NothingAndNobody

Hi all-- just wondering if anybody knows what's going on here. I don't have the physical books, but I use the iBreviary app. Downloading August 5, the Vespers seems to be the vespers for a Wednesday feria, nothing about the Transfiguration Feast of August 6 at all. I checked Universalis and got the same result. This...surprises me, somewhat. Is there really no 1st Vespers for the Transfiguration? If so, why do both apps seem to not have it?

Obviously there are big, big differences in the liturgical seasons. Advent is a time of repentance, a time when we look back to the Prophets awaiting the coming of the Messiah. This period after Ascension is still one of Easter Joy, where we celebrate the "glory and hope" that is Our Lord's Ascension, and we still sing the Easter alleluia.

However, this year I have been really struck by the sense that this week is almost like a "little Advent", different in some ways, but spiritually fulfilling and enriching if we approached it a little more like we would in December.

First, this is a time of waiting. Celebration too, of course, but we with the Apostles gathered in prayer, await for the

Hello all-- God's grace and peace to you, and may the holy Mother of God bless you.

I wanted to share 2 "traditions" that I've developed over the years of praying the Rosary--I put 'traditions' in quotes because I know they aren't official traditions, they're just something I've developed in my prayer life, and I want to offer them for 2 reasons. First, in case anyone does something similar already and wants to share, and second, in case anyone would be interested in adding this to their devotional lives.

I am convinced that for most of us--at least, for me--private devotion is improved by discussion and sharing with other people. Also, let me just put a quick caveat here that nothing I

Hi all--I feel like I SHOULD know the answer to this, but I'm not sure.

Alright so I normally pray the 5-decade rosary each day. But sometimes, especially, on feasts of Our Lady, such as today, I want to pray all 20 decades over the course of the day.

In such a scenario, do you typically repeat the start/ending prayers after each set of 5? Or only once each. As in, does it look like:

1. Creed/Our Father/ Hail Mary 3x

2. Joyful mysteries 1-5

3. Salve / Rosary Prayer

4. Creed/Our Father/ Hail Mary 3x

5. Luminous mysteries 1-5

6. Salve / Rosary Prayer

7. Creed/Our Father/ Hail Mary 3x

8. Sorrowful mysteries 1-5

9. Salve / Rosary Prayer

10. Creed/Our Father/ Hail Mary 3x

11. Glori

Hi all, sorry for the slightly confusing question. Someone close to me is dying, and it just wouldn’t feel quite “right” to me to say the office of the dead for them one day. Can I pray it multiple days, assuming Sundays and other feasts get their regular hours? Is there a suggested term (3 days? 1 week?) if it’s for a relative? Not obliged to say the office, just a lay person, so probably I am allowed, but is this encouraged? And if so, how much is a good amount?

In the name of the + Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
God, + come to my assistance, Lord make haste to help me.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever, amen.

O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, who made your life one of continual prayer to the Father, who instructed us through the blessed Apostle Paul to 'pray without ceasing,' teach me to pray with a clean heart.

Our Father...
Hail Mary...
I believe in God...

I.
O Lord Jesus Christ, foretold by the message of the archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary, have mercy on me, a sinner. (x5)
II.
O Lord Jesus Christ, bo

Today's first reading at Mass describes for us the death of Sarah in Genesis 23. My commentary pointed out that when Abraham buys the burial plot from the Hittites, it is the first "bit of the land promised to him and his descendants" that he owns.

This got me thinking.

It is not birth in the promised land, nor sacrifice, nor marriage, nor any other significant human activity that gets a "foothold" in the land. It is through death. And so it is that our true homeland of heaven was not made possible by sacrifice, or following the law, or even being baptized by water (a la John), it was opened by the death of Jesus: and is ultimately attainable for ourselves through each of our own holy de

Hey all. Finding it surprisingly hard to find any recorded/filmed/streamed versions of any of the hours aside from Compline, oddly? I'd really like to watch some, if possible, just to help see how they look when prayed. Does anyone know of any recordings of Matins, Laudes, and Prima in particular?

