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Is It Time to Restore the Full Psalter to the Liturgy of the Hours? Msgr. Charles Pope • January 8, 2017 • One of the great gifts of reading the Liturgy of the Hours (also called the Breviary) faithfully over the years faithfully is that the Scriptures become deeply impressed upon the mind, heart, memory, and imagination. This is especially true of the psalms that are repeated every four weeks, all year long, every year.But there are significant omissions in the modern Breviary. This is true not merely because of the loss of the texts themselves, but that of...

Praying the Divine Office on Holiday When You Haven’t Got Your Breviary With You by David Clayton on June 16, 2012 How do you pray the Liturgy of the Hours when the books are too heavy to put into your suitcase and your normal routine is disrupted? I have just returned from a visit to England and Spain to see my family. For various reasons I haven’t been able to leave the US for a couple of years. I couldn’t wait to see everyone again and I had a great time. Lots of time spent with family and friends, walks...

Reading From a homily by Saint Gregory Nazianzen We are soon going to share in the Passover We are soon going to share in the Passover, and although we still do so only in a symbolic way, the symbolism already has more clarity than it possessed in former times because, under the law, the Passover was, if I may dare to say so, only a symbol of a symbol. Before long, however, when the Word drinks the new wine with us in the kingdom of his Father, we shall be keeping the Passover in a yet more perfect way, and...

BBC: Second Vespers from the London Oratory for the Feast of St. Andrew by Shawn Tribe Readers will no doubt be interested to know that BBC Radio 3's Choral Evensong programme broadcast Second Vespers for the Feast of St Andrew today from the London Oratory. Here is the programme summary: Weds 30th Nov 2011 (rpt Sun 4th Dec 2011) London Oratory- Choral Vespers Organ Prelude: Intonazione octavo tono (Giovanni Gabrieli) Invitatory: Deus in adjutorium meum (Victoria) Antiphons & Psalms: 110, 113, 116, 126, 117 (Victoria) Hymn: Exsultet orbis gaudiis (Victoria) Antiphon: Cum pervenisset (Plainsong) Canticle: Magnificat primi toni (Victoria) Antiphon...

The treatise of St John Eudes on the kingdom of Jesus We must strive to follow and fulfil in ourselves the various stages of Christ’s plan as well as his mysteries, and frequently beg him to bring them to completion in us and in the whole Church. For the mysteries of Jesus are not yet completely perfected and fulfilled. They are complete, indeed, in the person of Jesus, but not in us, who are his members, nor in the Church, which is his mystical body. The Son of God wills to give us a share in his mysteries and somehow...

From a letter of Conrad of Marburg, Saint Elizabeth's spiritual director From this time onward Elizabeth’s goodness greatly increased. She was a lifelong friend of the poor and gave herself entirely to relieving the hungry. She ordered that one of her castles should be converted into a hospital in which she gathered many of the weak and feeble. She generously gave alms to all who were in need, not only in that place but in all the territories of her husband’s empire. She spent all her own revenue from her husband’s four principalities, and finally she sold her luxurious’ possessions...

From a sermon by Saint Augustine The just man will rejoice in the Lord and put his hope in him; the hearts of all good men will be filled with joy. We must surely have sung these words with our hearts as well as with our voices. Indeed, the tongue of the Christian expresses his deepest feelings when it addresses such words to God. The just man will rejoice, not in the world, but in the Lord. Light has dawned for the just, Scripture says in another place, and joy for the upright of heart. Were you wondering what reason...

A discourse by St Andrew of Crete Let us say to Christ: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the king of Israel. Let us hold before him like palm branches those final words inscribed above the cross. Let us show him honour, not with olive branches but with the splendour of merciful deeds to one another. Let us spread the thoughts and desires of our hearts under his feet like garments, so that entering us with the whole of his being, he may draw the whole of our being into himself and place the whole...

The treatise of St Fulgentius of Ruspe on the forgiveness of sins In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye as the final trumpet sounds, for the trumpet shall indeed sound, the dead shall rise incorruptible and we shall be changed. In saying “we,” Paul is indicating that the gift of that future change will also be given to those who during their time on earth are united to him and his companions by upright lives within the communion of the Church. He hints at the nature of the change when he says: This corruptible body must put on...

A commentary of St Augustine on Psalm 95 Then all the trees of the forest will exult before the face of the Lord, for he has come, he has come to judge the earth. He has come the first time, and he will come again. At his first coming, his own voice declared in the gospel: Hereafter you shall see the Son of Man coming upon the clouds. What does he mean by hereafter? Does he not mean that the Lord will come at a future time when all the nations of the earth will be striking their breasts in...

Pope Pius XI's encyclical "Ecclesiam Dei" In designing his Church God worked with such skill that in the fullness of time it would resemble a single great family embracing all men. It can be identified, as we know, by certain distinctive characteristics, notably its universality and unity. Continue reading on Examiner.com The Divine Office: He gave his life for the unity of the Church - Norfolk Catholic | Examiner.com

A letter of Sulpicius Severus Martin knew long in advance the time of his death and he told his brethren that it was near. Meanwhile, he found himself obliged to make a visitation of the parish of Candes. The clergy of that church were quarrelling, and he wished to reconcile them. Although he knew that his days on earth were few, he did not refuse to undertake the journey for such a purpose, for he believed that he would bring his virtuous life to a good end if by his efforts peace was restored in the church. Continue reading on...

Whoever conquers will not be harmed by the second death...

A sermon by St. Leo the Great.

Let us acknowledge God by our actions...

From today's

From Today's Office of Readings. Saint Hilary of Poitiers "This river of God, then, is brimful."Be blessed. Bro Joe

This is an online dynamic version of the Breviarium Romanum according to the rubrics of 1961... each office of each day is constructed on the fly so that all of the appropriate prayers, hymns, psalms, commemorations, etc. are displayed with no input required from the user or needing to follow different links to obtain the required information.

The Daily Psalms: Wednesday Douay Rheims Version   MATINS: First Nocturn   Psalm 44Eructavit Cor Meus The excellence of Christ's kingdom, and the endowments of his Church. 1 Unto the end, for them that shall be changed, for the sons of Core, for understanding. A canticle for the Beloved. 2 MY heart hath uttered a good word: I speak my works to the king: My tongue is the pen of a scrivener that writeth swiftly. 3 Thou art beautiful above the sons of men: grace is poured abroad in thy lips; therefore hath God blessed thee for ever. 4 Gird...

The Daily Psalms: Tuesday Douay Rheims Version   MATINS: First Nocturn   Psalm 34Judica Domine Nocentes Me David, in the person of Christ, prayeth against his persecutors: prophetically foreshewing the punishments that shall fall upon them. 1 For David himself. JUDGE thou, O Lord, them that wrong me: overthrow them that fight against me. 2 Take hold of arms and shield: and rise up to help me. 3 Bring out the sword, and shut up the way against them that persecute me: say to my soul: I am thy salvation. 4 Let them be confounded and ashamed that seek...