Liturgy of the Hours Details (Help please!)
  • emac3183
    Posts: 31
    Hi all!
    We're doing sung Office and Morning Prayer (NO) for Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday, and this is really the only time of year we do it. So a few questions came up:

    1. Much of the posture is very clear, but according to the General Instruction on the Liturgy of the Hours 265: "While the psalms and other songs with their antiphons are being said, the community sits or stands according to custom."
    We have no custom established here, and I'm making the liturgy guides now.
    What have you seen done for posture during the psalms? What works well?

    2. When combining Office and Morning Prayer, do you use "God, come to my assistance/Lord, make haste to help me" at the start of Morning Prayer? Do you sing another hymn? Or do you simply go directly into the psalmody?
  • davido
    Posts: 874
    1. Usually people sit
    Thanked by 1igneus
  • smvanroodesmvanroode
    Posts: 967
    1. There are different practices: you can sit when the psalmody begins (i.e. after the hymn), up until the Benedictus antiphon. But I know communities where they remain standing until the second half-verse of the first psalm begins. And there are communities where they arise at the last half-verse of each psalm, in order to stand (and bow) at the doxology, and then remain standing until the second half-verse of the next psalm begins.

    2. You can combine the Invitatory and Morning Prayer. You sing "Lord, open my lips", Psalm 95 (or 100, 67 or 24) with its antiphon and then the hymn of Morning Prayer, followed by the psalmody.
  • emac3183
    Posts: 31
    I found a helpful link:
    https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/combining-office-of-readings-and-morning-prayer-4318

    It sounds like the order should be this when combining the Office of Readings and Morning Prayer (According to GILH 99):
    — "Lord open our lips ...";
    — Invitatory psalm with antiphon;
    — Morning Prayer hymn (or Office hymn if singing both)
    — Office of Readings psalmody;
    — Versicle and response;
    — 1st Reading; responsory;
    — 2nd Reading; responsory;
    — Morning Prayer hymn (if not already sung)
    — Morning Prayer psalmody;
    — Reading;
    — Short responsory;
    — Benedictus;
    — Intercessions;
    — The Lord's Prayer;
    — Concluding prayer;
    — Conclusion.
    Thanked by 1josephw
  • igneusigneus
    Posts: 354
    We're doing sung Office and Morning Prayer (NO) for Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday, and this is really the only time of year we do it.


    Then it's advisable to sit throughout the psalms, lest postures become the thing occupying everyone's attention.
    Thanked by 2emac3183 a_f_hawkins
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