This is the Liturgy of the Hours for December 31. Your local date is .
O give thanks to the Lord, call on his name, make known his deeds among the peoples. Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wonderful works. – Psalm 105:1-2
Dear community,
By the grace of God, Divine Office Ministry has reached an agreement with The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) by which we receive a License to use their 1970 edition of the New American Bible for the next 3 years. The Divine Office has passed an audit and has satisfied all licensor claims for content currently in use, which means USCCB has approved the use of our work by all Catholics in the United States.
Let us offer thanks and praise to God for the manifold blessings that continue to nourish our faith and enhance our community.
In thanksgiving for God’s blessings,
The Divine Office Team
I love this website. You help me praying with the Church unceasingly which we are called to do. God bless us all. You are an angel of the Lord.
Cough, Cough, the USCCB should pay the cost for this ministry to run.
$57,000 is a small amount to pay for years of copyright infringement…mostly for unauthorized use of music, we’re told. Copyrights have been a fact of life within the Catholic Church for many years. You pay them every time you purchase a sacramentary…e.g., a bible, lectionary, missal, etc., so I’m not sure where the outrage/surprise is coming from here. Frankly this apostolate has achieved the truly remarkable feat of making a Church approved version of the Hours available to all for free…it should be congratulated, not criticized! It is one of the only ways to pray properly with the Church without the authorized printed set of books…under copyright…which cost a pretty sum I might add! If you want to continue to use this website guilt free, then I suggest you show your appreciation by contributing some amount to this incredibly blessed organization. If not, use your money to buy the printed Hours instead and stop complaining.
Well said
There are foreign bishops conferences much smaller than the usccb who provide an internet version of the liturgy of the hours in their native language for free to encourage its use. In the USA, the private market provided competing offerings. They filled a need. I will support this ministry. The private market does not address all needs.
Mean-spirited messages are not supportive of this website and should be discouraged.
I don’t have a problem with paying for copyright royalties. But this is supposed to be the prayer of the church. We are the church. We own our own prayers. By now the expenses of printing these prayers I’ve already been covered. Many different forms of the Breviary have been printed. $57,000 for people to pray together as one Church seems ludicrous. Are we not the church? Or, are only the Bishops the church. It seems that we have become mercenary in so many ways with the amounts of money spent on music by re copyrighting songs after words of changed and things like this. Everything has to make money! It would be very helpful if you posted the name of the office and address that we would need to write to to protest this expense. We as the church have a rights to participate in these decisions. That is, if we are truly the church as the people of God.
As a Catholic in the United States, I always look for USCCB seal and check what version of bible is being used. This is very important to me for assurance in my faith. As a Catholic, my support to ministry, especially a approved ministry, is required by my faith, conscious, and God. This is truly a Blessed ministry, worthy for all Catholics, in the U.S. and around the world. Please support your them in anyway God has called you. Pray on it, and you will see, God will put it in your heart!
I need this site!! I pray morning and night with you all every day!! For the USCCB to charge $57,000 is disgusting and greedy. The Bible is the word of God freely given to us all. One more reason to lose respect for those bishops. Thank you for your good work and song choices and music!! The readers and cantors are wonderful!!
I am a relatively new Catholic and a novice (not “that” kind of novice) at the Divine Office but find this incredibly beautiful and enlightening. If the Mass is a practice session for what we will do in heaven – the Divine Office seems to be enhanced “practice.” The music is lovely, the readings and responsorials are on target and I love the globe that shows how many are praying and from where (who are those people in the Middle East or that lone person in New Zealand?). I hope to see more “dots” on the globe soon (and will share with my international network in hopes we can get more participation from around the Globe. Thank you for doing this. It is lovely, edifying and so glad I found this in time for Advent and the new liturgical year. Best wishes for good health and a sense of peace in these trying times. 😉
Hi Karen. One of those dots in the Middle East used to be me! I’ve now moved to India, so my dot is on the west coast of India. Quite a few practicing Catholics and other Christians in the Middle East from all over the world. I lived in Dubai and there were churches we could attend. But in other countries, Saudi Arabia being the best example, there are no churches so, prayer is private. Same with Kuwait.
Mmmm. These comments are very thoughtful and interesting. Since I have just discovered this site, wanting to know more about the Divine Office, prayer of the Church. I have been using Universalis for the past year and wanted to see if there are other Websites out there that provide the Liturgy of the Hours. I believe that I do understand the issues with the USSCB, copyright rules, and effort it takes to present the Liturgy of the Hours. I plan to try some hours of the divine office.org and continue to use Universalis for my Invitatory, Lauds and Office of Readings until I make a decision. I am impressed so far with this Website. What a great service!
