Morning prayer

[WelshJesusFreak]

I'm looking for a format for my morning prayer, i know the Divine Office is used, where can i get hold of this? Is it only for ordained? What else can i use appart from a rosary?

 

[faerieevaH]

This is one of the prayers I often use as morning prayer:

My Lord and God
all that I have,
all that I am,
all that I do,
I offer to You.
Come and fulfill my day.
Give me your Spirit,
so that in my thoughts,
my words and my actions,
something of your silent presence
may break throuhg.
Do not let me for meself alone,
but like Jesus, connected with You
and given to people.
Amen.


Apart from that, I have two prayers books that I use for morning and evening prayers, or through the day. I try to use a finger rosary on the bus to work now and again as well. But my day starts with a morning prayer. The one above, one of the prayerbooks, or sometimes simple a
"Lord Jesus, fulfill my day, not my words, but Your words, not my thoughts but Your thoughts, not my love but Your love. Mother Mary, come to my aide. Saint Joseph be my example. Amen."

 

[Cat59]

If you're interested in the office, you can buy it, a lot of lay people do pray it- a group meets in my church to say morning prayer together every day. I love it, because it uses the psalms and they are really inspirational things to start the day with. It can be quite complicated to follow- this link gives you the option to follow morning and evening prayer every day, and so avoids the complicated bit of deciding where in the book to look for the readings and psalms.
If you want to buy anything like this, most Catholic Churches I know have some prayer books etc to buy or borrow at the back of church.
http://www.universalis.com/
My favourite morning prayer is this..

Father, I abandon myself into your hands;
Do with me what you will.
Whatever you may do, I thank you:
I am ready for all, I accept all.
Let only your will be done in me,
and in all your creatures.-
I wish no more than this, O Lord.

Into your hands I commend my soul;
I offer it to you with all the love of my heart,
for I love you Lord,
and so need to give myself,
to surrender myself into your hands,
without reserve,
and with boundless confidence,
For you are my Father.
Prayer of Abandonment By Charles De Foucauld

 

[Carrye]

You can buy the shortened version of the Divine Office, called the Christian Book of Prayer, at most Christian bookstores or online. The full version is titled The Liturgy of the Hours. It is not just for the ordained, as I pray it, and I know others on OBOB do as well.

 

[Paul S]

I'm looking for a format for my morning prayer, i know the Divine Office is used, where can i get hold of this? Is it only for ordained? What else can i use appart from a rosary?

The Divine Office is only required for clergy (including those not ordained but who have taken vows, such as monks and nuns), but lay people can and do pray it. If you're not required to pray it, it's a private devotion, so you can choose whichever version you like and not have to pray all the hours or worry that you're not praying it right. Of course, getting it right is preferable, but the Office can be pretty complex to figure out, but praying well is much more important.

I love the Divine Office, and Lauds and Prime (which are said in the morning) are two of my favourite hours. I pray the older version of the Office, but you can find reprints of the 1962 version at any number of Catholic sites online. In English, it's a bit tougher to find and eBay can get very expensive. The pre-1962 Breviary is online at www.breviary.net in both Latin and English. There is a 3-volume Latin-English version of the 1962 Office (published in 1963) by Collegeville which is good.

The current version, the Liturgy of the Hours, is available on Amazon. The full Office is four volumes and wherever you get it will cost about $150. You may also be able to find the individual volumes at Amazon or elsewhere. If there's a Catholic bookstore near you, they'd probably have it. www.universalis.com and www.liturgyhours.org are two places that have the current Office online, but I've heard both sites are missing some things (due to copyright issues with ICEL), but someone familiar with these sites and the printed Office would have to confirm this; I'm not familiar with either.

 

[Atomagenesis]

You could say the chaplet of Divine Mercy if you are also looking for other prayers to say. Saint Faustina put it into practice.

 

[pax]

If you're looking for the Divine Office online, try www.liturgyhours.org. From what I've seen, it's the most comprehensive and most accurate that I've been able to find online.

 

[Cat59]

I know you're from these parts- but don't know which bit!! There's a Catholic bookshop in Cardiff (Charles St, by the Cathedral) if you're anywhere near here or ever come here- close to M&S. They stock a huge variety of prayer books, Missals, Office Breviary plus loads of other books, tapes, CDs etc. It's a great place to browse and the manager is very knowledgable if you need help.

 

[Carrye]

Online, as Paul said, is always a good bet too.