Morning Prayer: A Spiritual and Scriptural Boost to Start a New Day

If you have already said the Invitatory for the day, you begin with the following introduction.

God, come to my assistance.

--Lord make haste to help me.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:

As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen. Alleluia. (CP)

Hymn

When Morning Prayer is the first prayer of the day, the above introduction is skipped and you proceed to the Hymn after the Invitatory. The hymns are found beginning on page 1507 in Christian Prayer. These hymns can be said or sung. This sets the stage for the Psalmody of the morning.

Psalmody

The psalmody contains a morning psalm, a canticle from the Old Testament and another psalm of praise. An antiphon precedes each psalm or canticle (CP, 689). After each psalm and canticle conclude with, “Glory to the Father, . . .” Repeat the antiphon.

In the Christian Prayer book there is a psalm prayer. It is the message of the psalm and adds some insights. You may also notice that on occasion there is a I, II or III above a particular psalm. This is because the psalm is broken down into more than one section. Instead of reading the whole psalm, it is read in more than one reading. The prayer book usually talks you through the process.

The Reading

After the Psalmody, a reading from the New Testament is presented. It is usually taken from the Epistles.

Responsory

The Responsory is our response to the Word of God (CP, 690). This is a short prayer that is repeated in part or in whole. It is concluded with, “Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.” The full response from the beginning of the responsory is then restated.

Gospel Canticle

An antiphon precedes this canticle. It will be written out. The gospel canticle for Morning Prayer is taken from Luke 1:68-79. This is the canticle of Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist.

Be sure to say the “Glory to the Father . . .” at the end of the canticle, unless it is stated otherwise (CP, 692). The antiphon is then repeated. This canticle along with the one for Evening Prayer and Night Prayer are the focus of the Divine Office. These canticles describe the promised Messiah and prophecies fulfilled.

Intercessions

The next section follows a prayer that is similar to Mass. There is a repeated response. The request for prayer is made and a response like, “May we give glory to your name, Lord” is said (CP, 871). These are praises and petitions (Boissinot, 52).

The Lord’s Prayer and Conclusion

The Lord’s Prayer is then said.  After the “Our Father” we now move into the concluding prayer. This is similar to the concluding prayer at Mass. It is also known as the Collect.

For individual recitation, Morning Prayer is concluded with;

May the Lord bless us

protect us from all evil

and bring us to everlasting life.

--Amen. (CP, 694)

So that is Morning Prayer. It takes about 10 minutes and gives us a good spiritual and scriptural boost for the new day. If you have any insights or if there is something I have missed, please leave a comment. Thank you.

Happy praying!

Ave Maria!

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Resources:

Boissinot, Georges-Albert, Companion Prayer Book to the Liturgy of the Hours, Catholic Book Publishing, NJ., 2010.

Christian Prayer (The Liturgy of the Hours), Morning Prayer, Daytime Prayer (selections), Evening Prayer, Night Prayer, Office of Readings (selections). Catholic Book Publishing Corp., NY. 1976.