It saddens me to read some of the comments. We are all praying together with the Bishops, priests and deacons. We pray for one another with one another. This is the Prayer of the Church. Please, consider some charity when making comments. The Psalms are the prayers Christ prayed. It always amazes me how one can listen to the Word of God and then immediately not let it reflect in their comments or actions. If you have thoughts that are negative or need further clarifications send your comments privately. There is no need to cause scandal and division. Things cost money in life. Copyrights were garnished because man power was used to translate the Bible in an English that we could comprehend. An English that we are familiar with. Keeping this ministry up and running costs. Someone is behind the scenes, recording every prayer. Having the seal of approval of the USCCB is a huge bonus for the ministry. It will help attract more lay people to pray the office. The books are very daunting for some and this makes it much easier. It also helps make it feel like you are praying in community (which you are). I’m don’t want to be judgemental, it’s not my place. I just want to point out that negative comments have no place here. Please pray for our shepherds, that is something we are called to do. Lastly, to the Divine Office ministry, thank you and God Bless you for putting this great Liturgical blessing in electronic format with voices and music and ease of use. It’s much appreciated, especially if and when I don’t have one of the books of the four volume set with me.
I hear you. However Jesus didn’t just accept his current acceptable beliefs. He called them many times on them and reminded them of their wrong. I have been trying to look up the Guide to Christian Prayer Liturgy of the hours, but find, nothing free. I can find only guides to buy. If this is a prayer for all the church. Do you know where I could find the information I need to use my own books without having to buy a guide? Hoping you or another can help.
Try this: http://www.philipkosloski.com/a-beginners-guide-to-praying-the-liturgy-of-the-hours/
I used this guide and divineoffice.org to learn how to pray using the Christian Prayer book. It helped me Immensely!
God Bless!
I have been using Universalis for the past year. I thought I would check this site out. I am not sure that I will switch. Not sure of the differences.Wonder who Father John Crean is.
This request sounds bogus. It doesn’t make sense.
Hello Fr Crean, any member of this community that has used this work for more than a few years will attest to the validity of the request. We have been struggling since 2016 to reach this agreement and be approved for use. Do write to [email protected] if you have specific questions you need answers to. God bless!
Monica, will this also cover any possible copyright issues when the USCCB comes out with the new translation of the LOTH?
Hello Jim, I’m sorry for the delay, the answer is no, unfortunately.
Although beneficial to have USCCB support, the price tag for copyright appears to me to be VERY high for documents long ago setup and paid for. The last update to both the the 4 Volume and 1 Volume editions, of which I have both, have happened years and years ago. What the USCCB Bishops is now charging for, is the “Prayer of the Church”. It has now become chargeable, probably because Electronic Media has reduced future residuals. Fr. Crean should be asking his hierachy for their rationale on how these sums are arrived at. The USCCB should be allocating funds to this endeavour, as opposed to the reverse in my opinion. At the very least they should be waving their take on the copyright on documentation long ago paid for. This does not take away from individual Bishops and Priests, who are good and need support, as mentioned in another post. But incompetence along with corruption abounds in the legislative church bodies. Don’t believe me? Read the media about church profigacies in supppressing law suits, Vatican Peter Pence purchases of condominiums in London and the Vatican bank corruption that reached Cardinal Beccu. We need accountability- not carte blanche billing for copyright that likely costs the church nary a penny or should not. This is where the incompetence, poor judgement or corruption comes in.
I contributed monthly for quire awhile and still like your website. This news of yours makes me even more disgusted with the USCCB. They spread money around lavishly to places that actually promote things anti-Catholic, and that’s proven. They meet at 5-star hotels over steak dinners instead of in monasteries. I am sorry, but I will give not one dime that goes to this new money-maker for the USCCB. Disgraceful, as are most of the bishops. May God rescue us all!
I completely agree. I fully respect the office of bishop and give that respect to the one sitting in the bishop’s chair — even if I have strong disagreements with the individual man currently occupying that chair — but I have no respect for the USCCB and will not support them.
Sorry Divine Office but I can’t in good conscience help with any effort that will put money in their irresponsible hands.
You could use the New Jerusalem Bible on your website as does Universalis.org. Who are these people that would charge $57,000? This is crazy. Use the funds for a better purpose and get the New Jerusalem Bible placed on your website or any other version that does not charge an exorbitant fee. This is a no brainer.
Not sure that would be approved in the USA. Would kind of be like using a bible for Mass that is not NAB. I believe an approved office by the USCCB is required by Clergy and Religious.
Dear Friends, the bishops have enough money to use this site to spread the Gospel freely. One bishop in our area recently died and left a million dollars to the schools where he lived. Yes, he lived the Gospel life as an example of poverty but amassed a fortune from his ministry. I appreciate being able to pray the Office here. Thank you for your ministry. Pray for me please.
I cannot tell you how happy being able to pray the Divine Office with you all has made me. I am blind, and an Oblate of Mount Angel Abbey. Even though the Abbey has its own translation, etc. I still experience the connectedness, because we all pray as the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!
God bless you Debby, THAMK YOU SO MUCH.