The Liturgy of the Hours (LOTH) is also referred to as the Divine Office. Presently Catholics are most aware of it as the Breviary, the prayers that priests must pray each day. Many of us may additionally have a dim understanding of the Latin names of some of the parts of the LOTH such as matins, lauds, vespers, and so on and many of us might associate them with monks or classical music.

Basically, the Liturgy of the Hours is a system of several daily prayers based upon the Psalms. LOTH is an outgrowth of the daily prayers of the Jews which Jesus grew up praying and is related to the five times daily prayers of the Muslims. In the early Church it was prayed publicly by the laity but little by little developed into shared prayer within religious communities as well as the private prayer of the clergy. The Rosary evolved as a kind of “lite” popularized version from the LOTH. The one hundred and fifty Hail Marys in a entire original (three sets of mysteries) Rosary correspond with the one hundred fifty Psalms. Vatican II helped bring LOTH back to the life of the laity.

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