ORDO WEEK 31 WEDNESDAY EVENING PRAYER


SAINT GABRIEL HOURS

The Good News:

Praying with Christ Every Day. 

Anytime. Anywhere. With Anyone. 



WEDNESDAY EVENING PRAYER

  WEEK THIRTY-ONE OF ORDINARY TIME




NOVEMBER 6

PSALTER WEEK III

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VIRTUAL RESOURCES

Virtual resources provide more than the dry bones of the liturgical text. They celebrate the Hours with sounds and images. Most importantly they provide community, both community with those who produced the sounds and images, and community with those who celebrate the Hours with the same sounds and images at various times and places.  

This website contains two posts per day. one for Morning Prayer and one for Evening Prayer. 

The post for each hour contains both a link (DivineOffice.org) with the complete text of the Hour recited by a small group, and a link (SingtheHours.org) with the complete sung text of the Hour, mostly by a single cantor.  By clinking on either of these two links you can celebrate the Hour without making any other choices.   YOU DO NOT NEED ANY OTHER BOOK OR BOOKLET or other virtual resources. 

Breviaries which provide the liturgical texts for the Hours have multiple ribbons to help switch between sections of the breviary. Word on Fire provides a monthly booklet containing the texts for Morning and Evening Prayer. It reads straight through just like a book, except for the Hymns which are in the back of the book. WHILE YOU CAN USE THEIR BOOKLET WITHOUT VIRTUAL RESOURCES, THIS WEBSITE HELPS YOU INTEGRATE VIRTUAL RESOURCES WITH THE BOOKLET.  

Each post also contains the following YouTube links: two additional alternatives for the beginning Hymn, an alternative for each psalm of the Hour, an alternative Gospel Canticle and alternative Lord's Prayer. Each of these sample alternatives has a link to a large selection of alternatives.

Becoming skillful at using these virtual resources 
for both personal and communal prayer is the major goal of this website. 

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FULL ROMAN RITE SERVICES

Three Models (Options) for Evening Prayer (Vespers):

Praying with Christ Every Day Everywhere will be greatly helped by a variety of models each illustrated here by a particular option. 

Becoming skillful at understanding and adapting these models 
for both personal and communal prayer is a major goal of this website. 

The Instruction for the Liturgy of the Hours promotes both recitation in common as well as singing the Hours. 

The first model below emphasizes recitation in common. The second model emphasizes the sung nature of the celebration. The third model below with its easy-to- read monthly booklet is very suitable for personal meditative prayer and study, including marking the text. Don't throw the booklets away! 

Each of the three Options contains the full text of the Roman Rite for Evening Prayer. 

Each of the three Options has a beginning hymn. These are noted below as an aid to choosing among options.  With a little practice, one can begin with one option and its hymn, then switch to another option.

RECITATION IN COMMON MODEL

DIVINE OFFICE.ORG OPTION

Excellent model of small (household size) community reciting the office with sung hymn at the beginning. Experience the Hours as community prayer even when praying alone. 



Hymn: "O God Whose Hand Hath Spread the Sky"
translation by John M Neale of "Caeli Deus sanctissime" 
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COMPLETELY SUNG MODEL

*SING THE HOURS OPTION*

Excellent model of totally sung office, mostly by one very talented young person. His father is an excellent translator of Latin hymns. Although they use some Latin, there is always an English translation. If English is preferred, either pause the Latin after a verse to pray the English text or mute the Latin and pray the English text.



LATIN Hymn: "Caeli Deus sanctissime.
LATIN Gospel Canticle & Lord's Prayer
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PERSONAL MEDITATION MODEL

*WORD ON FIRE OPTION*

Bishop Barron's organization produces a monthly booklet that contains Morning, Evening, and Night Prayer for each day. It reads straight through like a book except for the beginning hymns for each hour which are all in the back of the booklet. Try using a prayer card instead of a ribbon!

Below is a close approximation to the hymn they have chosen. Often the video has more or different verses. Sometimes the translation and or the tune will be different.  Unfortunately, sometimes the choice of hymn has to be changed due to the lack of available videos, or last year's has been used. 
 

 WORD ON FIRE BOOKLET: NOVEMBER 2024, pages 230-239

Come, Ye Thankful People, Come (Tune: St George's Windsor - 4vv) [



Text, Music and Piano Accompaniment

HYMN SELECTED FROM MY PERSONAL FAVORITES

This fourth hymn option is strongly influenced by the blog author's liturgical music collection (first vinyl discs, then cassettes, finally CDs). For decades this musical collection has supported the celebration of the Hours. Now with YouTube videos, anyone can start a blog like this to link to their favorite hymns for the celebration of the Hours.  

For You a Song Is Born


The Monks of Weston Priory - Topi


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THE FOUR WEEK PSALTER 

The psalms were the prayers of Jesus and his disciples. Under the influence of monasticism, praying the whole 150 psalms each week became the norm in both Eastern and Western Christianity.

