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The purpose of
this page is to give you that same overview but with some "how to"
information thrown in. First, there is the "Morning and Evening Prayer
of the Liturgy of the Hours, either in common or in private. These
celebrations are to be preferred at the fraternity meeting." Most Secular
Franciscans (SF) use the Christian Prayer (CP) book, while other
Franciscans, usually those in religous life, use the 4-Volume Liturgy of
the Hours (LH). There is no different between the two, except that
the LH also lists the "Office of Readings" and all the alternate prayers for
various seasons, but it does not have the music section found in some
editions of CP. There are also shortened forms available.
Generally, at
the first "Hour" of the day, and for SF this would be Morning Prayer, the
Invitatory is prayed. This consists of the following prayer: "Lord, open
my lips", "My mouth will proclaim your praise." (When praying with
two or more people, the first part is said by one side, and the second part
by the other side; when praying alone, the both are said)
The Antiphon
given generally before MP in CP, or before Office of Readings in LH, is then
said and repeated after each strophe of the Invitatory Psalm. This may be
either Ps. 95, 100, 67 or 24. All Psalms are followed by "Glory to the
Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen." (Note that this is a different
ending than that traditionally said when praying the Rosary, for example).
When other
"Hours" are started, the following is said instead of the Invitatory.
"God come to my assistance. Lord make haste to help me. " This is
followed by the Glory Be, as above.
MP or EP begin
with a hymn. Certain hymn numbers are suggested and should be used. Then
there are three Psalms with their Antiphons. When you're praying in
community, generally the following scheme is used in alternating prayer.
There
are two sides or groups of people. Perhaps those who sit at one side
of the table vs. those on the other side of the table. One person on
each side is chose to intone the Antiphon and the first line of each
Psalm.
Leader
on Side A: Reads 1st Antiphon and then 1st Line of the Psalm.
All on Side A: pray the remainder of the first strophe of the Psalm.
All on Side B: pray the next strophe, and so on.
The Glory Be is alternated also.
If there is a Psalm-Prayer, the Leader on Side A reads it.
All (both A and B) repeat the Antiphon at the end of the Psalm
Then the
Leader on Side B is next and All on Side B carry on with the first
strophe, and the whole thing repeats itself with the next Psalm.
When you are
praying alone, you pray all of it. Now we come to the next mayor division,
the "Reading." If a priest or deacon is present, they will read the Reading,
otherwise, the Minister of the Fraternity will read the Reading. If not
present, the Leader on side A will read the Reading.
Each reading
(no matter which "Hour" they occur in) always have a responsory. This is
said as it is printed in the book with one exception. After the Glory Be,
the usual ending is NOT said, but the next line of the responsory is
said.
The comes the
Antiphon with the Gospel Canticle Benedictus (Morning Prayer), or
Magnificat
(Evening Prayer). After the Gospel Canticle come the Intercessions.
The
Intercessions often cause confusion as to the proper way to pray them. There
are two ways. Generally if a large group is praying the Office, such as
perhaps a whole congregation, the response in Italics is used, and
two cantors pray the first and second part of each intercession. In smaller
groups, e.g. a SFO Monthly meeting, often, one half prays the first part of
the intercession and the other prays the other part (after the long dash)
and the response in Italics is used only after the first intercession. Also,
intercessions may be added. When you add intercessions it is OK to pray for
someone who has cancer, for example, but we generally include all others who
are suffering similarly. This is the prayer of the Church, not of any single
individual. For example: We lift up to You, my God, my cousin Thelma who has
cancer and all those who are suffering with cancer. The response would then
be the versicle in Italics.
After the
Intercessions the Our Father follows, and the concluding prayer. For
MP and EP, the very last prayer (after the concluding prayer) is the
blessing. If a priest or deacon is present, he will take care of that. For
group or single recitation, all generally pray in unison: "May the Lord
Bless us, keep us from all evil, and lead us to everlasting life." Amen.
◊
Frequent page
turning seems to go with praying the LH (especially) and CP, to some extent.
This is not such a big deal as it seems provided someone can show you.
Ordinary time is the easiest. The page turning concerns the Office of
Readings and since Christian Prayer does not feature that Hour, the Secular
Franciscan is only pretty safe grounds.
Generally, Solemnities are
entirely "Proper" - these have their own text, or the deviations from these
texts is noted in the Rubrics (directions in red), usually with a page
number. There is one exception: Sundays. Sundays are also Solemnities. The
Gospel Canticle with its Antiphon are almost always someplace else (in the
Proper of that Sunday).
On Solemnities and Feasts, the
Psalms in MP are almost always those of Sunday, Week I. And also, the entire
office is taken from the Proper of Saints (except for Sundays and Liturgical
Holidays). So if the Saint is a Martyr, the Office of Martyrs is used.
Obligatory Memorials: These
will use the Psalms of the day and everything from the Reading onwards will
appear in the Proper (as above, based on what the Saint(s) was, either a
Martyr, Pastor, or whatever).
Optional Memorials: As the
name implies, these may be said. Usually, one can say the Office of the
weekday. Sundays always have precedence over everything else except where
noted otherwise.
◊
The Little Office of the
Blessed Virgin is another form of daily prayer for Secular Franciscans.
Since there are several editions (those with somewhat archaic English and
those that are more modern) there is some difference but in general, the
structure of the Little Office of the BVM is based on the Liturgy of the
Hours. There's much less variations and almost no page turning.
◊
Saint Francis composed the Office of
the Passion. This is found in several places. It is found in the Ritual, and
also in a separate book: "The Geste of the Great King," by Laurent Galliant,
OFM and Andre Cirini, OFM. The latter is perhaps more useful because it has
hymns and hymn tones and a structure of how to pray it which is not
difficult to understand. The layout is explained in an index in the front,
that lists applicable psalms by Liturgical Season and by day, depending on
the number of 'Hours' the user wishes to pray, for example, 7, 3, 2 or 1.
'2' would apply to those wishing to pray only Morning and Evening prayer on
a daily basis.
◊
The Office of the Twelve Our
Fathers is perhaps the simplest to pray. One then prays the Our Father, Hail
Mary and Glory Be, 12 times. The "Secular Franciscan Companion" has a number
of these with little antiphons, however, this is not really considered a
Liturgical Office anymore. This is perhaps something that a hospitalized
Franciscan could pray, or when one is traveling. |
