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LucyP
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| Posted: Jan 01 2008 at 2:14pm | IP Logged
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Hi - I have a sample copy of Magnificat, which is lovely, but I wonder if there is something similar in book form which would give me the daily prayers etc but be just the one item, rather than ending up with 12 magnificats a year and the need for an ongoing subscription which I really can't afford. I see other people at church bring little (or large!) books to mass with them, but don't know what it is - is that a breviary or a missal or what? I am confused! Anyone know what I am on about? Lucy
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Mackfam
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| Posted: Jan 01 2008 at 2:54pm | IP Logged
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Lucy, You might enjoy the Conversation With God series by an Opus Dei priest. My mom bought me the set 3 years ago for Christmas and they have been so life changing for me. There is a reflection/reading for each day of the year based on the liturgical time of the year, and they never fail to spark some kind of desire to change or better myself or my spiritual/prayer life. They're a bit of an investment, but so worth it. Where we are the spiritual direction is lacking and these books fill a great need I have.
BTW, I imagine what you are seeing people carry into the Mass is the daily Missal - which is also nice to have a copy of. I don't know about you, but the only time I get to touch the missal at Mass is when I'm grabbing it out of my 3yo's hands to prevent it from being launched at the older couple in front of us!  It's nice to have a Missal at home to have the readings. The Magnificat is great for that!!! HTH. 
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Jen Mackintosh
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Tami
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| Posted: Jan 01 2008 at 3:33pm | IP Logged
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Lucy, I used these missals for mass for many years - Advent to Pentecost and Pentecost to Advent
You can probably find them as a single volume, but I appreciated the reduced bulk by having 2 volumes. They contain all the prayers and readings for weekday mass, and can be used year after year. Plus I could buy one at a time.
There is a separate volume for Sundays, but I used these just for weekdays.
A local Catholic bookstore (if you have one) should be able to help you. And I wouldn't hesitate to approach your parish or a nearby monastery to see if they have any sitting on their shelves unused, that they might be willing to give to you, or perhaps just ask a small donation.
These books do not have the morning and evening prayers that Magnificat contains. For that you would need a copy of Christian prayer or the full 4-volume Liturgy of the Hours. Elizabeth just wrote a beautiful post about using Christian Prayer here
The 4-volume set is really pricey. But again, I would encourage you to ask around at your parish, etc.
Hope this helps!
ps. I'm thinking now that you are in the UK, correct? If that's the case, you would want books used by your bishops' conference (the links I posted are for US books). <GGG>
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God bless,
Tami
When we are crushed like grapes, we cannot think of the wine we will become. (Nouwen)
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Kathryn UK
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| Posted: Jan 02 2008 at 4:00pm | IP Logged
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Lucy, I thought about subscribing to Magnificat this year, but like you decided it was an extra ongoing cost I couldn't really afford. There are definitely cheaper options. If you want to start with a couple of affordable books I would recommend a Sunday Missal and Shorter Morning and Evening Prayer.
The Sunday Missal is most likely the book you see people with at Mass, and includes all the readings for Sunday and feast day Masses for the entire three year liturgical cycle. There is also a Weekday Missal with the readings for the other days. If you can only afford one, then the Sunday Missal is probably better as it allows you to follow the Mass more easily and to prepare beforehand.
A "breviary" is a book containing the Divine Office, or Liturgy of the Hours ... the daily prayer of the Church. Monks, nuns and priests are obliged to say all or part of this as part of their vocation. Lay people are also encouraged to join in this great work of prayer. There are several parts to the full Divine Office - morning, evening and night prayer, and the office of readings. The parts most commonly said by lay people are morning and evening prayer, and these are made available in a separate volume - both the shorter version I mentioned and a full Morning and Evening Prayer. The Divine Office is said over a four week cycle, with variations for the different seasons (Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter) and saints days. I started with the Shorter Morning and Evening Prayer, which has slightly less detail for the seasons and saints days but has all the essentials. It is inexpensive and as it is slightly simplified it is a good place to start trying to find your way around the Office. It can be daunting at first to try to work out where you should be in the prayers, but with a bit of persistence you should soon get the hang of it. Magnificat effectively does the place finding for you, but at a price  .
The UK version of the Divine Office is a three volume set, rather than the four volume US equivalent. It is expensive, at £35 for each book. I would definitely try Morning and Evening Prayer first. If you find you want to expand the amount of the Office you say, you can always invest in the full set later.
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Kathryn
Dh Michael, Rachel(3/95) Hannah(8/98) Naomi(6/06)  (11/07)
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CAgirl4God
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| Posted: Jan 05 2008 at 10:11am | IP Logged
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word amoung us... is a good one. there are the daily readings as well as the Mass. and other stories... and they are online... no $$ no extra paper around...
our parish has copies for all of us. so I usually pick one up there also...
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4Real Forums : Domestic Church
Topic: Daily prayers/readings - magnificat?
