A New Year, a new breviary guide 

Ah, a fresh New Year! Time for making resolutions, buying new calendars ... and marking up the '07 guide for the Liturgy of the Hours.

Because the 1-volume LOTH (which I use) is the exact opposite of user-friendly (oy!), I'm utterly grateful for the handy-dandy Saint Joseph Guide for the Roman-Franciscan Christian Prayer. Lemme tell ya, the three bucks it costs saves a year's worth of headaches and frantic page-flippin'.

Unfortunately, the Guide itself is printed in small type, with a healthy dose of ALL CAPS to boot, which makes it kinda' hard to quickly locate the spot you want. While complaining about that a few years ago to one of my Franciscan sisters, she recommended highlighting each Sunday to help break things up visually. What a splendid idea!

Since then, I've customized my own highlighting strategy, and so a few days 'afore the ball drops in Times Square, I sit down with my new Guide and mark it up in the following way:

• Sundays: Highlighted in pink.
• Holy days of obligation (besides Sundays, of course): Blue
• Special Franciscan solemnities and feasts: Orange
• Feast days for Joseph and the Holy Family: Green
• Feast days for our Blessed Mother: Yellow

An' just to make sure I 'member what all the colors mean, I write the above key on the back of the Guide. Sure, it takes a little time to mark up everything, but once you're done, you're done -- the whole year is easily understandable at a glance.

Just figured I'd share this in case it helps anyone else, and iffin' y'all have any other coping strategies for dealin' with the LOTH, I'd love to hear it! (Oh, that reminds me of one more I have -- I keep a holy card tucked in at the ever-so-frequently-referenced page 707. Another great timesaver!)

Labels: franciscan, prayer

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posted by Lisa, ofs | Permalink