ORDO WEEK 6 THURSDAY EVENING PRAYER

 



SUNDAY EVENING PRAYER

WEEK SIX OF ORDINARY TIME




FEBRUARY 17

PSALTER WEEK II

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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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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 among those who celebrate the Hours with the same sounds and images at various times and places.  

This website contains two posts each day. one for Morning Prayer and one for Evening Prayer. Evening Prayer begins with a HYMN, followed by a Two PSALMs, an New Testament Canticle, a READING, Responsory, GOSPEL CANTICLE, Litany, LORD'S PRAYER, and concludes with a Collect.  

The post for each hour contains the complete official text in two forms:  a link (DivineOffice.org) with the complete visual and audio 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 any other virtual resources including the ones in this post. Praying Evening Prayer is that simple, one click. 

However, you can customize your experience by using the additional virtual resources below including 3 HYMNS, 2 PSALMS, LONGER READINGS, GOSPEL CANTICLE, LORD'S PRAYER.

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FULL ROMAN RITE SERVICES

Three Models/Options for Evening Prayer (Vespers):

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

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.  


OR
DIVINE OFFICE THURSDAY EVENING PRAYER

Hymn: "O Lord our God who made the day"
Translation by Saint Cecilia's Abbey of "Deus Qui claro lumine?"
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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. 



OR
SING THE HOURS THURSDAY EVENING PRAYER

ENGLISH Hymn*: "Deus qui claro lumine." 
 English Translation ICEL
LATIN Gospel Canticle & English 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, and Evening 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 or any of the hymns on this website.  


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BEGINNING HYMN OPTIONS

 WORD ON FIRE BOOKLET:  FEBRUARY 2025, pages 437,636

O Gladsome Light Eastern Orthodox Hymn by St. Elia Choir of Akron, Ohio


HYMN SELECTED FROM MY PERSONAL FAVORITES

This 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.  

HYMN There is a Wideness in God's mercy

Text: Fredick W. Faber
Tune IN BABILONE

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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. The liturgical reform of Vatican II spread the psalms over four weeks.

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 enhance and interpret the psalm.

VIDEOS FOR TODAY'S PSALMS


PSALM 72 

No slides or text just John Michael Talbots clear voice


  

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 ADDITION HYMN BEFORE THE FIRST READING

Before the liturgical reforms of Vatican II, the HYMN came after the PSALMS and the SHORT READING. This additional hymn has been chosen for its relationship to the FIRST READING below.
Responsorial Psalm


Our Soul Waits (Psalm 33) - James Block

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LONGER READINGS

FROM TODAY'S MASS

FRIDAY OF THE SIXTH WEEK OF ORDINARY TIME

 FIRST READING: Genesis 11:1-9: 

Thus the LORD scattered them from there all over the earth,
and they stopped building the city.
That is why it was called Babel,
because there the LORD confused the speech of all the world.
It was from that place that he scattered them all over the earth.

 GOSPEL READING: Mark 8:34—9:1:

 Jesus summoned the crowd with his disciples and said to them,
"Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself,
take up his cross and follow me.



THE GOSPEL CANTICLE 


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  THE LORD'S PRAYER



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PURPOSE OF THIS WEBSITE

DISCERNMENT