How to Pray the Daily Offices

By Robin G. Jordan

For those who are considering adopting the spiritual discipline of praying the Daily Offices privately, here is some advice on how to pray the Offices with no one else present. This advice is mainly for those who wish to use the 1928 Prayer Book in their private devotions but it is also applicable to a large extent to those desiring to use the 1979 Prayer Book.

Praying the Daily Offices by oneself differs from praying the Office with others. Certain parts of the Offices used when two or more people are praying the Offices together are omitted. The Offices themselves become a springboard for extemporaneous prayer offered to God in silence or aloud.

When praying the Daily Offices by oneself, it is desirable to find a place where one can pray undisturbed—preferably a place conducive to prayer.  I have often prayed the Offices, seated under a shady tree on a park bench or at some other quiet spot in a local park.

The Daily Offices should be prayed at an unhurried pace. Rushing through the Offices is not conducive to heartfelt prayer. Praying the Offices is an opportunity to step out of time and to meet with God. It should never be treated as an obligation that we must fulfill or as a work that will gain us merit.

Morning Prayer

When reading Morning Prayer privately, the Exhortation, the short Bidding to confession, and the penitential section are omitted. The initial Lord’s Prayer is also omitted.

At the words “Lord, open my lips” the sign of the cross may be made on one’s lips with the one’s right thumb.

The versicle and response at the conclusion of the Opening Preces, “Praise ye the Lord: The Lord’s Name be praised,” is omitted.

The Antiphon before the Venite is omitted. The Venite and the Psalms that follow the Venite are invitations to Christian prayer. After the recitation of each Psalm (including the Venite) prayer rising out of the Psalm may be offered. This is an ancient practice going back to the early centuries of Christianity. At the end of the whole Portion, or selection from the Psalter, the Gloria Patri is said. At Evening Prayer the Gloria in Excelsis Deo may be said in its place. While the 1928 Prayer Book makes no provision for its use at Morning Prayer, the dawn office is where it was sung anciently and where it is sung to this day in the Eastern Church. The 1789 and 1892 Prayer Books also authorized its use in place of the Gloria Patri at Morning Prayer. Those who choose to include its recitation in their morning devotions are not breaking with ancient precedent.

The first Lesson is read without introduction or conclusion after the Gloria Patri or Gloria in Excelsis Deo. It is followed by a pause for reflection and prayer.

The Te Deum laudamus, Benedictus es Domine, or Benedicite, omnia opera Domini, is then read. The third part of the Te Deum, verses 22-29, which do not belong to the original hymn, may be omitted. The Gloria Patri is never recited after the Te Deum, which contains within itself its own form of the Gloria (verses 11-13). The Gloria Patri is omitted after the Benedictus es Domine. The Benedicite, omni opera Domini may be shortened by reciting the refrain only after the first, eighteenth, twenty-seventh, and final verses as in the Western Breviaries or after any group of verses as in the 1962 Canadian Prayer Book.

The second Lesson is read without introduction or conclusion after the canticle. It is followed by a pause for reflection and prayer.

After the second Lesson a passage from a suitable devotional book may be read.

After a period of reflection and prayer the Benedictus Dominus Deus is read. At the beginning of the canticle, the sign of the cross may be made. The Gloria Patri is omitted at the conclusion of the canticle.  

The Apostles’ Creed is then read.

The Salutation is omitted.

The Lord’s Prayer is said, followed by the Suffrages, the Collect of the Day, the Collect for Peace, and the Collect for Grace. The Prayers may be concluded with a selection of prayers from the Prayer Book and/or one or more prayer manuals, and/or extemporaneous prayer.

A good way to end Morning Prayer is with a prayer dedicating the day and oneself to God.

Prayers at Mid-Day

The 1928 Prayer Book has no noon office. The 1962 Canadian Prayer Book has a short office for use at midday. It uses traditional language. Suitable additional prayers are found in the Prayers and Thanksgivings section of the Canadian book.

Evening Prayer

As Massey H. Shepherd, Jr., observes in The Oxford American Prayer Book Commentary, the use of the penitential section at Evening Prayer is more spiritual advantageous than its use at Morning Prayer.

To confess one’s sins and seek God’s pardon at the close of the day’s work is perhaps more natural than to do so when one has just arisen from refreshing sleep. There is always in us the disposition to sin, but at the end of the day we could more readily make up a lengthy list of the times we have given in to this disposition during our waking hours.

When Evening Prayer is read privately, the Exhortation and the short Bidding to Confession are omitted. 

Before the General Confession is read, time should be devoted to self-examination and acknowledgment of one’s sins to God. The General Confession should then be read from the heart. 

While the 1928 Prayer Book makes no provision for a prayer for forgiveness, those reading Evening Prayer in private may wish to read the Collect for the Twenty-First Sunday after Trinity after the General Confession, substituting “I” for “we,” “servant for “people,”  “I” for “they” and “my” for “their.”

Grant, I beseech thee, merciful Lord, to thy faithful servant pardon and peace, that I may be cleansed from all my sins, and serve thee with a quiet mind; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

While the 1928 Prayer Book makes no provision for the omission of the initial Lord’s Prayer when the penitential section is used, its omission is consistent with ancient practice. The initial Lord’s Prayer was a late addition to the Daily Offices.

At the words “Lord, open my lips” the sign of the cross may be made on one’s lips with the one’s right thumb.

The versicle and response at the conclusion of the Opening Preces, “Praise ye the Lord: The Lord’s Name be praised,” is omitted.

As in Morning Prayer, after each Psalm prayer rising out of the Psalm may be offered.

At the end of the whole Portion, or selection from the Psalter, the Gloria Patria or Gloria in Excelsis is said. Since the Gloria in Excelsis Deo was originally a morning canticle, it is preferable to use the Gloria in Excelsis Deo at Morning Prayer and the Gloria Patri at Evening Prayer.

The first Lesson is read without introduction or conclusion after the Gloria Patri or Gloria in Excelsis Deo. It is followed by a pause for reflection and prayer.

The Magnificat is then read. At the beginning of the canticle, the sign of the cross may be made. The Gloria Patri is omitted at the conclusion of the canticle. 

The second Lesson is read without introduction or conclusion after the canticle. It is followed by a pause for reflection and prayer.

After the second Lesson a passage from a suitable devotional book may be read.

After a period of reflection and prayer the Nunc dimittis is read. The Gloria Patri is omitted at the conclusion of the canticle. 

The Apostles’ Creed is then read.

The Salutation is omitted.

The Lord’s Prayer is said, followed by the Suffrages, the Collect of the Day, the Collect for Peace, and the Collect for Aid against Perils. The Prayers may be concluded with prayers from the Prayer Book and/or one or more prayer manuals, and/or extemporaneous prayer.

Compline

The 1928 Prayer Book also makes no provision for late evening prayer. The office of Compline from the 1926 Irish Prayer Book, however, was incorporated into the 2004 Irish Prayer Book. It uses traditional language.