
A: In accord with ancient tradition, the Lord’s Prayer has a place suited to its dignity, namely, after the intercessions at Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer, the hours most often celebrated with the people. Therefore, the Lord’s Prayer will be said with solemnity on three occasions during the day: at Mass, at Morning Prayer, and at Evening Prayer. The Lord’s Prayer is said by all after a brief introduction, if this seems opportune (GILH, 194-196).
Q: Is there a place for silence in the Liturgy of the Hours?
A: Yes, it is permissible, as occasion offers and prudence suggests, to have an interval of silence. It may come either after the repetition of the antiphon at the end of the psalm or after the reading (or homily), either before or after the responsory. Care must be taken to avoid the kind of silence that would disturb the structure of the office or annoy and weary those taking part—for instance, overly long moments of silence, such that it becomes awkward, or moments of silence placed in awkward places. In individual recitation there is even greater freedom to pause in meditation on some text that moves the spirit; the office does not on this account lose its public character (GILH, 201-203).
Q: If I am bound to pray the Liturgy of the Hours and visit a religious community with a different calendar or arrangement of the psalms, is my obligation fulfilled in praying with them?
A: Yes, when clerics or religious who are obliged under any title to pray the Divine Office join in an office celebrated in common according to a calendar or rite different from their own, they fulfill their obligation in respect to the part of the office at which they are present (GILH, 242).
Q: Are votive offices permitted in the Liturgy of the Hours?
A: Yes, for a public cause or out of devotion, except on solemnities, the Sundays of the seasons of Advent, Lent, and Easter, Ash Wednesday, Holy Week, the octave of Easter, and November 2 (All Souls’ Day), a votive office may be celebrated, in whole or in part: for example, on the occasion of a pilgrimage, a local feast, or the external solemnity of a saint (GILH, 245). Like the Saturday commemoration of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Mass, the Liturgy of the Hours permits an optional memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary with its proper readings on Saturdays in Ordinary Time on which optional memorials are permitted (GILH, 240).
Q: How and when does one use the Office for the Dead in the Liturgy of the Hours?
A: The Office for the Dead is the proper Office on the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls’ Day). Outside of this commemoration, similar to Masses for the Dead, the Office for the Dead may be celebrated when the news of a death is first received, on the day of a funeral, on the day of final burial, or on the first or subsequent anniversaries. It could also be prayed as a votive office, similar to a Daily Mass for the Dead. While the rubrics do not list when the Office for the Dead may be used, it would be logical for it to follow the same rubrics for the various Masses for the Dead.
Q: When can I change certain elements in the Liturgy of the Hours?
A: The readings, prayers, songs, and intercessions appointed for the weekdays of a particular season may be used on other weekdays of the same season. For spiritual or pastoral advantage, the psalms appointed for a particular day may be replaced with others from the same hour of a different day. There are also circumstances occasionally arising when it is permissible to choose suitable psalms and other texts in the way done for a votive office (GILH, 251-252).
Q: What can be omitted from the Hours?
A: The Invitatory Psalm with its antiphon may be omitted when the invitatory is the prelude to Morning Prayer (GILH, 35). When the Invitatory Psalm with its antiphon is recited before Morning Prayer, the introductory verse “God, come to my assistance” and the “Glory to the Father” are omitted (GILH, 41). The responsory at Morning and Evening Prayer may be omitted (GILH, 49). Additionally, the customary reprise of the whole responsory may be omitted when the hour is not being sung, unless the sense requires this repetition (GILH, 171). The last part of the Te Deum, that is, from the verse, “Save your people, Lord” to the end, may be omitted (GILH, 68). The closing acclamation of the Office of Readings and Daytime Prayer, “Let us praise the Lord. And give him thanks,” may be omitted in private recitation (GILH, 69, 79).
