Reddit reviews Night Prayer

Get Shorter Christian Prayer and start praying Compline (Night Prayer) -- there's even a book with just Night Prayer in it. Once you get into the habit, add another hour, such as Morning or Evening Prayer. When you get comfortable with this, you may want to get Christian Prayer, which has more page flipping involved.

Or you could pray The Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It's very simple and lovely. All the hours are the same for each day. There is a slight variation during Advent and Christmas.

I've done both the LOTR and LOBVM. Currently I pray LOBVM's Matins/Lauds every morning and Vespers most evenings. I used to pray Compline, but I haven't done so in a while.

It takes about 15-20 minutes to say the LOBVM Matins/Lauds and about 10-15 mins for Vespers.

>Is it better to start with Shorter Christian Prayer or even Magificat magazine?

I've never done Magnificat (it's an abbreviated version of Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer iirc), but SCP is the easiest of the book versions. If you already subscribe to Magnificat, start there.

Were I starting all over again, I'd just use an app (like iBreviary) or universalis online to get started. Later I'd get SCP and start learning how to navigate it. There are also books like Daria Sockey's to help out -- she's a laywoman who has been praying the Hours for years. She knows a lot about it, but she makes it very approachable.

>And is the Divine Office even doable (if that is the right word) for someone who is not a priest, nun, or monk given the time required per day?

I'm just a layman and I pray it daily. I've never been to seminary. The Hours refer to the time of the day, not the amount of time it takes to pray. The hinge hours (Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer) take about 10-15 minutes to pray. The Daytime Hours and Night Prayer take about 5-10 minutes each. The longest hour is the Office of Readings, which takes about 20 minutes (and what an hour! every day you get to read something from the Church Fathers in the 2nd reading -- every day of the year!).

I started with Night Prayer, which is done just before you go to bed each night. It's the shortest of the hours, and it takes about 5-7 minutes. There's a short examination of conscience at the beginning of it and a Marian antiphon at the end, plus a psalm or two and a Gospel Canticle. It's a really lovely way to end the day.

It's also the least complicated of the Hours, as it only runs on a one-week psalter. The other Hours run on 4-week psalters and have more moving parts for feasts etc.

If you like books, there's even a standalone version of it.

The Hours are the prayer of a lifetime. It is a great habit to get into, and once you do you'll never wonder what to pray again (or at what time or what to do for a saint's feast day or during Lent). You can do one Hour or all of them and still be connected to the entire Church.

Start with Night Prayer and let it take root before moving on and adding other hours. Don't feel like you have to do more than your time allows. One hour is better than none.