Comments on: How to Pray the Daily Office from the Book of Common Prayer (Part 6) – The Prayers http://www.richardliantonio.com/blog/2009/09/how-to-pray-the-daily-office-from-the-book-of-common-prayer-part-6-the-prayers/ theological and devotional musings by Richard Liantonio Thu, 26 Jan 2012 03:16:12 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9 hourly 1 By: Fred http://www.richardliantonio.com/blog/2009/09/how-to-pray-the-daily-office-from-the-book-of-common-prayer-part-6-the-prayers/comment-page-1/#comment-16619 Fred Tue, 25 Oct 2011 01:03:06 +0000 http://www.richardliantonio.com/blog/?p=716#comment-16619 Thank you so much for providing this great explanation!! I've recently found my way to the Episcopal Church from the Roman Catholic Church, and wanted to continue my tradition of morning and evening prayer. You have provided an easy to understand rubric. What a gift to have the Book of Common Prayer! God bless you! Thank you so much for providing this great explanation!! I’ve recently found my way to the Episcopal Church from the Roman Catholic Church, and wanted to continue my tradition of morning and evening prayer. You have provided an easy to understand rubric. What a gift to have the Book of Common Prayer! God bless you!

]]> By: Richard http://www.richardliantonio.com/blog/2009/09/how-to-pray-the-daily-office-from-the-book-of-common-prayer-part-6-the-prayers/comment-page-1/#comment-14907 Richard Thu, 21 Jul 2011 05:46:43 +0000 http://www.richardliantonio.com/blog/?p=716#comment-14907 Shari - in terms of shortening the Office my thoughts are three: 1) Skip any part were it says "may be said" or such - these parts are optional 2) Shorten the amount of Psalms. The original method is to pray/sing the entire book of Psalms in sequence every 30 days. You could lengthen it to every 60 days by simply using, for example, the "Day 1 Morning Prayer" psalms on a given day and then using the "Day 1 Evening Prayer" psalms on the next day. Even shorter would just be to use one psalm during each office, although Psalm lengths do vary. The longer Psalms are broken up in the BCP, so that should help. 3) Use only one reading. If you pray morning and evening, you can use the OT reading in the AM and the Gospel in the PM for one year, then the next year use the NT in AM and Gospel in PM, or something like that. Another approach some take, is to say everything fast. I personally don't like this approach. It seems difficult for me to connect with God this way. I would rather limit the amount of material covered and pray it more slowly than rush through a ton of material. I would also recommend, on days you don't work, perhaps Saturday and Sunday, to schedule time when you can do a longer version of at least one of the offices and do it leisurely. Additionally - you might check out all of the prayer podcasts that are available for free online and in iTunes. One in particular, called "Morning Prayer from the Episcopal Church in Garrett County" prays through the BCP Morning Prayer each day with the invitatory psalm, one psalm appointed psalm and two readings and is about 15-18 minutes long. Something like this is perfect for listening to while doing something else, like getting ready for the day or driving in the car. Shari – in terms of shortening the Office my thoughts are three:
1) Skip any part were it says “may be said” or such – these parts are optional
2) Shorten the amount of Psalms. The original method is to pray/sing the entire book of Psalms in sequence every 30 days. You could lengthen it to every 60 days by simply using, for example, the “Day 1 Morning Prayer” psalms on a given day and then using the “Day 1 Evening Prayer” psalms on the next day. Even shorter would just be to use one psalm during each office, although Psalm lengths do vary. The longer Psalms are broken up in the BCP, so that should help.
3) Use only one reading. If you pray morning and evening, you can use the OT reading in the AM and the Gospel in the PM for one year, then the next year use the NT in AM and Gospel in PM, or something like that.

Another approach some take, is to say everything fast. I personally don’t like this approach. It seems difficult for me to connect with God this way. I would rather limit the amount of material covered and pray it more slowly than rush through a ton of material.

I would also recommend, on days you don’t work, perhaps Saturday and Sunday, to schedule time when you can do a longer version of at least one of the offices and do it leisurely.

Additionally – you might check out all of the prayer podcasts that are available for free online and in iTunes. One in particular, called “Morning Prayer from the Episcopal Church in Garrett County” prays through the BCP Morning Prayer each day with the invitatory psalm, one psalm appointed psalm and two readings and is about 15-18 minutes long. Something like this is perfect for listening to while doing something else, like getting ready for the day or driving in the car.

]]> By: Sherri Wood http://www.richardliantonio.com/blog/2009/09/how-to-pray-the-daily-office-from-the-book-of-common-prayer-part-6-the-prayers/comment-page-1/#comment-12548 Sherri Wood Sun, 03 Apr 2011 01:16:48 +0000 http://www.richardliantonio.com/blog/?p=716#comment-12548 Wow! I've been trying to get a handle on using the BCP for daily prayer for weeks now and raised my hands in surrender yesterday. I decided to search the web one last time this evening and stumbled on your site. This is the best, most clear explanation I found. It must have taken a tremendous amount of work. Thank you so much! Now for the zinger-- I work full time and don't have 4 hours a day for such a lengthy prayer. I just finished reading a book titled IN CONSTANT PRAYER by Robert Benson. I loved it. A very easy and pleasent read about getting back to the habit of the daily office. He pointed out that most of us don't have hours a day to devote to prayer. ( The spirit may be willing,but our modern work day gets in the way.) For people like me who long for this discipline, we need a way to shorten the office. He does his in about 12 minutes. I'll have to read it again to figure out how. Any suggestions you have would be appreciated. Thamnks again for a wonderful site. Wow! I’ve been trying to get a handle on using the BCP for daily prayer for weeks now and raised my hands in surrender yesterday. I decided to search the web one last time this evening and stumbled on your site. This is the best, most clear explanation I found. It must have taken a tremendous amount of work. Thank you so much!
Now for the zinger–
I work full time and don’t have 4 hours a day for such a lengthy prayer. I just finished reading a book titled
IN CONSTANT PRAYER by Robert Benson. I loved it. A very easy and pleasent read about getting back to the habit of the daily office. He pointed out that most of us don’t have hours a day to devote to prayer. ( The spirit may be willing,but our modern work day gets in the way.) For people like me who long for this discipline, we need a way to shorten the office. He does his in about 12 minutes. I’ll have to read it again to figure out how. Any suggestions you have would be appreciated.
Thamnks again for a wonderful site.

]]> By: Rev. Jeremy Phelps http://www.richardliantonio.com/blog/2009/09/how-to-pray-the-daily-office-from-the-book-of-common-prayer-part-6-the-prayers/comment-page-1/#comment-11914 Rev. Jeremy Phelps Thu, 24 Feb 2011 06:15:11 +0000 http://www.richardliantonio.com/blog/?p=716#comment-11914 Absolutely amazing! Well done brother. I have never seen or heard of a better or unbiased explanation the BCP. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. May the Lord richly bless you for your hard work on this! Cranmer would have been proud. Absolutely amazing! Well done brother. I have never seen or heard of a better or unbiased explanation the BCP. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. May the Lord richly bless you for your hard work on this! Cranmer would have been proud.

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