Pray the Liturgy of the Hours

Every Friday, the Classical Liberal Arts Academy publishes a “Weekly Guide to the Liturgy of the Hours”. This is a simple, one-sheet guide that can be printed, folded and kept in one’s prayer book for the week. To view/download this week’s guide, select the appropriate link below.

Why Pray the Liturgy of the Hours?

You attend Mass every Sunday, maybe several days each week. Those hours in the sanctuary are refreshing and peaceful. However, the rest of the day, the rest of the week feels chaotic and you’re not sure what to do. Maybe you add the Rosary, and that helps, but there is still a lot of time available, every day.

If you feel called to spend more time in prayer, and desire to do so, you should consider praying the Liturgy of the Hours.

What is the Liturgy of the Hours?

The Liturgy of the Hours is the official daily prayer of the Catholic Church. It is recited daily by monks, nuns and priests, but it is intended for all Catholics. It provides a complete system of prayers, devotional readings and hymns to sanctify the hours of everyday, according to the events celebrated in the Church’s liturgical calendar.

What’s Needed to Pray the Liturgy of the Hours?

The complete text of the Liturgy of the Hours is contained in a four volume set of prayer books, but a simpler one volume version is more appropriate for most laymen. The one volume prayer book, called “Christian Prayer”, costs under $40.00 and can be purchased on Amazon.com.

• 1 volume Christian Prayer (Imitation Leather, Amazon.com)
• 4 volume Liturgy of the Hours (Imitation Leather, Amazon.com)

If you would like to pray the Liturgy of the Hours on your computer or phone, please see the resources made available by our friends at www.divineoffice.org.

The Hours of Prayer

The hours of prayer are based on ancient Jewish traditions that we find mentioned in the New Testament. The hours of prayer divided the day into seven parts, each of which is consecrated by the word of God and prayer with the Liturgy of the Hours.

• 6:00am – Morning Prayer
• 9:00am – Midmorning Prayer
• 12:00pm – Midday Prayer
• 3:00pm  – Midafternoon Prayer
• 6:00pm – Evening Prayer
• 9:00pm – Night Prayer
• Anytime – Office of Readings

The hours above are provided to simply illustrate how the offices of the Liturgy of the Hours fill our days with prayer and allow us to “pray without ceasing”. (1 Thessalonians 5:17)

Those new to the Liturgy of the Hours should only concern themselves with Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer and Night Prayer, using the single volume prayer book (Christian Prayer).  Those interested in praying the daytime hours and the Office of Readings should do so using the 4 volume edition of the breviary. We provide weekly guides for both.

Track Your Daily Prayers

If you would like to track your daily progress in praying the Liturgy of the Hours, we invite you to enroll in our free Liturgy of the Hours course in the CLAA Study Center.  Click here to enroll.