Since Vatican II, the Roman Rite Liturgy of the Hours has spread the Book of Psalms over four weeks rather than one. The practice of praying the psalms in order has been abandoned in favor of psalms specifically selected for Morning and Evening Prayer. 

 A major goal of this website is greater understanding
 of the Four Week Psalter and its psalms.

As noted in the General Instruction, there is an ancient tradition of personal meditation and prayer at the end of each psalm. There are many videos on the internet with psalms sung in a variety of ways, using different languages and translations, and drawing from different musical and spiritual traditions. Some presentations have beautiful slides or videos that can enhance and interpret the psalm.

VIDEOS FOR THIS HOUR'S PSALMS

The video selections are intended as a stimulus to personal prayer and meditation in the period after the group have recited the psalm in the first option, or the cantor has sung the psalm in the second option, or while a person is looking at the written psalm in the third option.

PSALM 126

  


PSALM 127 

 
 

Psalm videos were selected to provide as much variety as possible while maintaining substantial ritual consistency by using the same authors or similar musical pieces. Preference was given to videos that covered most of the psalm. No attempt has been made to judge accuracy of translations. Those celebrating should have experienced the official text.        


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LONGER READINGS

FROM TOMORROW'S MASS

THURSDAY OF WEEK 31 IN ORDINARY TIME

 PHIL 3:3-8A

Brothers and sisters:
We are the circumcision, 
we who worship through the Spirit of God,
who boast in Christ Jesus and do not put our confidence in flesh,
although I myself have grounds for confidence even in the flesh..

LK 15:1-10

The tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to Jesus,
but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying,
“This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” 
So Jesus addressed this parable to them.
“What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them
would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert
and go after the lost one until he finds it?

CONTINUOUS READING: PHILIPPIANS



Against Legalistic Teachers.

Paul’s Autobiography

Righteousness from God

Forward in Christ.

Wrong Conduct and Our Goal.[


CONTINOUS READING: GOSPEL OF LUKE 


LUKE CHAPTER 15

The Parable of the Lost Sheep.

The Parable of the Lost Coin.s

The Parable of the Lost Son. 




THE GOSPEL CANTICLE 

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THE LORD'S PRAYER





The Lord's Prayer - ICEL Chant 


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GUIDE TO PAGES ON THIS SITE

In addition to time and date stamped posts, such as one for Morning Prayer and one for Evening Prayer for each day, Blogger allows users to create pages to provide a framework for understanding and using the posts.  The pages for this site are under construction.

A guide to the future PAGES on the site is at the bottom of each post. The guide contains information about each page and relates them to one another. New pages and updated pages will also be noted.

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DIVINE OFFICE / LITURGY OF THE HOURS

is the Prayer of Christ and the Church

"Christ Jesus, high priest of the new and eternal covenant, taking human nature, introduced into this earthly exile that hymn which is sung throughout all ages in the halls of heaven. He joins the entire community of mankind to Himself, associating it with His own singing of this canticle of divine praise."  (Vatican II Constitution on Sacred Liturgy, #86)

"For he continues His priestly work through the agency of His Church, which is ceaselessly engaged in praising the Lord and interceding for the salvation of the whole world. She does this, not only by celebrating the Eucharist, but also in other ways, especially by praying the Divine Office."  (Vatican II Constitution on Sacred Liturgy, #86)

"Lauds as Morning Prayer and Vespers as Evening Prayer are the two hinges on which the daily office turns; hence they are to be considered as the chief hours and are to be celebrated as such." (Vatican II Constitution on Sacred Liturgy, #89) 

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FUNDAMENTAL DISCERNMENT QUESTION

How can we
as individuals, families, groups and communities
 use virtual resources such as those above, 
to celebrate in various ways
 the Hours, the Prayer of Christ, 
Every Day, Everywhere
Anytime with Anyone?

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BASIC DISCERNMENT QUESTIONS

Time, Television and the Hours

Do I have time to pray the Hours?

FIFTEEN MINUTES

How much time should I spend in formal prayer each day?

Time Management Principles

How to pray the Hours?

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BEGINNING PRACTICES

Discerning How to Use the Resources on This Site
Seven days, Fifteen minutes a Day
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BASIC PRACTICES

Celebrating the Gospel Canticles

Praise and Thanksgiving; Gospel Canticle.
 Conversion and Petition; the Lord’s Prayer

Celebrating the Psalms

The Prayers of Jesus and His disciples


Celebrating with Hymns

Songs of the People of God


Option of Longer Readings

Lectionary Readings


Silence

Listening to creation, our hearts, and hearts of others

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ADVANCED PRACTICES

Keeping a Journal of the Hours

Underlining text, Word documents, a Blog


A Thirty Day Retreat

Discerning the place of the Hours in our lives?


Bible Study

Integrating personal and group bible study with the Hours


Office of the Dead

Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer

For Funerals and Votive Offices



Centering the Hours on the Eucharist

Combining the Hours with Mass


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SPIRITUALITY 

by Jack Rakosky