Liturgy of the Hours

More and more lay Catholics are praying the Liturgy of the Hours.

If the whole thing (four volumes, thousands of pages of psalms, readings and prayers) is too daunting, try just the readings from the Office of Readings (in your email daily), or try Tom Kreitzberg's microbreviary:

Anyone who wants to ease into the spirit of the Liturgy of the Hours without any prayerbooks can try this three-step method:

• When you wake up, pray the Benedictus
• In the early evening, pray the Magnificat
• When you go to bed, pray the Nunc Dimittis

If your memorization skills are up to it, you can throw in a Miserere Friday mornings and a Te Deum Sunday and feast day mornings.

Oh, and a Visita, quaesumus, Domine following the Nunc Dimittis as you lay you down to sleep is also liturgically correct.

(And don't forget that, except for the Benedictus and the Nunc Dimittis, all these prayers are indulgenced. The souls in purgatory will thank you.)

Saint Monica, keep praying for us

The blogs are buzzing about marriage between Catholics and Wiccans, a.k.a. pagans. Not that I'm in favor of it, but here's a Catholic/pagan marriage that turned out pretty well. As Mark Shea notes, you should be a saint before trying this at home.

Saint Mary Magdalene, apostle to the Apostles

Did you know that Mary Magdalene is one of the patronesses of the Order of Preachers?

Mary Magdalene by El Greco

Mary Magdalene by Giotto

Mary Magdalene by John da Fiesole (Fra Angelico), a Dominican friar.

Michael D. O'Brien

Thomas Kinkade? How about Michael O'Brien? His philosophy of art is True, Good and Beautiful, as is his art; so's he, come to think of it. Don't miss his Children of the Last Days series of books, and his contributions to the Catholic Educator's Resource Center - he's on their advisory board.