The Divine Office for Dodos: A Step by Step Guide to Praying the Liturgy of the Hours

by Madeline Pecora Nugent

If you're serious about praying the Liturgy of the Hours, this is the only book you'll ever need. The Divine Office for Dodos is a step-by-step guide to the entire breviary, including Morning and Evening Prayer, Night Prayer, the Office of Readings, the "Little Hours," Feasts and Solemnities, and the Seasons of the Church Year.

Written in a fun, instructional style, The Divine Office for Dodos includes 90 in-depth lessons, 72 custom quizzes, and over 35 secret tips and techniques. Plus, each book comes with a set of breviary bookmarks and ribbons at no additional charge!

The author, Madeline Pecora Nugent, has written two books on St. Anthony of Padua and one on St. Clare of Assisi, as well as hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles. Madeline prays all secen hours of the Divine Office every day.

Genres: Religion, Catholic, Prayer, Spirituality, Nonfiction, Christian

234 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2004

Reviews

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a dodo, I am really appreciating this book. It is a step by step explanation of common practices not explained in Christian Prayer. It even tells you how to set up the ribbons! Invaluable!

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

A VERY HELPFUL INTRODUCTION AND EXPLANATION OF THE DIVINE OFFICE

Author Madeline Pecora Nugent (who "prays all seven hours of the Divine Office daily") has also written books such as 'Anthony: Words Of Fire, Life Of Light,' 'My Child, My Gift: A Positive Response to Serious Prenatal Diagnosis,' ;Clare and Her Sisters: Lovers of the Poor Christ,' 'Love-Ability: How to Become Lovable by Caring for Yourself and Others,' etc.

She explains, "To pray the Liturgy of the Hours, certain prayers were composed to pray 'around the clock.' These formal prayers were called OFFICES. Here's where things get a little confusing. You see, many different Offices exist such as the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin and the Offices written by various saints. But there is only one 'official Office' written by the Church. The 'official Office' written by the Church is called the DIVINE OFFICE. The other Offices are good. The Divine Office is the best, so good it's called Divine!" (Pg. 1-5)

She adds, "Have you ever heard the terms 'Liturgy of the Hours' and 'Divine Office' used interchangeably? Don't be a dodo and follow suit! These aren't the same. The Liturgy of the Hours means ANY formal prayers said at specific times around the clock while the Divine Office is the OFFICIAL prayer composed by the Church to pray around the clock." (Pg. 1-5 to 1-6)

She says, "A Breviary is a prayer book that contains the Divine Office... The complete breviary is printed in four volumes, one volume for Lent and the Easter Season, one volume for Advent and the Christmas Season, and two volumes for Ordinary Time... The four volume breviary contains the complete Divine Office for all seven hours of the day, offering different Readings for the Office of Readings for every day of the year... The travelers' breviary, also called SHORTER CHRISTIAN PRAYER, is a slender volume designed to fit into a briefcase, suitcase, or purse. Its Morning, Evening, and Night Prayers are complete, but it has only the barest minimum of prayers for the Feasts and Solemnities and none for the Memorials. It doesn't contain the Office of Readings or Midmorning, Midday, or Midafternoon prayer." (Pg. 1-8 to 1-9)

She states, "Here's something an awfully lot of folks don't know. The Divine Office is intended to be prayed out loud. Some folks read aloud, sing, or chant the Divine Office to help them pray better. If you can't or don't want to do that, you can at least move your lips when you pray." (Pg. 2-4)

She says, "What is Ordinary Time?... Ordinary Time is the season of the Church Year that is not a lent-Easter or Advent/Christmas season. Ordinary Time begins following the end of the Christmas season and is interrupted by Lent/Easter, resuming again following Pentecost." (Pg. 5-4)

She notes, "you should realize that when you're in a particular season of the year, every part of the Divine Office that you'll need will be in the volume for that season. You will NOT EVER use TWO OR MORE volumes at once. You will only have to flip to different parts of ONE volume in order to pray the Divine Office for that season of the Church year." (Pg. 6-5)

She says, "Christmas is one of the two most solemn and joyous feasts of the Church year, the other being Easter. Therefore its celebration, as well as Easter's, extends through its OCTAVE. An OCTAVE is the eight days following certain Solemnities. The Christmas Octave lasts from Christmas Day until Evening Prayer II of the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God, which is celebrated on January 1." (Pg. 7-3)

This is an exceptionally helpful book for any "beginners" (or even "experienced" persons!), or for anyone else who wants to know more about the Divine Office.

[Karina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this in preparing to teach the Liturgy of the Hours. It’s good. It differs slightly from the Carmelite way (like where we make pauses and whether we pray Psalm-Prayer) but very close. It teaches by asking questions, asking the reader to look through the breviary’s different sections, to see what you notice. It has a system of 8 ribbons and 16 bookmarks (which you can make or buy), which in my opinion is an overkill: just too many to keep track of. It is very in-depth, which I like, but for the most part you probably won’t need to read about minor hours (mid-morning, midday, mid-afternoon)… unless you have a lot of free time! :) There are 20 actual examples of everything you need to pray an office on specific days so you can check if you’re doing it right! Those are useful to newbies I think.

The writing style is a little cutesy. Lots of “dodo” references, and lots of patting the reader on the back on how smart you actually are. Eh. I wasn’t a fan of that but it is what it is. This is a hard subject and the author wanted to be encouraging because the breviary at first sight is very confusing.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was fantastic for helping me learn how to pray according to the Divine Office (Liturgy of the Hours).

This book is wonderful for taking a person step by step through the Morning and Evening Prayers, and does a well description of how to handle the Proper of Saints. I loved the simplistic approach to just praying a piece at a time. My only difficulty is in understanding the Office of Readings, but I can always ask my priest!

[Cate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolute necessity if you have any desire to pray the Office. Maybe it's me, but I couldn't make heads or tails of most of it, and what I did understand I doubted if I was interpreting it correctly. This book was easy to get through, amusing, and I even enjoyed reading about the author's own learning experience in the preface!

[Sieglinde · Rating 4 out of 5]

I used this to reach my children how to pray the Hours; the youngest was 9 at the time. The author is a personal friend and it was like she was sitting with us personally as we worked our way through the book. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to develop their prayer life by praying the Divine Office.

[JM]

I'm touching up my Divine Office technique to fix some stumbling blocks that have done harm to me being consistent.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny and really good to learn to use the Christian Prayer book. Be sure to order the ribbons. They really help when you are just starting.