Helping Ribbons and Guidance

Imagine there's a book you've been longing to read. You've heard so much about it and are excited to begin the story inside. But when you open the cover and start to read you find yourself very confused. Apparently the book is not meant to be read on consecutive pages. For some reason the author has written some parts of the story on one page with the next part of the story some 50 pages later. The next part of the story can be found in the back of the book followed by a section in the beginning. While each part is labeled accurately you find it extremely difficult to figure out how to read such a seemingly disorganized mess. Surely no one would blame you for putting down the book, never to see it again.

This is how someone picking up and trying to pray the Liturgy of the Hours for the first time feels. Different parts of the prayer are on different pages. The prayers for certain feast days are in one part of the book while prayers for week days are in another. In other sections one can find special prayers to be used in Advent, Christmas, Lent, or Easter. There are also hymns, prayers for certain types of saints' feast days (Pastor, virgin, etc.,) and a small section with instructions. One's immediate reaction is to be overwhelmed.

Thankfully the book comes with a series of ribbons with which to mark the different sections of prayers. The ribbons are different colors, and one can use whichever color is wanted for each section.

A small guide for each version of the Office can be purchased which is also invaluable in keeping track of which sections of prayers are appropriate for which calendar day in the current year.

When I was learning to pray the Office, years ago, I found even these to be not enough. It took repetitive listening to others' methods of praying the Office to commit the system to memory. Unfortunately it took me quite some time to get the hang of it, especially since I did not meet up with others praying the Office more than monthly.

In recent years podcasts, apps, and websites have been introduced which can also be of help to those learning to pray the Divine Office. I sure wish these had existed when I was learning! In my next post I will compare two of the available podcasts of the Office that will hopefully help anyone who reads this and needs guidance in this area.