Hi all-- I'm not sure if this is blindingly obvious, or even if it's correct, but I've never heard this before, and I wanted to offer it to you for reflection.

In yesterday's feast of the Nativity of St John the Baptist, much was made of the fact that the angel announces to Elizabeth that her son is to be called "John," the people are surprised, because it isn't a family name, but he is named John anyways. When I've seen commentary/ heard homilies on this line, it usually takes the form just of like, this shows how the child was to be set apart as something special and different, he is the forerunner of the Messiah, not just a typical average man. And "Jonathan" means "gift of God," an enti

I hope everyone has a joyful and holy feast of the Trinity, today, one of my favorite days in the church year.

It is only through an act of supernatural, divine love that we are allowed to 'know' the nature of God -- no one else figured this out, it was revealed by Jesus Christ, who is God the Son and by God the Holy Spirit to us.

But God revealed himself as the Trinity because for us to love him, he desires to be known by us.

Therefore, this Sunday's feast is not only the commemoration of a fact, it is a reminder that God condescends to be known by us. It is conceivable that he could have designed salvation without us knowing the most ultimate reality-- but he did not. When you contemp

For quite a long time now, I have had this sense from God that I ought to become a “Prayer Writer,” which is not a term I fully yet understand, but which has been stuck in my head. I feel a lot of enthusiasm towards this, but I have not gone on to write any yet, because of a few things that are holding me back. Let me offer them now:

1. The Church is already rich in devotions, most originating from actual great Saints. Why would I be able to add to that?
2. it feels like a potential source of pride.
3. Like in the letter of St James, those who instruct others are taking on a bigger risk to their own souls. What if I get something wrong?

And yet, despite all that,

1. The church can always

Hello dear fellow Catholics! This Sunday (June 15th) is the feast of the Holy Trinity, where we celebrate the glorious mystery of the nature of God which has been revealed to us.

I was struck by the fact that the Athanasian Creed (quicumque vult...) which people like to recite on this Feast Day, is...in some ways not ideally served by a rather archaic translation that I've always found kind of messy to read. So I thought I'd throw together a slightly easier version. This text dates back to probably 415 AD, it is not Athanasian in the sense of "written by Athanasius himself," but it defends the ideas of the Trinity & incarnation as set forth by Athanasius against the Arians.

I find it to be

Hello fellow Christians! This Sunday (June 15th) is the feast of the Holy Trinity, where we celebrate the glorious mystery of the nature of God which has been revealed to us.

I was struck by the fact that the Athanasian Creed (quicumque vult...) which people like to recite on this Feast Day, is...in some ways not ideally served by a rather archaic translation that I've always found kind of messy to read. So I thought I'd throw together a slightly easier version. This text dates back to probably 415 AD, it is not Athanasian in the sense of "written by Athanasius himself," but it defends the ideas of the Trinity & incarnation as set forth by Athanasius against the Arians.

It is, as far as

Hi all! Fairly basic question, but.

When I started praying the LOTH I had an app, but no instructions. Daytime Prayer confused me, because of the daytime prayers & then also the Complementary Psalmody. But how do you know when to use one or the other?

What I decided on back then, when I was young, and, again, had no instructions, was this system:

Midmorning prayer: The first "assigned" daytime Psalm with proper antiphon to that day, + Ps 120, 121, 122 with standard antiphons ("I cried out, and the Lord heard me," e.g.)
Midday prayer: the second "assigned" daytime Psalm with proper antiphon to that day, + Ps 123, 124, 125 with standard antiphons ("You dwell in the heavens, have mercy on

St Paul the Apostle writes:

For see your vocation, brethren, that there are not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble: But the foolish things of the world hath God chosen, that he may confound the wise; and the weak things of the world hath God chosen, that he may confound the strong. And the base things of the world, and the things that are contemptible, hath God chosen, and things that are not, that he might bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his sight.

And St John the Baptist, the greatest of those born of women, says the same thing even more succinctly:

He must increase, but I must decrease.

Some of us have slipped through th