Category: daily office
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Paschal Hours
Christ is Risen! In the Eastern tradition, regular hourly prayers are suspended through bright week (from Pascha until the following Saturday). During that time the following Paschal Hours are read for all the “minor” hours – The midnight office, Prime, Terce, Sext and None and Compline – during the day (Matins, Vespers are also in special…
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Psalms as Liturgy
The Daily Office – that is the daily recitation of the 150 biblical poems known as The Psalms of David – has been an important part of my devotion life since I joined the Episcopal Church in 1980 or ’81. The parish priest at Grace Church, Father (now the Rev’d Canon) John Osgood, was an…
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Universal Call
THE FOLLOWING is the “Alternative Second Reading” from the Dominican Propers for the Feast of Bl Jane of Aza, which was celebrated on 2 August. She is the mother of St Dominic which, as Father Michael preached on Wednesday, means she is our grandmother. This reading hasn’t, really, anything to do with Bl Jane. I’m…
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Only Two Seasons
FROM THE OFFICE Of Readings for the 5th Saturday after Easter. I’m reminded of a comment made about my old Episcopal Parish. At St Gregory of Nyssa Church it seemed as if there were only two Church seasons: Easter and Easter is Comming. St Augustine appears to agree (emphasis added). Shabbat Shalom! From a discourse…
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Mystical Evolution
The Daily Office Propers for the Dominican Order contain some very interesting texts, indeed. Yesterday was the feast of All Saints of the Order of Preachers. I found this reading as the 4th or 5th alternate for the Office of Readings: From the Mystical Evolution of our brother, John Arintero. “Through new saints and prophets…
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Same Problems
Certain it is that the critical issues, the thorny problems that wait upon man’s solution, have remained the same for almost twenty centuries. And why? Because the whole of history and of life hinges on the person of Jesus Christ. Either men anchor themselves on Him and His Church, and thus enjoy the blessings of…
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St Mary in the Sabbath
IN THE WESTERN DAILY OFFICE and Mass there is a tradition of commemorating the Blessed Virgin on Saturdays outside of Lent. There are propers for the office as well as for votive Masses offered on these days. In the older Western Rite, this commemoration began with Vespers on Friday night with a special hymn and…
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Seeker Vespers
RECENTLY A FEW SOURCES (podcasts, etc) have called out that Vespers is supposed to be a part of Parish life especially on Sunday. I wondered what the source was for this claim and so I asked on Twitter. (When asking questions on Facebook one often addresses the “hive mind”. If doing so on Twitter, should…
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Sheer Grace
From a sermon by Saint Augustine, bishop(Sermo 185: PL 38, 997-999) Truth has arisen from the earth, and justice looked down from heaven Awake, mankind! For your sake God has become man. Awake, you who sleep, rise up from the dead, and Christ will enlighten you. I tell you again: for your sake, God became man. You…
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Preparing for Prayer
ON THE DOMINICAN Calendar today is the Feast of St Albert the Great, Bishop and Doctor of the Church. It is ranked as a Memorial in other places. Since it is a Feast it has its own readings from the propers of the Order. The following, On preparation for prayer from the treatise On the Manner…
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Consider What You Say
From the letter of Blessed Humbert of Romans On Regular Observance (Opera de Vita Regulari). This is the alternative Second Reading for the Office of Readings on the Memorial of Bl Mannes, the brother of St Dominic (18 August). This is from the Daily Office propers of the Order of Preachers. A brother should never…
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Sanctify Time
MY FIRST INTRODUCTION to the Divine Office was at a very “low” Episcopal parish which did Morning Prayer three Sundays a month. For the longest time I didn’t think of it as anything other than a liturgical version of the “Hymn Sandwich” common in other Protestant communities. This was true, but not in the way…
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Love in the Time of Covid-19
Dear Fathers in Christ – Some diocese are canceling public services. Some are not. No matter where you fall on the spectrum between APOCALYPSE and TOO MUCH HYPE there is something you can do to help us all: especially the folks in the places with no Masses. Put your Mass live on Facebook. Put your…
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Daily Readings 14 – 21 Dec AD 2013
The Daily Offices for Morning and Evening Prayer in the Rite of St Tikhon. The readings are as assigned by the Antiochian Western Rite Vicariate supplemented with other devotional material. Each MP/EP link will take you to a complete office, needing only the daily psalter or, for MP, the Martyrology link. Saturday Conception 8va (Advent Feria) –…
Orthoparadoxy 