Lord, Open My Lips: The Liturgy of the Hours As Daily Prayer [Paperback]

Seth H. Murray (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2004

Lord, Open My Lips is a concise, easy-to-read introduction to the Liturgy of the Hours - those powerful prayers that contemporary Christian monks gather to recite seven times each day. Designed to help laypeople integrate these prayers into their daily routine, this guide can be used in conjunction with any of the several basic texts of the liturgy currently in use. Tested by students of the liturgy for more than three years, Lord, Open My Lips has been carefully revised for clarity and simplicity.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

For more than 1,500 years, the life of Christian communities has been shaped by a dynamic collection of Psalms, hymns, prayers and readings known as "the Liturgy of the Hours." These are the words that religious men and women gather to chant and recite at specified times throughout the day. Anyone who has participated in this "Divine Office" can testify to its power to infuse the activities of daily life with a sense of holiness.

Lord, Open My Lips is a concise, class-tested, easy-to-use manual for praying the Liturgy of the Hours, designed to help laypeople integrate the Liturgy, or elements of it, into their prayer life. It serves as a guide to any of the standard editions of the Liturgy, whose language and organization most newcomers to the Hours will find dauntingly complex.

Lord, Open My Lips has been carefully written and revised for clarity and simplicity. It includes a short introduction to chant, and useful resources for forming a prayer group. This manual and a prayer book are all one needs to successfully master a prayer that, as the Catechism explains, "is intended to become the prayer of the whole People of God."

About the Author

A former Assistant Director for Ministry Formation for the Archdiocese of Portland, Oregon, Seth Murray holds a Masters Degree in Theological Studies from the University of Dallas Institute for Religious and Pastoral Studies (now headquartered at Ave Maria University in Naples, Florida).

Raised in various Protestant denominations, Seth and his wife, Tyra, entered into full communion with the Catholic Church in 1994. He and Tyra own and operate the online store and prayer resource, The Rosary Shop. They live with their four children in McMinnville, Oregon.

Product Details

• Paperback: 103 pages
• Publisher: North Bay Books (August 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0972520082
• ISBN-13: 978-0972520089
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.3 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,032,592 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

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74 of 77 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Author Comments...., May 17, 2006

By 

Seth Murray (McMinnville, OR USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lord, Open My Lips: The Liturgy of the Hours As Daily Prayer (Paperback)

First, if you are interested in the latest version of this book, see the Amazon listing of Discovering Prayer. Discovering Prayer includes all of the content of Lord, Open My Lips, plus extensive information chanting AND an audio CD of sample chants to help you get started.

Lord, Open My Lips was written for a single purpose: To help you learn to pray the Liturgy of the Hours. It begins by introducing a little about what prayer is, in and of itself. It discusses, briefly, the history of the Liturgy of the Hours (also known as the Divine Office, Breviary, and other terms), and then takes you step-by-step through each of the primary prayers.

These primary prayers are Morning Prayer, Daytime Prayer, Evening Prayer, Night Prayer and the Office of Readings. There is a separate chapter for each of these "hours," helping you become familiar with the general outline for the prayers, the postures, and even refers to the exact page numbers in the available prayer books (most of which are also available via amazon.com).

Additional sections introduce basic chanting, and even cover some of the more "complicated" matters like special feast days. It offers practical advice on how much to pray, how to make time to do so, and even how to start a small prayer group in your neighborhood or work.

Lord, Open My Lips is a somewhat-abridged version of a more thorough text called Discovering Prayer. We've been self-publishing, revising and improving Discovering Prayer for about a decade, and made this version available at the suggestion of the publisher, North Bay Books, in 2004 (however, in the interest of full disclosure, I should add that North Bay Books is not authorized to continue to publish this text due to contract violations).

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, February 14, 2008

By 

Somedaze.com Fan (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Lord, Open My Lips: The Liturgy of the Hours As Daily Prayer (Paperback)

This book is an excellent introduction to and instructional manual for the Liturgy of the Hours. Before I received "Lord Open My Lips", I tried to work my way through the four volume set of the Breviary using the companion St. Joseph Guide, but I found it confusing, and I was not always sure I was praying "correctly" or as intended. It is a shame for those finding it too difficult, discouraging, etc. to bring the Liturgy of Hours into their lives because they had trouble tangling with the mechanics of performing same. This book is a perfect and, I would dare say, much needed resource, particularly for laiety interested in enriching their spiritual prayer life with this rich form of daily prayer.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good but brief, April 8, 2009

By 

W. Collier "Engineer, RN, Veteran" (Colorado, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Lord, Open My Lips: The Liturgy of the Hours As Daily Prayer (Paperback)

This is a "get you started" book, for advanced beginners who wish to capture the mechanics of all of the Liturgy of the Hours. Its a good adjunct to "The Divine office for DoDos", which takes a more informal and instructive approach. These work well together.