Last Saturday I finally took the plunge and recorded myself singing all the hours of the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It’s taken me a while to get around to editing them ready to upload, but here is the first installment.

Find your printable booklets at https://littleoffice.brandt.id.au

Matins and Lauds

This is your middle-of-the-night or early-morning prayers. In the 1970s Liturgy of the Hours, Matins was rebranded as Office of Readings and Lauds as Morning Prayer.

The booklets are still a bit of a work in progress. I found a tonne of things to change when I recorded the videos. Usually I just sing Prime with my kids, though lately I’ve been picking up Matins and Lauds more regularly. I want to reassure anyone - saying the Rosary each day is a great thing and I totally don’t want to displace that in people’s lives. Lots of people have asked me about singing the Little Office in Latin and I’d like to show what I make of it.

I’m kneeling down more or less throughout this one, but as I understand it, the default posture would be standing, with the concession that you could sit for the psalms and there a few spots that specify kneeling.

God willing I’ll have time to put the other videos together - they’re all much shorter from here on in, and I recorded two of the little hours together, so keep an eye out for:

Prime
Terce
Sext and None (I sang them together as it was 2pm)
Vespers
Compline
My kids joined in Prime and Terce, but the rest was on my own. Which was alright as they joined in our regular Roman Compline too and we pray the Rosary as a family in the afternoon, so collaring them for extra prayers at that time feels a bit much.

It felt a bit arduous at the time, but it was satisfying to have managed it. Also, it did help to break up the day and refocus myself on eternal goals.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yXNAI9F-oI