Daily Office Part 2: Mattins 101

    So now that I have detailed the history of Divine Worship: Daily Office and a basic outline of the book itself, it is now time to actually pray. I will essentially walk through how to pray a simplified version of Mattins. I will follow the layout of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer as a reference. Perhaps I will do an intro to that book as well in the future. When it comes to placing ribbons, place the red ribbon in the section for the Collect of the day, the yellow ribbon in the Ordinary for Mattins, the purple ribbon in the lessons, and the maroon ribbon in the Psalter. Once that is finished, we can begin. 

    To begin, open to the Introduction to Morning and Evening Prayer. There you will see a list of scripture quotations. Read one or more. Then read the exhortation. There are two available. The first one is the one found in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, and the second one is a shorter version taken from a later source. After that, you should then recite the "Almighty and most merciful Father...". After that, recite the Collect for the Twenty-First Sunday after Trinity. Then the intro is recited, followed by the Invitatory Psalm, which is always Psalm 95 except on the nineteenth day of the month, when Psalm 95 is appointed in the Psalter. On those days, you can pray Psalm 100 instead. The Invitatory can be said with an antiphon, but for simplicity's sake, we will omit the antiphon for now. After the Invitatory Psalm is the Psalter. Flip to the Psalter using the maroon ribbon. The Psalter is in a thirty-day cycle. Find today's date and the heading "morning prayer". Conclude each Psalm with the Gloria Patri. After the Psalms comes the first lesson. Flip to the lessons with the purple ribbon. The lessons are arranged around Sunday, so find the Sunday (ex., Fourth Sunday after Trinity) and the day of the week after that Sunday (ex., Tuesday after the Fourth Sunday after Trinity). After the first lesson is the Te Deum Laudamus or the Benedicite Omnia Opera. After the Te Deum or the Benedicite Omnia is the second lesson. Following the second lesson is the Apostle's Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and Versicles and Responses. After the Versicles and Responses are the Collects. The first Collect changes (flip to the Collect section using your red ribbon). The last two Collects never change. Following the Collects are prayers for the Church and for the King. Finally, you always end Mattins with the Prayer of St. John Chrysostom. That is it. You have officially prayed Mattins according to Divine Worship: Daily Office. 

    I hope this guide was useful to you. As always, do not be afraid to make mistakes. Just keep pushing through, even if you have no idea what is going on and you are lost. Learning how to pray a Breviary takes time, so please do not be hard on yourself. As always, may the saints intercede for us all, Amen.