What the BDP Breviary is Not…

The following information is copied directly from the Liturgical Press site.

Significant differences between the Liturgy of the
Hours (Roman Office) and Benedictine Daily Prayer (BDP)

– The Roman Office has a 4-week Psalter. BDP has a 1-week psalter, with a supplemental 2nd-week psalter. This supplemental psalter only affects Vigils and Lauds.

– All the “little hours” (midmorning, midday, midafternoon, and night prayer (with Latin titles: terce, sext, none, and compline) are included in the one-week psalter.

– The Roman Office has non-scriptural readings for everyday. BDP has non-scriptural readings for Sundays and feast days.

– BDP, pays special attention to monastic/Benedictine saints. BDP offers alternative non-scripture readings for many OSB feasts not just the same one as the Roman office.

– BDP uses the NRSV Bible, except for the psalms, which are a newer version of the Grail translation (1983) than the Roman Office.

– BDP has litanies and responses from St. John’s Abbey prayer modeled on traditional monastic prayer—rather different than the responses and intercessions of the Roman Office.

– BDP does not claim or pretend to be the official Roman Office. Nonetheless, it is a wonderful book. [Emphasis added.]

– There is a simple guide and an introduction in the beginning of the book; these should help orient the user.

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Comment: The above qualities are precisely what make the shorter breviary so appealing to so many people – a great cross-section of the Christian world. No one is required to give up their faith or religious affiliation to become an Oblate. It would do well to note the following about the author: “Maxwell E. Johnson, Ph.D., is an oblate of Saint John’s Abbey, Collegeville, Minnesota, and an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. He is professor of liturgy at the University of Notre Dame.” [Emphasis added.]